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Creating the tipping point: United Front is the way forward
Briggs
Bomba
August
28, 2006
http://www.newzimbabwe.com/pages/opinion185.14626.html
The cruel impact
of the Zimbabwean crisis on the lives of ordinary Zimbabweans can
no longer be fully described through terms such as rate of inflation,
percentage unemployment, GDP, and so forth. Today one has to talk
in terms of the complete dehumanization and social breakdown that
is ripping the nation apart. The breakdown of families, increasing
levels of domestic violence, the violent crime that is getting out
of hand and premature deaths and sickness related to the hopeless
situation of abject poverty that the majority has been condemned
to. The crisis is now eating away at the very social fabric that
defined us as a people. Families can no longer come together even
in times of mourning because traveling costs have become prohibitive.
So everyone has been condemned to their own lonely space. In the
ghettoes, young people whose dreams have been mercilessly shattered
are now forced to become beasts preying on each other. Would have
been engineers and responsible community members are now thugs and
prostitutes on the streets gambling with death. So desperate is
the situation that thousands of mostly young people are braving
the crocodile infested Limpopo river for perceived greener pastures
which mostly turn out to be a dehumanizing nightmare.
On the other
hand the Mugabe regime is in a state of thoughtless denial, refusing
to wake up to the unsustainability of the status qou and childishly
hoping that this crisis can be contained through repression. To
show how completely removed from reality the regime has become,
last week the government splashed hundreds of millions of US dollars
on fighter planes and luxury vehicles. This at a time when people
are desperate with no medicine in hospitals, food shortages, perennial
fuel crisis and company closures due to forex shortages. No wonder
why some rightly ask if this is a curse worse than Malawi under
Banda; rule by an irrational dictator who lacks even the decency
to die on time.
The main question
today is how to unlock the current political stalemate and create
a tipping point in favour of masses. It is in this regard that the
recent initiatives through the Christian Alliance to unite Zimbabwe’s
progressive forces in the democratization and socio-economic transformation
struggle must be welcomed as a long overdue move. One cannot over-emphasize
the need to regroup progressive forces to a common platform if the
democratization struggle is to move forward. The Christian Alliance
initiative, which resonates with calls that have been coming from
a number of quarters, is probably the most important opportunity
yet for a united democratic front and all efforts must be made to
critically support it. Critical support at this stage is indispensable
when one considers the fact that we have had a plethora of ‘Broad
Alliance’ initiatives that mostly suffered the same fate of a stillbirth.
Most of these alliances were exposed when they could not mobilize
anything near a coherent response to Operation Murambatsvina last
year. We must be able to say what is different with this new alliance
so that it does not suffer the same fate. This is the time to ask
questions why previous ‘broad alliances’ some going by that very
name failed and what must be done now to create a functional united
front.
There should
not even be a question on whether a united front is necessary. The
undeniable fact in any sincere analysis of the current status of
the broad opposition in Zimbabwe today is that no opposition group
has the capacity on its own to create a tipping point. A fact needs
to be acknowledged that the MDC is no longer the lion that roared
in 1999 when the people broadly endorsed the MDC to carry the mandate
to lead the process of democratization and socio-economic crisis.
At that point the MDC became the common platform to which everyone
in the ‘democratization’ struggle ultimately channeled their energies
through. Unions used the MDC Chinja Maitiro slogan at labour forums,
in the student movement back then Chinja Maitiro became a war cry
at our rallies, people in civic society were using their phones
and time to inform on MDC activities and mobilize support, a lot
of groups were even selling cards recruiting people. This built
a whirlpool of resistance that handed Mugabe a defeat in the referendum
and almost won the 2000 parliamentary elections. Today’s reality
is a completely different scenario. Especially after the
2002 presidential
elections there has been a steady withdrawal of movements, organizations
and individuals to their own sectoral platforms. The split in the
MDC was probably the lowest point along this withdrawal path as
the ‘spagetti mix’ of 1999 came face to face with contradictions
in its ingredients. It is therefore clear that a united front that
regroups all progressive forces is critically important in moving
forward the democratization process. A united front built in good
faith by all stakeholders has the potential create a tipping point
and unleash another massive wave of resistance that can take down
Mugabe through the ballot, the bible, or toyi toyi on the streets.
