Interview with Biko Mutsaurwa, anarcho-communist from the
Uhuru Network
and facilitator for the Toyi Toyi Artz Kollektive.
Conducted in Johannesburg on 21st June 2008 by the ZACF.
ZACF: Have you heard about the regime's alleged 3-stage
election scheme
("electoral cleansing", falsify the vote, declare
a state of
emergency)?
Biko: About the regimes intentions to outrightly rig the
Zimbabwe
electoral outcome I could say that i am convinced merely
from watching
the regimes reactions to the 29th March elections results
that Mugabe
has refused to accept that he was defeated in that
election. The state
media has continued to propagate the myths that there was
no election
winner. So I’m clear that their intention was to rig the
election. With
regards to how the regime is actually intent on cleansing
after the
elections, decimating the middle lay of activists within
the Movement
for Democratic Change I could say that I have second hand
information,
actually I got it from my mother who was forced-marched to
a ZANU PF
rally this Wednesday, 18th June 2008 where war veterans
from the
Zimbabwe Liberation War Veterans Association addressed that
rally and
they came to say that they were not there to campaign but
they were
there to inform the people that ZANU PF was not going to
accept the
electoral victory of MDC and also that they were going to
come back to
beat up the residents of Chitungwiza, where I stay with my
family,
primarily because Chitungwiza has been traditionally voting
for the
MDC.
ZACF: Can you tell us something about conditions on the
ground in
Zimbabwe, the extent of repression etc.. We'd like to
hear about
something else other than the repeated arrests of
Tsvangirai & other
MDC big-shots.
Biko: The arrests of senior MDC leaders comes in the wake
of ZANU PF’s
realisation that this time around the MDC leadership is
prepared to
call upon the masses of Zimbabwe to rise up and defend
their vote using
peoples power.The specific incident that gave rise to this
awakening in
terms of ZANU PF’s realisation was Tendai Biti’s
announcement of the
parallel voter tabulation result on 30th March. The arrests
are merely
a signal that ZANU PF is going to incapacitate the higher
MDC
leadership and later decimate the middle-layer MDC
leadership that is
community organisers so that there is no organised
resistance in the
wake of ZANU PF’s rigging of elections but also, which is
much
widespread, there have been very serious instances of ZANU
PF militia
in the rural areas mutilating the bodies of murdered MDC
activists. A
case in point is a very close friend of mine, Comrade
Tonderai Ndira,
who was a community organiser but also - in the wake of
what is
happening - was agitating for the armed self-defence of the
oppressed
communities particularly in the rural areas. He was
murdered in one of
the rural areas by the Central Intelligence Organisation in
the remote
rural district. His brother could only recognise him by a
wrist band
that he wore. That is the extent to which ZANU PF is
prepared to deal
with ordinary people. There are so many numerous names of
people that
have been murdered by ZANU PF.
ZACF: And the economy: hyperinflation, availability of food
& other
basic necessities, unemployment are common knowledge.
Perhaps you have
some comments on the origin of the economic crisis?
Biko: The ZANU PF regime came into power masquerading as a
socialist
party. It had as part of its ideological tradition the
Stalinist
conception of revolution. By 1991 even workers rose up
against the ZANU
PF dictatorship but by then it had consolidated its power
and by 1990
ZANU PF had ceased to event act as a pseudo-leftist party
and it
outrightly embraced the right wing policies of the Bretton
Woods
institutions, the IMF and the World Bank, by adopting the
economic
Structural Adjustment Programmes.The revolution that is
currently
underway in Zimbabwe is a revolution that has been sparked
by the
peoples reaction to the adverse effects brought about by
the economic
Structural Adjustment Programmes of the 1990s. By 1999 we
see the
formation of the MDC, and the rest is history.
ZACF: What is the role of the MDC? Have they handled things
well or
badly? Again, historical comments on how they've
blundered in the past
might be helpful.
