The likes of the Bob arse licker, Caesar Zvayi, are particularly nauseating to the likes of me who receives and processes a vast amount of human rights information from all over Zimbabwe. The reports, photographs and documentaries that Kubatana.net has published bear witness to the post election brutality that Zanu PF is responsible for. As I write this I’ve just heard that injured MDC supporters taking shelter in a church in one of Harare’s high density areas have been rounded up and taken away by Mugabe’s police force. Zvayi accuses Biti and Tsvangarai of being shrill. Whilst he’s right that there isn’t “genocide” in Zimbabwe, there is, as the BBC described it, “electoral cleansing”. We are getting reports from all corners of Zimbabwe describing horrific cases of post election violence.

Zvayi, one of the state-controlled Herald newspaper’s most poisonous pens, goes on to say

What is more Zanu-PF has been on the ground since March 29 while the MDC-T leadership have been gallivanting on a purported “diplomatic offensive” which appears to have backfired spectacularly because, apart from Levy Mwanawasa who has apparently never recovered from that horrible accident that nearly claimed his life, no other sane African leader bought Tsvangirai’s wild claims.

Certainly Zanu-PF has been on the ground since March 29 beating peoples heads in; this is Zanu-PF’s tried and tested method of election (pre and post) campaigning.

Increasingly I’ve been noticing that the term “activist” does not have a neat and simple place here in Zimbabwe. Spaces for overt, take to the streets with placards activism can end up quickly (and forcefully) closed while the term “activist” also seems to rest in a contested space. For some the term rolls off the tongue as fast and as often as a gecko’s tongue takes in insects. Many take actions as “activists” around gender, HIV/AIDS, sexuality, women’s rights, governance, and most broadly, human rights. Others see the term as not exactly their cup of tea and might feel association with the term puts them in danger. For sure, to identify as an “activist” makes one a target. The most obvious targeting carries legal and safety ramifications. Also, “activists” are targets for short-sighted criticism. Women’s rights or gender activism does not equate to man-hating. No form of activism is ever about hate. There’s risk of viewing hesitancies individuals might have to embrace “activist” as a cowardly or lazy stance; that one is leaving activism to others. But really… is that one little term and only that term what’s actually noteworthy?

Some years ago, the Nordic Africa Institute in Uppsala, Sweden undertook a project to examine how the political and economic situation in Zimbabwe is influencing the arts. Recently, Professor Patricia Alden from St. Lawrence University in New York conducted further research along these lines, and wrote an essay entitled Days of Wrath, Days of Crisis.

In both cases, the research makes evident the ways artistic endeavors serve as lenses to compel us to think about issues in new ways. Alden describes Zimbabwean writing as an “on-going power struggle with the state.” She highlights that writers tend to “eschew dealing with ‘politics’ or the government directly, while remaining fully absorbed in the task of recording the present moment, particularly the human consequences of governmental policies and the marked development of class differences among black Zimbabweans.” And I’ve also had writers tell me they feel strongly that fiction has the power to tell truths. Does this mean an evening of reading by candlelight due to power cuts involves soaking in the work of “activist” novelists? Or maybe more that dissent, protest, and transgression represent long term and varied engagements focused on pivoting the center (to borrow Chandra Mohanty’s term). Exposing truths as a way to mark that which unjustly dominates; thus, developing strategies to build peaceful and equitable futures.

I’ve been fortunate to have the opportunity to learn more about three arts-related initiatives: The Zimbabwe Poets for Human Rights forum run by CADET (Confronting Artists Development Trust), the Toyi Toyi Artz Kollektive, and Magamba!, a cultural activist network where the word is the weapon. Each of these initiatives record the present moments in powerful ways; they represent civil disobedience.

Personally, I don’t jump at the chance to call myself an activist, and I’m a bit uncomfortable with the use of war metaphors. But that’s me. What matters most is the content of engagements. Specifically, dedication to address and dismantle injustices in ways that tap into ones own strengths and as a result work to educate, probe, and break through.

For six days each year, Harare gardens often serving as home to Zimbabwean street kids roars into life with the Harare International Festival of the Arts (HIFA). 2008 is proving to be no different with just as many artists determined to perform, and just as many tourists, visitors and locals thronging the festival despite the biting costs and general hardships bedeviling the Zimbabwe.

Attendance to the Chiwoniso and Trio Ivoire show easily passed the 3000 mark. Half of the audience were foreign visitors of all races who did not understand a single Shona word but who simply loved the mbira-playing beautiful songstress affectionately known as ‘Chi’.

However the artists were not the only ones lighting up the place. HIFA is the place where the who’s who hang out, doing business or just relaxing with their families amidst a plethora of artistic entertainment. This is currently the place where one gets to rub shoulders with some of the best artists in the country.

The youth zone also captivated huge audiences with creative programs intended to involve the youth and keep the young children occupied. Children were taught, among other things, yoga and the Brazilian war dance called Capoeira. They also got the opportunity to lip-sync to their favorite songs. In the youth zone there were stands set up by organizations like Childline offering free counseling services.

*Trio Ivoire formed in 1999 when its three members met in the Ivory Coast. On plays piano, the other drums and the last, marimba. They recently released an album called Touching Africa.

At the HIVOS Poetry Cafe on May Day poetry lovers were fed with combinations of humor, political satire and protest music and poetry.

Zimbabwe Poets for Human Rights member, Tapfuma Jongwe, particularly caught the audience’s attention with a piece titled ‘Valentine’. It is the name of a woman he once loved but who left him to go to South Africa where she died suddenly. He laments the general problems lovers face in an economy such as the one prevailing in Zimbabwe. Among other things the poet points out that on Valentine’s Day, they used to have candle-lit dinners, but out of no choice this happens anyway due to the power-cuts. With Zimbabwe ailing before its 30th birthday, Jongwe asks, “What is democracy when state agents use weapons of mass destruction against defenseless university students armed only with their brains?” “What is democracy, when taxes from hard working civil servants go to build mansions in Kuala Lumpur? “What is democracy when civil servants cannot afford a single crate of lion lager and only the ‘chefs’ are well fed nowadays.”

In short, the poet espoused the loss of the meaning of Labor Day among ordinary folk.

The poetry cafe was also graced by outspoken Kenyan, Shailja Patel and Norwegian flute mistress, Linn Heidi Anderson.

Underlying themes ranged from the daily struggles of ordinary citizens oppressed by an unfriendly socio-economic and political environment to humorous descriptions of Africa being one of the greatest places to be. At the end of it all, it was clear that a lot of truth is said in jest.

Acclaimed poet and author, Ignatius Mabasa, rounded off the day with the reminder that after all is said and done, we can only look to God to salvage us from the mess we find ourselves in. Famously dubbed ‘God’s poetry’ by the press, Mabasa had the audience in stitches with his analogy of an old man who laments the fact that he can’t seem to be able to aim his manhood directly into the loo. He misses all the time and above all, he can’t seem to remember why he ‘lost’. Another acclaimed poet, Chirikure Chirikure described Mabasa’s poetry as “political pornography”.