As I’ve mentioned before one of the most invigorating aspects of working in an organization like Kubatana.net is getting to hear and read the remarkable information and ideas created by our subscribers.

We are also privileged to be able to receive information from far flung corners of the country, and share it further.

A farmer down in Chiredzi sent this through yesterday:

Dangerously unhappy – I am getting many SMS messages from the MDC youth now desperately looking for guns, saying that they are tired of been chased and beaten by Mugabe’s youth, obviously I do not have arms to give them and so tell them that Morgan wants all his people to stay calm and peaceful. My and many others question is, when the people have obviously won an election but the losers do not intend to hand over, how do the people force the losers out peacefully? If somebody has an answer to this question, please let me know so that I can pass it on and so give hope to our people and help to prevent a blood bath.

Some people have responded to our various blogs saying that we must be patient and that Morgan’s diplomatic shuffle, and the international community, will put the situation right in Zimbabwe. But like all complicated issues, there is never just one solution, and right now people in Zimbabwe are crying out for leadership. With Tsvangirai and Biti out of the country, who do we look to for direction and strategy?

Many of us are looking inwards and invoking our individual leadership and helping others. But there is a need for the MDC to get active again.

Here are some useful tips sent to us by a passionate man committed to Zimbabwe’s restoration. More than take note – take some of them on!

We need to counter Zanu PF tactics

Communication
Fliers, newspapers, rallies, SMS, emails, international media

Violence and Intimidation
Build while they burn
Support teams of activists to stand up to the bullies
We must document the violence, get it into the media and expose the perpetrators

Civil Disobedience
Create doubt among Zanu PF
Name and Shame
Expose them, assets, deals etc.

In the event of a Run-off
Pre-election Strategies
Election Day Strategies

The ordinary person can – at no personal exposure

* Forward SMS messages of encouragement to friends and colleagues every day
* Drive with their headlights on and encourage others to do the same
* Give people lifts – especially the police and army personnel – let them do the talking
* Talk to friends about the situation – keeping positive, encouraging and creating awareness

The next steps (as people become braver) could be:

* Open palm salutes to everyone throughout the day
* More open discussion and encouragement
* The distribution of newspaper articles and fliers

From most of you we expect a lot more – we expect you to take charge, LEAD

This entry was posted on April 23rd, 2008 at 12:09 pm by Bev Clark and is filed under Activism, Elections 2008, Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.