South Africans help Egyptians to cry out, “Bread! Jobs! Education! Dignity! Democracy! Freedom of Expression!”

Today Friday the 4th of February 2011 at 2:40pm at the Egyptian Embassy in South Africa, COSATU, with people from organisations and groups around Gauteng will protest outside the embassy to raise their voices in support of the demands of the Egyptian people.

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A recent statement from the Crisis in Zimbabwe Coalition reminds us of this quotation from Robert Mugabe at Zimbabwe’s independence:

“Democracy is never mob rule. It is and should remain disciplined rule requiring compliance with the law and social rules. Our independence must thus not be construed as an instrument vesting individuals or groups with the rights to harass and intimidate others into acting against their will.” – Robert Mugabe, April 17, 1980

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Three Zimbabwean writers – Emmanuel Sigauke, Tinashe Mushakavanhu and Christopher Mlalazi – discuss the state of Zimbabwean literature, writing from the Diaspora, what is African literature among other literary issues. In this candid roundtable discussion, they question the direct nature of literature and its suitability in chronicling moments of unique political and social significance. In a country like Zimbabwe, which exists to the West as a flurry of news reports and political upheavals, literature attains an importance that it rarely enjoys in Britain or America: it becomes a necessary thing, essential to the survival of the self. A sobering set of first-hand accounts accompanied by revealing anecdotes about writing and reading experiences influenced by the three writers’ collusion with many cultures and worlds in their different journeys.

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Sometimes I figure Zanu PF in its parochial propaganda and smear campaign gives Morgan Tsvangirai too much deist powers. I don’t think Zimbabweans will take to the streets simply because “Tsvangirai told them to.” If any revolution  is to be televised here, it will follow the standard set in the troubled North: the people themselves will take charge, not some politician being credited with inspiring mass protests as if the people were unthinking zombies. We already know what happened here before about that attempt at “organised” street marches so we won’t bother dwell on  the thesis of street any percieved protests being ostensibly led by someone who himself is a player in the power games. So if Zanu PF believe Tsvangirai will lead “peace loving people” into orgies of anarchy, well Zimbabweans have every right to feel insulted. This century’s revolutionaries certainly do not need a figure head, just the politics of the belly – among other body parts -  are enough to push grannies and teenagers to the streets. Tsvangirai the fall guy. Go figure.

From Business-ethics.com:

When the Egyptian government created a partial communications blackout on Thursday, shutting Internet and cell-phone service, it asked for the cooperation of foreign mobile phone companies. UK-based Vodafone complied, saying it had no choice but to cut service.

In a statement issued Saturday, Vodafone said the Egyptian government would have been able to shut the network itself anyway, all within the bounds of Egyptian law. Mobinil, another major provider, which is owned in part by France Telecom, also complied.

Did they have any choice?

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You can’t be apolitical. It will come and get you. It’s not that you shouldn’t be neutral. It’s that you won’t be able to stay neutral.
- Christopher Hitchens