BY TAMARA PEARSON
A successful two-day general strike on March 18-19 gave the opposition Movement for Democratic Change a large boost to win the March 29-30 Highfield by-election. The by-election was called following the expulsion from the MDC of socialist MP Munyaradzi Gwisai in retaliation for his opposition to the MDC leadership's open embrace of neoliberalism.
The mass stayaway paralysed most major towns in Zimbabwe. Barricades were set up and buses were burnt; police beat, arrested and tortured strikers and journalists. The stayaway was an encouraging and empowering event for many workers fed up with the repressive Zimbabwean government of President Robert Mugabe.
However, part of the success of the stayaway was a result of deals between the MDC and the Zimbabwe's businesses, which locked their doors for the two-day strike. Massive donations from countries with an interest in getting rid of Mugabe were also used to hire crowds of protesters.
Gwisai contested the by-election as an independent openly backed by the International Socialist Organisation of Zimbabwe (ISOZ). However, because of a lack of funds and a small membership, Gwisai received just 73 out of around 15,000 votes.
The ISOZ explained that most working-class Zimbabweans are keen to get rid of the authoritarian Mugabe regime and the MDC is seen as the only alternative.
From Green Left Weekly, April 16, 2003.
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