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Talks, dialogue, negotiations and GNU - Post June 2008 "elections" - Index of articles
Three men holding 12 million people hostage
Shereen
Essof, Pambazuka News
November 06, 2008
http://www.pambazuka.org/en/category/comment/51789
What is life
like for women in a country where inflation is 300 million percent
and counting? What is life like for women in a country where their
life expectancy is 34 years? What is life like for women in a country
where three men hold a nation hostage?
It is difficult
to answer these questions. In fact there are no easy answers. It
is only once you visit a country that has been torn apart that you
can fully understand the implications of this dismembering and subsequently
what constitutes life. But the media has become very good at reporting
the pulse of Zimbabwe via palatable sound bites and this reporting
has been such a recurring blip on the so-called media electro-cardiogram
that we no longer notice it, we no longer notice that it has flat-lined.
But despite
this women are fighting to stay alive. They are fighting to survive.
And in Zimbabwe right now the contradictions of this struggle run
deep. I listen to stories of women who have nothing to eat, who
forage for roots, wild fruit and rats. Stories of desperation, displacement
and despair. But the magic of capital plays interesting games in
a context of dire need and so the development of a highly sophisticated
informal economy means the deprivation coexists with plenty. And
everything and anything can be conjured up if you have the money,
just not in the places you would expect to find it: petrol is available
not at a garage, but under a tree on a quiet side road in Harare-s
avenues, at an office on the ninth floor of an office block, or
after a quick phone call to arrange a pick-up (if you can get through
given the ever breaking down mobile networks and stolen fixed line
cables). Sugar and rice can be purchased from a car boot, and chickens
from the hardware store near the train station. Some fresh produce
can be bought from women selling on the side of the road, a victory
given that roadside vendors were 'cleaned up and out-
after operation murambatsvina removed the filth, but then given
that the country has 'dollarised- you have to have 'maUSA-
- as its known locally - or US dollars to make your
purchases even of a few tomatoes, sweet potatoes or greens.
So if you don-t
have access to 'forex-, you don-t have anything
right now and basic commodities will remain an illusion. Depending
on the formal sector for jobs or access to services means you just
don-t survive. More so because there is no cash and the endless
queues outside the banks are evidence of the difficulty that women
have getting their, and you can take your pick of 're-valued-,
'de-valued-, 'under-valued-, but certainly
hard-earned cash out of the banks. This means that everyone is trying
to make a quick a buck, to wheel or deal to generate maUSA-s
and remittances from diaspora workers abroad go a long way.
And while this
may read like a comedy of errors, women, whether in the leafy suburbs
or in the remote rural areas, are tired of the struggle for survival,
of the inconveniences, of deprivation, of trying to figure out where
to get the next meal to put on the table. Women are tired of the
collapsed healthcare system, characterised by a lack of drugs, the
shortage of personnel and the breakdown of equipment. They are tired
of an ailing education system characterised by continued strikes
by teachers due to poor remuneration, lack of supplies such as textbooks
and stationery, delays in the writing of exams and in 2008, owing
to elections and political instability, schools operating for only
65 days in the year. Women have had enough of the electricity and
water cuts that sometimes last days and weeks, tired of the violence,
the grave politically motivated and sexualised violence that women
and women activists of all ages have suffered during the post-election
period and which has continued to prevail due to impunity. Women
are fatigued with having their roles dictated by the private sphere
even when entering the public and are fed up of the months and of
the retrospective years of waiting, waiting while the quality of
women-s lives continues to decline.
And
the 3 men and their teams continue to deliberate
The election
on 29 March 2008 was one in a series - eight in the last eight
years - meant to break the stranglehold of the increasingly
authoritarian Mugabe-led Zimbabwe African National Union -
Patriotic Front (ZANU-PF) regime. With the birth in 1999 of
the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC), elections as an expression
of democratic practise were meant to do just that: to reinstate
a new and democratic dispensation. But as history records, the extreme
politically motivated violence and accompanying post-election machinations
have meant that elections have lost their integrity in Zimbabwe
and the voting public are both traumatized and fatigued by the process.
