Those hopes, you reply, are in tatters. Yet what does this really change? Justice is still a one-word prayer, as Ziggy Marley sings in your time now. The whole of history is about hopes being sustained, lost, renewed. And with new hopes come new theories. But for the overcrowded, for those who have little or nothing except, sometimes, courage and love, hope works differently. Hope is then something to bite on, to put between the teeth. Don’t forget this. Be a realist. With hope between the teeth comes the strength to carry on even when fatigue never lets up, comes the strength, when necessary, to choose not to shout at the wrong moment, comes the strength above all not to howl. A person, with hope between his or her teeth is a brother or sister who commands respect. Those without hope in the real world are condemned to be alone. The best they can offer is only pity. And whether these hopes between the teeth are fresh or tattered makes little difference when it comes to surviving the nights and imagining a new day.
- John Berger, Hold Everything Dear

Munyaradzi Gwisai, co-ordinator of the Internationalist Socialist Organisation organised a meeting on Saturday, 19th February, to discuss the uprisings in Tunisia and Egypt. Gwisai and 44 others (including a Kubatana member of staff) were arrested. Subsequently they are being charged with treason.

That means YOU, ME, Gwisai, Mugabe himself, the ice cream seller and the airtime vendor could all be charged with treason.

Why? Because hundreds of thousands of Zimbabweans have been watching the events in North Africa unfold on satellite TV. We’ve been reading about it in a number of newspapers and magazines freely available in Zimbabwe. We’ve been following news on the Internet, and we have been listening to radio broadcasts. We have been talking about the political events in North Africa in supermarkets, pubs, on the soccer fields and in our homes. We’ve been writing about Tunisia and Egypt in emails, in blogs, in columns on web sites and on FaceBook pages.

In other words we are an integral part of the Forty-Five unjustly incarcerated.

Speak out now. Join the campaign to Free the Forty-Five.

ACTION:

Please text or email Kubatana a message of support and solidarity for the Forty-Five and we will deliver these messages to them to keep their spirits up. Join Us. Share the Word. Get your fingers working for freedom.

At every opportunity we must protect our right to free speech, and challenge any attempt to silence us.

Text us on: +263-772-452201
Email us on: info [at] kubatana [dot] net

Please let us know if you would like to remain anonymous.

Here is a list of the detainees. Each one is more than just a name. They are a mother, a sister, a brother, a father, and a friend.

Munyaradzi Gwisai, Antonater Choto, Tatenda Mombeyarara, Michael Sozinyu, Edson Chakuma, Hopewell Gumbo, Welcome Zimuto, Philip Magaya, Prolific Simbarashe Mataruse, Godknows Biya, David Mupatse, Douglas Muzanenhamo, Reki Jimu, Ganizani Nunu, Josphat Chinembiri Terenyika, Strutton Nyaya Muhambi, Trevor Chamba, Clarence Mugari, Munyaradzi Maregedze, Willie Tinashe Hlatswayo, Ian Muteto, Tinashe Mutazu, Pride Evidence Mukono, Lenard Kamwendo, Tinashe Chisaira, Trust Munyama, Peter Garanewako, Elizaberth Chipo Makume, Megline Malunga, Daison Bango, Malvern Hobwana, Tashinga Mudzengi, Ednar Chabalika, Thokozile Mathe,
Francesca Thomson, Masline Zvomuya, Nhamo Kute, Annie Chipeta, Tabeth Chideya, Charles Mbwandarikwa, Thomas Chibaya, Fatima Manhando, Blessing Muguzaya, Robert Muhlaba, Tinashe Muzambi

Resistance takes place any time a man or woman rebels to the point of tearing off the clothes resignation has woven for them, and cynicism has dyed grey.
Zapatista Marcos

A Poem for Zimbabwe

i am the only one
you are the only one.

the birds and the rivers
sing to me,
they speak in your voice.

if i fall silent
you will be silent too.
if i fall silent
your wounds will be named silence.

i am a piece of you
and you are a piece of me.

the blood in my veins is you.
listen to the rhythm
of the stream of my blood
and the echoes from the hills,
mixed with gentle ripples
of the waters in the fast stream.

but with time
you will hear your voice
in the blue skies of my heart.

in the dark clouds of my soul
you will hear a voice
that tells the story of your forgotten voices
of birds long dead
of elephants crippled by guns
of orphans you do not deserve.

© 2003, Chenjerai Hove

According to an article in NewsDay, the Zimbabwe Electricity Supply Authority (ZESA), is going to allow consumers to “stagger” their bill payments. I guess all is fair in love. After all we get staggered power supply. Monday, Tuesday and Thursday last week I had no power. But I guarantee you that my bill at the end of the month will be as high, if not higher. Plus my bill will be late. Plus ZESA won’t or can’t stick to a Staggered Power Schedule so that we can plan our lives. You know those small things like working, and eating. ZESA insists that consumers pay on time, ie to fulfill their part of the bargain. But they don’t match that with any professionalism in terms of providing an accurate and transparent billing system, or regular power supply.

A press statement just in from Women and Men of Zimbabwe Arise (WOZA):

Press statement

Women and Men of Zimbabwe Arise (WOZA)

Four women from Robert Sinyoka Suburb in Bulawayo have been arrested and are currently being assaulted and tortured in custody.

At noon Saturday 4 March, Glory Ncube arrived in Robert Sinyoka to visit her sick mother. She was arrested by plain clothed police driving a cream double cab. They drove her to her home in Old Pumula and thoroughly searched her home for WOZA material. They then drove past Nomsa Sibanda’s house and seeing her outside, grabbed her without occupants of her house even realising. It seems they then came across Monica Shema and Beatrice Ngwenya on the road waiting for transport to town and promptly grabbed them too. All four activists were taken to Bulawayo Central Police station. Human Rights lawyer Kossam Ncube managed to see them but was told to return on Sunday at which point an investigating officer could have been appointed.

Nomusa Sibanda is a nursing mother of a one year old.

WOZA members are reporting heavy presence of police and army and ‘youth’ who are drunk and violently beat up anyone indiscriminately. These police officers have been going around telling people to be in their homes by 8:30pm and if they disobey they will be severely beaten. Many members have witnessed beating of people as they try to go about their business. The same security forces are also telling people to never group in more than 3 people and if they do, they are beaten. The police have also been conducting serious ‘stop and search’ of people in all suburbs and also in town. Member’s recall last seeing this level of security during the 1982 crack down by the 5th Brigade. The country seems to be in the grip of an undeclared state of emergency.

Relatives feeding the four women confirm they have swollen faces and hands. Nomsa was unable to hold or feed her baby brought to her Sunday morning.

WOZA wish to call on SADC guarantors of the global political agreement to urgently send a delegation to Zimbabwe to visit the suburbs and observe this crack down by security forces before there is loss of life. Additionally, we ask for them to hold police accountable for their proper role in society instead of arresting people arbitrarily when they are going about their business peacefully.