June 4, 2008.

A RUN-OFF FROM MISERY

The presidential run-off election, which should have taken place 21 days after the announcement of the results on May 2, has been postponed to June 27 -- presumably to allow for more intimidation of the population, attacks on the opposition, and corruption of the electoral process. Morgan Tsvangirai goes into the run-off against Robert Mugabe as the clear favourite not just because he won the first plebiscite but because of compelling factors: the economy is in shambles with the May year-on-year inflation reported to be at 1,694,000% and state-sponsored violence claiming more and more lives of innocent civilians caught in the political crossfire.

The presidential run-off election, which should have taken place 21 days after the announcement of the results on May 2, has been postponed to June 27 - presumably to allow for more intimidation of the population, attacks on the opposition, and corruption of the electoral process. Morgan Tsvangirai goes into the run-off against Robert Mugabe as the clear favourite not just because he won the first plebiscite but because of compelling factors: the economy is in shambles with the May year-on-year inflation reported to be at 1,694,000% and state-sponsored violence claiming more and more lives of innocent civilians caught in the political crossfire.

Going by statements from some of ZANU (PF) defeated former ministers like the former Justice Minister, Patrick Chinamasa, it seems clear Mugabe does not contemplate relinquishing power to the MDC. On May 26, Chinamasa was reported as having said that talk of Mugabe agreeing to give up power was premature because ZANU (PF) was, after all, going to emerge winner in the presidential run-off election.

"ZANU (PF) will not lose the run-off, so the issue of handing over power is out of question. They are day-dreaming if they think ZANU (PF) will lose."

The outgoing Information Minister, Sikhanyiso Ndlovu, had the audacity to declare: "The electorate has built hope in us because we have put in place measures that are protecting them against the ever-increasing cost of living."

To start with, people who lost an election should not be allowed to misinform Zimbabweans and the outside world. The question that boggles the mind is what has changed in the everyday lives of the electorate since March 29 to instil hope and guarantee victory for Mugabe? A loaf of bread jumped from Z$15 million on March 29 to Z$500 million on June 4, a rise of 3,233.3%.

Robert Mugabe had set the tone for his cronies and hangers-on at his central committee meeting on May 16 when he said, "The fall of ZANU (PF) is the fall of Zimbabwe as a sovereign nation, indeed the displacement of our people's interests by those of imperialism. We have to be alive to our responsibilities as leaders of a party of liberation."

If Robert Mugabe still believes that imperialism and not his record is the issue in Zimbabwe today, then if there was any stimulus required to energise people to vote for change this surely ought to be one such incentive. He may not be fully aware of what many of his henchmen are already aware of: that the people are tired of the rhetoric and just want to turn a new leaf and move forward with nation building where democratic processes are put into motion.

Mugabe has remained stuck in the groove that the MDC is a reincarnation of imperial forces and should therefore not be permitted to form the next government. Zimbabweans have always questioned ZANU (PF)'s narrow and self-serving definition of sovereignty. It is illogical for Mugabe to assume that ZANU (PF) is the guarantor of sovereignty and the embodiment of Zimbabwe as a nation. The party has over the years forfeited that accolade because of years of misrule and corruption which directly resulted in the rejection of the party and its ministers at the polls on March 29.

People must be reminded that besides Robert Mugabe's defeat, the chief architect of the notorious laws that go against democratic processes and violate human rights, Patrick Chinamasa, is now a minister by default. Farm Mechanisation Minister and Robert Mugabe's private farm manager, Joseph Made, was eliminated from Parliament. Oppah Muchinguri, Women's Affairs and Gender Minister and head of the ZANU (PF) women's league, lost in Mutasa Central. Energy Minister Mike Nyambuya, Mines Minister Amos Midzi, veteran Chen Chimutengwende, the Minister of Public and Interactive Affairs were all sent packing. Voters delivered another blow when they drove Transport Minister, Chris Mushowe, out of Parliament. Shuvai Mahofa, one of the ruling party's longest serving legislators, lost her seat and to crown the humiliation, war veterans' leader and self-styled commander of farm invasions, Joseph Chinotimba failed in his attempt to be a member of parliament.

