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Suppressing demos will invite bloody violence
Comment, The Standard (Zimbabwe)
September 17, 2006

http://www.thestandard.co.zw/viewinfo.cfm?linkid=21&id=4779

THE government never learns. No amount of force will quell genuine grievances.

Last week's arrest of workers' leaders and brutal suppression of the demonstration of the Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions (ZCTU) by police showed just how scared the government is of public disaffection with its mismanagement of the country.

The government is also aware that its days are numbered. More importantly, it is haunted by recognition of its incompetence at finding a viable solution to the myriad problems it has created for this country. It is precisely its inability to fashion creative alternatives to the current crises that causes it to react with such disproportionate intensity and brutality.

For some time the labour movement has sought to engage the government and employers through the Tripartite Negotiating Forum, but the outcome has always been inconclusive. The government insists the parties should return to the negotiating table - without addressing the reasons why previous attempts have failed to produce an agreement.

In its panic, the government frames any public manifestation of discontent with the way it has mismanaged the country as a regime change agenda. It is this obsession with its ouster that clouds the manner in which it looks at issues that are genuine. There is no regime change agenda when the people protest that they cannot make ends meet. There is no regime change agenda when people demand access to anti-retroviral treatment. There is no regime change agenda when the people demand a new beginning. There is no regime change agenda when the people protest against increasing impoverishment. There is no regime change agenda when the people protest the betrayal of the goals of the struggle for independence.

In cranking up its propaganda machine, the government declared the ZCTU-led mass action had failed. Only imbeciles would believe such puerile offerings. By deploying police details onto the streets of the urban centres almost a week before last Wednesday's strike, the government made sure protesters would not be allowed freedom to stage a demonstration. The demonstration did not flop because it was never afforded the space.

By arresting the leadership of the labour movement, the government intended to deprive the workers of their leaders during the demonstration.

But the government has a short memory. The history of the struggle for independence in this country teaches us that no amount of force can keep people oppressed forever. Time will come when they will be prepared to sacrifice their lives in order to gain freedom.

The government also does not learn that when it uses force to suppress peaceful protest, the oppressed will resort to violence. That is how the freedom fighters decided on a change of tactics in confronting the regime of Ian Smith.

The struggle for independence started as a peaceful demonstration but evolved into an armed struggle because of the intransigence of Smith's government. The government needs to appreciate that when it is the one that promotes and practises violence and the use of force, the next demonstration will not be peaceful.The government may have survived for another day, but deep down they understand how increasingly unpopular they have become because of their intolerance to alternative views. The clock is ticking and their days are numbered.

Freedom can only be denied temporarily. It can never be denied permanently. The government's penchant for the good life is legendary for a country on its knees. It is lack of empathy for the plight of the workers that fuels increasing discontent and no amount of force can suppress it.

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