The ‘Hardcore’ Student Activist: The Zimbabwe National Students Union (ZINASU), State Violence, and Frustrated Masculinity, 2000–2008

Abstract

Studies of the politics and history of Zimbabwe since independence have neglected the significant role played by student activists. This article explores why and how this group of educated youth, who formed the first civic organisation to challenge ZANU(PF), was able to pierce gerontocratic social orders and play a political role in Zimbabwe's recent violent history. It argues that the university gave students a social and intellectual status which they used to pursue ‘self-mastery’ and participate in political activity from the 1980s. Between 2000 and 2008, however, conditions changed. State violence and the students' increasingly frustrated material position produced a particular form of political masculinity – that of ‘hardcore’ activism. ‘Hardcore’ male activists violently resisted state repression and sought to dominate other genders within the university. By exploring the skills, ideas and behaviour associated with student activism, this article gives an insight into the political background of many individuals in the highest circles of politics and civil society today.