Biko: The MDC emerged in 1999 from the initiatives of the
Zimbabwe
Congress of Trade Unions as a workers party, but by the
year 2001 it
had been hijacked by middle class intellectuals and
capitalists and
therefore became a cocktail of ideologies. There have been
a big number
of mistakes that have been committed by the MDC. The MDC
has not
aligned itself towards the working people in terms of its
economic
policies. The MDC continues to look outwards towards
foreign direct
investment from imperialists nations and mutli-national
corporations as
the way forward for rebuilding the decimated ZImbabwean
economy. But in
terms of strategy and tactics I believe that this time the
MDC has
learnt from its mistakes of not agitating for peoples
power, but what
remains a very serious weakness at this particular point is
the
inability to prepare the masses for an uprising. Yes its
good enough to
have the leadership calling for people to get into the
streets, but its
not good enough because you need to have the people
prepared through
training, through regular actions with regards to bread and
butter
struggles that people are going through, because only
through action
can people attain confidence in using action as means to
liberate
themselves, which is the only way for ZImbabwe.
ZACF: Can you tell us a little about the current state of
resistance &
prospects for the future; whether resistance is organised
primarily or
only by MDC or whether there’s other resistance; the
trade unions
movement, civics etc.?
Biko: The Zimbabwean pro-democracy movement has been
infected by a
disease that we call the ‘commodification of resistance
syndrome’.
There are a lot of NGOs getting a lot of money from
imperialist nations
but they are not organising concretely where the masses of
the working
people are. The Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions remains a
militant
organisation but it has been weakened by the high rate of
unemployment.
Our belief as the Uhuru Network is that the key focal point
is
organising in communities where the majority of working
people are, and
here we see the very significant role of the combined
Harare residents
associations, but we feel that the hierarchical structure
of most of
these organisations organising in the communities is an
impediment to
the workers and poor people organising themselves in a
manner that
actually embodies the new forms of organisation that we
envision for a
new Zimbabwe.
ZACF: Have you read an article by Dale McKinley of the APF
on the
strategy of resistance for Zimbabwe? And what were your
thoughts?
Biko: I have read articles that comrade Dale wrote in
response to a
discussion that had been initiated by comrade Oupa Lehulere
of Khanya
College with regards to the centrality of the industrial
working class
proletariat contrasted to the role of the social movements
organising
in communities. I think by and large he does to an certain
extent
balance the role of social movements in communities with
the industrial
working class. What I’m not clear about is what kind of
organisational
structure comrade Dale argues before, because one of the
major
impediments that I myself have experienced in terms of
organising is
that workers are usually disempowered by the vanguardist
politics of
the revolutionary parties and the hierarchies in terms of
central
command, for example when organising strikes. So I can’t
really say
that I understand what comrade Dale would argue for in
terms of
structure, but that would be a key concern for me.
ZACF: Please tell us a bit about the regime's methods
of repression.
How far does it depend on firearms etc; how important is
the Chinese
connection in terms of arms trade etc.? Can you confirm
whether or not
the infamous arms shipment got through to Zimbabwe?
Biko: The shipment was actually confirmed to have been
received by a
minister in the regimes cabinet, so the shipment is in
Zimbabwe now. It
is also another thing though that the fascist regime is
prepared to use
all means of violence, firearms are central to that to
suppress any
resistance. So firearms are key. ZANU PF years ago trained
youth
militia under the National Youth Service Training Programme
and those
militia are currently on standby and will be unleashed
after the
elections for the cleansing of activists. Currently what
they are using
are the youth structures of their party which are by and
large very
active in all the various wards of the country. The police
and the army
were the first to perpetrate repression and violence and
this we saw in
the pre-29th March period and also of significance is the
large number
of activists who have been murdered, middle layer leaders
within the
MDC, who were actually murdered by members of the army
during Operation
Command which is in charge of running the country. The army
the police
and the CIO.
ZACF: What about the repressive forces receiving training
in Korea?
