What happens when you can’t elect change because of overwhelming violence and voter intimidation? The country of Zimbabwe is faced with a cholera epidemic, food shortage, rampant inflation, and tyrannical dictator, Robert Mugabe, whose land reform and domestic policy have bankrupted a once prosperous nation. Once the bread basket of half a continent, Zimbabwe is facing acute food shortages and currently experiencing a drought. Agriculture has collapsed since the embarked on “land reforms” involving the expropriation of thousands of white-owned farms, which critics say he has handed over to his associates. Short-term, the economic situation looks grim, with the inflation rate in the hundred-million per cents. Mugabe clings to his power in old age, having recently celebrated his 85th birthday; a year after losing a hotly contested election with embattled Prime Minister, Morgan Tsvangirai.
“A Ballot of Thorns” filmed the 2008 Zimbabwean Presidential election and the violence and voter intimidation in its aftermath.
It begins with coverage of a MDC rally, which is broken up by armed ZANU-PF youth, characterizing the longstanding lack freedom in political choice. ZANU-PF gangs beat and killed MDC supporters, and burned crops and homes in what became a “rural war-zone.” Tsvangirai called out the regime, saying that “Mugabe and his wife have been shedding cold tears by visiting MDC victims of political violence when his militia men are, in fact, the authors and perpetrators of the massacres.” Yet Mugabe has been able to effectively spin that matter with the state media, broadcasting funerals of ZANU-PF members (who were victims of infighting) and purporting their killers to be MDC. Violence intensified as the election neared, with entire MDC families being targeted. The film covers the impoundment of Tsvangirai’s campaign vehicles, and where he proclaims “It is nothing but harassment…When the leading contender is denied the opportunity to convey!”
Ballot of Thorns also offers several interviews, featuring Doctors, Officials, Tsvangirai and victims of ZANU-PF violence and intimidation. Perhaps the most poignant revelation was the statement “the people who fled the violence have to face their perpetrators to cast their ballot.” Most western readers/viewers would be unfamiliar with such an unsafe and insecure electoral process, and it is that point which resonated with me the most after watching. The film is decidedly pro-Tsvangirai, perhaps because it is his MDC campaign that finally offers an alternative to almost 30 years of ZANU-PF misrule. The politician’s words are heard directly, for the viewer to decide as to the sincerity of their statements, to which Mugabe is made to look flamboyant and full of double-speak; Tsvangirai, and his MDC associates, the victims and agents of change. Details of the runoff election are presented here, and it is essentially “run off,” making ZANU-PF appear as bandits and oppressors, which from my research is generally true, but a grayer issue than presented.
While Ballot of Thorns is a great resource for its coverage of the 2008 Zimbabwean Presidential election, it is a documentary that hardly falls into ones lap. It appears to only have had an internet release through Journeyman Pictures, a production company which creates niche documentaries for web distribution. I found the film on YouTube, searching for coverage of that Zimbabwean election. The subject and region have been of interest to me and I’ve written about the country’s economic failure and hyperinflation of their currency in the past. For another assignment, I decided to write about “Zim Democracy” to supplement what I’ve written about the “Zim Dollar.” I used it as a source to help articulate the violence surrounding the elections there and the film shows, very well, the need for widespread electoral reform by conveying the starkness of the voter intimidation process better than I had seen in any footage prior. It may not reach a wide audience, but it is freely available. I’m sure that this film has also influenced policy writers, both current and future, for the raw coverage it provides.
I would recommend this for people studying the crisis, but for a more general presentation, perhaps another, “Zimbabwe – Countdown” (also by Journeyman Films). That film goes into far greater detail about ZANU-PF history, “land reform,” the economic hyperinflation and the plight of white farmers. That said, “Ballot of Thorns” complements other presentations of this issue and I plan on using it as a source again in future work. It is a collection of invaluable raw footage and exclusive interviews not found in other media.
Sources Used:
Video: “A Ballot of Thorns.” Journeyman Pictures, 2009
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ongYOh9nE84
Also: http://www.zimbabwedemocracynow.com/