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This article participates on the following special index pages:
Talks, dialogue, negotiations and GNU - Post June 2008 "elections" - Index of articles
WOZA
take to the streets of Bulawayo - No unity without bread and roses
Women
of Zimbabwe Arise (WOZA)
July 30, 2008
View images
from this demonstration here
Approximately
300 WOZA members marched through the streets of central Bulawayo
this afternoon. The aim of the march was to draw the attention of
preoccupied politicians to people's needs, namely bread and
butter issues; or as WOZA likes to put it, bread and roses issues
- bread representing food and roses representing the need for lasting
dignity. No arrests have been reported at the time of this release
although police were seen to respond after the demonstrators dispersed
showing intention to arrest participants.
The protest
also sought to test the Memorandum
of Understanding (MoU) recently signed by Zimbabwe's politicians
to determine whether freedoms of expression and assembly truly have
opened up. The MoU stated that there would be freedom of political
activity and security of persons and prevention of violence. It
further followed that there would be statements calling for an end
to violence but Zimbabweans have yet to see this in word and deed.
The representative
group of women and men marched to the offices of the Chronicle,
the state-owned newspaper. As the peaceful activists marched, they
distributed a newsletter detailing their
demands. By completing the march without incident, WOZA members
have finally laid to rest the ghost of the International Women's
Day protest
on 8th March 2008 where over 50 members received medical attention
for the brutal beating they received from riot police when attempting
to reach the Chronicle offices.
As they marched the members
sang an Ndebele song with the words: "we are going to Pretoria
- even if they arrest us or beat us and even if they have
not invited us." Signifying the need for representation at
the negotiation table to ensure a lasting solution to the crisis
in the country or else the only other option left to Zimbabweans
is going the unofficial way - by border jumping as political
or economic refugees. These are the bottom line choices for the
negotiators.
Today's
march is also the first protest conducted by WOZA after the 28th
May demonstration in Harare that resulted in 14 members being
incarcerated in remand prison for several weeks.
WOZA intend
to organise more protests over the next few weeks to press for civic
representatives to be involved in the talks and to continue to 'test'
the politician's commitment to a non-violent solution.
Visit the WOZA fact
sheet
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