The sovereignty or sanctions argument is used to cover up economic incompetence and the absence of reasoned economic policies. At the rate at which economic fundamentals have deteriorated, soon there will be no sovereignty to protect. Zimbabwe cannot afford another political term of appeasement and empty rhetoric while people are ‘neck laced' and torched alive in South Africa for being economic refugees. "Necklacing" is a horrible apartheid-era lynching tactic, with a tyre filled with petrol placed around the victim's neck, then set alight.

On the surface, the anti-Zimbabwe violence in South Africa seems easy to understand. Much of the violence is a carry-over from the apartheid era, when almost everything was criminalized, and it was virtually impossible to follow the law. Almost a decade and a half of the new ANC government has done nothing to change the situation. African communities are still desperately poor, the crime rate is still high and escalating, and the standards of education remain low. Into this situation you pour in millions of Zimbabweans who are fleeing the violence and the economic meltdown in their own country, and you have serious problems.

The average Zimbabwean is far more educated and far more prepared to work than the average South African (under apartheid, African schools could not teach science, mathematics, or English, and the Mbeki government has been hard-pressed to remedy the situation), which means that Zimbabweans get most of the jobs that are up for grabs. To make matters worse, they are likely to have much more money to start with (the South African government demands, among other things, to see R2,000 up front before a visa can be granted to a Zimbabwe national).

In addition, most Zimbabweans coming into South Africa are not expecting to stay forever; they want to save as much money as possible and send it home, which means that they tend to stick to the cheapest possible accommodation, in the shacks - among the poorest of the poor, who have no jobs, no education, and, as things stand now, no hope of bettering their situation. It is easy to see how tension can build up and explode into violence.

The real culprits in the abuse of Zimbabwe nationals are the authorities themselves, namely the Zimbabwean and the South African governments.

Quasi fiscal activities by the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe have been pivotal in supporting Mugabe's bankrupt schemes. Zimbabwe's economy is in free-fall mainly because of Mugabe's patronage policies. On May 27, the government said it would spend quadrillions of Zimbabwe dollars on social programmes ahead of the June 27 election in what the MDC and other political analysts called vote buying.

Outgoing Finance Minister, Samuel Mumbengegwi, said the government would offer tax relief, increase public service wages and give out food vouchers to ease pressure on Zimbabweans grappling with an economic meltdown. The government will also provide Z$4.2 quadrillion in medical and education assistance to the poor. Of course, voters understand this as a desperate carrot and stick strategy to win the presidential run-off.

This government never makes an effort to understand the functioning of an economy. It follows that in order to meet salary payments for the civil servants and to distribute money for social programmes, the government is forced to borrow money from the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe. And printing of money to cover the unbudgeted for government expenses only puts the ZANU (PF) government into more domestic debt and fuels inflation.

The unprecedented rise in government debt levels over the years continues to balloon due to the central bank's advances to the government. Over and over again, economists have said that the government is broke and has no other sources of income other than the domestic market.

There are very little foreign currency inflows into the country because of the destruction of the agriculture, manufacturing, mining and tourism sectors. Now Zimbabwe, the region's former bread basket, is trying to raise foreign currency to buy some of the food that the farmers it kicked out are currently producing just across the borders in Malawi, Mozambique, and Zambia. Zambia, which until 2001 had relied on food imports, is now racking in a lot of foreign currency from food exports. The same goes for tourism: once the region's most popular tourist destination, Zimbabwe is now a pariah nation, as tourists now prefer to go to either South Africa or Zambia.

Zimbabwe used to attract tens of thousands of tourists. Now all but a handful are deterred by news reports of Mugabe's atrocities. Most lodges have closed. The collapse of tourism has destroyed jobs and denied the country an estimated US$1bn (£500m) in revenue since 2002. Worse, the collapse of funding for the public sector is dramatically reducing the capability of Zimbabwe's formerly prestigious national park rangers, who defeated a concerted assault from Zambian poachers in the 1980s. Rangers now lack the fuel, equipment and training to deal with well-armed poachers targeting elephants and rhinos.

Tourism is a sector that could recover quickly and begin generating jobs and generate foreign currency within months, if only the June 27 presidential run-off result is not disputed. The Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe temporarily liberalised the foreign currency market to attract some forex into its bare coffers. It stripped corporate foreign currency accounts in January and February to pay for the elections and ZANU (PF)'s campaign.

