A father covers the face of his daughter with a wet towel after she was teargassed by armed Zimbabwean police in Harare, Monday, July, 4, 2016. Tsvangirayi Mukwazhi / Press Association. All rights reserved.On Wednesday 6 July, while international mainstream media focused on South African athlete Oscar Pistorius’ sentence for murder, Zimbabweans engaged in the biggest and most peaceful anti-government protest in the last fifteen years. A mass stay-away was staged across Zimbabwean cities to protest against government’s failure to manage the economy and the repression of dissenting voices. Zimbabweans stayed at home, and most businesses in the capital Harare were closed in solidarity with the protesters. Much of the anger was directed at President Robert Mugabe, who is 92-years-old, and rules the country with his party Zanu-PF since independence in 1980.
The shutdown was called by an alliance of various movements: the spontaneous protest movement #ThisFlag that has gained momentum since April, and found a voice in Pastor Evan Mawarire; #Tajamuka (“we refuse” in Shona), a militant youth-based movement calling for change, formed at the end of May; and the public sector workers unions, channelling the voices of exasperated civil servants who have gone without pay for more than a month. The government’s immediate response to the protest was to shut down the popular communication tool WhatsApp for a few hours.
The 6 July actions have been preceded by months of unrest. Government repression of activists continues, with mass arrests and reports of abductions. Journalists too have been targeted, with many of them detained by police. Despite constant harassment and brutal repression, one by one all sectors of society are expressing their discontent publicly.
