Friday, May 11, 2007
Friday, April 27, 2007
May Day Celebrations
Workers meet on Tuesday 1 May 2007 for Workers Day commemorations in the background of worsening poverty.
The Mugabe regime has used the excuse of sanctions for this and a deteriorating economy. Yet nothing could be further from the truth.
Excluding South Africa, 38% of the top 50 companies in the region are from Zimbabwe. 19 are from Zimbabwe, 13 are from Botswana and 8 are from Zambia.
On top of this, the Zimbabwe Stock Exchange was rated the best performing in Africa last year. For the first three months of this year it was ranked the best performing stock exchange globally.
If we look at the figures of the highest valued companies, we can see who is really suffering in Zimbabwe. Among the top listed companies are:
Delta Corporation – owner of Delta Beverages
Innscor Africa – owner of Bakers Inn, Chicken Inn and others
Meikles Africa – owner of TM Supermarkets.
Hippo Valley Estates – biggest sugar producer
OK Zimbabwe – the supermarket chain
National Foods – food producers
Zimbabwe Sugar Refinery Corporation – refines Hippo Valley sugar cane
Dairibord – milk producers
Seed Co – produces seed for agricultural crops
Cotton Company – produces spun cotton for clothing and school uniforms.
In its 2006 financial year TM Supermarkets provided 75% of the net profit for the entire Meikles Africa group! Food companies, clothing manufacturers and banks are the top valued companies in Zimbabwe. These are the companies that handle important basic needs.
Yet is precisely the same bosses that are paying workers an average of $ 200,000 per month when the poverty datum line (PDL) is easily $ 1,200,000 – six times the average wage! The PDL inflation was 2,800% at the end of February 2007 whilst the general inflation figure was 1,700% at the same time.
It is precisely these same bosses that can afford to import vechicles from Britain at up to 175,000 British Pounds each – a staggering seven-and-a-half trillion dollars on the parallel market. They spend 400,000 US Dollars (nearly nine trillion dollars) every single day on importing vechicles from Dubai.
It is exactly these same bosses that refuse to pay import duties in foreign currency.
Enough is Enough! Zvakwana! Sokwanele! May Day must be the time to plan for mass class war on these blood-ducking parasites!
The Mugabe regime has used the excuse of sanctions for this and a deteriorating economy. Yet nothing could be further from the truth.
Excluding South Africa, 38% of the top 50 companies in the region are from Zimbabwe. 19 are from Zimbabwe, 13 are from Botswana and 8 are from Zambia.
On top of this, the Zimbabwe Stock Exchange was rated the best performing in Africa last year. For the first three months of this year it was ranked the best performing stock exchange globally.
If we look at the figures of the highest valued companies, we can see who is really suffering in Zimbabwe. Among the top listed companies are:
Delta Corporation – owner of Delta Beverages
Innscor Africa – owner of Bakers Inn, Chicken Inn and others
Meikles Africa – owner of TM Supermarkets.
Hippo Valley Estates – biggest sugar producer
OK Zimbabwe – the supermarket chain
National Foods – food producers
Zimbabwe Sugar Refinery Corporation – refines Hippo Valley sugar cane
Dairibord – milk producers
Seed Co – produces seed for agricultural crops
Cotton Company – produces spun cotton for clothing and school uniforms.
In its 2006 financial year TM Supermarkets provided 75% of the net profit for the entire Meikles Africa group! Food companies, clothing manufacturers and banks are the top valued companies in Zimbabwe. These are the companies that handle important basic needs.
Yet is precisely the same bosses that are paying workers an average of $ 200,000 per month when the poverty datum line (PDL) is easily $ 1,200,000 – six times the average wage! The PDL inflation was 2,800% at the end of February 2007 whilst the general inflation figure was 1,700% at the same time.
It is precisely these same bosses that can afford to import vechicles from Britain at up to 175,000 British Pounds each – a staggering seven-and-a-half trillion dollars on the parallel market. They spend 400,000 US Dollars (nearly nine trillion dollars) every single day on importing vechicles from Dubai.
It is exactly these same bosses that refuse to pay import duties in foreign currency.
Enough is Enough! Zvakwana! Sokwanele! May Day must be the time to plan for mass class war on these blood-ducking parasites!
In Harare, the venue is Gwanzura in Highfield. For other venues please contact you local ZCTU offices.
On Monday Morning 23rd April WOZA`s `Power to the People` campaign spread to Harare when protesters assembled at ZESA offices in Kuwadzana, Warren Park and Zengeza to hold simultaneous 'tough love' protests. Over 470 members from 10 differentareas of Harare took part.
The protests at Warren Park and Zengeza took place without incident and the participants were able to disperse before police arrived but in Kuwadzana eye witnesses reported that the police arrived brandishing guns and 56 members of Women of Zimbabwe Arise (WOZA) - 36 women, 20 men and 10 babies – were arrested.
Lawyers have been denied access and WOZA supporters trying to take in food were only allowed access at 9pm yesterday evening. When they did they noted that many members had blood on their heads and clothing and had clearly been assaulted by police. Threats of beheading were made against those bringing food but no-one who delivered food this morning was harmed.Many thanks to all those who have been phoning in support of WOZA`s Power to the People campaign. Feedback indicates that Luveve and Tshabalala quickly stopped answering calls although some managed to get through on Thursday night; no- one seems to be getting through to Bulawayo Central.
Here are some alternative numbers for your to try.
Police Commissioner Augustine Chihuri +263-04-250008 / 792621 / 700171
Home Affairs Minister Kembo Mohadi on +263-11-605424 / +263-4-430422 / 794628 / 703695
State Security Minister Didymus Mutasa on +263-11-200532 / +263-4-774189
Harare Central Police Station on +263-4-777777
The protests at Warren Park and Zengeza took place without incident and the participants were able to disperse before police arrived but in Kuwadzana eye witnesses reported that the police arrived brandishing guns and 56 members of Women of Zimbabwe Arise (WOZA) - 36 women, 20 men and 10 babies – were arrested.
Lawyers have been denied access and WOZA supporters trying to take in food were only allowed access at 9pm yesterday evening. When they did they noted that many members had blood on their heads and clothing and had clearly been assaulted by police. Threats of beheading were made against those bringing food but no-one who delivered food this morning was harmed.Many thanks to all those who have been phoning in support of WOZA`s Power to the People campaign. Feedback indicates that Luveve and Tshabalala quickly stopped answering calls although some managed to get through on Thursday night; no- one seems to be getting through to Bulawayo Central.
Here are some alternative numbers for your to try.
Police Commissioner Augustine Chihuri +263-04-250008 / 792621 / 700171
Home Affairs Minister Kembo Mohadi on +263-11-605424 / +263-4-430422 / 794628 / 703695
State Security Minister Didymus Mutasa on +263-11-200532 / +263-4-774189
Harare Central Police Station on +263-4-777777
Tuesday, April 24, 2007
Friday, April 20, 2007
Mass Action The Way To Solve The Crisis
Since the beginning of the year, working people struggles in Zimbabwe has risen. The year opened with the Zesa workers, doctors, nurses and teachers strikes and the civil servants industrial action. The continued sharp rises in the prices of food and transport going up twice every week has given confidence to unemployed township youths and women and has put pressure on the opposition leadership to take some action.
Women vendors in Mufakose and other townships resisted the continued harassment from municipal police by raining stones on them - though the acts were isolated and easily crushed by the police. The Zanu PF government in response has imposed a state of emergency banning rallies in towns where the opposition enjoys support and where the pinch is being felt most by ordinary people.
This has led to debates among the opposition leadership as to whether the time has come for a head on with the government or whether foreign intervention is the way to end the crisis or to wait for the masses to come out on their own. When MDC Democratic Resistance Committees (DRCs) demonstrated in support of the teachers and doctors leading to the arrest of demonstrators, Tsvangirai attacked the demonstration saying it was not the time to be involved in “reckless” acts.
As the situation continues to open, the pressure from below for action continues increasing. When the police stopped
Tsvangirai’s Highfield rally from going ahead the youths responded by fighting back so fiercely that police had to call in
extra support and use riot water cannon that where bought from Israel. The arrest and beatings of the opposition leaders climaxed it all that everyone is now calling for removal of the current regime
On the other hand, Zanu PF, just as in 2000, has now gone on the campaign trail to consolidate its power in face of the
crisis. Mugabe’s consolidation of his power is not just aimed at the opposition but also within his party against the Mujuru faction. Mujuru’s faction, realizing how bad the economy has gone, also called for Mugabe to step down and started having meetings with diplomats assuring them that if they take over, stable economic environment is guaranteed.
This has forced Mugabe to defend himself and come out in the open to say that he is standing again next year. He
has managed to silence the growing resistance within his own party by isolating the Mujuru faction. Though Mugabe, through his campaign that he has kicked off for 2008, is talking radical, his RBZ appointee Gono is viciously attacking the ordinary people through his policies. The economic crisis has deteriorated. Life has become difficult for ordinary people.
Whilst Tsvangirai, Madhuku and others were still in hospital there were talks over the issue of the Social contract with
government and bosses, the very same government that is unleashing violence on leaders and ordinary people in the
locations. But the social contract is not the solutions to ordinary people’s problems. What ordinary people want is action for prices, rates, rents, school fees to go down, and the availability of drugs. Under the social contract, bosses will not freeze prices but will only freeze wages.
When the government imposes price controls, commodities suddenly disappear from supermarkets only to
reappear on the parallel market at higher prices, the same will happen under social contract. If the social contract is to be signed today the wages will be frozen or controlled below what is needed for workers to survive. Instead there should be demands for a minimum wage linked to the Poverty Datum Line. There are calls for workers to be paid on a fortnightly basis because of the ever increases of prices. This is what the labour leaders should be calling for to cushion workers in this environment not social contract.
MDC and the crisis
Though the crack-down and the brutal murder of Gift by police has somewhat revived the MDC, the leadership is still not convinced that the time for change is now. They were very reluctant to attend the Save Zimbabwe rally. They made a Uturn on hearing that Mutambara had been arrested and drove to Highfield police station, leading to their arrests and beating.
The masses under MDC have been revived their resistance mood. However, the leadership is slow to move with the
masses. An MDC activist said “Tanzwa nekuchekereswa (we now tired of their sell out)”. This is the frustration that is being experienced by many who are angry with the MDC’s lack of decisive way forward in challenging Mugabe. They are totally opposed to mass action and wear also reluctant to have the mass memorial service of Gift taking place. This is why the memorial service was held in Borrowdale, safe from the police. Although people were bussed from locations it was different if it had been held in Highfield or Glen View. This would have radicalised more people including forcing the labour leaders to join in.
