The following is an exchange which started with a white woman, but it is the black woman’s response which I would like to draw your attention to because it is downright brilliant.

That black woman, Sally, has a deep understanding of exactly what the problem is and how to solve it. She concludes there is only “one way” to deal with Mugabe, and I assume she means – to fight him. She is also explaining why the blacks should lead, and I agree with that. I don’t think the handful of whites are in a position to do anything at all. Blacks must open up the battle against Mugabe. Sympathetic whites will join the battle later. Jan]
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From: Sally xxxxx
To: colleen xxxxx
Sent: Thursday, March 30, 2006 9:38 AM
Subject: Re: My Take – There is only one way

Hi Colleen,
I keep telling people that there is now only one way. There are no other options left. Time, inaction and lost opportunities have placed Zimbabwe where it is right now. Zimbabweans have painted themselves into a corner. The excuses for inaction have been forthcoming ad infinitim for so long. Zimbabweans have talked themselves into paralysis. They simply won’t face reality. I’m quite sure that many will dispute what I’m saying because it is NOT nice to say or hear these things. In fact, I do not like saying them because the natural reactions of some is to immediately attack, denigrate and accuse me of being an armchair critic (ala pro and anti senate). The trouble is that the demise of Zimbabwe has happened unchecked, with devastating speed, and as I write, there is no tomorrow.

The tragedy is that Zimbabwe’s democratic leaders have not arrived at the realisation that you CANNOT negotiate with zanuPF. They still think that applying pressure will bring zanuPF to the negotiating table. Pressure? What pressure? Past reasoning and conventional thinking has actually caused humongous paralysis. “This can’t be happening” and in a normal society, it wouldn’t happen. Who on earth would contemplate destroying their country? No one, not even in their wildest dreams would anyone have expected this to happen. Well, zanuPF have consciously gone ahead and have done just that. What’s worse, is that the victim has become the criminal in every sense of the word. What was good is now evil. They have corrupted every sector of society. What was normal is now abnormal. The bucket of logic has been turned upside down. There is nothing to negotiate even if zanuPF were prepared to negotiate !!

It is on this basis that I say that Zimbabweans inside zimbabwe must realise is that what they consider to be “normal” in Zimbabwe today is NOT normal. This society is traumatised and has been beaten into submission.

The consequence is that it’s like the same mental condition as the Jews walking towards those gas chambers. It is a passive acceptance of what is happening because there is nothing they they think they can do about it.
Zimbabweans need to comprehend these realities, come to terms with them, acknowledge them and take responsibility for them. Unfortunately it can be extremely difficult to accept reality. This is quite understandable given the enormous scale and dimension of what has and is happening. Most human minds cannot comprehend or accept the quantum of this disaster. In a way, it is like a wife who is beaten so badly that she will do anything to please her husband.

These are the true realities:

1) Mugabe and zanuPF are at war with Zimbabwe. They have been at war for some time.
2) Mugabe and zanuPF are enemies of Zimbabwe. This has to be acknowledged.
3) Zimbabweans put Robert Mugabe and zanuPF in power. Zimbabweans must remove them.
4) Robert Mugabe and zanuPF do not negotiate – negotiation is not an option and never was.
5) Zimbabweans, now, have no option but to destroy Mugabe and zanuPF before Mugabe and zanuPF destroy Zimbabwe.
6) The destruction of Zimbabwe is now so advanced that it is in melt-down, and still, Zimbabweans remain spectators.

There is no gain from criticising anyone or any sector of society for this disaster. Everyone must accept responsibility equally.

In particular, I comment on the white people of Zimbabwe who constitute a minuscule proportion of society. Not only that, but they think and operate differently to most other Zimbabweans. What the hell are they expected to do? Must they go out there and lead from the front? They are quite capable of doing so but the realities dictate that they are not wanted because their black fellow citizens don’t want to be seen as stooges as a result of association. The truth is that whites are not wanted in Africa anyway. Whatever they do, they are always despised and criticised. This is despite the fact that they have made a huge contribution to this continent. No one will acknowledge this truth because it is unfashionable to do so. It is not they who have destroyed Zimbabwe’s future. In fact, it is quite the opposite. As a group, they have contributed an exponentially higher contribution to Zimbabwe’s prosperity than any other group. That is a fact, not an opinion. Generalising and making derogatory statements about them sitting in coffee shops may be fashionable but it is certainly not constructive. “Leave them alone” is my message because if they become involved, many Africans will see it as some kind of “new” colonisation and loss of “sovrenity”(sic). I know of many whites people who are doing their bit for Zimbabwe. It is not right to get out the paintbrush and paint a bad picture when it is patently not the case.

