The last Stay-away was not a failure it was just less successful
Protests by their very nature have their ups and
downs. It is a very difficult exercise, to sustain protests over a long period
of time. However, that said, I think the failure to understand our economy’s
new realities was at the heart of why this last stay away was “less successful”.
Under Zanu PF’s mismanagement, industries have
closed and continue to do so. A walk around Zimbabwe’s industrial areas
clarifies this picture. In city centres across the country, streets are packed, full of vendors
trying to eke a living. Every day is a struggle. A hassle to feed the family.
With no savings to rely on, demonstrations are just but a heavy burden on the
already struggling masses.
As if that was not enough, last year’s Supreme
Court, anti-labour ruling, made firing employees even easier. With no
guaranteed employment for workers, going on strikes and demonstrations is quite
a risky business. Naturally out of self-preservation, workers are reluctant to
engage in non-ending strikes and demonstrations. Unozosara kudzokera kubasa
chitupa chava pahwindo ukawedzera matambudziko gumi pazana (You will end up
getting fired, adding more problems to your already existing ones).
On top of these two main factors, you then have sceptics
sowing seeds of self-doubt in the masses asking mundane questions. What did the
stay-away/demonstration achieve? What has changed after your protest? These people
did not start today though. Yesterday they spoke in hushed tones. Today they
are shouting on top of their voices. Sometimes hiding behind pseudo intellectual
questions. Brazenly challenging people to provide #ThisFlag’s ideology and the
way forward after stay-aways/demonstrations. Their questions have managed to contaminate
people’s hopes and dilute their high spirit. People are beginning to wonder if their
actions are worth the risk they are taking.
What is
the pastor’s ideology?
Thus it is imperative that we try and answer
these questions. For the benefit of those who were about to lose hope and give
up. The question of #ThisFlag’s ideology is a non-question, #ThisFlag is a
citizen’s movement not a political movement. It’s a citizen’s movement, whereby
people are simply airing their concerns about the economy and other affairs of
the state. Including corruption and incompetence in government among other
issues. Surely people do not need to have an ideology for them to speak to
these ills. It is their right as citizens to express their displeasure at their
government’s actions or inaction. In fact, intellectuals have the moral
responsibility of analysing actions vis-à-vis their causes and motives not this
people bashing we see online.
Then
what after the stay-away/demonstration?
Now this is a very interesting question. I am more
than convinced that if it had not been asked with so much cynicism, it would
have sparked a necessary debate. In attempting to answer this question, I hope
to arouse some discussion around this difficult question. I am sure you will agree
with me that this is a conversation we must have among other conversations if
we are to succeed in removing Mugabe.
The primary objective of protesting is to
communicate to the authorities, that the people do not want a certain policy,
government action or inaction. Protests as a means of such communication can only
work when the government in question has a conscience and is willing to listen
to its people. The one we have in Zimbabwe is well known for its non-listening
policy towards its own citizens. It has neither the capacity nor the interest
to address our concerns
.
So why keep talking to someone who is not willing
to listen? Through our protests we are no longer talking to the government, we
are talking to one another as fellow citizens. Saying to each other enough is
enough. In the process re-energising the support base that was otherwise
growing weary of the ever promised but never coming change.
When we protest we are crying out to our African
brothers and sisters, telling them that things are not okay in Zimbabwe. We are
speaking to the Pan Africans that African lives matter and they do not feed
on empty rhetoric. By doing so we are putting pressure on the dictator who
flies around pretending everything is okay back home.
When we are protesting we are screaming to the
international community. Asking them to keep their eyes on Zimbabwe. Thus
making it much easier to demand electoral reforms. Much more importantly when
momentum of protest is on the ground, it is much easier to organise people to vote in their numbers and defend
the vote afterwards if necessary.
However, these protests must be taken to the rest
of the country. Since demonstrations and stay-aways are our main tools to speaking
to one another and the international community at large they must have wide
spread appeal and support in order to be heard. People in the rural areas need
to be engaged. But in a different kind of conversation since we cannot
guarantee their safety. We need to send flyers with pictures of their Zanu PF
leaders’s houses. Tell a story of affluence in the midst of poverty. Show that
their leaders’ houses cost more than schools and clinics put together in their home
districts. Prove to them beyond any doubt that their leaders do not care for
them.
Sometimes our talk and our cries are not loud
enough but that doesn’t make them failures. It means we have to talk louder and
at times, scream on top of our lungs if we must. Thomas Edison says in his
famous statement, “I have not failed. I have just found 10,000 ways that won't work”. We can only fail when we stop trying.
How do
we make the stay-away/demonstrations more successful?
In my last article which can be found here. I
state that we must accept nonviolence only if it is a superior tactic but not
because of its moral soundness. Thus we should never be apologetic for adopting
the right tactics even if they maybe too radical and morally unsound for some other
people’s liking. Since people are forced to go to work either because they are
self-employed or because they are afraid to lose their jobs they have to be
coerced not go to work.
How do you coerce people not to go to work? You
disrupt the transport system either by blocking strategic routes to and from
the cities with boulders or by spreading threats through flyers to commuter omnibus drivers that if they defy the stay-away their commuter omnibuses risk being burnt. People
must be willing to carry out these threats if the commuter omnibus drivers defy the threat. Nothing
is as damaging as an empty threat.
However as Nietzsche says “the
mother of excess is not joy but joylessness”. We have to be creative and vary
the nature of our protests. Many people disparaged the pastor for
calling people to sing Ishe komborera Africa during the Highlanders versus
Dynamos match at Barbourfields stadium. But it is such creativity we need if we
are to sustain our protests. Imagine the whole stadium waving Zimbabwe’s flag.
Putting aside our football rivalry and putting our country first. Enjoy our
football game and protesting at the same time. We need to be flexible and above
all proactive because the regime will obviously react to our actions.
Conclusion
Mugabe
can take as many pain killers as he wants but a loose tooth can not rest until
it is pulled out. The state might be able to counter the citizen’s protest today
and maybe tomorrow but as long as the citizens’ concerns are not addressed it
is just a matter of time.
OR 
