Lalla: #Zimbabwe

18th November 2017:

It was in 2007 that I met Lalla, ‘comrade’ as she called herself, through a discussion on one of the online forums. The initial interaction led to more frequent conversations on her idea of the world and of the world she hailed from rather to say it more precisely, the world she had left behind for a long period of time. She was the first Zimbabwean I ever knew and she had then sought refuge in South Africa.

Lalla had her own views on the state of the world and the happenings in her home country. This was way back in 2008 during an extremely tumultuous time in Zimbabwe.  Amidst all, it was this fondness for the “political” which made us converse more about how the things were shaping up. It was also my first year away from home for the first time in life, having shifted to the university. The internet globally was slowly expanding so were the networks, leading to far greater and easier interaction.

'Lalla'

Those were the days when access to the internet for a university student such as me or for a professional such as Lalla wasn’t as easy as it remains so, today. Generally one accessed internet through university libraries or computer labs or from the office of a cooperative teacher. Owning a personal computer wasn’t so difficult but a high speed internet connection then was a rarity owing to the constraints of costs and infrastructure. Thus as I write I realize in a span of ten years, the world here and there and everywhere has indeed progressed into an era of greater ‘proletarian’ access to the pertinent technology. Albeit the reasons for it aren’t purely philanthropic nor is it a signpost of technological evangelism, if one may call it so but rather simply the praxis of the market forces and political economy. Yet as time passed several times what I deciphered from what Lalla said was a reality that did not always appear on the television screens and in the news media.  Back then the whole world knew about Mugabe and his presence in Zimbabwe, the monstrosity of his rule and his excesses on the white people. 

Pic Courtesy: Epiphania 

The exodus of several popular Zimbabwean cricketers like Andy Flower and Neil Johnson indicated the nature of the menace that Mugabe had created. Yet in the perception of the world beyond the West, Mugabe was still viewed as a Hero who fought for his people, who emancipated a nation from the clutches of colonialism, imperialism and racialism and his “banality” against the whites in Zimbabwe for many was merely a “reaction”. Yet Lalla and her story reflected that aspect of Zimbabwe and Mugabe which finds it manifestation today (as this is being written) on the streets of Bulawayo and Harare, as people rally rather jubilantly against Mugabe or rather as they rally For #Zimbabwe.  It is essentially not surprising, power and brute power which goes unchallenged refuses to discriminate and essentially that has also been the story of Zimbabwe. It wasn’t merely a tirade against the whites that Mugabe had unleashed but rather several indigenous groups which make Zimbabwe continued to suffer under his regime. Amidst this all, Lalla lived a life in exile, away from home, who could not visit home for her own reasons best known to her conscience.  Lalla was one of the millions of Zimbabweans in Diaspora who had sought refuge in neighboring countries and in lands far away.  Every day in Zimbabwe remained a struggle for survival and basic means. The life in exile to her proved to be a life of freedom yet a life grappled by nostalgia and solitude. She spent a few years of her life in the Middle East, working at different places only to return back to South Africa... I asked her once why she stayed in South Africa and she answered saying her home seemed near from where she was. Her answer seemed similar to what I have experienced having spent last decade and half with the Tibetan people.  A similar story of hope and resistance. As time passed I came across more members of the Zimbabwean Diaspora community through her, similar stories and a common hope, for a better tomorrow. 

A couple of year’s later personal challenges and priorities lead to a widening gap in the frequency of interaction, communication and conversation ceased. During these years there was no news of Lalla. And suddenly two years ago she was back and the communication resumed. Lalla seemed a different person, she no longer was the emphatic political being that I used to know but she had turned into someone wh0o found solace and solution in religion. Being conscious of what still prevailed in Zimbabwe, what I found in her words were 'preachings' rather than protest. Over all these years despite being critical of the nature of politics which had separated from her family and her home I rarely found a sense of hate. And today as we wonder of how a peaceful coup could happen in Zimbabwe, I remain not surprised. Zimbabweans that I have known have been unhappy but during these trying times as Lalla did and so have they, cultivated Hope over Hate and thus today we see the scenes of Jubilation and Merry on the streets of erstwhile Rhodesia. It’s a powerful message that these happy marches are sending to the people across the world. 

I would not have not have known of the schema of events that had transpired in Zimbabwe had it not been for a status update from Lalla leading me to twitter and #Zimbabwe. I am as happy as each one of them today is in Zimbabwe, I feel it personally and may gods bless Lalla and her people. 

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Arnav Anjaria is a PhD research scholar at the Centre for Human Rights, University of Hyderabad. He is also the editor-in-chief of The Arachneed Journal. 
He tweets at @arnithegreat
Instagram : @arnavanjariaaa