By Kay-Dee Mashile
One of the oldest and most prevalent PR stunts pulled by every perpetrator of any struggle is downplaying the problem and making it seem as though Activists are "a small group of troublemakers" who are "causing discord" and "inciting violence". I am still educating myself on the #ZimbabweanLivesMatter movement and thus do not feel entirely qualified to speak on it but I can tell you for a fact that the Activists on the ground are by no means a small group of troublemakers. Since today is Day 18 of the #Taugadi56 campaign, I've decided to to take a moment (within the campaign) to help you understand at least one of these Activists with hopes that you too will find your corner from whence you too can shine your light on this fight for freedom.
Meet, Ms Tsitsi Dangarembga. I don't want to preface her amazing resume with the fact that she was arrested for standing up for her nation. But it is important that you know this. Born in 1959 in the Zimbabwe, she is a 61 year old world-renowned award winning novelist and playwright. Even with all her accomplishments and the struggles that have befallen Zimbabwe in recent years, she remains patriotic to her native land.
I had the privilege of sitting in her session at the Abantu Book Festival in 2018. She was speaking about her then latest body of work, This Mournable Body. I had always thought of her as Tambu from her novel 'Nervous Conditions'. I always wondered how she could transport me to postcolonial Rhodesia with neither a reference of the place nor the era. Her story telling is so vivid that there is absolutely no way that you can prevent the mental images from becoming a "based on a true story" sepia movie in your imagination. So, you can only imagine how deeply touched we all felt while we listened to her narrate her experience of being violated by a Doctor while laying unconscious in hospital...
That experience alone taught and reminded me that she is human. She isn't the book character I'd associated her with. She isn't untouched by what happens around her... And her being arrested (and currently out on bail*) for standing up for her nation and the reform thereof just taught me that she is also an Activist. Not a troublemaker or an instigator of violence or discord, she is an Activist.
If someone of her age, who has lived in the nation for 61 years would risk the possibility of contracting Covid-19 and possible arrest by choosing to protest, surely we can all agree that the cause is one that we should all care about enough to do what we can to support them. Even if, right now, all we do it make an effort to learn and understand.
One could ask if there was no other way, I'd like to believe that if such intelligent globally acclaimed thoughtleaders would resort to protest, then no, there's no other way. Perhaps the other means and ways have already been exhausted. And this is why we need to educate ourselves to ensure that we're well informed. Follow the hash tag #ZimbabweanLivesMatter across social media and news platforms to learn and stay informed. You can also follow Ms Tsitsi directly @efie41209591 on Twitter.