Briggs Bomba
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 dehumanisation and social breakdown that is ripping the nation apart — te 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 dehumanising nightmare.
On the other hand the regime of Robert Mugabe is in a state of thoughtless denial, refusing to wake up to the unsustainability of the status quo and childishly hoping that this crisis can be contained through repression.
To show how completely removed from reality the regime has become, 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 Hastings 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 recent initiatives through the Christian Alliance to unite Zimbabwe's progressive forces in the democratisation and socioeconomic transformation struggle must be welcomed as a long overdue move.
One cannot overemphasise the need to regroup progressive forces to a common platform if the democratisation 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 been stillborn.
Most of these alliances were exposed when they could not mobilise 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 Movement for Democratic Change 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 democratisation and tackling the socioeconomic crisis.
At that point the MDC became the common platform to which everyone in the "democratisation" struggle ultimately channeled their energies through. Unions used the MDC chinja maitiro ("change your ways") 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 mobilise 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, organisations 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 democratisation 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 a 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 organisations. 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 sought from the people through a thorough process of national consultation, which at the same time works to effectively remobilise 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 there has to be small community and shopfloor-based meetings. Rallies can only be the culmination.
Building a united front now must not 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, that were in, ZANU-PF (Mugabe's party, Zimbabwe African National Union — Patriotic Front).
This must include all progressive faith-based organisations and the progressive churches, labour, community-based organizations, women's movements and organisations like Women of Zimbabwe Arise, youth organisations, 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 mobilise 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. While acknowledging the fact that broad alliance politics, by definition, ultimately implies compromising on one's maximum program to a common denominator, to mobilise the wider masses progressive forces need to reclaim the radical-democratic agenda that informed the massive struggles we waged in '90s culminating in the formation of the MDC.
While terms like legitimacy, governance, and constitution are legitimate, the ordinary man and woman on the street interprets the crisis more in terms of its socioeconomic havoc. Thus we must articulate our agenda in terms of questions of hunger, poverty, wages, availability of anti-retroviral drugs, affordable sanitary pads, student grants, water and electricity cut-offs, the 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 civil liberties must form the basis of a People's Charter.
But such an agenda for socioeconomic transformation cannot be stated in abstract. The world over we now know how ESAP (the Economic Structural Adjustment Program) and neoliberalism 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. While 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 the 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 organise 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.]