Comments on: We call them guns; Mugabe calls them ‘campaign materials’

By: MediaChannel.org

MediaChannel.org — Mon, 28 Apr 2008 15:38:11 +0000

[...] Hope questions the logic of buying weapons during “abnormal times”: Can a transaction in arms ever be considered ‘normal’ during abnormal times? I’m nothing more than a confused Zimbabwean, but I want to know what happens when the postman arrives at the door of Zimbabwe’s State House asking for the President to sign for the delivery… who signs for it? [...]

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By: Global Voices Online » Zimbabwe: Post-election violence on the rise

Global Voices Online » Zimbabwe: Post-election violence on the rise — Mon, 28 Apr 2008 12:55:22 +0000

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By: THE NEW REPUBLIC | Blogs

THE NEW REPUBLIC | Blogs — Thu, 24 Apr 2008 18:21:07 +0000

[...] is harder than it looks. For a tense moment, the South African port workers found themselves standing up to three authoritarian forces at once—China, Zimbabwe, and their own president Jacob Zuma. And [...]

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By: Liu

Liu — Tue, 22 Apr 2008 13:21:07 +0000

hello everyone.I'm a Chinese.I admire your patriotity and willingness towards very much. But do you think those countries like Andola really have the so-called justies to stifle the shipment, which is totally normal and legal? All of them (SA, Mozambique,Angola or perhaps Namibia)are under press of the US. The US is trying to interfere your own issues, like it always trying to interfere the others'.

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By: zongweni

zongweni — Mon, 21 Apr 2008 11:01:17 +0000

"Real Democracy is alive and well in South Africa" ???? Good one,

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By: Scottish lass

Scottish lass — Mon, 21 Apr 2008 10:41:14 +0000

Wonderful to hear that REAL democracy is alive and well in SA. Well done - to the Bishop, Unions and dockworkers of Durban for the ONLY principled stand taken by anyone, beyond the country's borders, on behalf of the people of Zimbabwe -and that includes Presidents and Prime Ministers world wide, UN, EU and all the other empty figureheads of our supposed democracies. The world needs your heart and your courage.

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By: 4th Chimurenga

4th Chimurenga — Sat, 19 Apr 2008 17:19:47 +0000

I don’t agree with you Amos. The Zimbabwean economy is never run that way. If the monies were coming from generous donors then we could be having enough for us to use. The first alternative source for getting forex in Zim is to first print a lot of local currency and then buy the forex on the black market which subsequently leads to hyper-inflation. That effect is them blamed on speculators,western puppets,mdc,Blair,Brown,cash barons…… and all other ZANU PF PROPAGANDA VOCABULARY… If you want a good dictionary explaining these terms go buy the Herald and listen to Newshour

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By: Amos

Amos — Sat, 19 Apr 2008 16:28:45 +0000

In the feudal state of Chu an old man survived by keeping monkeys in his service. The people of Chu called him “ju gong” (Monkey Master). Each morning, the old man would assemble the monkeys in his courtyard, and order the eldest one to lead the others to the mountains to father fruits from bushes and trees. It was the rule that each monkey had to give one-tenth of his collection to the old man. Those who failed to do so would be ruthlessly flogged. All the monkeys suffered bitterly, but dared not complain.
One day, a small monkey asked the other monkeys: “did the old man plan all the fruit trees and bushes?’ The others said ‘No, they grew naturally.” The small monkey further asked: “can’t we take the fruits without the old man’s permission?’ The others replied: “Yes, we can” The small monkey continued: “then, why should we depend on the old man; why must we all serve him?’
Before the small monkey was able to finish his statement all the monkeys suddenly became enlightened and awakened. On the same night, watching that old man had fallen asleep the monkeys tore down the barricades of the stockade in which they were confined and never returned to collect fruits for the master. The old man finally died of starvation.
Some men in the world rule their people by tricks and not by righteous principles. Aren’t they just like the monkey master? They are not aware of their muddle-headedness. As soon as their people become enlightened, their tricks no longer work.’
Question: Where did Mugabe get the Forex to buy the Ship load of weapons from?
Answer: Zimbabweans in the Diaspora and with money in FX accounts gave it to him… When will these monkeys learn that they keep him alive… Below is a link to the “The escape of the monkeys”… read it and pass on the link. If enough people refuse to continue cooperating long enough despite the repression, the oppressive system will be weakened and finally collapse.

http://mihd.net/qj2dzht

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By: Tara

Tara — Sat, 19 Apr 2008 14:44:03 +0000

These are the people involved with the successful court appeal against the shipment:

The RT Bishop Rubin Phillip bishop@dionatal.org.za
Anglican Church of Durban
Mr. Paddy Kearney
Diakonia Council of Churches the.director@diakonia.org.za
Ceasefire Campaign – stopwar@mail.ngo.za

Arms shipment too dangerous to transport by road:
I am told that a newspaper reported that the International Maritime Organisation has designated codes for such shipments and that in this case the codes, as indicated on the documentation, were incorrect. It is debatable whether this is an administrative error. What it means is, that the shipment is in fact too dangerous to transport by road and should be transported by train. This is a safety measure to ensure minimum fatalities in case something goes wrong. It seems that Ceasefire Campaign may have this information. I’m trying to get hold of the article. Maybe somebody has seen it?

