#ThisFlag Pastor Evan Mawarire and the conflation of Activism with Politicking
By Jackson Muzivi
Pastor Evan Mawarire used his smartphone to position political activism strongly in the cyber-activism domain. He became a national doyen of opposition politics overnight.
That is a status Zanu Junta/Dynasty PF fronted by President Mugabe and his missus Grace have never and will never countenance in Zimbabwe. They and they alone are the doyen of everything Zimbabwe politically, socially, economically and technologically.
Anyone who enters that domain consciously –ask Morgan Tsvangirai and his MDC-T leadership, Simba Makoni and his MKD, the late Edgar Tekere and his ZUM, Margaret Dongo and her ZUD, Jestina Mukoko and her ZPP, Lovemore Madhuku and his NCA, Itai Dzamara and his OAUS- the list is endless, or subconsciously –remember zviroto zviroto (dreams threat) threat by President Mugabe, will be dished the familiar torture treatment to be subdued, disappear without trace or die mysteriously.
It’s not rocket science or speculative. Its reality politics in Zimbabwe that opposing the ruling Zanu Junta /Dynasty PF party is treasonous and punishable by death or submission and unquestionable loyalty.
So when Pastor Evan Mawarire drifted into that domain the consequences were so obvious for all of us than the naïve political wannabes of our time who hitherto have been content to criticise opposition leaders of failing them and demanding the leadership baton stick.
Pastor Evan Mawarire was not contented with asking for the baton stick or asking political leaders to step aside for him to make a difference. He simply stepped up to the plate and in no time presented the docile youth a rallying point to express their bottled up anxieties.
Suddenly they had fire in their bellies and they shed off all fears that were inhibiting them from active participation in the quest for their emancipation from not just repressive Zanu Mugabe Junta/Dynasty PF misrule but also their inherent fears of confronting the monsters.
The rallying slogan #hatichada #hatichatya (we are no longer tolerating and afraid) was well thought out and resonated with the impatient young, the tired old and the docile middle aged. Telling a bully you are not afraid of him or her is self-reassuring.
Telling the same bully you are not going to be compelled is even sweeter and more empowering.
But it was never going to be a sustainable initiative unless it was politically underwritten. That is why #Tajamuka with its political synergies is continuing to cause the Mugabe Junta/Dynasty Zanu PF headaches he shrugged off from #This Flag with arrogant contempt.
As a quasi-political/political entity, the Junta/Dynasty has a bank of political strategies and experience to dismiss a movement’s initiative more easily than political initiatives.
The NCA advocated for a new constitution for decades but could not make the same difference the MDC-T did on the same demand once it became a political contest platform. I like manner the ZCTU made waves with protests against the government but did not achieve as much as it did when it embedded itself in the MDC-T.
The obvious explanation is that political parties have an array of alternatives they employ to force government to relent which movements do not own. Further movements are generally loosely connected sectarian advocates who may share a national agenda but have no means to articulate that in binding political or legislative ways.
But movement advocacy is an important bank for political ideas that can’t be ignored by any serious political formation. A movement initiative with national appeal is easy pickings for political opposition to unpopular ruling party initiatives.
Whereas movement initiatives popularisation demands iconic and inspired selfless leadership political initiatives are institutionally driven and thus a little more difficult for the ruling elite to deal with.
So it was with #This Flag initiative. A disgruntled underemployed and hungry youth and middle age population seeking ways out of their misery was always ready to purchase any initiative that resonated with their plight.
The same effect would have been secured in 2008 after the Mugabe Junta/Dynasty PF electoral trouncing by the MDC-T but for the shortage of a selfless and strong advocate of the defence of the stolen vote. Mugabe got away with it because we all waited for a politician to defend our vote when it was squarely on our shoulders to do so.
Now that the economic hardships are overburdening us we were ready to do something about it and in stepped #ThisFlag which was exactly what the doctor had ordered. And in pastor Evan Mawarire there was no shortage of oratory skills, leadership integrity and energy was bountiful.
The youths were hypnotised, the message was eloquently put across and compelling. An informal and powerful leader was there to follow and the youths flocked to him, the docile middle age suddenly realised a missed opportunity and followed suit while the conservative elderly urged the initiative on to gauge its potential for political strategies.
The conservative and mature politicians knew it was a fad but wanted it to emerge possible attack avenues to use in pulverising the kleptocracy that the Mugabe Zanu Junta/Dynasty PF is with willing and active help from the hyperactive youths and the awakened docile middle aged laggards.
Obviously the Junta/Dynasty picked up the cues and realised that the initiative was gaining popular endorsement that could be difficult to contain if the multiplier effect set in as it had already done. #This Flag had one standout brand ambassador and that was Pastor Evan Mawarire. He was the demagogue that had to be silenced and silenced him it did.
The arrest incarceration and escape to refuge was a devastating blow for the youths who had found a refreshing reference point. The escape to refuge was badly received by the youths but not the seasoned politicians who have swiftly moved to fill the void.
The only impediment is the youths are finding it most difficult to make the crossover to organised politicking because they detest the bureaucracy and rigidity of formalised political protests. Their loose alliance was dynamic sporadic and adventurous. Politically coordinated protests are deliberate purposeful and results cantered which was not the case with movement activism.
Just the sight of #ThisFlag ambassador, with no political clout to write home about and attendant security marching and openly pronouncing their inherent misgivings about governance was, is and will always be a cherished political milestone in their lives.
In fact they pronounced that to be unequalled success since the struggle against Zanu PF hegemony was conceived. That there is no tangible result from it was, is and will likely be immaterial to the highly motivated youths who had bought into the movement and are now devastated by the absence of their unrivalled informal leader from the action arena.
They are now venting their anger at the informal leader who had replaced their fear of the Junta/Dynasty regime only to deceive by taking a hegira into the freedom of refuge in of all places the USA.
The Junta/Dynasty regime is rubbing its hands in glee at the level of success of its suppressive trumped up legal persecution political counter-initiative. The demoralised youths do not like it a bit and are seething with anger at both Pastor Evan Mawarire and the Junta/Dynasty regime alike.
They feel sold out by their reference point and they detest slow deliberate political party processes.
The fact is neither the slow political party processes nor Pastor Evan Mawarire has done the restless youths any disservice. The sooner they come to terms with that the better prepared they will be to confront the source of their despair which is none other than Mugabe’s Zanu Junta/Dynasty PF.
Social media political activism is perfect for whipping emotions and recruiting sympathisers but it will never replace coordinated political party initiatives to hold governments to account and replace them if need be.
The need in Zimbabwe is well and truly overdue. May the youths learn to turn their despair into organised political onslaught against a self-imposed regime at the centre of their demise rather than turn the spear against the Pastor who did well to position them strongly for that confrontation