This temporary liberalisation has produced an astonishing rise in inflation, powered by the staggering increase in import duties. Before the liberalisation import duty was calculated at the official exchange rate of Z$30,000 to US$1, ridiculously out of step with the rate on the streets, but it did keep a curb on inflation. Now duty is calculated at what is called the "interbank" rate, the new liberalised rate set by commercial banks on a willing-buyer willing-seller basis. So there has been a nearly 250% increase in duty on imported goods. It sent hyperinflation into the stratosphere - over one million percent.

Both local and foreign investors are hesitant to invest in the economy until such time as they believe that the rule of law has been restored. Many companies have shut down their Zimbabwean operations and relocated to Botswana because they thought the government was neither serious nor honest about tackling the socio-economic emergency in the country. The major multinational corporations that once had their headquarters in Harare have long since moved to South Africa and any new investments targeted at the area certainly do not go to Zimbabwe, but to one of its more peaceful neighbours. So for Zimbabwe's closest neighbours, the "quiet diplomacy" on Mugabe has paid off well.

An analysis reveals that company relocation was driven by several factors, including flight of investment because of the flawed agrarian reform process that scared away new investors and forced industrialists to close shop or scale down; cost and unavailability of raw materials; foreign exchange shortages which prevented companies from buying new equipment and supplies; lack of an attractive local network of production facilities; and a more subjective element related to the negative image of Zimbabwe.

Issues of human rights and respect for property rights were casualties in the mad rush for land by a powerful few. When the highest office in the land seems to be heavily implicated in the chaotic land-reform programme, its revolutionary credentials begin to look suspect.

Although, "our land is our economy, and our economy is our land", Zimbabwe cannot achieve economic growth by encouraging subsistence farming. To generate enough foreign currency reserves, real emphasis has to be placed on the agricultural and industrial sectors as the major driving forces of the country's economic regeneration.

The economy has to address the basic requirements of its citizens, regardless of who is in power. What Zimbabwe experiences today is the passing of so-called economic empowerment bills that prioritise dishing out shares to ZANU (PF) cronies. By legislating bad laws, the ZANU (PF) government is committing economic sanctions upon itself. The Indigenisation and Empowerment Bill, for example, sabotages any efforts to attract foreign investment.

The economy has to be based on fundamental economic principles, with a government that respects the contribution of every economic agent from the informal trader at "Siyaso" in Mbare to the corporate blue-chip listed on the Zimbabwe Stock Exchange. The May 2005 Operation Murambatsvina (Drive Out Filth) was not just a programme of mass forced evictions and demolition of homes but a destruction of informal livelihoods. In a country with a high unemployment rate, this has made Zimbabweans realise there is no other way for relief except to use their vote to silence the dictator once and for all times.

As the run-off presidential election is being held amid worsening food shortages and an economic recession shown in the world's highest inflation rate that is over a million percent according to independent economic analysts, one wonders on what basis Mugabe and his coterie base their conviction of victory. Such an economic meltdown would mean certain and emphatic electoral defeat for any sitting government.

Voters' interests lie in the restoration of basic necessities like food, clean water and electricity, functioning educational and health systems. That is what a sovereign state should concentrate on instead of trying to disguise parochial partisan interests as the common good. By proclaiming a campaign theme that reads, "100% empowerment, total independence", ZANU (PF) has missed the point again. What Zimbabweans want to know is what Mugabe will do if he wins the run-off.

Total independence has all to do with national pride which unfortunately has been eroded by the realities on the ground. Today, more than four million Zimbabweans depend on food handouts from international charities; more than 80 percent of Zimbabweans leave under the poverty datum line; more than 85 percent of Zimbabweans are unemployed; and more than four million Zimbabweans have fled the country because of a combination of the economic crisis and political violence.

The Consumer Council of Zimbabwe estimates that in June an average family of six will need Z$350 billion to provide the basics for survival. In May the basket was Z$100 billion.

It is evident that from being a food exporter, Zimbabwe is now an exporter of poverty and refugees. The xenophobic attacks where people were being torched alive in South Africa, is an embarrassment for Africa as a whole. The fact that this violence was targeting the migrant population, of which Zimbabweans constitute a majority, has highlighted the need for a quick solution to Zimbabwe's crisis.

