Work! The one great sacrament of humanity from which all other things flow – security, leisure, joy, art, literature, even divinity itself. – Sean O’Casey (1884-1964)

Traditionally May Day has been left to the labour unions to commemorate in Zimbabwe. This year we ALL need to use this opportunity to protest the state of our nation post-election.

Our society is blessed with a diversity of skills and opinion – we need now more than ever to harness our efforts and ideas to bring peace and prosperity to our nation. To this end we need to be able to share information and ideas in a way that mobilises us to act positively. The weeks post-election have been filled with violence, intimidation and propaganda. We need to frame these dark realities in a motivational way, for if we don’t, we will instead spread fear, alarm and anxiety.

We would like to encourage you and your organisation/business/family/church to prepare for International Workers’ Day. Let us convert our outrage at the government’s attempts to subvert the electoral process into positive peaceful action.

Some ideas:

• hold a special church service that celebrates our right to work
• publish adverts that demand our right to a democratically elected government
• circulate fliers that remind our communities that we cannot rest until our labour for change is done
• invite friends to your home to celebrate friendship and discuss how we can continue to work for change
• organise a gathering of women to discuss how women labour for love and a better future for our families
• host a music concert that integrates messages of solidarity for those targeted by the regime’s agents of violence
• participate in a sporting event that dedicates its efforts to democracy in Zimbabwe
• hold a sponsored walk/talk/kiss-in – anything – to raise funds to assist the victims of post-election violence

Most important of all – do something that inspires you and those around you.

This entry was posted on April 23rd, 2008 at 1:34 pm by Brenda Burrell 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.