I think political pressure on Zanu regime needs to be spread out. It’s long over due. We all so the wonders the #Zinbabweanlivesmatter did in one week as far as raising awareness around the world. The truth is the MDC Alliance alone does not have enough resources at this juncture to cover all bases.
The party is under a constant hurricane of pressure from the regime which is hell-bent on incarcerating its leadership. Our only trump card shouldn’t be the threat of demos.
A political struggle needs more. The struggle for a democratic and functional Zimbabwe needs a lot of ‘social capital’ especially from outside Zimbabwe. Those who have come across the concept of social capital will know it’s essentially about having a wide network of people who back your cause so to speak.
In terms of the Zim crisis, if various officially non party political groups, charities and international celebrities are involved in both raising awareness of the problem and giving material support (including intellectual support), the people on the ground will benefit a lot and governments which have influence on the regime will have no choice but to pressurise the regime’s handlers in South Africa. Incidentally, this is how apartheid was ended.
The black people of South Africa received a lot of social capital from the outside world (civil rights groups, celebrities etc) which led to stringent sanctions and serious political pressure on the handlers of the regime in South Africa. ANC alone did not have the capacity to fight the Apartheid Regime.
For example, it’s as clear as day that the MDC in the UK alone cannot raise the funds needed by the activists on the ground, that is a fact! Therefore, there needs to be space for other organisations led by Zimbabweans, the British or International citizens who then work with the MDC UK and Ireland or directly with the people in Zimbabwe towards the same goals.
This should be the next step as far as the MDC in the diaspora is concerned. The current political and economic model for the party is pretty much reacting to events in Zim. Those of us outside Zim can theorize and argue about the same old wretchedness that is being carried out by Zanu, but the struggle is on the back foot.
There is a whole lot of dynamism required in the diaspora. People in the MDC UK need to be given the space to source other support or to create avenues of support for the struggle without some of the inconvenient elements of the beaurocracy in the party. No single body has ownership on helping the people on the ground.