[DEBATE] : (Fwd) Zim soli (finally)?

[Patrick Bond]

(There's great potential here, but my comradely queries from peripheral 
Durban: 1) Shouldn't comrades be spending energies identifying pressure 
points against the regime immediately? 2) Aren't SADC/AU processes 
totally and utterly bankrupt, and if so, over 9 years of hell, why 
posture that they can U-turn from quiet diplomacy? 3) What merits are 
there in elite-deal negotiations in Joburg next week, especially if 
MbekiMotlantheMotlantheMbeki is in charge? 4) And similarly, why wait 
until end-Feb to join year-old Zim civ.soc. calls for a transitional 
authority? 5) Why promote 'regional aid agencies' when there are plenty 
of great civ.soc. groups? 6) Why not promote social struggles that are 
underway by superb activists in NCA, ZCTU, Woza, Crisis, Zinasu, etc etc 
etc - instead of useless bureaucrats and venal politicians? Surely the 
hunger strikers who accuse SADC of blood-on-hands would agree that the 
only way to wash of the stains is a bottom-up flood?)

-------- Original Message --------
Subject:     Mobilising a People to People Solidarity Campaign for 
Zimbabwean People in Southern Africa and Africa
Date:     Thu, 22 Jan 2009 11:45:20 -0800 (PST)
From:     Zimbabwe Solidarity Forum

The solidarity actions will be driven by the following demands arrived
at in consultation with Zimbabwean and South African civil society
organisations

• SADC and AU Heads of Government and principal political parties in
the region must abandon the policy of quiet diplomacy on Zimbabwe.
They must recognise that there is no legal government in Zimbabwe and
the ZANU PF regime is in violation of regional and international
treaties and conventions on human and democratic rights.

• The humanitarian crisis in Zimbabwe must be recognised as a complex
emergency evoking the Responsibility to Protect. Food must be
disbursed through regional aid agencies to ensure equitable
distribution, supported by monitors from SADC, the AU and the UN.
African and international agencies must be invited to restore the
failing health system and address the cholera and AIDS epidemic.

• The recent campaign of abductions, torture and other sinister forms
of intimidation against civil society and political activists must be
immediately halted. A SADC oversight body must be put in place to
receive and address complaints of abuses by security agencies. Trials
of civil society and political activists must be monitored by
observers from the African Union and SADC. The fragility of the
security situation in Zimbabwe poses enormous risk and challenges to
the rest of the region.

• SADC countries must grant refugee status to Zimbabweans exiting the
country due to the political and economic crisis. Efforts should be
made to ensure their proper rehabilitation in host countries.

• The freedoms of expression, association and assembly must be
restored. Regressive laws such as the Public Order and Security Act
(POSA) and Access to Information and Protection of Privacy Act (AIPPA)
must be repealed with immediate effect.

• The Memorandum of Understanding signed between the ZANU PF and the
two MDC factions must be respected. The Global Political Agreement
must be implemented in earnest by the end of February 2009, failing
which a Transitional Authority should be put in place with limited
terms of reference to:
Stabilise the humanitarian situation;
Take steps to bring the economy under control;
Oversee the writing of a new Constitution;
Oversee a referendum on the new constitution and
Oversee new elections.