What is now happening out of the frustration to publicly call for action is that other leaders are now engaging in
bombings as the way forward. The DRCs are now sponsoring youths to engage in violent acts of provoking the police and government which will eventually lead to mass uprisings as they are hoping. The recent bombings of 5 police stations and Zanu PF activists businesses and houses is all part of a plan of how to fight back. This has had a negative impact with Zanu PF retaliating in the same manner with the attack on Chamisa at the airport and the kidnapping of Maengahama at the on his way from the memorial service. However, they still believe that if they increase their attacks it will eventually work.
The crisis in Zimbabwe cannot be solved by merely engaging a few dedicated activists. There is need to take
advantage of the rising resistance mood of residents, vendors, ordinary women, HIV activists and link it in with the ZCTU stay away. Already there is the idea of renting activists to stop commuter buses from ferrying people to work, blocking roads and attacking the police so that there will be violence and people will not go to work. This must be stopped as it promotes the idea that only a few can solve the crisis. This idea does not recognize the role that workers, students, vendors and the urban poor can play in unseating a dictator and changing the system.
Another weakness currently is that though the masses are making demands that challenge Mugabe and Gono’s neoliberal free market policies the MDC leadership have narrowed it down only to democratic, anti-dictatorship demands. It is interesting to note that Mutambara leader of the other faction, who is now aligning himself more with Tsvangirai faction and wants reconciliation with, is the one taking an anti imperialist stance in his speeches.
Foreign Intervention?
There have been calls from several regional civic society bodies and individuals in an advert in the private Sunday press calling for some sort of foreign intervention to solve the Zimbabwean crisis. But the crisis is more than a political crisis. The political crisis in Zimbabwe derives from the economic and social crisis. This economic social crisis is as a
result of the drive of the investor classes, both local and foreign, to make money. The barbaric price rises of 300% in just 2 weeks this month are testimony to this fact. Any intervention will be to safeguard the system of exploitation and profit.
The calls for military intervention are mere dreams. The horrific reports of interventions in Somalia, Sudan, the DRC and others show what kind of “liberation” will be offered – intervention will be to further the aims of the elite and the ruling class. Following interventions across the globe; Ellen Johnson- Sirleaf implements the worst neo-liberal policies in Liberia; Karzai oversees construction of the most modern building in Kabul to cater for the whims of the elite while those outside the capital still lack reliable water and electricity; thousands are fleeing Mogadishu while Ethiopian soldiers unleash “peace, stability, law and order”; UN troops are involved in child sex trading in the DRC. In all these cases, and more, the disastrous neo-liberal policies demanded by ruling classes are carried out on the same scale or worse than before. Furthermore, the SADC meeting in Tanzania this month also shows what kind of people are being called on to intervene. Further, intervention in Afghanistan and Iraq based on ruling class agendas leads to more of the same.
Intervention must be called for by the struggling masses of Zimbabwe themselves on the basis of assisting the masses – not the investors whose ruinous policies caused the crisis in the first place. The cry of “Viva Zimbabwe Viva!” by liberals simply masks the class nature of the crisis in Zimbabwe. The rich investors still go on their boat cruises on Kariba, while ordering live prawns and crabs from Spar Borrowdale Brooke and other shops in Sam Levy’s Village, while the rest of us walk to work.
Mujuru or Mnangagwa?
A brief mention must be made here of the ZANU-PF Politburo meeting of Friday 30 March 2007 as it surprised a few
observers.
At the ZANU-PF December 2006 Congress, Mugabe failed to get support for an extension of his stolen term to 2010.
The provincial delegates refused to ratify his proposal. Yet Mugabe managed to do so at the 30 March Politburo meeting. The answer is that both main factions in the party are headed by a business elite - neither of whom is able, or rather willing, to mobilise popular support. This is why Mugabe, on the other hand, turned up with bus loads of supporters. Mnangagwa having concerns in the DRC while Mujuru has diamond concerns locally and is allied to big business in this country. Both factions leaders prefer a quicker solution to the economic crisis facing the country.
Similarly, Mugabe will have his way over the 2 factions in the campaign for the Parliamentary and Presidential elections next year when Parliament is reduced to a span of 3 years. All this means that the radical genuine anti-neo-liberal activists and fighters in the Zimbabwe Social Forum will have the better hand in the fight against neo-liberalism in this country. But to be effective, these activists must link up with genuine anti-neo-liberal activists in both the MDC and ZANUPF to lead a truly mass movement in both the towns, cities and country-side to unseat capitalism in Zimbabwe and provide an inspiration to others in the region and beyond.
What then is the way forward?
April 3 & 4 are very critical in the way forward of the current wave of resistance that has emerged. We must go all out to mobilize for ZCTU stay away – for participation of workers and ordinary people in it not just the paid youths. This way the resistance will be sustained as it will move to another action in follow up. This movement will talk about bread and butter issues, also saying no to current police brutality and state of emergency that Zanu PF has declared. Already radical structures of ZSF are mobilizing for the stay away, supporting the ZCTU call. This is the only way to counter the bombing campaign that is being encouraged. With ZCTU and ZSF leading the masses will follow with broadened demands that are on the left of what Mugabe is saying. Radical MDC activists must also join in this campaign. This action will stop Mugabe from running next year and provide concrete, working class based arguments, to solve
Zimbabwe’s crisis permanently. Mass Action ndizvo.
ISO National CO-Ordinating Committee
Women vendors in Mufakose and other townships resisted the continued harassment from municipal police by raining stones on them - though the acts were isolated and easily crushed by the police. The Zanu PF government in response has imposed a state of emergency banning rallies in towns where the opposition enjoys support and where the pinch is being felt most by ordinary people.
This has led to debates among the opposition leadership as to whether the time has come for a head on with the government or whether foreign intervention is the way to end the crisis or to wait for the masses to come out on their own. When MDC Democratic Resistance Committees (DRCs) demonstrated in support of the teachers and doctors leading to the arrest of demonstrators, Tsvangirai attacked the demonstration saying it was not the time to be involved in “reckless” acts.
As the situation continues to open, the pressure from below for action continues increasing. When the police stopped
Tsvangirai’s Highfield rally from going ahead the youths responded by fighting back so fiercely that police had to call in
extra support and use riot water cannon that where bought from Israel. The arrest and beatings of the opposition leaders climaxed it all that everyone is now calling for removal of the current regime
On the other hand, Zanu PF, just as in 2000, has now gone on the campaign trail to consolidate its power in face of the
crisis. Mugabe’s consolidation of his power is not just aimed at the opposition but also within his party against the Mujuru faction. Mujuru’s faction, realizing how bad the economy has gone, also called for Mugabe to step down and started having meetings with diplomats assuring them that if they take over, stable economic environment is guaranteed.
This has forced Mugabe to defend himself and come out in the open to say that he is standing again next year. He
has managed to silence the growing resistance within his own party by isolating the Mujuru faction. Though Mugabe, through his campaign that he has kicked off for 2008, is talking radical, his RBZ appointee Gono is viciously attacking the ordinary people through his policies. The economic crisis has deteriorated. Life has become difficult for ordinary people.
Whilst Tsvangirai, Madhuku and others were still in hospital there were talks over the issue of the Social contract with
government and bosses, the very same government that is unleashing violence on leaders and ordinary people in the
locations. But the social contract is not the solutions to ordinary people’s problems. What ordinary people want is action for prices, rates, rents, school fees to go down, and the availability of drugs. Under the social contract, bosses will not freeze prices but will only freeze wages.
When the government imposes price controls, commodities suddenly disappear from supermarkets only to
reappear on the parallel market at higher prices, the same will happen under social contract. If the social contract is to be signed today the wages will be frozen or controlled below what is needed for workers to survive. Instead there should be demands for a minimum wage linked to the Poverty Datum Line. There are calls for workers to be paid on a fortnightly basis because of the ever increases of prices. This is what the labour leaders should be calling for to cushion workers in this environment not social contract.
MDC and the crisis
Though the crack-down and the brutal murder of Gift by police has somewhat revived the MDC, the leadership is still not convinced that the time for change is now. They were very reluctant to attend the Save Zimbabwe rally. They made a Uturn on hearing that Mutambara had been arrested and drove to Highfield police station, leading to their arrests and beating.
The masses under MDC have been revived their resistance mood. However, the leadership is slow to move with the
masses. An MDC activist said “Tanzwa nekuchekereswa (we now tired of their sell out)”. This is the frustration that is being experienced by many who are angry with the MDC’s lack of decisive way forward in challenging Mugabe. They are totally opposed to mass action and wear also reluctant to have the mass memorial service of Gift taking place. This is why the memorial service was held in Borrowdale, safe from the police. Although people were bussed from locations it was different if it had been held in Highfield or Glen View. This would have radicalised more people including forcing the labour leaders to join in.
What is now happening out of the frustration to publicly call for action is that other leaders are now engaging in
bombings as the way forward. The DRCs are now sponsoring youths to engage in violent acts of provoking the police and government which will eventually lead to mass uprisings as they are hoping. The recent bombings of 5 police stations and Zanu PF activists businesses and houses is all part of a plan of how to fight back. This has had a negative impact with Zanu PF retaliating in the same manner with the attack on Chamisa at the airport and the kidnapping of Maengahama at the on his way from the memorial service. However, they still believe that if they increase their attacks it will eventually work.
The crisis in Zimbabwe cannot be solved by merely engaging a few dedicated activists. There is need to take
advantage of the rising resistance mood of residents, vendors, ordinary women, HIV activists and link it in with the ZCTU stay away. Already there is the idea of renting activists to stop commuter buses from ferrying people to work, blocking roads and attacking the police so that there will be violence and people will not go to work. This must be stopped as it promotes the idea that only a few can solve the crisis. This idea does not recognize the role that workers, students, vendors and the urban poor can play in unseating a dictator and changing the system.
Another weakness currently is that though the masses are making demands that challenge Mugabe and Gono’s neoliberal free market policies the MDC leadership have narrowed it down only to democratic, anti-dictatorship demands. It is interesting to note that Mutambara leader of the other faction, who is now aligning himself more with Tsvangirai faction and wants reconciliation with, is the one taking an anti imperialist stance in his speeches.
Foreign Intervention?
