SECTOR 1 dramatically afterwards. Right now there is the sense that parties are going back into election mode. They are attempting to carve out their territory and ZANU PF seems to understand the significance of violence in this exercise. The dangerous consequence is that people now fear elections. Fear permeates society in general. There are many who express themselves rather freely but everyone does so with a degree of fear. They articulate opinions in different ways through writing, art, drama or marches while journalists write under pseudonyms. The list of people who have been arrested for exercising their right “This is not paranoia, it is real to freedom of expression is long. fear [based on experience].” In December 2008, for example, Jestina Mukoko, Director of the Zimbabwe Peace Project, was abducted and tortured. Members of Women of Zimbabwe Arise (WOZA) are harassed, intimidated, assaulted and arrested on a regular basis. Okay Machisa, the Executive Director of Zimbabwe Human Rights Association (ZIMRIGHTS) was arrested in March 2010 for organising Reflections - an exhibition of pictures of victims of the 2008 political violence. In most communities, especially in the rural areas, the threat of exposure does not come directly from the state - it is citizen upon citizen. The person who acts as an informer is usually someone who lives in the community and so the feeling is that there is always someone listening. There is a belief amongst the general public that for every group of 10 to 12 people there will be one person who is an informer. One panellist shared her personal experience during a visit to her grandmother in a rural area. “Everyone was seated around the fire and talking politics. My grandmother was in tears. She kept telling us ‘people can hear you’. She was afraid and asked us to stop it, because ‘they can burn our home’. This is not paranoia, it is real fear [based on experience].” For some Zimbabweans there is some measure of protection through collective expression. Individuals expressing strong opinions open themselves up to repression but when they do so through organisations they seem to be able to voice their opinions more freely. Journalists, for example, can express their views and opinions via their media associations but they are not protected when speaking out as individuals. “The fear is real for me. I don’t have the kind of protection you get from organisations. I have family to look after,” said a journalist on the panel, “we’d love the hero status but at the end of the day where does it leave you …?” AFRICAN MEDIA BAROMETER ZIMBABWE 2010 15