Polarization as Craft: Party Formation and State Violence in Zimbabwe

In September 1997, just prior to the winter harvest, Zimbabwean commercial farm workers went on strike for the first time in history. Ten thousand farm laborers assem bled in the middle of the main eastern highway, where they sang revolutionary songs, chanted slogans, and listened to addresses from their union representatives. Eventually, the workers dispersed, allowing traffic to resume on the road, but workers said they would not resume working until their wages were increased by 135 percent.3 Over the next two months, groups of farm workers nationwide went out on strike, some explicitly expressing solidarity, others simply demanding better wages and working conditions. These scattered farm workers' strikes were part of a broader wave of industrial actions that culminated in a massive general strike in December 1997 organized by the Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions (ZCTU). Strikes were motivated largely by eco nomic issues-declining real wages, continued phasing-out of price supports on basic commodities, increased tax burdens-but were also seen by participants and commen tators as marking a new era in Zimbabwean politics. Reflecting on the ZCTU mass strike, one Harare resident said that it meant now we are truly independent. Tavakuzvitonga zvakazara we are totally ruling ourselves. What happened on Tuesday was a sign that President Mugabe's honeymoon in this country is over.4 In June 2003 sharp increases in the price of petrol and other basic commodities led to a very different protest scenario. The Movement for Democratic Change (MDC), the main opposition party, called for demonstrations and a week-long stayaway to protest economic and political conditions in the country. On the first day of the stayaway oppo sition supporters were to make their way to a park in the middle of Harare, from which