There have been calls from several regional civic society bodies and individuals in an advert in the private Sunday press calling for some sort of foreign intervention to solve the Zimbabwean crisis. But the crisis is more than a political crisis. The political crisis in Zimbabwe derives from the economic and social crisis. This economic social crisis is as a
result of the drive of the investor classes, both local and foreign, to make money. The barbaric price rises of 300% in just 2 weeks this month are testimony to this fact. Any intervention will be to safeguard the system of exploitation and profit.
The calls for military intervention are mere dreams. The horrific reports of interventions in Somalia, Sudan, the DRC and others show what kind of “liberation” will be offered – intervention will be to further the aims of the elite and the ruling class. Following interventions across the globe; Ellen Johnson- Sirleaf implements the worst neo-liberal policies in Liberia; Karzai oversees construction of the most modern building in Kabul to cater for the whims of the elite while those outside the capital still lack reliable water and electricity; thousands are fleeing Mogadishu while Ethiopian soldiers unleash “peace, stability, law and order”; UN troops are involved in child sex trading in the DRC. In all these cases, and more, the disastrous neo-liberal policies demanded by ruling classes are carried out on the same scale or worse than before. Furthermore, the SADC meeting in Tanzania this month also shows what kind of people are being called on to intervene. Further, intervention in Afghanistan and Iraq based on ruling class agendas leads to more of the same.
Intervention must be called for by the struggling masses of Zimbabwe themselves on the basis of assisting the masses – not the investors whose ruinous policies caused the crisis in the first place. The cry of “Viva Zimbabwe Viva!” by liberals simply masks the class nature of the crisis in Zimbabwe. The rich investors still go on their boat cruises on Kariba, while ordering live prawns and crabs from Spar Borrowdale Brooke and other shops in Sam Levy’s Village, while the rest of us walk to work.
Mujuru or Mnangagwa?
A brief mention must be made here of the ZANU-PF Politburo meeting of Friday 30 March 2007 as it surprised a few
observers.
At the ZANU-PF December 2006 Congress, Mugabe failed to get support for an extension of his stolen term to 2010.
The provincial delegates refused to ratify his proposal. Yet Mugabe managed to do so at the 30 March Politburo meeting. The answer is that both main factions in the party are headed by a business elite - neither of whom is able, or rather willing, to mobilise popular support. This is why Mugabe, on the other hand, turned up with bus loads of supporters. Mnangagwa having concerns in the DRC while Mujuru has diamond concerns locally and is allied to big business in this country. Both factions leaders prefer a quicker solution to the economic crisis facing the country.
Similarly, Mugabe will have his way over the 2 factions in the campaign for the Parliamentary and Presidential elections next year when Parliament is reduced to a span of 3 years. All this means that the radical genuine anti-neo-liberal activists and fighters in the Zimbabwe Social Forum will have the better hand in the fight against neo-liberalism in this country. But to be effective, these activists must link up with genuine anti-neo-liberal activists in both the MDC and ZANUPF to lead a truly mass movement in both the towns, cities and country-side to unseat capitalism in Zimbabwe and provide an inspiration to others in the region and beyond.
What then is the way forward?
April 3 & 4 are very critical in the way forward of the current wave of resistance that has emerged. We must go all out to mobilize for ZCTU stay away – for participation of workers and ordinary people in it not just the paid youths. This way the resistance will be sustained as it will move to another action in follow up. This movement will talk about bread and butter issues, also saying no to current police brutality and state of emergency that Zanu PF has declared. Already radical structures of ZSF are mobilizing for the stay away, supporting the ZCTU call. This is the only way to counter the bombing campaign that is being encouraged. With ZCTU and ZSF leading the masses will follow with broadened demands that are on the left of what Mugabe is saying. Radical MDC activists must also join in this campaign. This action will stop Mugabe from running next year and provide concrete, working class based arguments, to solve
Zimbabwe’s crisis permanently. Mass Action ndizvo.
ISO National CO-Ordinating Committee
Tuesday, March 27, 2007
Mobilise for ZCTU 3 and 4 April Strike!
* Working Class On The Rise
* Street Battles From Bulawayo to Budiriro, Dulibadzimu to Dangamvura
* Prices Rise Daily By Over 1,000% - No To Wage Freeze
* No To Social Contract
* Reverse School Fee Hikes
* ZINWA and ZESA Hike Charges But No Water or Electricity
* Exhorbitant Kombi Fares
* Health Delivery In Shambles
* Councils Deliver Sewerage Pools and Rubbish Heaps in Residential Areas
* Immediate reversal of price increases to Dec 2006 levels. Open The Bakeries
* No to extension of Mugabe’s Presidential term. MUGABE CHIENDA NHASI
* Wages linked to the Poverty Datum Line. GONO CHIENDA NHASI
* Democratic Constitution before any further Presidential or General elections
* Repeal POSA and AIPPA. MOHADI NA SEKERAMAYI CHIENDA
* Reverse College Tuition Fees and Supplementary Exam Fees. Open The Colleges and Universities. Pay The Lecturers.
* Decommission Riot Water Cannon
* Fire The Entire Cabinet – Including The One Who Hired Them In The First Place
MOBILISE FOR 3 AND 4 APRIL NATIONWIDE GENERAL STRIKE! QINA MSEBENZI QINA! – PENGA MUSHANDI PENGA! – AHOY UNION AHOY!
* Street Battles From Bulawayo to Budiriro, Dulibadzimu to Dangamvura
* Prices Rise Daily By Over 1,000% - No To Wage Freeze
* No To Social Contract
* Reverse School Fee Hikes
* ZINWA and ZESA Hike Charges But No Water or Electricity
* Exhorbitant Kombi Fares
* Health Delivery In Shambles
* Councils Deliver Sewerage Pools and Rubbish Heaps in Residential Areas
* Immediate reversal of price increases to Dec 2006 levels. Open The Bakeries
* No to extension of Mugabe’s Presidential term. MUGABE CHIENDA NHASI
* Wages linked to the Poverty Datum Line. GONO CHIENDA NHASI
* Democratic Constitution before any further Presidential or General elections
* Repeal POSA and AIPPA. MOHADI NA SEKERAMAYI CHIENDA
* Reverse College Tuition Fees and Supplementary Exam Fees. Open The Colleges and Universities. Pay The Lecturers.
* Decommission Riot Water Cannon
* Fire The Entire Cabinet – Including The One Who Hired Them In The First Place
MOBILISE FOR 3 AND 4 APRIL NATIONWIDE GENERAL STRIKE! QINA MSEBENZI QINA! – PENGA MUSHANDI PENGA! – AHOY UNION AHOY!
Organise For Nationwide ZCTU Strike On 3 and 4 April
The ZCTU Naiowide Strike is still on for Monday 3 and Tuesday 4 April - just days away.
Workers Committees and Trade Unions must organise flying pickets in the industrial and commercial areas.
Residents Associations must organise pickets to stop ZUPCO's and kombis from oerating.
Workers Committees and Trade Unions must organise flying pickets in the industrial and commercial areas.
Residents Associations must organise pickets to stop ZUPCO's and kombis from oerating.
Wednesday, February 21, 2007
TATAMBURA – USADHERERE – We Are Starving – We Are Going To Eat Your Tear Gas!!
18 Feb 2007 – Highfields, Harare
The MDC (Tsvangirai group) obtained a High Court Order the previous day allowing them to go ahead with a planned rally at Zimbabwe Grounds. On the day of the rally (18 Feb) Zimbabwe Grounds was sealed off by riot police. They fired tear-gas at the 200 MDC members already inside preparing the venue.
Street fights and pitched battles then erupted. Tear-gas was fired at women and children leaving a church sparking fierce clashes. In retaliation a group of Highfield residents waited for police to move down Nyandoro Drive. They then stormed Machipisa Police Station and shut it down for a couple of hours.
17 Feb 2007 – Budiriro, Glen View and Glen Norah
Residents of the south-western townships march. Protesters carry placards reading “No To Extortionate Council Budget Charges”, “Why No ZESA” and “Your Term Is Up – You Have Stayed Too Long”. Riot Police responded with tear-gas. A police car is burned.
16 Feb 2007 – Epworth, Harare
A pick-up truck carrying 6 Harare Council police turned up at a shopping centre for the routine arrest of vendors. But this was no ordinary day. Within minutes the cops came under a barrage of missiles and stones. Kombi drivers parked their kombis around the cops truck and prevented it from leaving. The cops had to flee on foot to safety.
City-Centre, Harare
A demonstration of NCA and opposition members against the extension of the Presidents term in office was met by support unit riot police. This too was no ordinary day. The protesters baved tear-gas and police batons to charge at the police. Minutes later a police wooden post in the main shopping mall of First Street was lying in pieces. Four cops inside had to flee. One hospitalised.
13 Feb 2007 – City Centre, Harare AND city Centre, Bulawayo
The annual WOZA Valentine demonstration against bigotry and oppression takes place. 3,000 protesters in total take to the streets. 274 women and 20 babies are arrested in Bulawayo. In Harare, the police had grown weary of arrests and decided to use tear-gas. Thick clouds of smoke erupted and a handful were arrested.
* It is only by fighting that we can win. Following the launch of the TV Licence Fee campaign, the regime has had to respond by cancelling the increases. Now we must go further until final victory. Mugabe is not the only criminal in this country – all of his neighbours kuBorrowdale Brooke and so forth are the same class dzeMbavha neTsotsi.
SEND IN YOUR REPORTS FROM THE STREETS AND WORKPLACE. E-MAIL iso.zim@gmail.com or rosazulu@cooltoad.com or fax (04) 704209 JAMBANJA UNTIL FINAL VICTORY!! PASI NEMABOSS!! PASI NEMACHEF!!
The MDC (Tsvangirai group) obtained a High Court Order the previous day allowing them to go ahead with a planned rally at Zimbabwe Grounds. On the day of the rally (18 Feb) Zimbabwe Grounds was sealed off by riot police. They fired tear-gas at the 200 MDC members already inside preparing the venue.
Street fights and pitched battles then erupted. Tear-gas was fired at women and children leaving a church sparking fierce clashes. In retaliation a group of Highfield residents waited for police to move down Nyandoro Drive. They then stormed Machipisa Police Station and shut it down for a couple of hours.
17 Feb 2007 – Budiriro, Glen View and Glen Norah
Residents of the south-western townships march. Protesters carry placards reading “No To Extortionate Council Budget Charges”, “Why No ZESA” and “Your Term Is Up – You Have Stayed Too Long”. Riot Police responded with tear-gas. A police car is burned.
16 Feb 2007 – Epworth, Harare
A pick-up truck carrying 6 Harare Council police turned up at a shopping centre for the routine arrest of vendors. But this was no ordinary day. Within minutes the cops came under a barrage of missiles and stones. Kombi drivers parked their kombis around the cops truck and prevented it from leaving. The cops had to flee on foot to safety.
