Internationale

According to the ITUC part of the repression in Zimbabwe has fallen on the trade unions there:

13 March 2007: The headquarters of the Zimbabwe Trade Union Congress (ZCTU) were today raided by government security forces, as part of a "concerted effort to try and crush all civic organisations" according to ZCTU President Lovemore Matombo. Central intelligence Organisation officials and police ransacked the premises at 09.30 this morning, assaulted three ZCTU staff members and detained the organisation’s Financial Administrator

Obviously - the workers' movement is the first thing any repressive regime needs to crush. Of course, things are so bad in Zimbabwe that the workers' movement is incredibly weak. This report from the South African SABC sets out the stall:

Regional leaders called the SADC meeting to discuss the political crisis in Zimbabwe which analysts say threatens to destabilise the region as millions flee food shortages, 1 700% inflation and 80% unemployment. Morgan Tsvangirai, the leader of the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC), the main opposition in Zimbabwe, and other party supporters, were arrested and beaten after attempting to attend a banned prayer meeting this month.

pace the ideas of fantacists the workers' movement relies on a strong economy, 80% unemployment leaves proletarian politics impotent and the opposition flailing around in a sea of plebeian politics - not something that's easy to organise in a largely rural economy.

To be frank, I don't see much hope, the breaks within ZANU-PF may well unseat Mugabe - but he is a machine politician anyway - ZANU-PF will be there fore some time to come.

What can we do? We could send letters to the Zimbabwean embassy, but they won't listen. It's dangerous to probably send any letters of support to the ZCTU for fear of making them appear to be agents of foriegn/imperial domination. Any further suggestions?