Robert Mugabe spent 11 years in jail for his role as one of several leaders fighting for independence. The playing field was distinctly uneven and brutal. Yet the nationalists persevered in their quest for freedom. Today, Morgan Tsvangirai has, on moral grounds, pulled out of a watershed election for the same country.

The first point is, while participating in any civic struggle for justice is a personal choice, its abandonment, by those you follow, days before the final hurdle represents a betrayal of those who have suffered and continue to suffer at the hands of the regime one is seeking to replace. We have seen in television clip after television clip, interviews of people lying in extreme pain on their hospital beds vowing that they will still vote for the MDC regardless of what has happened to them. Who will provide them with closure now that their suffering has been rendered “meaningless” by the withdrawal by a leader who used to love “consulting” with the people before taking on any major decision?

The second point is Morgan Tsvangirai has made a moral decision because the people are being battered. I think that Morgan has been battered in to submission and he did not have the courage of his convictions to see this through. Why would he be prepared to negotiate a deal with someone he considers a monster? What deal will they come up with? How will Morgan justify sitting in a government of national unity after this? Could he not have participated in this election under protest?

So while it is understandable, the cold fact is he has handed Robert Mugabe victory on a “technicality” and that, from a legal point of view, still counts as a victory. This means his decision is not excusable. The fight for freedom has always been, at the very bottom of bottom lines, a “give me liberty or death” battle and Morgan and his advisors have failed the nation on this count. I know it is easier to say from behind a keyboard but Morgan’s role is that of a leader and mine is that of a commentator who actually pitched up for the final push on two successive days, ready to die for the country. Do not get me wrong, what has been going on is reprehensible but is the road to freedom, the world over, not littered with corpses and broken limbs?

Even the silent ants
Trampled upon by giant elephants
Do sing a silent song
They shall surely know
How to shoot
The great foot
Weighing heavily on them

~ Albert Nyathi

It seemed as if the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) had given up on the notion that regional leaders and the international community would, or could, help Zimbabwe out of the current crisis. In fact Tendai Biti stated recently that the international community could not be looked to for support.

Then this weekend the MDC pulled out of the election citing a very good reason: the unfair electoral environment, which includes very high levels of state orchestrated violence. But worryingly, the MDC believes that their withdrawal from the election will encourage SADC and regional leaders to put pressure on Mugabe to either step down or negotiate a settlement to end the crisis in Zimbabwe.

Mugabe, however, does not negotiate.

And while the MDC’s withdrawal from the election appears to be supported by much of the electorate, any suggestion of a Government of National Unity (GNU) is met with rejection.

The MDC needs to immediately set down some demands to test the political will of our neighbours and international supporters. Let’s start by asking South Africa to impose full sanctions, both economic and travel, on Zimbabwe sending Mugabe a very clear message that enough is enough.

I believe that our neighbours will continue to lead Tsvangirai by the nose, placating him with suggestions that progress will be made through peace talks.

Peace talks with a dictator whose election posters proclaim that this is the “final battle for total control?”

I received an email about an interactive discussion under the theme Feminist Currents. I quite like the concept of currents. That individuals tap into ideas, debate, and formulate expressions around various issues. In these spaces individual and collective thought processes foster intellectual growth and abilities to envision and act on long-term strategies for the redress of injustices. In Zimbabwe there are currents which desire political change – and in my mind, they are feminist currents.

The interactive discussion proposed to examine feminist currents through posing questions, including: Was Elizabeth Edwards right when she claimed her husband (democratic candidate John Edwards) was more of a feminist than Hillary Clinton? Who should Black women support: Obama or Clinton? These two questions got me thinking about what feminism is all about and why it’s often a taboo word in Zimbabwe. Seems to me the taboo-ness is a result of narrowly equating feminism to a singular (Western) line of thought only concerning (white) women. More accurately, feminisms concern men, women, and children regardless of the colour of their skin. They seek to represent a range of voices which outline affinities and differences while also attending to the sundry mixture of divergences and paradoxes to build more pliable understandings of and solutions to complex issues within the human condition. Simply put, feminisms are lines of thinking. They are expansive, inclusive, attentive to diversity, and vibrant currents aiming to advance positive change. A poem by Betty Makoni of the Girl Child Network serves as a useful reminder of what is meant by feminist currents and the ways they are visionary. The poem was published by Pambazuka and is entitled Promises, Choices, Spaces: Voices for Women. The opening stanza is as follows:

Ever seen a four every word punctuated title?
Question mark? comma, full stop. exclamation mark ! in one
Women lives full of thus
Patriarchy domineering , feminism under backlash
Women have negotiated, still negotiate, will ever negotiate
Promises promised, never premised
Spaces shrunk, voices thwarted
Seems this men’s world, makes and breaks laws
Makes and breaks promises
Women lives punctuated, back and forth

Yes, Makoni’s poem focuses on women. However, the stanza above and the piece overall articulates feminist currents which are about change as well as the ideas, hopes, dreams, and intellect pertaining to peace and equality. I made a few word changes in the poem to further emphasis the relevance feminist currents hold in Zimbabwe and the world over.

Promises, Choices, Spaces: Voices for Zimbabweans

Ever seen a four every word punctuated title?
Question mark? comma, full stop. exclamation mark! in one
Zimbabwean lives full of thus
Patronage domineering, equality under backlash
Citizens have negotiated, still negotiate, will ever negotiate
Promises promised, never premised
Spaces shrunk, voices thwarted
Seems this government’s world, makes and breaks laws
Makes and breaks promises
Too many lives punctuated, back and forth

Yesterday, The MDC announced that it is withdrawing from Friday’s presidential run off election, citing state-sponsored violence and a subversion of the electoral process.