Destination of the ship: NEW!

http://www.24.com/news/?p=tsa&i=894708

Nicole Fritz, director of the Southern Africa Litigation Centre, which asked the court to intervene to stop the arms from being transported on to Zimbabwe, said they had been informed that the ship’s next scheduled stop was Luanda.
“But this doesn’t mean it will go there,” she said.
Fritz said the centre would do everything it could to prevent the weapons reaching Zimbabwe, including possible legal action or pursuing the matter through international diplomatic channels.

4th Chimurenga – you guys rock!
BM – thanks for all the valuable information. Great idea re letter – the Elders would not approve of what is happening.

Reply to this comment — bishop@dionatal.org.za\r\nAnglican Church of Durban\r\nMr. Paddy Kearney \r\nDiakonia Council of Churches the.director@diakonia.org.za \r\nCeasefire Campaign â�� stopwar@mail.ngo.za\r\n\r\nArms shipment too dangerous to transport by road:\r\nI am told that a newspaper reported that the International Maritime Organisation has designated codes for such shipments and that in this case the codes, as indicated on the documentation, were incorrect. It is debatable whether this is an administrative error. What it means is, that the shipment is in fact too dangerous to transport by road and should be transported by train. This is a safety measure to ensure minimum fatalities in case something goes wrong. It seems that Ceasefire Campaign may have this information. Iâ��m trying to get hold of the article. Maybe somebody has seen it?\r\n\r\nDestination of the ship: NEW!\r\n\r\nhttp:\/\/www.24.com\/news\/?p=tsa&i=894708\r\n\r\nNicole Fritz, director of the Southern Africa Litigation Centre, which asked the court to intervene to stop the arms from being transported on to Zimbabwe, said they had been informed that the ship\’s next scheduled stop was Luanda. \r\n\"But this doesn\’t mean it will go there,\" she said. \r\nFritz said the centre would do everything it could to prevent the weapons reaching Zimbabwe, including possible legal action or pursuing the matter through international diplomatic channels. \r\n\r\n\r\n4th Chimurenga â�� you guys rock!\r\nBM â�� thanks for all the valuable information. Great idea re letter â�� the Elders would not approve of what is happening.’); return false;”>Quote from this comment

By: scotchcart

scotchcart — Sat, 19 Apr 2008 14:23:29 +0000

Possibility that the An Yue Jiang is going to Angola.

http://www.thewordwright.iblog.co.za/2008/04/19/new-destination-of-zimbabwe-arms-ship-angola/

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By: BRE

BRE — Sat, 19 Apr 2008 13:31:03 +0000

I’m with you on tracking the whereabouts of the arms shipment for Mugabe aboard the An Yue Jiang. CNN reports today that the ship is headed for Angola but of course there are other ways to accurately track its whereabouts. Lot’s of open water between Durban and Luanda so I personally am hoping that rustbucket of a Chinese deathship never makes it to its final destination.

This should be a wakeup call for people all across the continent of Africa about Beijing’s real intentions for the future of African people___ bullets and repression, not bread and prosperity. It is absolutely outrageous!

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By: 4th Chimurenga

4th Chimurenga — Sat, 19 Apr 2008 13:26:54 +0000

Good effort guys... This ship should go back to Bejieng. We have a critical shortage of forex but Gono gives Mugabe R9,9Million to kill his people instead of feeding them. Where didi they get the forex. Does anyone has Gono's contacts. He has to tell us where he got all that forex to buy arms.. Zimbabweans need food, not guns..

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By: scotchcart

scotchcart — Sat, 19 Apr 2008 12:32:08 +0000

Who thinks it might help to contact The Elders (Nelson Mandela, Desmond Tutu, etc).

They have a page on their website where we can write in.
http://theelders.org/village/

Maybe someone good with words could draft an open letter to them that we could send to newspapers all over the world?

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By: scotchcart

scotchcart — Sat, 19 Apr 2008 12:04:59 +0000

This is Sokwanele 2.0 - viral organizing!

Thanks BM - my Portuguese wasn’t up to the Moz sites.

BBC reports that Maputo Port says the ship hasn’t announced its arrival there. So we still have time to rally.

Does anyone have the address of the lawyers who brought this action in SA? I thought I saw a report saying they were going to pursue the matter in Moz too. They might have suggestions about where it is good to raise consciousness.

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By: Sokwanele (from Hope)

Sokwanele (from Hope) — Sat, 19 Apr 2008 11:55:16 +0000

I want to say thank you for the campaign efforts and discussion in this thread.

You guys are ahead of us a bit on this one, but we are currently working on a system which we hope will be a valuable easily accessible tool that everyone can use and which you can all feed into.

I am assisting with that tool, but I am also doing a million others things that urgently need doing too.

I’m leaving this comment so you know for sure we are watching your progress, seriously pleased with your efforts, and will be jumping in and supporting you on it as soon as our heads stop spinning at 100km/hr.

You’ve all been amazing! Thank you.

Hope

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By: Madresicilia

Madresicilia — Sat, 19 Apr 2008 11:53:37 +0000

Now we need Mozambique to say NO!! I always live in hope and maybe this shipment will make it even clearer to the world what is at stake. A major foreign power, China (surprise!!) is supplying an illegal regime with weapons (I mean campaign materials) to wage a civil war. I am also a realist; weapons are money and someone in Africa, not necessarily African, will get their hands on that cargo, break it up into smaller consignments and make a profit. We need the equivalent of Greenpeace to monitor the movements of vessel and cargo at every stage, on sea and land. We can do this for the whales-can we also do it for Zimbabweans?

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