City-Centre, Harare
A demonstration of NCA and opposition members against the extension of the Presidents term in office was met by support unit riot police. This too was no ordinary day. The protesters baved tear-gas and police batons to charge at the police. Minutes later a police wooden post in the main shopping mall of First Street was lying in pieces. Four cops inside had to flee. One hospitalised.
13 Feb 2007 – City Centre, Harare AND city Centre, Bulawayo
The annual WOZA Valentine demonstration against bigotry and oppression takes place. 3,000 protesters in total take to the streets. 274 women and 20 babies are arrested in Bulawayo. In Harare, the police had grown weary of arrests and decided to use tear-gas. Thick clouds of smoke erupted and a handful were arrested.
* It is only by fighting that we can win. Following the launch of the TV Licence Fee campaign, the regime has had to respond by cancelling the increases. Now we must go further until final victory. Mugabe is not the only criminal in this country – all of his neighbours kuBorrowdale Brooke and so forth are the same class dzeMbavha neTsotsi.
SEND IN YOUR REPORTS FROM THE STREETS AND WORKPLACE. E-MAIL iso.zim@gmail.com or rosazulu@cooltoad.com or fax (04) 704209 JAMBANJA UNTIL FINAL VICTORY!! PASI NEMABOSS!! PASI NEMACHEF!!
Friday, February 02, 2007
No To TV Licence Fee Hikes
SAY NO TO THE EXTORTIONATE TV/RADIO LICENCE FEES OF $ 150,000
SEND AN SMS TO MR LUWIZHI (Harare Licence Department) ON 011 873 254.
TELL THEM WE DONT WANT TO PAY FOR THEIR MERCEDES BENZ E250's, PAJEROS, DOUBLE CABS, DSTV, CURTAINS, FURNITURE AND STINKING ZANU-PF PROPAGANDA.
(Those over 65 do not need to pay as per Act 244 of 2003)
SEND AN SMS TO MR LUWIZHI (Harare Licence Department) ON 011 873 254.
TELL THEM WE DONT WANT TO PAY FOR THEIR MERCEDES BENZ E250's, PAJEROS, DOUBLE CABS, DSTV, CURTAINS, FURNITURE AND STINKING ZANU-PF PROPAGANDA.
(Those over 65 do not need to pay as per Act 244 of 2003)
59 killed by military in Guinea
At least 59 people have been killed by the military in Guinea since a general strike started on 10 Jan 2007.
Moktar Ba, a reporter for Radio France International in Conakry, the capital, says the real reason for the general strike is the people's growing poverty. Most people survive on less than $1 a day, whilst the implementation of neo-liberal policies has seen the total collapse of service delivery basics like health, water and electricity.
Guinea is the world's second biggest producer of bauxite, the source of aluminum. Aluminium is the major component of aircraft wings. Guinea possesses about one-third of the world's reserves of bauxite. It also is a major producer of gold.
The trade union movement called two successful general strikes last year.
17 people were killed on 22 January when soldiers opened fire on street protesters in Guinea in the deadliest day since the start of the mass uprising against the regime of West Africa's longest-serving president.
Trade unions and opposition parties are protesting against the autocratic 23-year rule of Lansana Conté.
"We have total support," Rabiatou Serah Diallo, the leader of the
National Confederation of Guinean Workers, said. "The resolve of the people is enormous. You can see that because they are prepared to continue turning up for peaceful marches despite the fact that the security forces now clearly have orders to open fire."
The trade unions called the strike after Conté last month ordered the release of two of his friends who had been jailed for corruption.
"That arrogant show of impunity was just too much for the people,"
Jean-Marie Doré, the leader of the opposition Union For The Progress of Guinea, said. "They are fed up with living in a country where nothing works even when there is not a general strike. People have nothing to lose."
Since it started on 10 January, the general strike has spread rapidly beyond the capital, Conakry, to the railways and its mining industry.
The similarity between Guinea and Zimbabwe means we must watch events there to learn lessons in our own struggle to get rid of the Mugabe regime and neo-liberalism.
Moktar Ba, a reporter for Radio France International in Conakry, the capital, says the real reason for the general strike is the people's growing poverty. Most people survive on less than $1 a day, whilst the implementation of neo-liberal policies has seen the total collapse of service delivery basics like health, water and electricity.
Guinea is the world's second biggest producer of bauxite, the source of aluminum. Aluminium is the major component of aircraft wings. Guinea possesses about one-third of the world's reserves of bauxite. It also is a major producer of gold.
The trade union movement called two successful general strikes last year.
17 people were killed on 22 January when soldiers opened fire on street protesters in Guinea in the deadliest day since the start of the mass uprising against the regime of West Africa's longest-serving president.
Trade unions and opposition parties are protesting against the autocratic 23-year rule of Lansana Conté.
"We have total support," Rabiatou Serah Diallo, the leader of the
National Confederation of Guinean Workers, said. "The resolve of the people is enormous. You can see that because they are prepared to continue turning up for peaceful marches despite the fact that the security forces now clearly have orders to open fire."
The trade unions called the strike after Conté last month ordered the release of two of his friends who had been jailed for corruption.
"That arrogant show of impunity was just too much for the people,"
Jean-Marie Doré, the leader of the opposition Union For The Progress of Guinea, said. "They are fed up with living in a country where nothing works even when there is not a general strike. People have nothing to lose."
Since it started on 10 January, the general strike has spread rapidly beyond the capital, Conakry, to the railways and its mining industry.
The similarity between Guinea and Zimbabwe means we must watch events there to learn lessons in our own struggle to get rid of the Mugabe regime and neo-liberalism.
Tuesday, January 30, 2007
Please Note...
Due to intermittent and bad so-called service from state capitalist monopolies Tel-One and Dat-One, connection to this site has been awful since December last year.
The rotten ISP service has resulted in a couple of the articles below having been posted to the site twice. Please bear with us. Thanks!
Editor ISO
The rotten ISP service has resulted in a couple of the articles below having been posted to the site twice. Please bear with us. Thanks!
Editor ISO
Thursday, January 25, 2007
Mugabe Extends Dictatorship to 2010 as bosses declare war on the poor - Jambanja only way forward!!
At its December Conference, the Zanu PF regime, resolved to cancel the presidential elections due in 2008 and defer them to 2010, ostensibly to harmonise them with the parliamentary elections, purportedly to cut costs. Yet this is the same regime that only six months ago imposed a hugely unpopular and costly senate election on the country! Similarly the regime
has extended Sekesai Makwavarara‘s term as unelected Mayor of Harare for a fifth record term. What is clear is that the regime has been emboldened to do this by a cowardly and weak opposition movement led by the MDC and its hangers on in civic society and the labour movement. As late as November the Tsvangirai MDC, through its de facto shadow prime
minister Eddie Cross, announced that it was convinced that Mugabe was retiring in 2008 and elections due and that it was therefore renouncing mass action or the jambanja route or the “winter of discontent” that Tsvangirai had promised, in favour of mobilisation for the coming presidential elections! In view of such cowardice and in the context of a worsening economic situation with official inflation rates over 1 200% the regime has decided to dispense with any pretences of
democracy rule but go into open dictatorship as it launches, in conjunction with the bosses, a virtual war on the poor, workers, peasants and the middle classes through Gono’s IMF endorsed neo-liberal economic turn-around programme or ESAP 2, to try and survive.
There is no doubt that the Zanu PF dictatorship and the bosses have declared a virtual war on the poor and majority of this country. It started with Reserve Bank Governor Gono in his last Monetary Policy announcing the removal of price controls and all subsidies on goods and services offered by the government, local authorities and parastatals. They
were ordered to charge market rates and survive on their own. Thus ZINWA and ZESA have increased water and electricity charges by over 1000% whilst local councils across the country have massively hiked rates, by as much as 5 000%, and schools allowed school fees to be increased at the inflation rate, i.e. 1,280%!
On its part business has imposed savage unprecedented increases on the prices of basics like food, clothing, education, drugs and health services, farming inputs and transport. Transport by combis has trebled from $300 to $1000 in less than two months. The Poverty Datum Line is now over $360 000 a month for an average working class family, yet workers on average earn not more than $60 000.
Of course the state and parastatal fat cats and bosses are doing well. Gono splashed half a trillion dollars on a
Mercedes Benz – enough to supply 10 000 AIDS patients with ARV drugs for six months. Judges and MPs have been given increments of over 1 000% when teachers, nurses and doctors on less than $60 000 have been given a miserly 300%. The Zimbabwe Stock Exchange was reported amongst the top three performers across Africa in the past year, meaning bosses made huge profits as they give workers peanuts. But the bosses and the state have gone too far, and have provoked a rising anger amongst the masses. The opposition parties seeking to hijack our struggles only in order to sell out to Zanu PF and bosses in the near future.
A democratic united front of activists and social movements under accountable and recallable leadership must be built with a clear anti- ESAP, anti-capitalist, antidictatorship and anti-imperialist programme to push forward the emerging struggles. The social forum provides a powerful platform to start this. On the other hand in unions workers must boot out cowardly and sell–out leaders and replace them with militants and push for action, strikes, leading to general strikes and demonstrations against the bosses and the state, working hand in hand with the social movements. We must seek to build regional and international solidarity from other movements of the poor and oppressed of the world, starting with the World
Social Forum in Nairobi in January.
Jambanja Ndizvo! Smash the Dictatorship! Smash Capitalism!
has extended Sekesai Makwavarara‘s term as unelected Mayor of Harare for a fifth record term. What is clear is that the regime has been emboldened to do this by a cowardly and weak opposition movement led by the MDC and its hangers on in civic society and the labour movement. As late as November the Tsvangirai MDC, through its de facto shadow prime
minister Eddie Cross, announced that it was convinced that Mugabe was retiring in 2008 and elections due and that it was therefore renouncing mass action or the jambanja route or the “winter of discontent” that Tsvangirai had promised, in favour of mobilisation for the coming presidential elections! In view of such cowardice and in the context of a worsening economic situation with official inflation rates over 1 200% the regime has decided to dispense with any pretences of
democracy rule but go into open dictatorship as it launches, in conjunction with the bosses, a virtual war on the poor, workers, peasants and the middle classes through Gono’s IMF endorsed neo-liberal economic turn-around programme or ESAP 2, to try and survive.