The polarisation
of Zimbabwean politics means that women only have two options (now
three in truth, with the split in the MDC producing MDC Tsvangirai
(T) and MDC Mutambara (M), along with the ruling ZANU-PF). If you
take the time to examine the parties- constitutions, election
manifestos, and programmes, none adequately addresses or expresses
a commitment to the priorities and needs as identified by women,
thus none provides a really viable alternative for a new dispensation
that seeks alternatives that allow for the freedom of all. For this
freedom is not something to be decreed and protected by laws or
states, it is something that we shape for ourselves and share.
So there are
thoughts that knot my stomach in the wee hours of the morning: can
we really say that a 'new- dispensation has arrived
if over half of the population-s structurally subjugated position
at best remains the same or at worst has regressed? If we call this
a victory for a democratic movement, what does it say about our
definitions? If we are serious about the so-called change that Zimbabwe
needs, it is important to ask what is the kind of change we are
hoping for. Should we not be concerned about the quality as well
as the quantity of the change? What exactly is the prescription
or framework that will resuscitate Zimbabwe? Are we going to be
ushered into an age that is even more intolerable and dehumanising?
We live in a pitiless era of neoliberal market dependence whose
end is even more poverty and misery. It will require much more radical
thinking of what is possible and much more imagination of what is
desirable for a so-called 'new- Zimbabwe. And once the
current impasse has been overcome and the ink has dried on the agreements
and deals, what then? Will we, as we did in 1980, breathe a sigh
of relief and put our feet up, basking in the glow of 'victory-
for this 'democratic movement-? Will women be co-opted
in order to once again serve male agendas? How do feminist activists
conceptualise the work ahead?
But let me not
get carried away by critical questions for some uncertain future.
As I write in
November 2008 it has been eight months since the harmonised elections,
and subsequent South African Development Community (SADC) endorsed,
Mbeki-facilitated negotiations that put in place the Global Political
Agreement
(GPA), a hybrid document that provides a framework for the formation
of a new government and a plan for the subsequent reconstruction
of Zimbabwe. But as I write the talks between the leaders of the
political parties have deadlocked and are awaiting the deliberations
of a full SADC heads of state meeting. The media tells us that they
have deadlocked on the allocation of 'key- ministries
and apparently even with this so called 'new- dispensation
on the horizon the key ministries have been identified as: home
affairs, finance, foreign affairs, information, and defence. Surely
if this new Zimbabwe in the making was committed to rule not by
manipulation and coercion, and was serious in putting the needs
of the Zimbabwean people first, the key ministries would be identified
as that of public works, health, education, women-s affairs
and the how of the reconstruction programme would be uppermost in
their minds.
But right now
that is perhaps too much to hope for.
So while the
talks deadlock and the weeks roll into months women are sacrificed,
a country is sacrificed, a sacrifice made on the altar of power
of male ego, political survival, posturing and self interest. The
deliberation of three men is holding the country hostage, and right
now it is not clear how the current round of talks are going to
bring food back into the shops, teachers back into the schools and
medicines back into the clinics. This seems to have fallen off the
agenda.
As long as the
male leaders maintain 'ZANU- political cultures and
party specific agendas they are paying lip service to the principles
of freedom and justice outlined in the GPA and a new Zimbabwe will
be in a state of constant deadlock. As long as the talks continue
to happen behind closed doors, holding our 'new- leaders
accountable will always remain intangible.
It is
time to put the Zimbabwean people first
But while the
men talk in the golden glow of the rainbow towers in Harare, women
are saying enough! Kwete! On 16 October at the very same venue,
Zimbabwean women met, deliberated, and had the militant foresight
to engage in direct action by occupying public space in an extremely
hostile and policed environment, not only to call attention to injustices
in Zimbabwe but to catalyse action and demand that the talks end
immediately. We are on the frontline of this war and for too long
we have suffered. We want change now! We are worn down but not broken!
We are here! Look at us, starving. All we want is a 'normal-
country with 'normal- systems that work. And we want
that to come now. We will continue to create community where the
social fabric has been ripped apart, we will continue to share scarce
resources in a context of extreme deprivation, and we will continue
to fight and act, to make our voices heard in order to sustain and
make ourselves strong so we can challenge sexism and realise the
dreams and possibilities of a new Zimbabwe as full and equally participating
citizens in all spheres. But right now we demand:
- Availability
of affordable and accessible food
- Provision
of accessible clean water and electricity
- Provision
of affordable and accessible health services including antiretrovirals
(ARVs)
- Restoration
of a functional education system
- Easy access
to our cash in the banks
Zimbabwe has
suffered enough - the suffering must stop now!
