By Tomson Phiri
Present day Zimbabwe is the extreme version of its own former self if one goes down not very far though along memory lane. Space for dissent; intellectual debate and artistic production has literary been shut since the turn of the century. Great odds exist for any attempts at producing any objective and independent artefacts whilst opening up of such space for debate is akin to going even where angels fear to tread. History is replete with what has happened to many an artist since the turn of the twentieth century who have dared told truth to power. The majority are harassed by state agents whilst others are disillusioned by the glaring reality of the constricted and protected public space and hence have to cow to the elitist demand of acceptable truth. As one protest artist puts it and rightly so, “In Zimbabwe, you can have freedom of expression but you may not have the freedom after expression.”
However, artists in Zimbabwe have not been massaged into a condition of acquiescence by the demands for acceptable orientations. If anything these artists have established themselves as independent and objective thinkers who have used art as a medium to communicate their philosophical and intellectual take on the forces that shape contemporary Zimbabwean cultural and artistic creations. Apparent in contemporary Zimbabwe today is the growing crop of defiant artists who do not mind state harassment. Some artists have moved from merely showing contemporary Zimbabwean life but even proceeded to condemning the post independence establishment on issues of governance; social and economic policy. Because contemporary Zimbabwe poetry is conceived in a politically volatile social space and in equally difficult economic circumstances that have a bearing on the creative imagination, the resultant art naturally becomes an epitome of art imitating life. As a result, writing becomes a process of participation in national politics. It is a serious form of art which functions as an indispensable site of resistance with the potential to function as the prime instrument in the imperative process of creating a counter discourse that opens up the public sphere and confronts the vicissitudes of contemporary Zimbabwe life in an independent manner. As Michael “Stones” Mabwe, the Coordinator of Zimbabwe Poets for Human Rights avers, “We do not seek to incite anyone, neither do we set out to excite anyone. Rather, we seek to give people insight.” But that is before he adds, “However, we do not care whether you get incited!!” Talk of using a comic vision to contend with tragedy.
It is this process of performing against the permissible patriotic narratives that is a strong indication of significant steps towards opening up the space for public debate and freedom of expression. The ability to gather an audience for poetry recitals is not only an act of great courage, but also a stunt rarely pulled because of the insurmountable odds that always pull you down. In effect the attempt to still beat the drum and let the music play in spite of the political odds to the contrary demonstrates these artists’ commitment to participate in the process of public contestation and making of the contemporary cultural artefact. The artistic productions’ attempts to dismantle things such as the falsified versions of patriotism and such other identities whilst replacing them with more inclusive socially produced definitions of the phenomena mark the dawn of a new questioning era in Zimbabwean arts. What is clear though is that the political situation has contributed immensely to the dearth of creative and intellectual space in Zimbabwe and Doris Lessing, the 2007 Nobel Literature Prize winner has summed it up thus: “Writers are not made in Zimbabwe. Not easily, not under Mugabe”, what remains to be seen though is what the arts can in turn do to the crisis?
Present day Zimbabwe is the extreme version of its own former self if one goes down not very far though along memory lane. Space for dissent; intellectual debate and artistic production has literary been shut since the turn of the century. Great odds exist for any attempts at producing any objective and independent artefacts whilst opening up of such space for debate is akin to going even where angels fear to tread. History is replete with what has happened to many an artist since the turn of the twentieth century who have dared told truth to power. The majority are harassed by state agents whilst others are disillusioned by the glaring reality of the constricted and protected public space and hence have to cow to the elitist demand of acceptable truth. As one protest artist puts it and rightly so, “In Zimbabwe, you can have freedom of expression but you may not have the freedom after expression.”
However, artists in Zimbabwe have not been massaged into a condition of acquiescence by the demands for acceptable orientations. If anything these artists have established themselves as independent and objective thinkers who have used art as a medium to communicate their philosophical and intellectual take on the forces that shape contemporary Zimbabwean cultural and artistic creations. Apparent in contemporary Zimbabwe today is the growing crop of defiant artists who do not mind state harassment. Some artists have moved from merely showing contemporary Zimbabwean life but even proceeded to condemning the post independence establishment on issues of governance; social and economic policy. Because contemporary Zimbabwe poetry is conceived in a politically volatile social space and in equally difficult economic circumstances that have a bearing on the creative imagination, the resultant art naturally becomes an epitome of art imitating life. As a result, writing becomes a process of participation in national politics. It is a serious form of art which functions as an indispensable site of resistance with the potential to function as the prime instrument in the imperative process of creating a counter discourse that opens up the public sphere and confronts the vicissitudes of contemporary Zimbabwe life in an independent manner. As Michael “Stones” Mabwe, the Coordinator of Zimbabwe Poets for Human Rights avers, “We do not seek to incite anyone, neither do we set out to excite anyone. Rather, we seek to give people insight.” But that is before he adds, “However, we do not care whether you get incited!!” Talk of using a comic vision to contend with tragedy.
It is this process of performing against the permissible patriotic narratives that is a strong indication of significant steps towards opening up the space for public debate and freedom of expression. The ability to gather an audience for poetry recitals is not only an act of great courage, but also a stunt rarely pulled because of the insurmountable odds that always pull you down. In effect the attempt to still beat the drum and let the music play in spite of the political odds to the contrary demonstrates these artists’ commitment to participate in the process of public contestation and making of the contemporary cultural artefact. The artistic productions’ attempts to dismantle things such as the falsified versions of patriotism and such other identities whilst replacing them with more inclusive socially produced definitions of the phenomena mark the dawn of a new questioning era in Zimbabwean arts. What is clear though is that the political situation has contributed immensely to the dearth of creative and intellectual space in Zimbabwe and Doris Lessing, the 2007 Nobel Literature Prize winner has summed it up thus: “Writers are not made in Zimbabwe. Not easily, not under Mugabe”, what remains to be seen though is what the arts can in turn do to the crisis?
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