There is no doubt that the Zanu PF dictatorship and the bosses have declared a virtual war on the poor and majority of this country. It started with Reserve Bank Governor Gono in his last Monetary Policy announcing the removal of price controls and all subsidies on goods and services offered by the government, local authorities and parastatals. They
were ordered to charge market rates and survive on their own. Thus ZINWA and ZESA have increased water and electricity charges by over 1000% whilst local councils across the country have massively hiked rates, by as much as 5 000%, and schools allowed school fees to be increased at the inflation rate, i.e. 1,280%!
On its part business has imposed savage unprecedented increases on the prices of basics like food, clothing, education, drugs and health services, farming inputs and transport. Transport by combis has trebled from $300 to $1000 in less than two months. The Poverty Datum Line is now over $360 000 a month for an average working class family, yet workers on average earn not more than $60 000.
Of course the state and parastatal fat cats and bosses are doing well. Gono splashed half a trillion dollars on a
Mercedes Benz – enough to supply 10 000 AIDS patients with ARV drugs for six months. Judges and MPs have been given increments of over 1 000% when teachers, nurses and doctors on less than $60 000 have been given a miserly 300%. The Zimbabwe Stock Exchange was reported amongst the top three performers across Africa in the past year, meaning bosses made huge profits as they give workers peanuts. But the bosses and the state have gone too far, and have provoked a rising anger amongst the masses. The opposition parties seeking to hijack our struggles only in order to sell out to Zanu PF and bosses in the near future.
A democratic united front of activists and social movements under accountable and recallable leadership must be built with a clear anti- ESAP, anti-capitalist, antidictatorship and anti-imperialist programme to push forward the emerging struggles. The social forum provides a powerful platform to start this. On the other hand in unions workers must boot out cowardly and sell–out leaders and replace them with militants and push for action, strikes, leading to general strikes and demonstrations against the bosses and the state, working hand in hand with the social movements. We must seek to build regional and international solidarity from other movements of the poor and oppressed of the world, starting with the World
Social Forum in Nairobi in January.
Jambanja Ndizvo! Smash the Dictatorship! Smash Capitalism!
Struggles in Printing Union
Serious internal squabbles have erupted in the Printing union. One faction is led by old Reflections members (a rank and file group of workers which successfully mobilized and took over the union from the old corrupt ZGWU leadership. The other side is a mixture of old ZGWU supporters, some who contested the 2004 Congress and lost and a few currently in the national
council by virtue of cooption .The latter are a bunch of right wingers intent on holding workers conditions and wages down while cavorting with printing industry bosses.
Reflections was formed around 2003 as a rank and file group to get rid of the old unaccountable ZGWU leadership which had presided over the union for over 15 years without having any elections to change leadership. In 2004 Reflections managed to push for a congress where they scooped most potions in the leadership save for a few which were retained by the old
leadership . After winning congress they embarked on a serious grass roots empowerment programme where they formed industrial structures organized in zones which had total control of the union . With this kind of operation the union became very strong and delivering .They managed to transform the entire industry wiwthin a short space , lifting wages from the least paid to the top paying industries in the country. In a space of only two years they organized two very successful industry wide strikes with the full backing of workers.
Squables began after their last strike, which left most union activists and most national council members victimised leading the strike ..That was a very unfortunate situation because could not be active anymore on the shopfloor ..To cover up for the vacuum the union had to create some extra executive posts and full time office positions to keep the expelled comrades whose experience the union could not afford to loose whilst co-opting other activists into positions. In short
the previous union leadership were turned into union bureaucrats without any powers to vote or implement decisions at the same time giving such powers to new comers who did not go through that rank and file activism
of Reflections.
Some remaining elements of the old leadership ousted by congress in 2004 successfully managed to take advantage of the situation and get the sympathy of the new leaders to purge out all progressive leaders from the union using their executive powers. High on target was the union Secretary General whom they crafted false allegations of serious misuse of funds and subsequently reported him to the police who, after investigations, found him not guilty. However they proceeded to unilaterally, without the mandate from the national council, fire him. But the GS as ordered and mandated by the national council members of three regions and the general membership refused to honor the expulsion and kept on reporting for work. Now they are seeking a peace order to stop him from reporting to office.
Late December last year the Harare region members called for a meeting where they had elections on the vacant positions in the National Council and mandated the Secretary general to move to all other regions and have similar elections aiming to hold an extra-ordinary congress early this year to immediately stop the regrouping of old right wing elements of the union now causing chaos. So far Harare has had its fine full council that has since petitioned the President of the union and his crew. It’s a very sad situation in the union now especially that it was a union which rebuilt out of struggles and had all the support from its members .
As we go to press the Secretary General is on a country wide campaign covering all regions preparing for an extra ordinary
congress.
Viva vashandi .
M Sambo
council by virtue of cooption .The latter are a bunch of right wingers intent on holding workers conditions and wages down while cavorting with printing industry bosses.
Reflections was formed around 2003 as a rank and file group to get rid of the old unaccountable ZGWU leadership which had presided over the union for over 15 years without having any elections to change leadership. In 2004 Reflections managed to push for a congress where they scooped most potions in the leadership save for a few which were retained by the old
leadership . After winning congress they embarked on a serious grass roots empowerment programme where they formed industrial structures organized in zones which had total control of the union . With this kind of operation the union became very strong and delivering .They managed to transform the entire industry wiwthin a short space , lifting wages from the least paid to the top paying industries in the country. In a space of only two years they organized two very successful industry wide strikes with the full backing of workers.
Squables began after their last strike, which left most union activists and most national council members victimised leading the strike ..That was a very unfortunate situation because could not be active anymore on the shopfloor ..To cover up for the vacuum the union had to create some extra executive posts and full time office positions to keep the expelled comrades whose experience the union could not afford to loose whilst co-opting other activists into positions. In short
the previous union leadership were turned into union bureaucrats without any powers to vote or implement decisions at the same time giving such powers to new comers who did not go through that rank and file activism
of Reflections.
Some remaining elements of the old leadership ousted by congress in 2004 successfully managed to take advantage of the situation and get the sympathy of the new leaders to purge out all progressive leaders from the union using their executive powers. High on target was the union Secretary General whom they crafted false allegations of serious misuse of funds and subsequently reported him to the police who, after investigations, found him not guilty. However they proceeded to unilaterally, without the mandate from the national council, fire him. But the GS as ordered and mandated by the national council members of three regions and the general membership refused to honor the expulsion and kept on reporting for work. Now they are seeking a peace order to stop him from reporting to office.
Late December last year the Harare region members called for a meeting where they had elections on the vacant positions in the National Council and mandated the Secretary general to move to all other regions and have similar elections aiming to hold an extra-ordinary congress early this year to immediately stop the regrouping of old right wing elements of the union now causing chaos. So far Harare has had its fine full council that has since petitioned the President of the union and his crew. It’s a very sad situation in the union now especially that it was a union which rebuilt out of struggles and had all the support from its members .
As we go to press the Secretary General is on a country wide campaign covering all regions preparing for an extra ordinary
congress.
Viva vashandi .
M Sambo
Wednesday, January 24, 2007
Mugabe Extends Dictatorship to 2010 as bosses declare war on the poor - Jambanja only way forward!!
At its December Conference, the Zanu PF regime,
resolved to cancel the presidential elections due in
2008 and defer them to 2010, ostensibly to harmonise
them with the parliamentary elections, purportedly to
cut costs. Yet this is the same regime that only six
months ago imposed a hugely unpopular and costly
senate election on the country! Similarly the regime
has extended Sekesai Makwavarara‘s term as unelected
Mayor of Harare for a fifth record term.
What is clear is that the regime has been emboldened
to do this by a cowardly and weak opposition movement
led by the MDC and its hangers on in civic society
and the labour movement. As late as November the
Tsvangirai MDC, through its de facto shadow prime
minister Eddie Cross, announced that it was convinced
that Mugabe was retiring in 2008 and elections due
and that it was therefore renouncing mass action or
the jambanja route or the “winter of discontent” that
Tsvangirai had promised, in favour of mobilisation for
the coming presidential elections! In view of such
cowardice and in the context of a worsening economic
situation with official inflation rates over 1 200% the
regime has decided to dispense with any pretences of
democracy rule but go into open dictatorship as it
launches, in conjunction with the bosses, a virtual
war on the poor, workers, peasants and the middle
classes through Gono’s IMF endorsed neo-liberal
economic turn-around programme or ESAP 2, to try
and survive.
There is no doubt that the Zanu PF dictatorship
and the bosses have declared a virtual war on the
poor and majority of this country. It started with
Reserve Bank Governor Gono in his last Monetary
Policy announcing the removal of price controls and
all subsidies on goods and services offered by the
government, local authorities and parastatals. They
were ordered to charge market rates and survive on
their own. Thus ZINWA and ZESA have increased
water and electricity charges by over 1000% whilst
local councils across the country have massively hiked
rates, by as much as 5 000%, and schools allowed
school fees to be increased at the inflation rate, i.e. 1
280%!
On its part business has imposed savage
unprecedented increases on the prices of basics like food, clothing, education, drugs and health services,
farming inputs and transport. Transport by combis has
trebled from $300 to $1000 in less than two months. The
Poverty Datum Line is now over $360 000 a month for an
average working class family, yet workers on average earn
not more than $60 000.
Of course the state and parastatal fat cats and bosses
are doing well. Gono splashed half a trillion dollars on a
Mercedes Benz – enough to supply 10 000 AIDS patients
with ARV drugs for six months. Judges and MPs have
been given increments of over 1 000% when teachers,
nurses and doctors on less than $60 000 have been given
a miserly 300%. The Zimbabwe Stock Exchange was
reported amongst the top three performers across Africa
in the past year, meaning bosses made huge profits as
they give workers peanuts.
But the bosses and the state have gone too far, and
have provoked a rising anger amongst the masses. The
opposition parties seeking to hijack our struggles only in
order to sell out to Zanu PF and bosses in the near future.
A democratic united front of activists and social
movements under accountable and recallable leadership
must be built with a clear anti- ESAP, anti-capitalist, antidictatorship
and anti-imperialist programme to push
forward the emerging struggles. The social forum provides
a powerful platform to start this. On the other hand in
unions workers must boot out cowardly and sell –out
leaders and replace them with militants and push for action,
strikes, leading to general strikes and demonstrations
against the bosses and the state, working hand in hand
with the social movements. We must seek to build regional
and international solidarity from other movements of the
poor and oppressed of the world, starting with the World
Social Forum in Nairobi in January.
