No friends for bond paper – News from #Kubatana

We heard that the Transform Zimbabwe #Tajamuka #NoToBondNotes demo in Harare that got the go-ahead from the courts yesterday successfully marched from Julius Nyerere / Jason Moyo to the Ministry of Finance and delivered its petition to Minister Chinamasa.

They then joined the #ThisGown demonstration that was looking for the long-ago-promised 2.2 million jobs. On their way to Parliament to hand over another petition about these aforementioned jobs, they were disrupted by riot police with their teargas and their water canons.

This is yet another example of the current government’s fear of citizen expression, and of its inability to Read the Constitution. We reckon that you as well as your family, colleagues and friends are saying No/No/No to bond notes, and with good reason because they will just be bond paper and will not be a legitimate currency.

Let’s reject, one time. We pom pom every single Zimbabwean who has gotten out there today, or in the past month, to protest. If you haven’t been to a demo yet this year, please let us know why … too scared, too unemployed, too poor, too uninformed?

If you said yes to any of these questions there is good reason to get involved in changing how our country is being mismanaged. Obviously the many #s out there aren’t going to change our situation alone. It’s about showing up with the #Tajammukas #NoToBondNotes #ThisGowns #ThisFlags and others In Person as well as with your phone.

And it’s about knowing your rights – the Constitution is actually a pretty useful thing if we insist on using it. The more people there are at a demo, the harder it is for riot to chase demonstrators away. It’s very exciting to see many different groups and actors all coming together around the need to shake things up in Zimbabwe.

But as Jacquelin Kataneksza, a contributor to the blog Africa is a Country, pointed out in her comprehensive summary and analysis of the ongoing protests, the lack of a leader uniting this uprising could make it vulnerable.

In a phone conversation with Vocativ, she described the ongoing protest movement as “momentous,” adding: “People are getting a whole new idea of citizenship and civics in ways that have never happened before.”

But, she said, there is a “lack of strategic thinking” and this could cause the movement “to fizzle.” “And that,” she said, “Would be so disappointing.” We agree.

Here’s hoping you enjoy reading the articles in this newsletter, and if you don’t, then please write one that you like and send it to us.

And if you’re bored with our top half, further down there is an exciting consultancy opportunity from CAFOD and a job vacancy from Norwegian People’s Aid.

Please visit www.shutdownzim.net for aggregated information, news, video and audio on the crisis in Zimbabwe.

The Kubatana Team