The general observation that civic, activist and political groups should unite is absolutely correct. Why haven’t they? The answers are well known and documented. The truth is that as long as they remain segmented and disunited, the longer zanuPF will remain in power. This disunity is useful for zanuPF and zanuPF, through it’s surrogate state organs, have been very effective in its creation.

Zimbabweans are not truly united and there is no viable strength in the current democratic leadership. It’s too fragmented, for many reasons. We have seen two congresses of the absurd. Their energies have been so easily diverted into hanging onto a name. It’s a pathetic show. It’s a tragi-comedy. Are these people truly Zimbabwe’s best alternative to Mugabe? Do they really have Zimbabwe’s best interests at heart? Do they really know what to do? Are these side shows not indicative of the disunity of Zimbabwe as a whole? What has happened since these congresses? Is anything going to happen? Are they going to act and start leading the people? When? Does it not fully explain why Mugabe and zanuPF STILL remain in power today? I certainly do not have the answers to these questions but if I was a leader of any group in Zimbabwe, I’d say these questions need to be addressed head-on.

What I do know is that IF Zimbabweans (inside and outside) have dedicated focused resolve and act in unison, things could change very quickly. But first, there is a need for smart, strong, cohesive, organised leadership. This leadership must be fully operational at ground level, in the streets. It must be seen to be leading the way. It must be uncompromising in terms of where it is headed. It must start humiliating zanuPF and start winning the propaganda war. This leadership must not warn the regime of it’s actions in advance. This leadership must also have the confidence that when that call is made, the people will respond in their millions. This leadership must be seen to be preparing the nation for what lies ahead so that the nation is ready to respond and know what to do when that call is made. There must be an acceptance and an objective that zanuPF must be destoyed. There must be an acceptance that to achieve freedom and decency, it is going to come at a massive cost.

There is no other way forward.

If these realities are too tough to stomach, there is no tomorrow.

s

From: colleen xxxx
Sent: Tuesday, March 28, 2006 11:29 PM
Subject: My Take

From an anonymous source:
“Here are my thoughts on the current situation as I see it. I’m talking about the whole society now and trying to apply the principle of Cause and Effect to it. There is passive, inexorable genocide taking place and it has been in place for some time…long before “Murambatsvina”. Everyone was reluctant to use the word “genocide” because it wasn’t like Rwanda. I have used it a couple of times and one other has used it frequently. There is a pattern here. Now suddenly one or two other people are starting to use it. Suddenly we learn that an estimated 200,000 of the displaced people last year are already dead, and hundreds of thousands close to death. A government doesn’t have to physically kill people if you can just make them ill or starve them to death. It is still genocide. The reason that the word is now being uttered is although it is passive it has hit level seven on the International Genocide Watch scale definition. There are only eight levels, and level eight is “the denial after the fact”. The average citizen doesn’t even realise that it is happening, or cannot conceptualise it. We have no basic human rights, we have the highest inflation rate in the world, and we cannot even afford one decent meal a day.

Is it just “bad governance” or deliberate? A combination of both, with a bias towards the latter, I think.

We all know the Cause. The Effects are the smashed economy, lack of sanitation, lack of food, or the money to buy it, power-cuts, dirty water, medical care… all the LACK. One can look at this “lack” as a series of walls that have to be climbed every day one after another to just maintain enough energy to be able to start the next day’s climbing. This is just surviving. Now one starts each day with the same amount of energy (with the wages frozen now) and the height of each wall is doubled every two or three days. Under this system it does not take long before you are not able to climb the first wall. There are two ways of climbing – by corruption or by transparency. The corrupt will climb for longer but will eventually also succumb, the transparent will succumb much more quickly.

I have little difficulty in remembering an essay that I read written about two years ago by Jill Baker, former head of Radio 3 in Zimbabwe. It concerned a conversation that she had with one of her “new colleagues” in the broadcasting facility. She asked him what the Marxist concept of “power to the people” really meant. He said that it was what was “used” to motivate the people into action. Once in power, he said, the REAL power was the “power of the chosen few” and was the ability to have a starving man on his knees before you, begging for a bowl of food. And to either give it to him or deny him it. That was her defining moment…she left the country within six months! That was in 1983, I think!

If the Cause had been removed some time ago, then we might have been able to slowly start dismantling the walls. But that isn’t going to happen before it is too late for virtually everybody.

Politically the pro-senate faction concept essentially leaves the Cause and Effects in place, just a little “prettier” on the surface, but the same underneath. They are receiving little attention anyway..they are a joke to most. We know that this group are composed of a massive “plant” in the first instance.

The anti-senate concept of civil disobedience to bring “negotiation” is the only hope…but I hope that people have still got the strength.

