Rosa Zulu of the International Socialist Organisation reports.
In Harare, 6,000 workers in Gwanzura stadium gave the ISO a rousing welcome. We have now assumed the role of opposition faction leaders in the Movement for Democratic Change. We oppose the talks MDC have with the ZANU(PF) government. We organised students from the University of Zimbabwe, who came in a hired bus. Also groups from the National Constitutional Assembly and the Progressive Teachers Union.
We went in a convoy of 100 singing supporters up to a kilometre from the stadium. We then marched through the township of Highfield into the stadium to rapturous applause. We occupied an entire section of the stadium with other supporters who had been organised the night before.
Throughout the rally, our section was the most militant and lively. When speakers from other organisations questioned the usefulness of continuing talks with ZANU(PF) [the governing party] they were massively cheered on. They argued that the only way forward is to take on Mugabe in the streets.
Having seen that ISO's position on the talks was now fully accepted, our speaker, Munyaradzi Gwisai then called on workers to plan the next step forward - that of organising to stage mass demonstrations around the impending Labour Bill that comes to Parliament this month. Gwisai's speech was greeted by the 6,000 with cheers. We have now galvanised opposition against the talks within the MDC and are moving on to organising street protests to expose the middle-class nature of the leadership of the MDC.
When Morgan Tsvangirai was informed that Gwisai was making a speech, he demanded Gwisai be removed. But the officials dared not try. Minutes before, a group marched to the officials platform and demanded that Gwisai be given a chance to speak.
In Bulawayo, 5,000 workers in the White City stadium gave a rousing welcome to Briggs Bomba of the ISO students union when he addressed the rally.
We believe that we have now broken the back of the MDC leadership. They wanted to take us "head-on" (Morgan's words) when we expressed our opposition to the talks. But we feel secure.
