FROM ISO ZIMBABWE:

Comrades
The situation in Zimbabwe has reached unprecedented levels of crisis. As we have been saying for the last few years, such crisis was climaxing and with a number of possibilities arising. Firstly and most likely was the likelihood of the bourgeois elite politicians in Zanu PF and the opposition MDC uniting together in an elitist government of national unity in which Zanu PF would be the senior partner and MDC the junior around a western and capitalist supported neoliberal economic agenda. The MDC's popularity would be used to pacify the urban working people from rising up. The strong possibilities of this happening has been shwon with the MDC's willingeness to accept the crumps offered by Zanu PF and endorsed by the regional body SADC in which Mugabe would remain virtually all his executive presidential powers with Tsvangirai acting as a prop. Indeed the cnysism of the whole plot was shown in that as MDC signed Constitutional Amendemnt 19 with Zanu PF, Mugabe was appointing Gono for another five years as Reserve Bank Governor. The same Gono who has been the central figure in Zanu PF and the ruling classes' neoliberal onslaught against working people in th elast five years. He is the virtual de facto Prime Minister of Zimbabwe, unelected and unaccouintable to the people but to his equally unelected and illegititmate masters.

However, we also argued that if the elites did not quickly resolve their differences through an elitist government of national unity and if the country did not descend into a failed state like Somalia, there was a real possibility of uprisings from below led by the working class but critically invovling a united front of labour and radical civic groups and social movements and militant rank and file activists from the MDC. We have consistently called for the urgent formation of such united front to lead united mass action, centrally demanding a people driven and anti-neoliberal constitution.

In the last few weeks the tensions and fights between the elites in Zanu PF and MDC over the share out of power and the continuation of sanctions and the economic crisis has accelerated the economic crisis and brought greater political disllusionament amongst the ordinary people leading to an increasing wave of discontent in the last few weeks, with strikes and protests by teachers, nurses, doctors, the NCA, women, students etc. And most decisively in the
last few days, riots by lower ranks of the army in Harare beating up cash vendors sent by Gono as well as shops selling in foreign currency. Yersterday they ran in the city centre singing and followed by scores of of people denouncing Gono and the government. The situation is now extremely delicate ahead of the protests called for the 3rd December 2008 by civic groups led by the Zimbabwe Congress of Trades Unions and also invovling critically involvement from the Zimbabwe Social Forum and the National Constitutional Assembly.

The International Socialist Organisation is centrally invovled in the demonstrations through the Zimbabwe Social Forum where many of its leading cadres are playing a critical role. We welcome the demonstrations as the first sign of united front mass action that we have been calling for as the alternative to the elitist political parties negotiated settlement.Find attached herewith the statement issued by the Chairperson of the Zimbabwe Social Forum, Munyaradzi Gwisai who is also the General Co-Ordinator of ISO calling for local, regional and international mobilisation and support for the mass action tomorrow on the 3rd December 2008.

We shall continually update comrades on developments whilst we call for your support on what could be a decisive day of action. The resolution amongst the leadership of the ZCTU, ZSF and NCA is that we are going all out no matter what the dictatorship throws at us and we are confident that hundreds will turn up for the demonstration.

No to Dictactorship! Viva Socialsim!

National Co-Ordinating Committee
International Socialist Organisation - Zimbabwe