Jambanja Ndizvo! Smash the Dictatorship! Smash
Capitalism!
resolved to cancel the presidential elections due in
2008 and defer them to 2010, ostensibly to harmonise
them with the parliamentary elections, purportedly to
cut costs. Yet this is the same regime that only six
months ago imposed a hugely unpopular and costly
senate election on the country! Similarly the regime
has extended Sekesai Makwavarara‘s term as unelected
Mayor of Harare for a fifth record term.
What is clear is that the regime has been emboldened
to do this by a cowardly and weak opposition movement
led by the MDC and its hangers on in civic society
and the labour movement. As late as November the
Tsvangirai MDC, through its de facto shadow prime
minister Eddie Cross, announced that it was convinced
that Mugabe was retiring in 2008 and elections due
and that it was therefore renouncing mass action or
the jambanja route or the “winter of discontent” that
Tsvangirai had promised, in favour of mobilisation for
the coming presidential elections! In view of such
cowardice and in the context of a worsening economic
situation with official inflation rates over 1 200% the
regime has decided to dispense with any pretences of
democracy rule but go into open dictatorship as it
launches, in conjunction with the bosses, a virtual
war on the poor, workers, peasants and the middle
classes through Gono’s IMF endorsed neo-liberal
economic turn-around programme or ESAP 2, to try
and survive.
There is no doubt that the Zanu PF dictatorship
and the bosses have declared a virtual war on the
poor and majority of this country. It started with
Reserve Bank Governor Gono in his last Monetary
Policy announcing the removal of price controls and
all subsidies on goods and services offered by the
government, local authorities and parastatals. They
were ordered to charge market rates and survive on
their own. Thus ZINWA and ZESA have increased
water and electricity charges by over 1000% whilst
local councils across the country have massively hiked
rates, by as much as 5 000%, and schools allowed
school fees to be increased at the inflation rate, i.e. 1
280%!
On its part business has imposed savage
unprecedented increases on the prices of basics like food, clothing, education, drugs and health services,
farming inputs and transport. Transport by combis has
trebled from $300 to $1000 in less than two months. The
Poverty Datum Line is now over $360 000 a month for an
average working class family, yet workers on average earn
not more than $60 000.
Of course the state and parastatal fat cats and bosses
are doing well. Gono splashed half a trillion dollars on a
Mercedes Benz – enough to supply 10 000 AIDS patients
with ARV drugs for six months. Judges and MPs have
been given increments of over 1 000% when teachers,
nurses and doctors on less than $60 000 have been given
a miserly 300%. The Zimbabwe Stock Exchange was
reported amongst the top three performers across Africa
in the past year, meaning bosses made huge profits as
they give workers peanuts.
But the bosses and the state have gone too far, and
have provoked a rising anger amongst the masses. The
opposition parties seeking to hijack our struggles only in
order to sell out to Zanu PF and bosses in the near future.
A democratic united front of activists and social
movements under accountable and recallable leadership
must be built with a clear anti- ESAP, anti-capitalist, antidictatorship
and anti-imperialist programme to push
forward the emerging struggles. The social forum provides
a powerful platform to start this. On the other hand in
unions workers must boot out cowardly and sell –out
leaders and replace them with militants and push for action,
strikes, leading to general strikes and demonstrations
against the bosses and the state, working hand in hand
with the social movements. We must seek to build regional
and international solidarity from other movements of the
poor and oppressed of the world, starting with the World
Social Forum in Nairobi in January.
Jambanja Ndizvo! Smash the Dictatorship! Smash
Capitalism!
Fight Erupts in Printing Union
Serious internal squabbles have erupted in the Printing union. One faction is led by old Reflections members (a rank and file group of workers which successfully mobilized and took over the union from the old corrupt ZGWU leadership. .The other side is a mixture of old ZGWU supporters, some who contested the 2004 Congress and lost and a few currently in the national council by virtue of cooption .The latter are a bunch of right wingers intent on holding workers conditions and wages down while cavorting with printing industry bosses.
Reflections was formed around 2003 as a rank and file group to get rid of the old unaccountable ZGWU leadership which had presided over the union for over 15 years without having any elections to change leadership. In 2004 Reflections managed to push for a congress where they scooped most potions in the leadership save for a few which were retained by the old
leadership . After winning congress they embarked on a serious grass roots empowerment programme where they formed industrial structures organized in zones which had total control of the union . With this kind of operation the union became very strong and delivering. T
Reflections was formed around 2003 as a rank and file group to get rid of the old unaccountable ZGWU leadership which had presided over the union for over 15 years without having any elections to change leadership. In 2004 Reflections managed to push for a congress where they scooped most potions in the leadership save for a few which were retained by the old
leadership . After winning congress they embarked on a serious grass roots empowerment programme where they formed industrial structures organized in zones which had total control of the union . With this kind of operation the union became very strong and delivering. T
Social Forum: Another World is Possible
The rallying slogan of the World Social Forum WSF of another world is possible .This slogan expresses the yearning of the vast majority of society of for a different society from that of today. A society where three multinational capitalists
like Bill Gates have more wealth than three billion people, where the IMF, World bank and WTO demanded that the last dollars of poor countries be used to pay off debts accrued by local elites when hospitals are collapsing and millions are
hungry, a society where tens of thousands are killed in Iraq, Lebanon, DRC and Somalia, so that the oil and mining barons can make more dollars. A society where RBZ governor G Gono splashes trillions on a Mercedes Benz whilst three thousand people die weekly of AIDS because of lack of ARVs . In short the demands of this country’s and world’s people are for an alternative to the barbarism of the system of capitalism and imperialism. This is what motivated the formation of the WSF in Brazil in 2001 and the Zimbabwe Social Forum in 2003 .To create an open space for working people, the poor , the oppressed and exploited to discuss and strategize on how to link up our struggles and liberate ourselves , just as the capitalists and the governments, annually meet at the World Economic Forum in Davos and other national, regional and international forums.
Along with the WSF the ZSF has grown .This year the WSF meets for the first time in Africa in January .Locally, whereas in 2003 less than three hundred people attended our first event in Harare in 2004 we hosted the Southern Africa Social Forum attended by three thousand people and in 2006 they were regional social forums in Chitungiza, Mutare and Bulawayo . In 2005 we started on the road to becoming a living social forum of struggle, with the ZSF massively supporting the ZCTU called anti poverty demonstration on 8 November.
Challenges and way forward
However , the Social Forum process faces many challenges .The most urgent challenge is the transformation of the process into a truly living Forum facilitating the struggles of working people locally and internationally against dictatorship,
neoliberalism , imperialism and capitalism in general .We recommended a few ideas on the way forward • Adoption of campaigns : Some have referred to the Social Forum process as a trade fare of politics ideas ;indeed they are leading elements in the Social Forum process who would like to keep it like that as a safety valve or talk shop for working
people to vend out the anger every now and then ,but leaving the structures exploitation , oppression and violence of global capitalism intact .These elements dominate amongst many of the middle class dominated NGOs and reformists parties like the Brazilian workers party which initiated the social Forum process and still controls it up to date with
PT ‘ S LULA , once in power become a darling of the IMF and multinationals. Our actions must go beyond protests and marches but decisively general strikes that hurt the system where it hurts the most –the process of production and source of profits. The global proletariat must thas become a key part of the Social Forum process.
At the Nairobi WSF concrete resolutions on the regional and international actions shoulkd be adopted , whilst locally the ZSF should come up with a few well selected agreed campaigns and actions , which all clusters and organizations will mobilize for and support.
• Build a democratic , accountable and non commodified Social Forum .Today the Social Forum process locally continentally and internationally , is disproportionally and undemocratically controlled by NGOs and other elites at the exclusion of grass roots movements , activists and revolutionary left .The WSF charter prohibits voting and election insisting on consensus , whilst political parties are excluded .This leaves the administrative and political leadership structures of the Social Forum process controlled by un elected and un accountable self appointed middle class elites from the NGOs of their allies .Many of these become specialists in plane – hotel activism and spicing meetings with rented crowds from the poor .We call for a complete overhaul of the Social Forum structures so that leaders are elected and recallable , whilst decisions are made democratically , which means elections and voting where consensus fails .Representation at regional , continental and international structures must represent the different segments of the Social Forum process including thematic , regional and national constituencies with due and elected mandate for their constituencies. The ban on political
organizations and parties must go as they already participate but in disguise.
* Decentralise: The Social Forum process must go down right to the grass roots. If the campaigns , demonstrations and general strikes are to be successful , mobilization has to start right at the grass roots in urban , industrial and rural areas
* Unconditional open space: The demands of the SF process confine it within an ideological straightjacket. It is not for fat cats, bosses, multinationals or bourgeois politicians. Indeed most of these accept this but the agenda is non the less carried out in the Social Forum process by various of their agents and friends especially amongst the middle class run and
bourgeoisie funded NGOs or right wing lobour officials. This requires extensive educational and cultural teach ins and programmes amongst participants in the SF process to understand that its goals can only be achieved by a movement which is
agains neoliberalism , imperialism , dictatorship , multinationals – indeed against capitalism. And only but a fighting and living SF rooted in the struggles of working people and not in talk shop jamborees dominated by agents and friends of the rich and powerful. Contrary to the reformists and bourgeois NGOs they try and trick the masses saying “ there is
one bug no but many yes” – we argue that the only alternative to capitalism is the overthrow of national bourgeois states and private property internationally and bring the world’s wealth and resources under the democratic control of the working people of the world whereby production will not be for profits of the few but for the human need –that world can only be communism.
Finally , despite the above weaknesses of the SF process , it offers a very important platform , locally and internationally , bringing together many of those who are being radicalized by the failure of neo-liberal globalization and capitalism and its violent wars and who have not traditionally participated in socialist politics. It is with such strata that the revolutionary left will have to build relationships with, if it is to rise to its fundamental challenge of building a truly global mass revolutionary movement of working people that can take over global capitalism and build a new society.
by M Gwisai
like Bill Gates have more wealth than three billion people, where the IMF, World bank and WTO demanded that the last dollars of poor countries be used to pay off debts accrued by local elites when hospitals are collapsing and millions are
hungry, a society where tens of thousands are killed in Iraq, Lebanon, DRC and Somalia, so that the oil and mining barons can make more dollars. A society where RBZ governor G Gono splashes trillions on a Mercedes Benz whilst three thousand people die weekly of AIDS because of lack of ARVs . In short the demands of this country’s and world’s people are for an alternative to the barbarism of the system of capitalism and imperialism. This is what motivated the formation of the WSF in Brazil in 2001 and the Zimbabwe Social Forum in 2003 .To create an open space for working people, the poor , the oppressed and exploited to discuss and strategize on how to link up our struggles and liberate ourselves , just as the capitalists and the governments, annually meet at the World Economic Forum in Davos and other national, regional and international forums.
