This is a guest post kindly submitted by Matt Wardman.
I've been watching the situation in Zimbabwe develop using the websites of organisations working inside and outside the country. Over recent weeks the situation has moved from the need for thorough scrutineering of an election to a situation where there have been more than 1000 incidents and 70 deaths, and a civil war seems possible. This article aims to highlight a few of the many sources of information available.
The most comprehensive information is provided by the Sokwanele organisation, including a Google map of incidents of Political Violence - currently there are more than 1300 recorded, a regularly updated blog, a feed of photos via Flick-r and even messages via Twitter when there are particular crises.
There are a number of other Zimbabwe organisations which provide news online. Zimbabwe Democracy Now have a comprehensive list, including news sources and voluntary groups based outside the country. There is even an ex-Zimbabwe policeman who publishes a podcast from Derby.
There are opportunities to do things from the UK, in addition to watching and writing. I think that two are worth a mention here. Firstly, the Twitter feed from Sokwanele includes updates such as this:
Action Alert: Senator John Masaba (Kariba constituency) arrested. Call the Kariba police on +263 61 2444.
A Skype call to Zimbabwe costs around 6p per minute from the UK. I wonder how they would react to requests from journalists (or bloggers) wanting to interview the police about the reasons for arrest - especially interviews recorded and published on the Internet for everyone to hear. Secondly, we can support organisations dedicated to fighting for democracy in the short term, and to rebuilding Zimbabwean Civil society in the long-term. There are a number of specialised organisations that can accept donations online, in addition to the well-known relief and development charities. I have published a list of some of these over on my own blog.
Let me add one last note: writing articles to publicise the situation can work well, but to reach a wider audience it is necessary to gain a high profile in the search engines - and that takes times. My original article "Mr Robert Mugabe’s Election Photo Album, and Sokwanele" is now firmly on the front page of Google for the search term "Zimbabwe election photo(s)" - but it has taken a full month to get there. This type of campaign rewards a longer term commitment.
