There but for the grace of God...

johninnit Fri Sep 15, 2006 at 10:42:52 PM GMT Print-friendly version Facebook

Please take a moment to send a message in protest at the crackdown in Zimbabwe, after Wellington Chibebe and pretty much the whole labour movement leadership were arrested and beaten.



When Wellington Chibebe came as a guest speaker to Labour conference in 2002, I remember seeing a cartoon from a state-controlled paper in Zimbabwe, which really brought home the problems the leader of the ZCTU (Zimbabwe's TUC) faced in dealing with an entirely irrational and deeply nasty government.

In it, a camped-up Blair stood on the stage, dressed in drag, and welcoming "Wellington Chi..baby!"), as a be-dragged Wellington minced to the podium. The rather unsophisticated point as I imagine you've guessed was - "Ha ha, they're all gay" (definitely in the Chris Moyles sense).

Things have got much worse for Chibebe now though. Mugabe has realised "words will never hurt me" and moved on to the "sticks and stones may break my bones" bit. Chibebe was amongst 400 union leaders and activists arrested and badly beaten on Wednesday, as they planned to stage a peaceful demonstration on the state of the economy. Allegedly he has two broken wrists and damage to his head where he was hit with a rifle, and he has now been moved to a hospital as his situation is so severe.

I was at TUC Congress this week, and heard Thabitha Khumalo (3rd Vice President of the ZCTU and now the only senior Zimbabwean unionist not in jail) talk about how when she'd heard us heckling Tony Blair ('us' in the loosest sense - I wasn't heckling, honest!), she instinctively panicked that the police would storm in to break Congress up for insulting our leader.

I've been debating with my colleagues today how far you'd go for your political beliefs, and frankly I find it often too much inconvenience to go out canvassing, and don't know if I could ever lead a demo that I knew would be brutally smashed. I'm very glad that no matter who's in power here, I'll never have to find out whether I've got that kind of bravery.

If you'd like to do anything for them (and please do), you can send a protest email or fax - there's more about this at the TUC site here, where you can also put your hand in your pocket should you wish.


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There but for the grace of God... | 10 comments (10 topical)

Re: There but for the grace of God... (#1)

by Glass House on Sat Sep 16, 2006 at 11:21:52 PM GMT

Amen.

Have sent a letter.


Re: There but for the grace of God... (#2)

by johninnit on Sun Sep 17, 2006 at 06:51:57 PM GMT

Cheers!

Just as an update - Some of them coming out now on bail it seems:
"Police free trade unionists", ZimOnline

But overall a pretty nasty picture:
"Zimbabwe unionists severely tortured in jail", Reuters


[ Parent ]

Re: There but for the grace of God... (#3)

by Glass House on Sun Sep 17, 2006 at 08:49:41 PM GMT

What does everyone think we should be doing about regimes like this?


[ Parent ]

Re: There but for the grace of God... (#4)

by JonRogers on Mon Sep 18, 2006 at 01:13:02 AM GMT

I think we should provide effective material support and solidarity to the courageous people who are struggling for their own liberation - from a trade union point of view it makes sense to back the Zimbabwean Trade Unions (just as we support trade unionists in Colombia or Iraq).


[ Parent ]

Re: There but for the grace of God... (#5)

by Glass House on Mon Sep 18, 2006 at 01:35:17 AM GMT

What form do you think this support take at government-level?

Money to opposition groups? Arms to opposition groups? Money that we know will be spent on arms?

What if (corrupt) elections are going on - should we still provide mony to opposition parties/groups then or would that be interfering in the (albeit corrupt) democratic process? How would we decide how corrupted an election would have to be before we would decided to 'interfere' in another country's democracy?


[ Parent ]

Re: There but for the grace of God... (#6)

by johninnit on Mon Sep 18, 2006 at 01:56:48 AM GMT

Hmm - very tricky!! Think Jon's spot on here in that the three labour movements under threat that he names are all groups committed to non-violent work to rebuild civil society.
It gets trickier as you say if the groups you support aren't on a peaceful track (eg the unedifying spectacle of Londoners marching in "We are all Hizbollah now" t-shirts) or where the regime is dodgy and manipulative, but not a clear case of being oppressive (such as Venezuela, where Chavez enjoys a lot of support from the UK left).
I reckon practical support could be both diplomatic (Mugabe gets away with a lot because he's able to count on Mbeki's South Africa trying to keep him on side - we should be doing more there), and knowledge sharing (training workshops for labour movement leaders and organisers - Unison for example have run workshops in Jordan for Iraqis, helping to bring the valuable techniques they've developed in the UK to Iraq), well before we get stuck into the tricky issues of who gives money (or even guns) to whom.


[ Parent ]

Re: There but for the grace of God... (#7)

by alexhilton on Mon Sep 18, 2006 at 06:06:27 AM GMT

Out of interest - and I have been thinking this about Darfur recently - at what point is it the right thing to send an armed force to help the helpless?

And is UN backing imperative to such a decision?


Re: There but for the grace of God... (#9)

by johninnit on Tue Sep 19, 2006 at 08:46:33 PM GMT

Have been thinking about this and it's very tricky (why we employ diplomats, generals and Foreign Secretaries, rather than numpties like me to do this work).
There's a 'practical right' and a 'moral right' angle maybe. I'd say countries have a duty not to  hesitate in condemnation of dictatorships and oppression, and where a country is in effect declaring war on its own civilian populace (as opposed to fighting an insurrectionary armed group) then another country could be morally justified in stepping in alone, if bodies with broader legitimacy (say the UN or African Union) are unable to reach any agreement.
Whether any of that is practical though is another matter. Would the population be receptive to a foreign power, or could it cause resentment on all sides, and even more suffering (so handling it through the UN could be more practically right as well as morally right)?


[ Parent ]

Re: There but for the grace of God... (#8)

by johninnit on Tue Sep 19, 2006 at 08:29:37 PM GMT

Just as an update, there's a demo in London on Friday lunchtime (22 sep at 1pm) in front of the Zimbabwean embassy in the Strand (opposite Charing Cross station). More about it at the TUC site: http://www.tuc.org.uk/international/tuc-12433-f0.cfm
Hope to see some of you there!


Re: There but for the grace of God... (#10)

by Anonymous on Wed Oct 11, 2006 at 02:27:39 PM GMT

I think it is time that the UK government encouraged the South African government to open up its borders to allow Zimbabweans seeking asylum to do so, at the momnet South Africa treats its zimbabwean refugees appalingly. It is also time for Zimbabweans in exile in South Africa were given arms and military training so that they can have the opportunity to liberate their homeland, again, from a barborous and oppressive nasty little fascist regime.


There but for the grace of God... | 10 comments (10 topical)