Along with the WSF the ZSF has grown .This year the WSF meets for the first time in Africa in January .Locally, whereas in 2003 less than three hundred people attended our first event in Harare in 2004 we hosted the Southern Africa Social Forum attended by three thousand people and in 2006 they were regional social forums in Chitungiza, Mutare and Bulawayo . In 2005 we started on the road to becoming a living social forum of struggle, with the ZSF massively supporting the ZCTU called anti poverty demonstration on 8 November.
Challenges and way forward
However , the Social Forum process faces many challenges .The most urgent challenge is the transformation of the process into a truly living Forum facilitating the struggles of working people locally and internationally against dictatorship,
neoliberalism , imperialism and capitalism in general .We recommended a few ideas on the way forward • Adoption of campaigns : Some have referred to the Social Forum process as a trade fare of politics ideas ;indeed they are leading elements in the Social Forum process who would like to keep it like that as a safety valve or talk shop for working
people to vend out the anger every now and then ,but leaving the structures exploitation , oppression and violence of global capitalism intact .These elements dominate amongst many of the middle class dominated NGOs and reformists parties like the Brazilian workers party which initiated the social Forum process and still controls it up to date with
PT ‘ S LULA , once in power become a darling of the IMF and multinationals. Our actions must go beyond protests and marches but decisively general strikes that hurt the system where it hurts the most –the process of production and source of profits. The global proletariat must thas become a key part of the Social Forum process.
At the Nairobi WSF concrete resolutions on the regional and international actions shoulkd be adopted , whilst locally the ZSF should come up with a few well selected agreed campaigns and actions , which all clusters and organizations will mobilize for and support.
• Build a democratic , accountable and non commodified Social Forum .Today the Social Forum process locally continentally and internationally , is disproportionally and undemocratically controlled by NGOs and other elites at the exclusion of grass roots movements , activists and revolutionary left .The WSF charter prohibits voting and election insisting on consensus , whilst political parties are excluded .This leaves the administrative and political leadership structures of the Social Forum process controlled by un elected and un accountable self appointed middle class elites from the NGOs of their allies .Many of these become specialists in plane – hotel activism and spicing meetings with rented crowds from the poor .We call for a complete overhaul of the Social Forum structures so that leaders are elected and recallable , whilst decisions are made democratically , which means elections and voting where consensus fails .Representation at regional , continental and international structures must represent the different segments of the Social Forum process including thematic , regional and national constituencies with due and elected mandate for their constituencies. The ban on political
organizations and parties must go as they already participate but in disguise.
* Decentralise: The Social Forum process must go down right to the grass roots. If the campaigns , demonstrations and general strikes are to be successful , mobilization has to start right at the grass roots in urban , industrial and rural areas
* Unconditional open space: The demands of the SF process confine it within an ideological straightjacket. It is not for fat cats, bosses, multinationals or bourgeois politicians. Indeed most of these accept this but the agenda is non the less carried out in the Social Forum process by various of their agents and friends especially amongst the middle class run and
bourgeoisie funded NGOs or right wing lobour officials. This requires extensive educational and cultural teach ins and programmes amongst participants in the SF process to understand that its goals can only be achieved by a movement which is
agains neoliberalism , imperialism , dictatorship , multinationals – indeed against capitalism. And only but a fighting and living SF rooted in the struggles of working people and not in talk shop jamborees dominated by agents and friends of the rich and powerful. Contrary to the reformists and bourgeois NGOs they try and trick the masses saying “ there is
one bug no but many yes” – we argue that the only alternative to capitalism is the overthrow of national bourgeois states and private property internationally and bring the world’s wealth and resources under the democratic control of the working people of the world whereby production will not be for profits of the few but for the human need –that world can only be communism.
Finally , despite the above weaknesses of the SF process , it offers a very important platform , locally and internationally , bringing together many of those who are being radicalized by the failure of neo-liberal globalization and capitalism and its violent wars and who have not traditionally participated in socialist politics. It is with such strata that the revolutionary left will have to build relationships with, if it is to rise to its fundamental challenge of building a truly global mass revolutionary movement of working people that can take over global capitalism and build a new society.
by M Gwisai
Perspective of the Global anti capitalist movement
AS we gather for the WSF in Nairobi, we need to look at where the global anti-capitalist movement is going. To do so, we need to look at the experiences of some countries.
Brazil: A mass movement sees in Lula of the Workers Party (PT). His first reforms ended workers social pensions. Yet when in opposition PT opposed pension reform. Heloisa Helen (a PT senator) opposed the scrapping of pensions and was expelled. Hundreds of PT activists resigned from PT in protest and formed the Party of Socialism and Liberty (PSOL). 2 years later a corruption scandal involving leading PT members saw thousands more PT activists and MPs defect to PSOL. Helen stood for President last year (2006). While she lost the first round of voting, she gained 12% of the vote and forced run-off elections. Lula continues with neo-liberal attacks.
Argentina: An economic collapse in 2001 led to a mass uprising in December. Ordinary people took over the streets of the capital Buenos Aires. In 14 days they forced out 4 Presidents. Popular assemblies were formed to help people survive the crisis – they focused on food distribution and what resources could be forced from the state. The level of organization made many on the left believe there was no need for
political organisation. Once stability had been reestablished, the popular assemblies ceased existing. Political bureaucrats who ran the 2 main trade union federations endorsed the 5th president after a month of uprising. Using state resources they gave unemployment benefits to weaken the movement. Today the centre-left president Nestor Kuchner maintains the neo-liberal policies of his predecessors.
Mexico: After the fraudulent Presidential elections in July last year, a province in Mexico came near to a state of insurrection. Teachers in a union branch went on strike for wage rises, new text-books and classrooms. The strike spread. Mass demos of 800,000 took place. The provincial governor responded with teargas. Demonstrators responded by blocking roads and occupying shopping centres. The state responded by hinting that the military may be called in. The losing opposition candidate eventually asks the protesters to call off their action saying that alternative action is being planned. To date nothing has happened.
Bolivia: In October 2003 came news that the government was to privatise newly discovered reserves of gas. Sporadic demos against this decision erupted into mass strikes and demos demanding the
nationalisation of the gas to alleviate poverty. President Lozada fled leading to an uneasy stability. After social peace appeared to set in, Lozada’s deputy, Mesa, continued with the programme and neo-liberalism. The law that was drawn up to privatise the gas reserves ignited the June 2005 rebellion that saw dynamite thrown at police by strikers. The country was shut down, roads were closed, the government was sacked. Morales secretly intervened by engaging in negotiations to form an interim government. The movement suddenly ended. Strikers returned to work, demos were called off. The movement paralysed the corridors of power but (1) posed no alternative and (2) failed to plan and organise to feed its own supporters. After 3 weeks of struggle and food shortages, people were tired.
Venezuela: The mirror of mass struggles globally. The struggle there has led to a split in the main trade union federation. There are those who see the government of Chaves as the answer. Then there are those who see the ordinary people them selves as the answer - and who argue that Chaves has not lead people to taking over factories, mines and shops.
The Way Forward
There are 2 different components to the struggle of the left. The one is centred around intellectuals and middle class layers (including some army officers) who identify with populist movements in townships and slums. They see nationalist or state capitalist development as the way forward. But it leads them to look at the popular movement as something they should dominate. The other is a popular insurgency against neoliberal policies on workers, peasants, urban poor and indigenous peoples.
Neither route of nationalism or state capitalism is the answer. Regimes from Chile to pre-1994 South Africa, Britain, Cambodia and Russia have tried them. It was only the members of the classes that dominated society or those who led movements that benefitted. The struggle for a new society must be in the hands of ordinary people.
by Rosa Zulu
Brazil: A mass movement sees in Lula of the Workers Party (PT). His first reforms ended workers social pensions. Yet when in opposition PT opposed pension reform. Heloisa Helen (a PT senator) opposed the scrapping of pensions and was expelled. Hundreds of PT activists resigned from PT in protest and formed the Party of Socialism and Liberty (PSOL). 2 years later a corruption scandal involving leading PT members saw thousands more PT activists and MPs defect to PSOL. Helen stood for President last year (2006). While she lost the first round of voting, she gained 12% of the vote and forced run-off elections. Lula continues with neo-liberal attacks.
Argentina: An economic collapse in 2001 led to a mass uprising in December. Ordinary people took over the streets of the capital Buenos Aires. In 14 days they forced out 4 Presidents. Popular assemblies were formed to help people survive the crisis – they focused on food distribution and what resources could be forced from the state. The level of organization made many on the left believe there was no need for
political organisation. Once stability had been reestablished, the popular assemblies ceased existing. Political bureaucrats who ran the 2 main trade union federations endorsed the 5th president after a month of uprising. Using state resources they gave unemployment benefits to weaken the movement. Today the centre-left president Nestor Kuchner maintains the neo-liberal policies of his predecessors.
Mexico: After the fraudulent Presidential elections in July last year, a province in Mexico came near to a state of insurrection. Teachers in a union branch went on strike for wage rises, new text-books and classrooms. The strike spread. Mass demos of 800,000 took place. The provincial governor responded with teargas. Demonstrators responded by blocking roads and occupying shopping centres. The state responded by hinting that the military may be called in. The losing opposition candidate eventually asks the protesters to call off their action saying that alternative action is being planned. To date nothing has happened.
Bolivia: In October 2003 came news that the government was to privatise newly discovered reserves of gas. Sporadic demos against this decision erupted into mass strikes and demos demanding the
nationalisation of the gas to alleviate poverty. President Lozada fled leading to an uneasy stability. After social peace appeared to set in, Lozada’s deputy, Mesa, continued with the programme and neo-liberalism. The law that was drawn up to privatise the gas reserves ignited the June 2005 rebellion that saw dynamite thrown at police by strikers. The country was shut down, roads were closed, the government was sacked. Morales secretly intervened by engaging in negotiations to form an interim government. The movement suddenly ended. Strikers returned to work, demos were called off. The movement paralysed the corridors of power but (1) posed no alternative and (2) failed to plan and organise to feed its own supporters. After 3 weeks of struggle and food shortages, people were tired.
Venezuela: The mirror of mass struggles globally. The struggle there has led to a split in the main trade union federation. There are those who see the government of Chaves as the answer. Then there are those who see the ordinary people them selves as the answer - and who argue that Chaves has not lead people to taking over factories, mines and shops.