If we look to the activists’ role here, it has been effective mainly to promote awareness outside the country. Although many people in other countries are lobbying for something to be done, their governments in some cases are shouting for change, it is all just talk and no action at the end of the day. I wish that I were wrong, but there will never be any form of international intervention here.

Internally, the activists are too few on the ground. The marches, demonstrations, protests consist at the most of hundreds. They are easily broken up. As with the politicians, there has not been cohesion between them. Each group has it’s own agenda to deal with one of the Effects. They do not unite against the Cause. Now, there are calls by the anti-senate faction for an “All stakeholder’s conference” This just may sway the balance. The pro-senate group are seen for what they are…sellouts! It’s all just talk, talk ,talk while people die… that is the feeling on the street. There are many involved who are actually just serving their own egos as well. In any other country, tens of thousands would rise up. It hasn’t happened here, but it must now! And if it was unsuccessful then “they” would have the perfect excuse for active genocide.

Which brings us to civil society in general…those who are on the side of good… The rest are not worth commenting on…they are just making all our lives more difficult.

Let’s make it simple because if anything, this government has brought everybody together in some form of destitute unity. The feelings flow over from one group to another anyway. Nevertheless…the less educated black people just say that “It is a problem.” and they leave it at that. The educated black people are very angry, things have reached boiling point. The food insecurity, water problems, power cuts, etc. have finally reached a point where people do not know where to turn. There is no longer a leadership that can focus this anger into a positive direction, so if there is an explosion, I don’t know what direction it will take. The white people left here are happily prepared to say how terrible things are, they are few and make little difference anyway. But, and here lies a terrible problem, GENERALLY the very dangerous mind-set of the non-politically minded white population left.

They will NOT accept the situation as it really is! They continually “try to make a plan”. They continue to fight the effects and gloss over the problems. They keep trying for normality in an abnormal situation. They continue to try to have a “normal” life, to be “true-blue Zimbabweans” facing up to hardship, to fight for “survival from day to day”, “make every dollar count” They will not lie down when ordered, when they are told to close their businesses for a stayaway, they won’t. They frequent coffee houses like it is a “holiday”, they will not listen! They will not give up their daily pleasures or one dollar of business to make a statement. “It will get better”, “This cannot last much longer”, “we are waiting for Change”. This amazing ignorance and general cowardice of many of them, cannot go on. Don’t worry…this also fits the bill of the middle-class black people..it’s a fluid mix. There are others who will continue to suffer, with the full knowledge of what is happening. It is a mind-numbing “dream-world” for most. They don’t even realise that their real potential could be “Outside Fighting IN”! Or UNITING internally once and for all.

The tenacity of all of these people is admirable, but it is this very tenacity and resilience that will finally bring them down! This resilience and tenacity is just what the regime wants. They want to say to the world…”there is no problem,everything is going on like it should, The NIAA festival is completed, HIFA is taking place, Big music concert in Bulawayo in June…WHAT’S THE PROBLEM! EVERYBODY IS HAPPY!” That is where these people are doing a great disservice to this country…by not telling the truth by cancelling and boycotting this “normal” looking activity. If they would only do it once, it would send a clear message to the world that all is not right in the State of Zimbabwe.

The way I see it, there is only a couple of choices left:

Stay and have one’s dignity and then very life stripped away, or GET OUT and try to make a life in a relatively sane continent. Not that any continent is totally sane, but it would at least be nice to be able to buy a soft drink from a shop!

The other choice is for all good Zimbabweans to rise up at one moment and sort this bunch out once and for all. This is an incredibly difficult task to accomplish, given the low levels of physical and mental energy that Zimbabweans have right now, but it is the only way to establish our rights and life again.

I went to Westgate shopping mall and did a tour or reconaissance the other day. There are something like 70 shops there. Of those not closed down completely, only four shops had a single customer in them! These were the two chemists and the two food outlets. Nobody can even afford to buy a piece of clothing or a pair of shoes. There is as of today, hardly anyone even buying food…they can’t afford the prices, even if the food is available.

My family had to be pro-active in getting our ‘phone back on line. We went to the source…they told us that they were grounded…no fuel ! There are hundreds of ‘phones out of order due to theft of cables. We gave them a million dollars ( 5 litres) of fuel plus some medicine provided from my friend in US to come and fix the system. That was the only way to avoid weeks of communications loss, and try to help in the best way I can.

If this final effort fails, frankly the dice are loaded big time. The only solution I can see is to get out by any means possible.

If the people of Zimbabwe will not UNITE once and for all in a very short period of time, and I mean weeks, I see a wasteland littered with the skeletons of the people who would not face the truth!