These demands
are bolstered by a range of interventions being carried out around
the country by strategically placed formations that are prepared
to engage in direct action, political lobbying and pressure. It
is difficult to talk of a movement right now and I will not hazard
to do that in the space afforded me. How organisation manifests
itself in a time of crisis needs deeper, longer reflection and theorisation,
but writing while doing and reflecting while talking, women-s
organising in Zimbabwe has suffered the same fate as that of broader
civil society.
In the last
20 years the civic landscape was taken over by donor-funded NGOs
and Community Based Organisations (CBOs) who as the regime got increasingly
more repressive attempted to speak out, only to soon lose their
voice and power and thus become subsumed in the status quo or at
the very least continue to engage in activities that did not overtly
disturb the balances of power. Similarly there are civic groupings
that have aligned with political parties and have thus lost their
objectivity as they jostle to align with the balance of forces.
There are many women-s organisations in Zimbabwe operating
to meet the practical and strategic needs of women. This work is
important work.
But interestingly
there are also autonomous formations comprised of energetic, Zimbabwean
feminists who are committed to breaking down boundaries and transforming
social relations, to reduce economic and political inequality, in
short, to turn the world upside down. These women are committed
to mobilising women nationally, they work to create the spaces for
women to come together to access information, to share, reflect
and strategise in the formation of agendas, in order to more boldly
act, demand and claim what is rightly theirs. This is the painstaking
work, to use the language of the day, of movement building. It is
this political education work, this very long-term work, that seeks
to unpick centuries of socialisation, that deconstructs the forces
of patriarchy and capital, which aims to build community and create
alternatives that can be claimed now. This is the work that ensures
whatever government Zimbabwe has, women will hold it accountable.
These formations are also committed to engaging political leaders,
creating spaces for them to 'meet the women- so they
know that women are a constituency, that women are watching their
every move, and that women are prepared to act.
There
is no happiness without justice
This is difficult
and dangerous work in a context where the levels of repression and
violence are high, where surveillance is everywhere, where the space
for organising has shrunk, and the infrastructure eroded. Zimbabwe-s
polarised landscape means partisan politics further complicates.
Countless, countless women have been arrested, detained, tortured,
displaced and on their bodies carry the literal and figurative scars
to show for it. We know that no matter what the outcome it will
take several generations to undo the damage on the national psyche.
It is important
to turn our anger into action.
Women continue
to envisage a 'new- Zimbabwe and are clear about what
they want. In small and sometimes big ways women work to make the
dream of feminist futures possible, even in the harshest of environments.
We know that no matter what the outcome of this chapter of Zimbabwe-s
history, the struggle against sexism requires us to be vigilant.
We have to guard our gains and in doing this we have to continue
to engage in feminist political education. We have to continue to
build and strengthen the constituency. Women-s lives will
not change overnight and the effects of patriarchy will continue
to manifest through the range of violences that women live with
and through and against which women will continue to organise and
struggle.
This is what
we must be prepared for.
3 men
holding 12 million people hostage
And to the men
who are holding the people of Zimbabwe hostage, you are inaccessible
to women, as you are to the 12 million who constitute the last census
in Zimbabwe, some who have remained to face the daily grind, some
who are in the diaspora, and who know that making the choice to
leave is similar to having a baby and committing to have your heart
walk outside of your body for the rest of your life, and the countless
who in the intervening years have died. So to the men who are holding
the people of Zimbabwe hostage: show the political leadership that
the people of Zimbabwe need right now or ship out.
'The eternal-,
according to Spinoza, 'is now-, and women in Zimbabwe
are living history and taking it very personally. The worst cruelties
of life are its killing injustices. Zimbabwean women-s acceptance
of adversity is neither passive nor resigned. It-s an acceptance
that peers behind the adversity and discovers there something nameless.
Not a promise, for women know that (almost) all promises are broken;
rather something like a hiatus, or parentheses, in the otherwise
remorseless flow of history. And the sum total of these parentheses
is eternity and in that the knowledge that 'on this earth
there is no happiness without justice-.
* Shereen
Essof is a Zimbabwean feminist and revolutionary activist currently
based in Cape Town, South Africa.
Please credit www.kubatana.net if you make use of material from this website.
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons License unless stated otherwise.
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