A Constitutional Experience

Yesterday we were riding our bikes to the Embassy and happened to coast into a huge crowd of unrest. Some University of Zambia students informed us that it was the planned protest broadcasted on the news the night before (that I wanted to witness). By a sheer stroke of serendipity, we were here! There were about five thousand people (majority university students and young professionals) chanting against the president, and blocking the streets. Most were friendly. Heavy police presence with their AK47s and tear gas canisters kept order and prevented protestors from marching to the parliament grounds. Although they could have been overwhelmed easily by the uncalculated rebellion of youth.

We talked to some of the students. They were upset at the current president for not spearheading the development of a new constitution (which he had promised) and elections are next year. Apparently there was a lot of fraud in ballot counting at the last election (and yes, Manawasa, the president, is Republican). They know there is a lot of corruption within his party and want him accountable. There has been a new draft constitution submitted and they want the constitution-making process accelerated so it will be adopted before the 2006 elections. It was encouraging to see people so inspired to act on their love for their country. Zambians really are proud of their independence over the last 41 years and genuinely seem to want the country cleaned up. We also witnessed their zeal during the Independence day celebration a week ago. Stimulated with the energy around us, we weaved ourselves deeper (on bikes) into the heart of the crowd.

Thirty yards later, we found people shouting at us, calling us “Muzungu” (“white person”, which I found highly inaccurate for myself) and then grabbing our rear bike racks and pushing us out of the thick crowd. I was worried for a moment, trying to keep track of Kate and being aware of where I was steering. In a couple of seconds and near-accidents, Kate and I were pushed out of the demonstration.

Our protest experience was short lived. But for safety reasons, perhaps for the better. We would have been easy targets for a restless group looking to prove something pointless. Needless to say, we took the longer route to American soil to buy M&Ms at the Commissary –and to let the RSO know we performed another “do not” –again.


11/1/05