Whichever way.
The biggest
crisis of broad alliance politics in Zimbabwe is that most of the
times it is not even top to bottom but just top-level alliance.
The grassroots is always left out and the broad alliance ends up
being reduced to a meeting of the top leadership of a few organizations.
Such a broad alliance obviously is extremely handicapped as a vehicle
to advance the transformation agenda. To build a massive wave of
resistance you need a mass alliance and therefore the question of
mass grassroots engagement is of vital importance. A constant question
that must be asked is, where are the people? So a deliberate process
of going back to the masses and consulting on the stalemate itself
and the process of moving forward is crucial. A new united front
mandate and commitment must be sort from the people through a thorough
process of national consultation, which at the same time works to
effectively remobilize people. This consultation must be at the
scale of the VOTE NO campaign involving community based processes
and engaging all stakeholders. Such a consultation is different
from rallies. In fact it cannot be done at rallies. Because you
want people to speak, take responsibility and own the process. So
this has to be small community and shopfloor based meetings. Rallies
can only be the culmination.
Building a united
front now must be confused as meaning the same thing as uniting
the split factions of the MDC. The only viable united front is one
that creates enough space for all progressive forces to make a contribution.
And yes, including those in or were in Zanu PF. This must include
all progressive faith based organizations and the progressive churches,
labour, community based organizations, women’s movements and organizations
like WOZA,
youth organizations, HIV/AIDS groups, residents, cross border traders,
artists, students, social forum constituencies, civic groups, opposition
political parties and unaffiliated individuals. A strong commitment
from the leadership in all these sectors to forge an alliance and
mobilize their constituencies as part of a united front program
can create the tipping point and tilt the game in favour of the
democratic forces. And obviously such a united front can only work
on the basis of democratic principles and this is why some have
been playing with phrases like United Democratic Front. The progressive
church in particular can play a key role in facilitating this regroupment.
Beyond the commitment
to forge a united front, the next important thing is the ideological
orientation such a formation assumes. Whilst acknowledging the fact
that broad alliance politics by definition ultimately imply compromising
on each one’s maximum program to a common denominator, to mobilize
the wider masses progressive forces need to reclaim the radical
democratic agenda that informed the massive struggles we waged in
nineties culminating in the formation of the MDC. Whilst terms like
legitimacy, governance, and constitution are legitimate the ordinary
man and woman on the street interprets the crisis more in terms
of its socio-economic havoc. Thus we must articulate our agenda
in terms of questions of hunger, poverty, wages, availability of
ARVs, affordable sanitary pads, student grants, water and electricity
cut offs, collapse of municipal services, harassment of cross border
traders and vendors, food shortages, transport costs, price increases,
access to land and so on. This is the language that will resonate
with people’s day-to-day lives and together with the civil liberties
must form the basis of a People’s Charter. But such an agenda for
socio-economic transformation cannot be stated in abstract. The
world over we now know how ESAP and neo-liberalism condemns the
vast majority of the people to suffer in conditions of desperate
poverty. Thus progressive forces need to make a commitment to an
anti-ESAP agenda if we are serious in wanting to resolve poverty.
This fundamentally means that we must advocate from this very moment
for a people centered economy.
Lastly there
is a question on tactics and strategies. Sometimes you get a sense
that people are now begging for talks with Mugabe. Whilst we must
welcome anything positive that can come out of talks we need to
know that Mugabe never surrenders anything on a silver platter and
has no ears for words like please. So, in order to create a tipping
point, there is no option besides rebuilding united mass resistance
starting with small confidence rebuilding measures. As a united
democratic front people can then democratically decide on whether
to talk, participate in an election or engage in an active boycott.
Despite Mugabe’s claims of recent reincarnation as a ghost with
doctor certified bones of a 28 year old, the old man is at his most
vulnerable. His regime is completely clueless on how to contain
the economic meltdown, his party is riddled in corruption and gangster
factionalism, and his traditional social base including war veterans
and the peasantry is now questioning its loyalty. Hence this is
the time to organize and prepare for a decisive challenge.
Shinga Mushandi
Shinga / Qina Msebenzi Qina! – History is on our side, We shall
overcome!
*Briggs
Bomba is a social justice activist; he can be contacted at briggsbomba@yahoo.com
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