Fear grips me today, even deeper then it did when I was in Zimbabwe, for this is not a sensed fear that I did not fully feel myself; and it is not for my own life, it some how is more real to me. However, regardless of what fear I may have, it is nothing compared to the fear that exists in each and every Zimbabwean that decides not to vote today. Mugabe and Zanu PF have now orchestrated in such a way that not voting will now equal voting for Morgan Tsvangirai, re-creating the dynamics that existed before Tsvangirai pulled out, which were his very reasons for pulling out. Whether on paper or not, there are clearly two opposing forces working here, and Mugabe feels the pull of these forces, maybe even stronger now, he feels the possibility of illegitimacy and so is therefore desperately tightening his grip to a degree never before imagined. Though in many ways, it is predictable. It is the predictability that scares me, that tells me it will be no surprise what happens next, that many people’s fears will be realized. The surprise will be in the possible prevention of these actions, in the resistance amongst ruthless brutality, the courage of the masses letting their voices speak through the absence of their vote; the creativity that wells to the surface, that reminds each individual who they really are, that provides a viable alternative to violence, that brute force and malicious control do not win out every time, that reinstates what is required to be a true leader, and that displays what these useless facades of leadership masked by terror based authority really are.

So now we are put back into a situation of the same kind of waiting that has plagued Zimbabwe for the past 10 years, yet more intensely in the past year, one of horror filled possibility and deep embedded disillusioned expectation; the dichotomies of possibility that remain for the country are immense in both directions. I fear the negative possibility will come first, worse than it has come before, maybe because that is all that has happened yet, and then finally, it will cause forces to respond in such a way that will finally end the crisis. It shouldn’t be that way, I hate that our world is set up in such a fashion, and I will receive a very pleasant surprise is it does not happen in that way.

“I stepped out into the night
back against the moon
I saw ten thousand hands with candlelight
we all think that we're right
it's hard to tell
if the night is full of hope or doom”

~ Ben Harper. ~