Bob Piper has been a Labour Councillor for the Abbey
Ward in Sandwell, West Midlands, for 10 years. He is a lifelong supporter of Aston Villa Football Club and a follower of Yorkshire County Cricket Club.
The views expressed here are mine in a personal capacity, not those of the Labour Party, Sandwell MBC, Aston Villa or Yorkshire County Cricket Club. Get it! Mine... just mine!
Lovemore Matombo and Wellington Chibebe are the President and General Secretary of the Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions (ZCTU). They were arrested on 8 May for speaking out about the state-sponsored violence in Zimbabwe - or as Robert Mugabe's government put it "spreading falsehoods prejudicial to the State".
Lovemore and Wellington are due to appear in court on 30 July, to defend themselves against these charges.
The button on the left is a mosaic made up from the pictures of over 2,000 trade unionists from around the world, who have come together to make this public demonstration of support for the ZCTU leaders and all trades unionists in Zimbabwe. Click on the button and follow the link for more information.
You can also copy the code to allow you to display the button on your blog. Spread the word!
Thanks Bob. As an update, I saw a ZCTU press release this morning, and the trial has been postponed again - this time taking us up to 27 August. I guess it suits Mugabe even more to keep effective union scrutiny silent by just extending the unfair bail conditions, and he thinks people may just forget about them if it drags on. Make a date to check back again in August!
July 29, 2008 10:28 PM | permalink
I've got the button up.
It's a shame that this post does not get the comments like the "non-story" above.