On May 26, the Red Cross said that an estimated 25,000 Zimbabweans were heading for Zambia, as they flee anti-immigrant violence in South Africa. Thousands more were heading for Mozambique and Botswana. At least three million Zimbabweans live in South Africa, the majority of them as illegal immigrants. The last thing they want to do is go back to Zimbabwe from where they ran to escape misery, in the first place.

Thus, Tshwane (formerly Pretoria) should act quite differently towards Harare and give that robust leadership that regional leaders sought but did not find during the extraordinary summit on Zimbabwe in April. Supporting Mugabe in the face of Zimbabweans' expressed will has been immensely costly to the images of SA and its president, Thabo Mbeki, at home and abroad. It also carries burgeoning costs to SA's economy, and increasingly puts Tshwane at odds with the SADC. The image and direction of SA's foreign policy is today bewilderingly far removed from Nelson Mandela's 1993 hope that human rights would be the light that guided its foreign policy.

Mugabe's desire to hang on to power at any cost, and by the unwillingness of Thabo Mbeki to contemplate tougher measures to keep the electoral process free and fair have cost Mbeki's credibility in his mediation to end the socio-economic crisis in Zimbabwe.

The horrific pictures of innocent civilians with burns caused by hot plastic on their backs, broken limbs and buttocks burnt by hot iron is not what the ZANU, ZAPU and ANC freedom fighters fought for. The relationship between the 1970s liberation movements in Zimbabwe and the liberation narrative of the African National Congress should illuminate Tshwane's foreign policy on Zimbabwe.

Even if SA may not be interested in regional security crises like Zimbabwe, they are interested in SA's. The xenophobic riots are a point in question. Tshwane's support for rogues is unlikely to assist its own efforts to provide security and development for all South Africans, the first aim of any responsible government.

But ultimately, there will be a price to pay for treating autocrats with kid gloves. The price will be paid in the poisoning and enfeeblement of the Southern African Development Community and, to some extent, the African Union, by the continuing failure to deal with gross misuse of power in Zimbabwe in the way that West Africa is dealing with the abuses of Charles Taylor. As a result, Taylor is now under trail before the International Criminal Court for his crimes against humanity. Meanwhile, Zimbabwe is bleeding and Liberia moves forward.

Tshwane's options are wide and diverse. They span a spectrum from tougher language through to switching off the taps of electricity and fuel to more openly interventionist options: Zimbabwe is a landlocked country. SA did just this once before to compel change in Ian Smith's Rhodesia. Today, Mbeki appears to many observers to be more interested in the welfare and dignity of Zimbabwe's leader than its people.

The collapsing economy was a major concern of voters who dealt the 84-year old Robert Mugabe a defeat in the March 29 elections. Addressing the economic problems in the country will have to include a return to real interest rates to attract local investments, addressing the pricing disequilibrium, adopting more austere monetary and fiscal policies and addressing the hostilities between the government, the business sector and the Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions. There is a need to abolish price controls that have led to shortages of commodities in shops.

The tensions rising from economic frustrations have the capacity to ferment intolerable dissent, the likes of which cannot be redressed by an election. The July 2007 Operation Dzikisa Mitengo resulted in empty shelves and at least 7,600 shop managers and business executives arrested.

The policy of price controls has been a problem in Zimbabwe's troubled economy since the first decade of independence. At the height of price controls in the mid-1980s and introduced again in October 2001, there were shortages of essential commodities such as bread, cooking oil and rice. It is obvious that the decision to re-introduce price controls in July 2007 was a political move by the government to appease the electorate as Zimbabwe neared the harmonised presidential, parliamentary and council elections on March 29, 2008. The excuse that it had introduced controls because consumers could no longer afford these basic commodities was not watertight. Up to now, consumers still cannot afford a decent standard of living.

The government has to show a real willingness to work with the business community and labour in order to place national interest ahead of party affiliations.

As the run-off date nears, the crunch has come as the Zimbabwe dollar is so eroded it is not even worth a roll of toilet paper and people's earnings can no longer cover the basic necessities like food, transport, rentals, water and electricity. For example, one kilogram of chicken more than doubled to Z$1 billion on May 20. The minimum wage for a Zimbabwe worker on May 26 was the equivalent of a litre of Coca Cola. Economic analysts say unless the rate of inflation is slowed, annual inflation will likely reach about five million percent by October.

