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Thousands of zanu-pf youths gather at the revolutionary party’s headquarters in Harare on Wednesday for a Youth League inter-district conference. —(Picture by John Manzongo)

IF there is anything we learnt from Wednesday’s march by thousands of Zanu-PF youths, it’s that Zimbabweans can disagree peacefully.

As we reported in this paper yesterday, thousands of Zanu-PF youths brought Harare traffic to a temporary standstill as they marched along Jason Moyo Avenue before they thronged the party’s headquarters in solidarity with Government’s empowerment policies.

The youths warned they would not sit idly while malcontents threatened to destabilise the country. The whole Zanu-PF complex was filled to capacity while others followed proceedings from outside the perimeter wall.

All this support for Government and discontent with malcontents — who recently engaged in sporadic violent protests — went without the burning of a single tyre or throwing of stones at innocent motorists.

About a week apart, the two mass actions bring to the fore a number of fundamental issues around the effectiveness of violent and non-violent demonstrations.

In their book, ‘Why Civil Resistance Works’, Chenoweth and Stephan outline two major advantages of non-violent campaigns. Firstly, non-violent protests attract larger crowds — especially women, children and the elderly. The One Million-Man March organised by the Zanu-PF youth league in May this year is living testimony to this fact. The march was the best attended political event in recent history, and would not have been the success it was if it were violent.

Secondly, the two psychologists hit the nail on the head when they explain that no Government goes out of its way to suppress a nonviolent campaign. This should be a wakeup call for opposition parties in general and MDC-T in particular.

What do violent protests, on the other hand, achieve? A one-word answer can suffice — hype.

Violent campaigns make news. Actually, they make noise. The international media was awash with stories of the violent protests in Zimbabwe at the instigation of MDC-T and Evan Mawarire of the #ThisFlag campaign.

Very little, if anything at all, was reported about Wednesday’s peaceful march which had more demonstrators. And that is perfectly normal. It’s a hallow victory for opposition activists which made them call for another so-called shutdown last week, resulting in a major embarrassment to their cause.

“The spirit of resistance sweeping across Zimbabwe rose a notch higher yesterday when a group of protesters going by the name Tajamuka/Sesijikile not only called on President Robert Mugabe to resign immediately, but also threatened to storm State House,” reported the easily excitable Daily News.

The Tajamuka protests have come and gone, but no-one has stormed State House. No-one even bothered to try.

The issue of crowd versus mob psychology is tackled so tactfully by William Shakespeare in Julius Caesar. A crowd — random individuals gathered for no specific purpose — is manipulated into a mob — a disorderly group whose intent is violence and aggression.

The mob kills Cinna the poet simply because they could not get to Cinna the conspirator.

Zanu-PF youths deserve a pat on the back. They want to deal with the real issues, taking the leaders head-on. They have refused to be used, to be manipulated into a mob by the US and French missions in Zimbabwe. They have refused to let their frustrations get the better of them and vent their anger on innocent bystanders, like Cinna the poet.

Their voice is loud and clear, cannot be ignored. It is the voice of thousands. Without being violent, the leaders of tomorrow have been heard. In the process they have set the bar to high for those who enjoy violence and media attention, but cannot articulate a clear objective.