Right now, there is a ship loaded with small arms trying to deliver to Zimbabwe, to the tyrannical regime of Robert Mugabe. It is likely he's ready to put down the opposition with violence, after his election turned out not to be sufficiently well rigged to let him win. Mugabe is already quite capable of brutal repression of his opposition. Several tons of armaments may turn the situation into a civil war, or a series of massacres.
Many of you will have read DHinMI's frontpage story about this yesterday, or even my diary from late Friday night, highlighting the principled stand of the dockworkers in Durban who refused to unload the ship. However, that has only delayed the delivery. They'll try again. But maybe we can help stop them at the next port, and maybe save lives.
Go to this page for up-to-date information on the ship as people find it, and for discussion of how to take action - and links.
For background, the story and diary linked above should help, or look at the New York Times story from early Saturday, and the BBC's developing story from Thursday of Friday, updated on Saturday.
The BBC also has a story about efforts, mostly through the UN, to prevent a civil war in Zimbabwe. It looks like that has small chance of success.
At first, it was thought the ship was now headed for Maputo, Mozambique, but Mozambique denies this, and says it's heading for Luanda, Angola. Others are guessing they'll be heading on to Namibia. There is some question of whether the ship may need to refuel first, which presents another opportunity for intervention, especially by unions.
Action:
As already linked in my intro, the site Sokwanele has a brainstorming and action coordination page for people who want to help stop this. Please go there and help the brainstorming, but mostly help by taking action if you see some that looks promising and within your capabilities.
Most are in agreement that the possible routes are best blocked, as happened in Durban, at the quayside, by unions, or by the governments involved. I don't know enough about the governments of any of these countries to know if they're likely to be persuadable, by us or by their neighbors.
I wonder if the ILWU is, by any chance, thinking of action on this. If they were to take action within the US - refusing to unload ships operated by COSCO, the Chinese line which operates the An Yue Jiang, for example. It seems very unlikely that, even with the Olympics and the Chinese PR blitz surrounding them, the Chinese government can be pressured into doing anything about this. I suspect the same is true for COSCO, but who knows?
It would be nice to find out addresses for related dockworker unions in the other neighboring countries. I hope SATAWU is working on them already. Internationalism of unions is rather of the essence in situations like this.
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Last night I compiled a list of possible action links. I repeat them below. These are just my first thoughts. More suggestions would be welcome.
I welcome suggestions if anyone has links to groups or addresses to write to or call. Here are a few I've run across in researching this:
Stopping the arms shipment:
Note: Most of these ideas, and many more, can be found in comments on the Sokwanele blog post. They're the place to coordinate things. But exposure here is good.
The International Action Network on Small Arms is all over this, and was one of the principal sources of pressure on the South African government not to allow the arms to be transported across their country. beijingbetty notes IANSA now has a petition about the ship.
If that ship indeed goes to Mozambique, perhaps a call or e-mail to the embassy of Mozambique would be in order, asking them also to deny passage to the armaments.
If they're on their way to Angola, contacting the Angolan embassy, and asking them not to allow the arms through might help.
The BBC article cited above said the Southern Africa Litigation Center is going to be working on Mozambique. I don't know if they can use help in this. Nothing up on their front page yet.
I'm glad to see the NYT has emphasized the China connection:
For China, long an ally of Mr. Mugabe’s, the opening of a new front of controversy is equally thorny. Despite its sensitivity to criticism as it prepares to hold the Olympic Games this summer, it is wooing African nations in hopes of building its diplomatic clout and securing access to minerals and other resources.
I strongly doubt pressure on China will have any effect, judging by their past and current reactions to protests about their more direct actions, but if anyone can think of a good way to apply it, I'm all ears.
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Action directed at the Mugabe regime, and at general consciousness raising:
There's of course a petition.
There's a vigil ongoing in London, if you happen to be there.
SW Radio Africa also has a Telephone Campaign, flooding Zimbabwean embassies with calls.
Amnesty International has issued a statement calling on Mugabe to stop the violence against the opposition, but I've not found action items yet on their site, oddly.
Oh, and drive with your headlights on. Maybe someone else will get their curiosity piqued, and get their consciousness raised.
And then, it might also be nice to salute and thank SATAWU for what they did. Note: their contact page is failing right now, and now that someone on Sokwanele posted the e-mail of SATAWU's general secretary, that's bouncing too. So things may not get through to them for a while yet. My guess is getting such things dealt with on a Sunday is going to be difficult.
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More suggestions welcomed. Recommends, too. Exposure is half the battle. Action is the other half.