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DAYS OF OUR STRUGGLE

what we saw today is something very inspiring. we
witnessed a new spirit in the workers of bulawayo; the
spirit of defiance and a new readiness to make the
ultimate sacrifice. we saw the spirit that breeds
matryers and heroes of the struggle.

the morning was as normal as it has ever been. people
going about their usual chores. the meeting time was
1230hrs at about five hundred metres from the
government offices that people were going to march to.
by about 1145hrs big shops like TM and shoprite were
closing down for the strike. it was great to see some
of these supermarkets's workers in uniform among the
thousands of people that marched.

police details had been deployed since morning to try
and twhart the march to the government complex. but
this did not stop people gathering at 1230hrs. peope
started singing defiant songs and encouring those who
were milling around to come and join the group. more
and more people came joined in. things erupted when
the police arrested a woman who was quite vocal. she
remained defiant and raised her hand cuffed hands in
total defiance calling on other people to join in
still. we all just went wild chanting slogans and
deriding the police. it was whistles all over and just
total defiance.the police were forced to release the
woman. the crowd suddenly swelled to thousands of
people. men and women all very confident and
determined. the few police details that were there
were totally swallowed and looked lost in a sea of
totally defiant people. it wsa whhsitsles slogans and
songs all the way to the mhlahlanglela governemnt
complex. the police that had been deployed there were
totally clueless on how to deal with such a huge
crowd. they just groubed by the corner and let things
be. more and more police reinforcements came in but
the mass would not give up. the numbers kept swelling.
all threats from the police went unheeded. people were
singing right in the face of the police. woman were
throwing lefalets at the police and the message from
the crowd was simple. enough is enough.

today the police were defeated. they just stood there
helpless in the face of a determined mass. i saw the
police resort to persuasion today. a senior police
officer moved around with a megaphone litterally
begging people to go home. he was going 'please go
back home, if you are arrested dont blame anyone'.
there were just too many people they wouldn't know who
to start to arrest. the singing and chanting continued
and more and more people who were watching from a
distant gained confidence to join in. the balance of
forces was certainly with the people. at the
government offices business came to a halt. workers
streamed out to the balconies to see what was
happening. they saw a deafeated police and a confident
mass.some of them were making encouraging gestures to
the demonstrators.

the day was ours. it is onlly later that the police
sealed one end and continued persuading people to go
home. they displayed all their machinery for violence;
they had theirs cars with lights flashed in broad
daylight to try and intimidate people. when we kept on
singing defiiantly, we suddenly heard guns firing
insistently as if it was war. there were either firing
blanks or just shooting in the air. but it certainly
tilted the balance of forces. it confused us and we
started running. there was only one open way and we
were all rushing that way. now the state dogs had the
upper hand. but it wsa not for long as people started
singing again and calling on each other to regroup. it
wsa a thick crowd and the police had t be veryt
careful on how to move people. any haphazard way could
have caused deaths or they would have found themselves
in a corner with a hungry tiger. for a moment people
stopped retreating and we were singing again. but they
had cracked us. they went further, this time it wsa
teargass and more guns in the air and we had to run
for our lives. the police started beating up people
indescreminately as people were fleeing.

we ran, people filling roads. i went with the group
that ran towards renkini, a very populous market place
just like mbare. every retreating group became a
seperate group of demonstrators and people sang and
toyi-toyed. ledaers were just emerging on the way as
people continued with the spirit of defiance. sooner
the acioin in town had spilled into makokoba were our
group went. riot police had to race to makokoba to
crush people. this time others were already suggesting
that we go back into town. my herat was boiling, i had
ran longer and faster than i had done for quite some
time. at one point i thought i would just colapse in
the ensuing stampede.there were young women running
too, who had came left their work places to come for
the action. it wsa all just inspiring.

the day wsa ours. the balance of strenght was
certainly in our favour. but this is just a glimpse of
not what is coming but of what is already here.today
was an uprising. 97, 98 were similar but today the
anger is more fiery and the defiance total. with more
and more of such actions the state will yield.its now
just a matter of months if not weeks. the pressure
must be maintained now and the action must be
indefinate. with a week of this kind of defiant action
mugabe will go. this is certainly our time and these
are certainly the days of our struggle.

people were gathered at a place that is all fenced
up.it was clear that the police could have just sealed
the two sides that were open and traped people
inbetween. there are very tall walls in
at first people were not confident enough and a number
of workers were just milling around close to the
meeting point.