International

The Zimbabwe news came late yesterday evening via http://groups.google.com/group/zimbabwe-fight-on-dont-mourn. By the way, that is a good group to join. Just click on the link and try to sign in. If you do not have a Google password you may have to “create an account” before you subscribe to the group.

The headline was “Mutambara, Tsvangirai arrested ahead of joint rally” and it says “Arrested alongside Tsvangirai and Mutambara was Lovemore Madhuku, the chairman of the National Constitutional Assembly (NCA) pressure group and several other officials from both factions of the MDC. These include Job Sikhala, Tendai Biti, Willas Madzimure, Sekai Holland, Nelso Chamisa, and Mike Davies.”

The political significance is that the main formations have created a unity-in-action, which is the essential pre-requisite for progress. This is no doubt why the Mugabe regime has come down so heavily. One person was killed.

But what is also interesting is that the Reuters report in the Johannesburg Business Day only mentions Tsvangirai and the report in the Johannesburg Star, also from Reuters (a British company and no doubt riddled with spies), is headlined “Tsvangirai”, has a picture of Tsvangirai, and only mentions Mutambara and Madhuku in one brief sentence in a long report.

Like Mugabe, Reuters is not interested in the unity message. It wants to boost Tsvangirai at the expense of the others. The report linked below may have come more from the Mutambara (pictured above, for the sake of balance) side, for all we know. But at least it stresses the combined nature of this action, which if it is true makes a revolution more than possible in Zimbabwe, and close to inevitable.

As with the South African struggle against apartheid, the struggle to renew Zimbabwean democracy is going to attract all sorts of latecomers and arrivistes with agendas. The way to keep on course is to watch the working class. The Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions has called a general strike for the 3rd and 4th of April, 2007. As South Africans, wherever you may be in the country, you must devise your own response so as to manifest your solidarity with the Zimbabwean workers and common people in the build-up to the stayaway and on the two days of the action.

Meanwhile US President George Bush is in Latin America, causing protests wherever he goes. President Hugo Chavez of Venezuela is also doing a tour, and getting a great reception from large crowds.

A more important event for the USA is their meeting with representatives of Iran and Syria and others in Baghdad. See the long Asia Times article. The last article is Virginia Tilley’s of ten days ago, held back for nearly a week by the Mail and Guardian, but still worth reading and archiving.

Click on these links:

Mutambara, Tsvangirai arrested before joint rally, Chimhashu, newzim (808 words)

Iran and US talking, M K Bhadrakhumar, Asia Times Online (2486 words)

Africa and the war on terror, Virginia Tilley, Mail and Guardian (866 words)