Biko: It is very key because I’m in fact aware of a
number of places,
particularly in Harare’s Milton suburb that are being
used as training
centers by not only Korean but also Chinese military
personnel to train
ZANU PF cadres in methods of torture. This I can confirm
because I’ve
witnessed it with my own eyes.
ZACF: How long is it actually going to take to get rid of
Mugabe, and
what happens then? A government of national unity or the
MDC? What kind
of policies will such a government adopt? Is there a danger
of a return
to neo-liberalism; and what can be done to resist this?
Biko: Frankly I am not a firm believer in parliamentary
politics as a
tool for the liberation of the working and poor people, so
I’m pretty
much indifferent to what is going to happen after Mugabe
because what
is clear to me is that the working and poor people in
Zimbabwe are not
ready to take control of their lives because they have been
brainwashed
by the ideology of the ruling class. The MDC, if assumes in
power -
which I would say will happen in the next year or so if
peoples power
and the resistance is organised properly - will pursue
neo-liberal
polices. The only positive thing that I can see about an
MDC government
is slightly broadened democratic space within which I think
revolutionary organisations, activists and movements can
operate much
more flexibly to fight neo-liberalism.
ZACF: What about the role of other regional and
international powers,
such as South Africa, UK, US, and China? Economic
interests,
inter-imperialist rivalries, links to government &
opposition etc.
Biko: Central to efforts by the international community to
resolve the
Zimbabwean crisis has been South Africa, particularly Thabo
Mbeki’s
role as the mediator of the Sadc initiated dialog. Thabo
Mbeki I think
is by and large motivated by the South African state’s
sub-imperialist
interest in the economy of Zimbabwe. I think also key to
understanding
his relationship to ZANU PF is the relationship between the
ANC, as a
party, to ZANU PF. We must also understand that Comrade
Mbeki, if I
might call him a comrade (laughs), was educated - or his
education was
financed - by ZANU PF; he was staying in Harare at the
hospitality of
Robert Mugabe, and when he goes to meet Robert Mugabe he
meets him as
his superior in terms of the nationalists as a movement.
The role of
the West and the UK is motivated by the failure of the ZANU
PF regime
to resolve the land issue in ZImbabwe and also the question
of
ownership of means of production, which is central to the
struggle. The
United Kingdom, as a state, harbors a hope that they might
be able to
reverse the loss of the estates and perhaps companies or
economic
interests in Zimbabwe as a result of Mugabe’s
pseudo-leftist parties if
an MDC government comes to power. The US is an imperialist
nation whose
motives around “resolving” international problems is
purely economic.
They would want to open up the economy of Zimbabwe to the
multinational
corporations that come from that particular state. So they
do not have
the interests of the Zimbabwean people at heart. In terms
of the
international community helping with the resolution of the
crisis it
can only be people to people solidarity; poor and working
people,
revolutionaries and organisations - similar minded - in
various
countries all over the world rendering solidarity to the
Zimbabwe
people with the interests of the empowerment of poor and
working people
in Zimbabwe.
ZACF: What can you say about Thabo Mbeki, and do you think
that Jacob
Zuma will be any better when he comes to power?
Biko: The relationship with the Zimbabwean state if ZANU PF
is in power
will clearly be acrimonious because Jacob Zuma appears to
be the new
favourite puppet of the West in light of his ability to
hoodwink the
trade unions - Cosatu as a movement - into supporting him.
It has
become clear I think to most of the imperialists that Jacob
Zuma has
the popular support of the people but he is clearly another
puppet in
terms of his relations with companies, the capitalists, and
arms
dealers and he won’t have anything to offer the people of
Zimbabwe, the
ordinary masses; but he will be, after Mbeki, the
imperialists next
favourite puppet in terms of how their strategies are
implemented
within the Southern African region.
ZACF: In terms of international solidarity, what can we do?
Who is
helping in SA and elsewhere?
Biko: The transportation workers union I think signaled the
direction
that workers need to take, unlike what we have seen - even
though
Cosatu has been militant at times - but we have seen a lot
of
talk-shops around what’s going on in Zimbabwe. But I
think concrete
action along the lines of what SATAWU did in stopping the
shipment of
arms is the next direction.
