Comrade Fatso’s blog

Lives in Limbo

2008-07-09T16:33:37Z

The queue curves around the corner like a frozen riot. People are standing chin-to-back, stomach-to-buttocks. Shoving. And desperate. What would have been ZANU propaganda from heaven if it were a queue at a polling station just weeks ago is today ...

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Hope and Hunger

2008-06-28T16:43:22Z

Things aren't always as they seem. The day after the bloodiest election Zimbabwe has ever seen a show of resistance can spring forth. Like a flower from shit. 'Hope and Hunger' was theme of the show put on by our youthful MAGAMBA! Netwo...

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Stayaways and Spoilers

2008-06-27T20:34:30Z

“So, Dread, where’s your mbanje?” Coffee is a good way to start the day. I started mine in a more Zimbabwean way: arrested for avoiding a road block and then being searched for mbanje. Not having smoked weed for a while luckily I didn’t have any....

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Many Fires

2008-06-25T18:26:15Z

Bread now costs fifteen billion dollars. Hustled. On the street corner. Meat in the shops goes for nothing less than thirty billion. These insane numbers put basics out of reach for the average, struggling Zimbabwean. This, we are told by the mil...

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Noise in Harare

2008-06-19T20:08:33Z

In a country of deadly silence some choose to make noise. In a country of fear some choose the word as a weapon. I am sitting in the Mannenberg Jazz Club, Harare. We are about to kick off the MAKE SOME NOISE tour right here in Harare. Concerts for...

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The Tour of the Word

2008-06-12T14:50:36Z

Positive things can also happen. A flower can spring from the shit. I'm just finishing a short European tour that has taken me from the Slam Poetry World Cup in Paris to the UK and from there to the Poetry International Festival in Rotterdam, Ho...

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Dead

2008-05-21T18:24:55Z

Dead. A cold body in a mortuary. That’s how they found Tonde today. Abducted last week, he was tortured and beaten to death. An inspiring, young township freedom fighter whose words were in my ears last week, his breathing body in my eyes. Today ...

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We Have a Date

2008-05-19T18:26:47Z

So now we have a date. June 27th. This means the limbo is over. It also means that the violence is going to rage beyond belief. It already is. Over 40 opposition activists killed, thousands displaced, 87 year-old women beaten to death. It seems th...

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Space fillers

2008-04-23T20:04:46Z

The streets are empty. The state has retreated. So has the opposition. All we are left with are their torn posters, pasted over each other in a confusing collage of symbols and slogans. We also have their space-fillers. Riot police aimlessly wal...

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Steps

2008-04-15T23:35:17Z

"We used to respect him. But we don't any more", says the old taxi driver. "Mugabe should have left power and been a hero like Mandela", he continues,"Now there's no food, no fuel. He's fucked it up." Everyone in South Africa has an opinion on ...

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