For every girl who is tired of acting weak when she is strong, there is a boy tired of appearing strong when he feels vulnerable. For every boy who is burdened with the constant expectation of knowing everything, there is a girl tired of people not trusting her intelligence. For every girl who is tired of being called over-sensitive, there is a boy who fears to be gentle, to weep. For every boy for whom competition is the only way to prove his masculinity, there is a girl who is called unfeminine when she competes. For every boy struggling not to let advertising dictate his desires, there is a girl facing the ad industry’s attacks on her self-esteem. For every girl who takes a step toward her liberation, there is a boy who finds the way to freedom a little easier.
- Poster from CrimethInc. Ex-Workers’ Collective

Trotsky once remarked that if poverty was the cause of revolutions, there would be revolutions all the time because most people in the world were poor. What is needed to turn a million people’s grumbling discontent into a crowd on the streets is a spark to electrify them. Read more from the BBC on recurring patterns in revolutions

I saw a boy the other day right in the middle of the city centre just sitting by the pavement and wondered what the heck he was doing there when he was obviously supposed to be in class. You see the young lad was wearing a school uniform and I paused and asked him what his story was. He told me he was a grade four pupil in one of what was once Bulawayo’s elite schools. “I was told to go home.” “Why,” I asked. “I have not paid school fees,” he told me. Obviously it brought me back to the gulf that glaringly exists between policymakers and policy implementers in this country especially after the coming of the GNU. Where do we situate a grade four pupil who is loitering in the city centre because his parents are broke and pronouncements by the Minister Education that every child has a right to education and therefore must not be expelled because the parents are poor? Of course there is nothing new in this enquiry, but the fact that these pupils seen in the city centre are usually dismissed by many strangers as  playing truant, it does provide a disturbing trend when one thinks that next time you see child in uniform right in the CBD, it is not because they decided to bunk, skip classes, but it could be because they have been told they have no place among paying students, yet it is already known that parents are failing to pay for everything including feeding their children. When is it all going to end so that these so-called future leaders in Zimbabwe are made to inherit the wind? Who needs daft future leaders when we already have our plateful?

The more publicity the better:

When people take to the streets and the army is called out to stop them, at least two things can happen: Tunis, or Tiananmen. When the world is watching, a peaceful outcome is more likely. A threatened regime, when they think they’re immune to scrutiny, is a very dangerous thing.
- Ethan Zuckerman on the revolution in Egypt

I watched in bewilderment the other day, when in the foyer of one building, a crazed woman tore the head off  security guard who had asked her to sign-in before she could proceed upstairs.  She unleashed an unbelievable, unwarranted, temper tantrum of great magnitude.  Having gotten her way, the woman sashayed on upstairs, self satisfaction obvious in each step, while the guard was left embarrassed and virtually cowering behind his desk.

I believe that what I witnessed that day was “bullying”.  The woman was deliberately hostile and aggressive and her actions caused pain, distress and humiliation.  A classic bully.  Statistics say that adult bullying occurs more commonly than we think.  Observation of life confirms this fact.  We are all familiar with that person who habitually victimises waiters, other service staff, colleagues at work, family members, “friends” etc.

It is one thing to assert one’s position not to sign-into a building or to insist on a good standard of service or level of work.  It’s completely unacceptable when anyone treats another like their personal punching bag.  That can never be justified and it is never right.  Such behaviour says a lot more about the bully than it does about the dawdling waiter or timid electorate.

Characteristically, bullies lack empathy for others.  They take advantage of individuals perceived as being vulnerable and they aim to gain control over their victims.  Bullies make life miserable for others, particularly those who do not conform to their way of thinking.

However, bullies can and have been known to be beaten.  Experts suggest negotiating with the bully or enlisting the help of a third party in order to prevent further bullying.  This is the more peaceful and preferred route.  Of course, the bully might be beyond reasoning with, the stubborn and arrogant sort.  In this case, former-victims are forced to rise up and fight back.  They may resort to confront the bully so as to regain their lost dignity and once more control their destiny.  And when that day of reckoning comes, the bully will stare in the face of forceful, relentless and unprecedented retaliation.

Hosni and others who have met an unceremonious exit can attest to that.

My name is Mai Machafa and I have been selling since 2003. What made me keep on selling is that I realized it is better to be my own boss than to work for some one else. I think selling as a vendor is better than just sitting. I would love to do something else besides selling vegetables but right now there in nothing worthwhile to do besides being a vendor.

What I would say is a big problem is the council. We are paying money to them but they do nothing in return with our money. The money they want us to pay is too much when we do not have water. The toilets are bad and we don’t have electricity so we can’t sell at night.

The future I wish to see in Zimbabwe is a future that is good like what we once had. A life that where we struggle less. We want to be able to have and afford stuff. I want the future to be good for my 4-year-old son so that he doesn’t become a vendor like me. I want him to be able to have a good job and for him to have a good education.

The advice to people that do not have anything to do I would like to say you can start selling even at your gate. Sell anything – mangoes in your yard or even the vegetables from your garden. Do something that would ensure that you have food in your house.