The Way Forward
There are 2 different components to the struggle of the left. The one is centred around intellectuals and middle class layers (including some army officers) who identify with populist movements in townships and slums. They see nationalist or state capitalist development as the way forward. But it leads them to look at the popular movement as something they should dominate. The other is a popular insurgency against neoliberal policies on workers, peasants, urban poor and indigenous peoples.
Neither route of nationalism or state capitalism is the answer. Regimes from Chile to pre-1994 South Africa, Britain, Cambodia and Russia have tried them. It was only the members of the classes that dominated society or those who led movements that benefitted. The struggle for a new society must be in the hands of ordinary people.
by Rosa Zulu
Ethiopia, Kenya, US invade and bomb Somalia
Last month the Ethiopian military invaded Somalia. Hours after marching into the capital Mogadishu, US AC-130 “Spectre” Gunship war aircraft bombed villages in eastern and southern Somalia killing over 100 civilians – several of them fouryear
old children. The US military then announced it was sending an aircraft carrier off the Somali coast. The reasons that the Addis Ababa and Washington regimes claimed for doing so was to stabilise the country and make it safe as part of the war on terror. Nothing could be further from the truth. The back-ground to the invasion is the takeover of almost all of Somalia by militias of the United Islamic Courts (UIC) last year. The militias drove out western backed warlords who had
dominated Somali politics for the last 15 years.
The militias victory was based on genuine popular support. Weary of the violence and brutality of the warlords, many ordinary Somalis supported the UIC. In addition several key leaders of Somalia’s clans were prepared to back the UIC in order to stabilise the country. The Bush regime had been growing closer to the warlords who were prepared to act as Bush’s agents in his “war on terror”. These warlords had a bloody record who also bitterly divided Somalia.
All this was forgotten by Bush because they would boost US military presence in the region – just across the Gulf of Aden lies the Middle East.
The UIC takeover and success was a blow to US plans for the region. The takeover was also a defeat of the Somali “transitional” government that had been formed in 2004 in Kenya. The “government” existed in name rather than fact.
As even Britain’s state owned BBC stated “President Yusuf’s administration made up of former warlords, often struggled to control its own members…Its forst 18 months…were spent squabbling over where to set up its base, eventually settling for the town of Baidoa”
Although Ethiopian forces have occupied most of the UIC strong-holds, the war may be far from over. Ethiopia has superior military arms and UIC fighters cannot openly confront tanks and planes, the US has discovered in Iraq that irregular resistance can be very effective against occupiers.Ordinary people’s interests have been trampled beneath the US’s desire to ramp its control of the Horn of Africa. Instead of dealing with Somalia’s terrible poverty and the present flood
emergency, resources have been poured into arms of war.
Although Ethiopian forces have occupied most of the UIC strong-holds, the war may be far from over. Ethiopia has superior military arms and UIC fighters cannot openly confront tanks and planes, the US has discovered in Iraq that irregular resistance can be very effective against occupiers.
old children. The US military then announced it was sending an aircraft carrier off the Somali coast. The reasons that the Addis Ababa and Washington regimes claimed for doing so was to stabilise the country and make it safe as part of the war on terror. Nothing could be further from the truth. The back-ground to the invasion is the takeover of almost all of Somalia by militias of the United Islamic Courts (UIC) last year. The militias drove out western backed warlords who had
dominated Somali politics for the last 15 years.
The militias victory was based on genuine popular support. Weary of the violence and brutality of the warlords, many ordinary Somalis supported the UIC. In addition several key leaders of Somalia’s clans were prepared to back the UIC in order to stabilise the country. The Bush regime had been growing closer to the warlords who were prepared to act as Bush’s agents in his “war on terror”. These warlords had a bloody record who also bitterly divided Somalia.
All this was forgotten by Bush because they would boost US military presence in the region – just across the Gulf of Aden lies the Middle East.
The UIC takeover and success was a blow to US plans for the region. The takeover was also a defeat of the Somali “transitional” government that had been formed in 2004 in Kenya. The “government” existed in name rather than fact.
As even Britain’s state owned BBC stated “President Yusuf’s administration made up of former warlords, often struggled to control its own members…Its forst 18 months…were spent squabbling over where to set up its base, eventually settling for the town of Baidoa”
Although Ethiopian forces have occupied most of the UIC strong-holds, the war may be far from over. Ethiopia has superior military arms and UIC fighters cannot openly confront tanks and planes, the US has discovered in Iraq that irregular resistance can be very effective against occupiers.Ordinary people’s interests have been trampled beneath the US’s desire to ramp its control of the Horn of Africa. Instead of dealing with Somalia’s terrible poverty and the present flood
emergency, resources have been poured into arms of war.
Although Ethiopian forces have occupied most of the UIC strong-holds, the war may be far from over. Ethiopia has superior military arms and UIC fighters cannot openly confront tanks and planes, the US has discovered in Iraq that irregular resistance can be very effective against occupiers.
Ethiopia, Kenya, US invade and bomb Somalia to quell polular UIC
Last month the Ethiopian military invaded Somalia.
Hours after marching into the capital Mogadishu,
US AC-130 “Spectre” Gunship war aircraft
bombed villages in eastern and southern Somalia
killing over 100 civilians – several of them fouryear
old children. The US military then announced
it was sending an aircraft carrier off the Somali
coast. The reasons that the Addis Ababa and
dealing with Somalia’s terrible poverty and the present flood
emergency, resources have been poured into arms of war.
Although Ethiopian forces have occupied most of
the UIC strong-holds, the war may be far from over. Ethiopia
has superior military arms and UIC fighters cannot openly
confront tanks and planes, the US has discovered in Iraq
that irregular resistance can be very effective against
occupiers.
Hours after marching into the capital Mogadishu,
US AC-130 “Spectre” Gunship war aircraft
bombed villages in eastern and southern Somalia
killing over 100 civilians – several of them fouryear
old children. The US military then announced
it was sending an aircraft carrier off the Somali
coast. The reasons that the Addis Ababa and
dealing with Somalia’s terrible poverty and the present flood
emergency, resources have been poured into arms of war.
Although Ethiopian forces have occupied most of
the UIC strong-holds, the war may be far from over. Ethiopia
has superior military arms and UIC fighters cannot openly
confront tanks and planes, the US has discovered in Iraq
that irregular resistance can be very effective against
occupiers.
Tuesday, January 02, 2007
Press Statement by the NCA on the attempted murder of its Chairman
The National Constitutional Assembly is deeply disturbedby, and strongly condemns, the attempted assassination of its National Chairperson, Dr Lovemore Madhuku on the morning of December 31st, 2006 by what we suspect to be members of Zimbabwe’s intelligence.
The attack happened at about 0030hrs whilst Madhuku, his family and visiting relatives were sleeping. The assailants doused Madhuku’s house and his car, which was parked in a garage attached to the house, with petrol (gasoline). A thread dipped in gasoline was then drawn from the house to the gate and used to light the house without causing injury to the assailants. The professionalism with which the act was organized and executed suggests the work of government’s intelligence services. Indications show that the intention was to get the car to explode during the burn and if succeeded the plan could easily have passed for an electric fault.
The family was woken up by the crackling of glass and the smoke, only managing to escape ten minutes later with minimal casualty. Madhuku’s children are receiving treatment for chemical pneumonitis - post smoke inhalation.
This is the third time Madhuku has managed to escape his state sponsored murders. In 2002, he survived an induced accident after his vehicle’s brakes had been tampered with. Again in 2004, he was abducted, tortured and left for dead near the National Sports Stadium in Harare. In 2003 during one of his several arrests was warned by one of his jailers that he ‘would die the same way as Chitepo had died’.
The attack comes at a time when the National Constitutional Assembly is mobilizing its supporters and our compatriots to defend the future of our country from the effects of the Zanu PF regime’s treasonous machinations of extending Robert Mugabe’s term of office by a further two years. This affront to the dignity of our nationhood and people will be resisted.
The attack on Madhuku should be seen as an attempt to break the resilience of Zimbabweans in their struggle to build a democratic, free and just society based on a people driven democratic constitution. Brutal campaigns against leaders of our democracy movements are meant to intimidate and cow the multitudes of our people forcing them into passive supporters of their own repression.
The NCA warns those who are being used to commit these and other attacks on our people that history will not forget or forgive them for standing in the way of the inevitable liberation of Zimbabwe. The future will demand justice for those who have and continue to suffer.
Issued: 01 January, 2007
National Constitutional Assembly
Information Office
Solidarity or support messages can be extended to Dr Madhuku on +263 11 608 692 or email: chairperson@ncazimbabwe.org, info@ncazimbabwe.org
The attack happened at about 0030hrs whilst Madhuku, his family and visiting relatives were sleeping. The assailants doused Madhuku’s house and his car, which was parked in a garage attached to the house, with petrol (gasoline). A thread dipped in gasoline was then drawn from the house to the gate and used to light the house without causing injury to the assailants. The professionalism with which the act was organized and executed suggests the work of government’s intelligence services. Indications show that the intention was to get the car to explode during the burn and if succeeded the plan could easily have passed for an electric fault.
The family was woken up by the crackling of glass and the smoke, only managing to escape ten minutes later with minimal casualty. Madhuku’s children are receiving treatment for chemical pneumonitis - post smoke inhalation.
This is the third time Madhuku has managed to escape his state sponsored murders. In 2002, he survived an induced accident after his vehicle’s brakes had been tampered with. Again in 2004, he was abducted, tortured and left for dead near the National Sports Stadium in Harare. In 2003 during one of his several arrests was warned by one of his jailers that he ‘would die the same way as Chitepo had died’.
The attack comes at a time when the National Constitutional Assembly is mobilizing its supporters and our compatriots to defend the future of our country from the effects of the Zanu PF regime’s treasonous machinations of extending Robert Mugabe’s term of office by a further two years. This affront to the dignity of our nationhood and people will be resisted.
The attack on Madhuku should be seen as an attempt to break the resilience of Zimbabweans in their struggle to build a democratic, free and just society based on a people driven democratic constitution. Brutal campaigns against leaders of our democracy movements are meant to intimidate and cow the multitudes of our people forcing them into passive supporters of their own repression.
The NCA warns those who are being used to commit these and other attacks on our people that history will not forget or forgive them for standing in the way of the inevitable liberation of Zimbabwe. The future will demand justice for those who have and continue to suffer.
Issued: 01 January, 2007
National Constitutional Assembly
Information Office
Solidarity or support messages can be extended to Dr Madhuku on +263 11 608 692 or email: chairperson@ncazimbabwe.org, info@ncazimbabwe.org
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