The fire must keep burning
by Briggs J. Bomba Wednesday March 27, 2002 at 02:05 PM


"They wanted to destroy an example but we emerged from prison inspired by local and international solidarity. Struggle is our only recourse."

We greet you comrades in the name of the struggle to bury the anarchy of capitalism and invent a new world without poverty and oppression. It is in a special moment that I write this communique to all fraternal comrades. A time full of fast lessons to be learnt and promises for a better future for those who day to day languish under the oppressive yoke of capitalism and Mugabe’s dictatorship.

We emerge out of prison inspired by the local and international solidarity, it makes us more resolute and ready to push forward the struggle. Your support was great and we will find solace in it throughout the trial we now face. Thank you. Through your active measures to get us released you do demonstrate that revolutionary solidarity is an action not word.

It is not surprising at all that the state out-performed its previous record of brutality when dealing with us this time. They wanted to destroy an example. The example of students giving active solidarity to workers struggles. Even though there was no massive response to the stayaway from the workers, the concept of workers and students unity in struggles is the one that sends shivers down their spine. But for us there is no going back, never again are we going to let workers fight on their own. Their fight is ours, our fight is theirs too. As our banner says ‘ workers and students united will never be defeated’. Tomorrow is ours.

Our experience simply demonstrates that the state is highly mobilized and ready to crush any form of uprisings. It will be a tragedy if we do not quickly learn too that our struggles have to be super organized, planned and coordinated if we are to match them. The time for shoddy organization is gone otherwise we will just expose ourselves and further boost the confidence of the state in crushing us. There is a real danger that disorganized struggles when successfully crushed by the state, as they surely will be, can only disarm and disillusion the sections of workers and students ready to fight. This will also erroneously paint an image of Mugabe as an invincible dictator thus eroding the people’s confidence in their power to liberate themselves. One can not further emphasize the need for unity of all the fighting forces.

The police reaction unit and the riot squad that descended upon our college was ready to take on a rebel army. They were armed to the teeth with every paraphernalia of violence; baton sticks, pistols, AK 47 assault rifles, teargas canisters and unbelievable loads of ammunition. They invaded our offices and searched through our files illegally because they had no search warrant. They went around campus pulling down the posters and leaflets that we had pasted. We were rounded up and bundled into police trucks and taken to the central police station.

We got there around 1000hrs but were only put into cells around 1600hrs after long hours of being subjected to systematic beatings and despicable harassment. By the time we were thrown into cells we could hardly sit.

The following days were to bring rigorous questioning and further assaults. We were threatened with death and there were incidents in which state agents would flash guns and threaten to shoot us. They would even boast that they could make us disappear and nothing would happen. The questioning varied from our backgrounds to our involvement with various organizations. They particularly wanted to know more about my involvement with the International Socialist Organization (ISO), whether we held meetings with labour leaders etc. They also wanted to know our political affiliations and accused us of working to unseat the government. We were questioned over our red banner that declared; 'Workers and students united will never be defeated.'

In the cells it was just horrible. We were mixed with criminals some who were already convicted and on their way to maximum security prisons elsewhere. I remember just a few moments after we got in one threatened to fuck one of us that very night. Luckily we were an organized group with fighting experience and we were able to protect ourselves. Occasionally we would be pulled out at very odd hours for further questioning. During the first night a suspicious guy came and slept in our cell, he mysteriously left the following morning.

The cells were overcrowded, filthy, stinking badly and infested with lice. You would have to beg to get the toilet, they could let it go for the whole day without letting us go. By the third day two comrades had terrible stomach upsets and diarrhea. The police would not allow us to get medical attention, they would not even allow our comrades outside to bring us tablets.

Initially the police had prepared statements which they wanted to intimidate us into signing. We all refused and instead wrote our own. We were only allowed to meet our lawyer once and he was turned away more than three times. One wonders what happened to the principle of innocent until proved guilty, the treatment we got was that of convicted criminals.

We were released later in the afternoon on the fifth day after the court granted us bail. The state is charging us of having contravened the repressive and controversial Public Order And Security Act (POSA).
The police had insisted that I should be remanded in custody citing reasons that If I am out I would influence people to further demonstrate. Luckily the court granted all of us bail and we were remand to the 9 April. We can not rule out the fact that the magistrate was intimidated and influenced by the unprecedented huge crowd gathered for our case.

Our ordeal in the hands of the state agents was full of vital lessons. The police and army are mobilized and ready to brutally crush the struggles which they see as inevitable. This realization only urges us to become more organized. The torture and dehumanizing experience we were subjected to was meant to break our will. This they failed to do because we emerge much more ready to fight and with increased hostility over the system. Our experience has deepened our convictions in the struggle and we have learnt golden lessons about revolutionary solidarity. Once again it has been proved that jails can not confine the revolutionary spirit. This time it made us also realize our capacity for unity through the heroic acts of both local and international solidarity to get us released.

The struggle is far from over. Our fight against the privatisation of education can only intensify. This we will do within the broader context of fighting to remove the dictatorship of Mugabe and his neo-liberal policies. The need to have maximum unity among all progressive forces but critically the workers and the students can not be over-emphasized.
The movement can only realize the vast potential it has to become a mass movement if it connects with the concerns of the ordinary worker, student, peasant and the oppressed poor Zimbabwean. This link with these forces must come through articulating bread and butter issues; price increases, privatization, shortages of basic commodities, unemployment and state violence etc.

To the students the battle against privatization, which effectively is a fight for the right to education, is vital. Workers struggles now must clearly show their strength. They can not be favorable labour relations if at a national level they are deliberate acts like POSA directed at stifling unionized activities. Calls for a minimum wage and a new labour bill must be coupled with pressure to have democratic rights enhanced through abolishing of draconian acts like POSA. In fact a new democratic constitution is needed, but the demand for a new constitution must not blind people into seeing the crisis in Zimbabwe as just a constitutional crisis that will end with good legislation. What is needed now is mass struggles directed at the heart of the crisis- dictatorship and the IMF / WORLD BANK driven capitalist economic policies.

It is now time for mass mobilization of workers, students and the poor for mass participation in the struggle. Massive labour and students forums will do the trick. It is time for mass meetings to build mass action. Struggle is our only recourse.

Solidarity forever!

Briggs. J. Bomba
COORDINATOR ISO [STUDENTS UNION]
PRESIDENT [NATIONAL UNION OF UNIVERSITY STUDENTS
(NUUS)]

Correspondence to  j_bomba@yahoo.com or
 nuuszim@yahoo.com , phone 704209, cell 023748308