My colleague who was arrested on Saturday has still not been released, nor have any of the other 45 detainees including Munyaradzi Gwisai and Hopewell Gumbo. Seven of them were meant to appear in court today and were expected to be charged as organisers of the Saturday meeting – the remainder, including my colleague, thought they would be going home today. Instead, no one appeared in court, and it sounds like police are applying for a warrant for further detention.

I am angered enough by the fact of these 46 people festering in police cells for four nights for no good reason. I’m even more angered by reports that some have been tortured in police custody. Gwisai, for example, reportedly needs help to walk, he has been so badly beaten.

I’m further angered by the reason why these 46 are in custody: They were having a discussion about recent events in North Africa. They watched a video of news clips – the same news clips anyone with satellite television or YouTube access could have watched for themselves.

Some people argue this is a positive development – like look, the regime is scared enough to take this meeting seriously. Others find a silver lining, in that this prolonged detention has sparked email petitions and Facebook pages and news headline and barroom discussions that would otherwise not have happened – like if the regime hadn’t made such a big deal by arresting these people, the meeting would have come and gone and barely made a ripple. Now? There are waves.

But me? I’m just angry. I’m angry and I want them out now.

I’m angry because it’s events like this that put paid to the big lie which is the GPA. It’s not an inclusive government; it’s a regime in Fat Face’s clothing.

I’m angry at myself – for naively thinking that these 46 wouldn’t be arrested when the police appeared at the meeting, and then for thinking that they would be released on Monday, and then for thinking that they would be released on Tuesday. And I’m angry with myself for allowing myself to become so inured to this regime that the fact of the police at the meeting seems normal.

And I’m angry for not having any idea about where to take this anger – for having no idea of a constructive outlet for it. What can I do for my colleague and these 45 other individuals? Who can I appeal to with any hope of success? I feel like the people who might listen don’t have any power. And the people who have power would never listen.

This entry was posted on February 22nd, 2011 at 9:43 pm by Amanda Atwood and is filed under Activism, Governance, Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.