We asked our subscribers to text and email us their thoughts on this announcement. The responses in favour of the withdrawal dramatically outweighed those who opposed the decision – by a factor of about 4:1. Those in favour of the withdrawal mainly hoped that this would ease the violence prevailing in Zimbabwe. Those opposed saw the withdrawal as a betrayal of the MDC’s promise of change.

We share some of these responses below:

Supporting withdrawal

Bold decision. Who was going to cast a secret vote when all people are listed in a book & given numbers to check who you voted for?

—–

From a naive point of view it might seem as if its an ill advised move however if you go beyond the obvious Tsvangirai has once again showed the world what being a true leader is thus the decision was very calculating and that’s what Zimbabwe needs.

—–

I do believe that under the current circumstances this was the right choice. The loss of life cannot in anyway justify an election that has been fraught with problems from day one.

—–

Its necessary for him to pull out of the run-off becoz pple have killed and many have lost their homes.

—–

MDC Pull out in the face of violence saves lives. But what’s our plan B 2avoid political irrelevance & redundancy?

—–

Positive move coz contesting will legitimize a fraudulent election and saves pple here in Chiweshe where we witnessed a gruesome attack yesterday where a whole family was killed.

—–

Good idea. Leave those greedy for power rule. Their selfishness will soon be exposed. Innocent blood has been shed. Let it be.

—–

I really think it’s in order it’s certainly better than engaging in an exercise whose sole reason is to legitimise a despotic ruler.

Opposed to withdrawal

When dozens of Zimbabweans died in Chimio Mugabe did not stop the struggle or pull out he even offered more grit despite the deaths. Now with less than 100 pple dead Tsvangirai is pulling out of a historic election it is a betrayal to the 70+ pple that have died 4 a new beginning.

—–

As a fellow citizen I definitely condemn such a move as l believe this is a betrayal of the people’s revolution.

—–

He shld have nt withdrawn he would have betrayed the people who died got beaten displaced for him. In any struggle there are causalities.

—–

If he pulls out we r dead. The violence we r facing is more than we can take.

—–

No he must not pull out as it gives us a chance to show our views becoz we have been beaten others killed that we be for nothing.

—–

Tsvangirai must participate in the run-off his position to pull out is a cowardly act and a betrayal to all those killed and assaulted in the name of change.

—–

Our pres Tsvangirai has let e pple down & he throws away e hopes 4 a betta zim after so many deaths from our fellow MDC Supporters. He must b a man a stand e fight.

—–

Morgan should not withdraw from the elections. If he does so, he will have betrayed the movement and he will have betrayed us, as his supporters. What Morgan should understand is that there is no easy road to democracy. He has experienced that through these years after being tormented, beaten and persecuted by the Mugabe regime. The killings, intimidations and beatings currently taking place should not make Morgan to reverse his participation decision. This is a sign that ZANU PF’s rule is about to come to an end. The God of the moment is about to deliver us from the rule of ZANU PF. The example is provided for in the bible. Not all of the children of israel reached Cannan. Same applies to our situation. Not all of us will reach the New Zimbabwe. Some of us will die on the way, the other ones will reach hospitalised, whilst others will get into the new Zimbabwe with bruises. This situation should not dishearten Morgan. We are with him. We will not let him down and God is with him. This is a do or die situation and he can not give up at the last minute.

I took myself to a café this morning for some quiet Sunday reading – the Human Rights Watch report on state-sponsored violence since Zimbabwe’s 29 March elections.

Its title is derived from a chilling comment made by soldiers addressing villagers in Karoi: “You have seen the bullets. We have enough for each one of you, so beware if you vote for MDC in the presidential runoff election.”

The report uses personal testimonies to tell the stories of post election violence. It illustrates how blatantly the very name of Operation Makavhoterapapi (How did you vote) violates the notion of being free to vote for the candidate of your choice, according to your conscience. How can my vote be my secret if the government then launches a campaign to punish me because of how I voted?

Human Rights Watch describes how the violence has followed polling station returns – in places where a polling station showed many votes for the MDC, the violence has been worse. And HRW paints a vivid picture of the mindset that views being an MDC activist, or listening to Studio 7 VOA, or being friends with an MDC supporter, as a criminal activity, deserving of punishment.

But the report does not really examine why things have gotten that way. It doesn’t ask what makes someone so angry they would beat someone else with a log. It doesn’t examine what the “youths” who do the beating are told that make them willing to be so brutal. And it doesn’t examine why their higher-ups tell them those things in the first place. To me, these are the real questions.

For the higher-ups, clearly, the answer lies in what they have to lose, and what they risk being held accountable for should they lose the protection of their position. But

I came across a Harriet Tubman quotation the other day which resonated with me: “If I could have convinced more slaves that they were slaves, I could have freed thousands more.” Maybe it sounds presumptuous. But I think there’s a lot of truth in that. Right now, Zanu PF is effectively convincing people that the causes of unemployment, inflation and the country’s collapse rest with the MDC, the British, the imperialists and the colonisers. In the absence of accessible information which counters this, some people accept this explanation, and then act accordingly.

Regardless of whether Friday’s election happens, and how it turns out, if we are ever to rebuild this country, one of the biggest jobs ahead of us is to make widely accessible impartial, reasoned, clear and convincing explanations for why we have gotten to where we are.