Jenny’s Pennies

Via Global Voices, I found a report from Zimbabwean activist community Kubatana on what meaning Valentine’s day can take in a country stricken by poverty and disregard for human rights. Hundreds of people from the organizations WOZA and MOZA (Women/Men of Zimbabwe Arise) took the streets in their yearly Valentine’s day protest to spread the message that the power of love will overcome the love of power. From www.kubatana.net:

The aim of the peaceful protest was to encourage Zimbabweans to stand up for their children in these times of extreme hardship and as an election looms. WOZA was formed in 2003 amidst severe political violence to demonstrate love and courage to all Zimbabweans. In 2008 this motivation is still equally relevant.

800 men and women processed for four city blocks through central Bulawayo, singing and handing out red roses and Valentine cards to passers-by. The response from people was exceptional with huge groups forming on pavements and motorists hooting to encourage the procession. Many people stepped forward to receive the cards and roses.

In contrast to many other peaceful demonstrations by the opposition in Zimbabwe, this one was allowed to dissolve peacefully and no arrests seem to have been made, however the police did try to stop the protesters.

However we choose to celebrate or ignore Valentine’s day, maybe we should do like the brave women and men in Zimbabwe and make it about the power of love and not about the power of crass commercialism (such as this puke worthy ad - this is not “the power of love”. Found via Shakesville).

This entry was posted on Thursday, February 14th, 2008 at 6:38 pm and is filed under Activism, Africa. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.