ZACF: Any comments on the recent so-called xenophobic
pogroms in South
Africa? Anything about Zimbabweans who fled the pogroms
back across the
Limpopo? How significant is this from a Zimbabwean point of
view and
what does it say about the South African government and
people?
Biko: Firstly I’d like to register my understanding of
the fundamental
causes of the xenophobic attacks which I think are
primarily rooted in
the rate of unemployment currently obtained in South
Africa, which is a
direct result of the capitalist economic structure that the
South
African state is pursuing, and also the artificial food
shortages which
are superficially created by the global capitalist complex
in order to
initiate a hike in prices. I think those particular causes
resonate
with the situation obtaining in Zimbabwe and do point to us
having a
common enemy, which is capitalism. It is particularly
disappointing
though that the xenophobic attacks also point towards and
indicate to
us the lack of understanding of each others struggles that
we as
working people face, which we have to overcome in order to
be able to
overcome the system. The impact of people fleeing the
xenophobic
attacks and coming back to Zimbabwe has on one hand the
effect of
bolstering the vote of the MDC, because clearly those
people are people
who are disaffected by the ZANU PF regime. But it has also
tragically
had the effect of worsening their plight because the
violence that did
obtain in that short period in South Africa is incomparable
to the
violence being perpetrated by the ZANU PF regime back home,
and these
people are primary targets because most of them did flee
after some
resistance activities and it is like throwing these
activists back into
the lion’s den, and this is the tragedy of our situation.
ZACF: There are rumors that MDC agents could actually have
acted as
provocateurs and brought about these attacks in order to
cause
Zimbabweans to flee back home and therefore bolster their
support
during the elections. Do you think this is a possibility,
or do you
think its the South African government trying to divert
responsibility?
Biko: Whilst I cannot really comment with confidence about
what really
happened in South Africa as I was in Zimbabwe I am inclined
to believe
that third force conspiracies are really something to drive
us away
from the responsibility that the ANC government has towards
the poor
and working people in South Africa which is the fundamental
cause. Like
I said before the MDC is actually a cocktail of ideologies
and is a
party that cuts across class; most of the influential
people in the MDC
are not really pro-working people so it is actually
possible that
people whose interests do not lie with the working people
might be able
to have their buddies to influence this but I would much
rather focus
on the role that the polices pursued by the ANC government
have had on
the xenophobic attacks.
ZACF: What role do you think nationalism might have played
in these
attacks?
Biko: Capital is globalised, the capitalist in Jo’burg is
able to send
huge amounts of money to Harare in seconds whereas the
peoples’
movement is restricted by these borders, and that people
are forced to
recognise these ideological constructs limited to the
ruling classes
propaganda with these geographical zones and I think that
has been key
to shaping the thoughts that we have seen manifest in this
very tragic
way during the xenophobic attacks. And I think that our
role as
progressives and revolutionaries is then to try to share
the ideas that
we uphold of a world that has no borders, and I think that
is the way
forward in addressing xenophobia across the world.
ZACF: Any messages to the international anarchist movement?
Any appeals
or suggestions for how the international anarchist movement
can support
the struggle in Zimbabwe and help the advancement of
anarchist ideas
there?
Biko: Firstly, ahoy comrades and we appreciate the efforts
that the
movement has been receiving so far. We as the Uhuru Network
have
significantly benefited from our relationship with the ZACF
in terms of
the literature that we have managed to get and also the
experiences
that we share with comrades. Currently the realisation that
we need to
remind each other that the anarchist movement is a very
small movement
within the broader leftist movement but also within the
pro-democracy
movement and that our true anarchist comrades are at risk,
especially
when we have levels or repression such as are obtaining in
Zimbabwe. We
need to constantly communicate, interact, share experiences
and also
information about actions happening because when shit hits
the fan it
is only an anarchist that will be able to give appropriate
solidarity
to a fellow anarchist comrade.
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