The manufacturing sector, running at below 30% of its capacity, reported growing absenteeism by workers facing soaring commuter bus fares. Already, more transactions are being done in US dollars, both openly and in secret.

Meanwhile, what Zimbabweans hear from Robert Mugabe is: "We must remain united. Why should our people be subjected to suffering just because we have refused to surrender to foreign domination and, more importantly, have refused to reverse our land reform programme? Zimbabwe's land is for Zimbabweans. So also are its resources." However, the question Zimbabweans are asking is, who owns the land and on whose behalf is the acquisition of 50% shares in mines intended?

It is high time Mugabe should dwell on bread-and-butter issues, rather than dwelling on issues of sovereignty and empowerment as people are beginning to say they do not "eat" sovereignty and empowerment. The rhetoric has become repetitive and ZANU (PF) has nothing to offer and no plan to improve the lives of suffering Zimbabweans. Robert Mugabe and his ZANU (PF) party are notorious for their refusal to accept realities and resorting to vindictive actions solely to imply a sense of bravado and invincibility even when it would be easier to quietly accept the inevitable.

Several government-sponsored land-reform commissions have uncovered multiple land ownership by Mugabe's ministers, army generals, police commissioners and ZANU (PF) cronies. There were several commissions on corruption whose findings were thrown into the dust bin. Starting with the Demobilisation Fund (1982) then the Willogate Motor Vehicle Scandal (1988), VIP Housing Scheme (1995), War Victims' Compensation Fund (1997), AIDS Levy (1999), Tobacco Growers Trust Scheme (2001), Zimbabwe United Passenger Company (Zupco) Bribery Scandal (2005), etc., etc., etc.

These greedy individuals who now regard Mugabe as a bogey man who must be retained to protect their ill-gotten riches, are particularly worried by the success of the Movement for Democratic Change. Yes, the brutalizing of innocent Zimbabweans as retribution for expressing their will on March 29 is the most lethal ingredient they have injected into the cocktail of corrupt abuse of power and pillaging of national resources they stand accused of.

Instead of demonizing Tsvangirai and his alleged western backers, Mugabe should spell out his plans to resuscitate the comatose economy.

The hate-mongering carried by the public media is a ridiculous campaign that involves insulting the intelligence of Zimbabwean voters. South African cabinet minister, Pallo Jordan, hit the nail on the head when in calling on ZANU (PF) to surrender power to the MDC, he declared that the party that has held Zimbabwe to ransom since 1980 only had itself to blame "for losing the confidence of a substantial number of citizens of that country, such that the only means by which it can win elections is either by intimidating the people or otherwise rigging them.

"Africa waged a century-long struggle against colonialism and apartheid precisely to establish the principle that governments should derive legitimacy through the consent of the governed.

Democratic institutions are therefore not privileges that may be extended or withheld at the discretion of those who wield power," said Pallo Jordan.

It is quite an uphill battle to "sell" Robert Mugabe who now embodies all that is evil, oppressive and dehumanising, to any rational voter, especially in the urban areas. The electorate made a resolute decision to dump Mugabe on March 29 although he had abused state resources to the maximum to give himself and his party an unfair advantage. But despite this blatant vote-buying through donations of computers, buses, vehicles, et cetera, the people still opted to vote for Tsvangirai. They made an irrevocable decision that enough was enough and no amount of propaganda can reverse this resolute stance. The people have simply had enough of Mugabe and ZANU (PF) and the on-going nationwide orgy of senseless violence is sure to drive the last nail in his political coffin.

The wave of political violence is counterproductive. It is being translated into anger - both in the MDC and among the general population that even include ZANU (PF) supporters.

With just three weeks to go to a highly controversial presidential run-off election in Zimbabwe, the political atmosphere in the country can only be described as poisonous with deadly political violence becoming an almost daily occurrence. The Movement for Democratic Change says 50 of its activists and supporters have been murdered and more than 25,000 people have been displaced since the March 29 presidential and general elections. There are also reports of more unreported deaths in the countryside. On May 28, the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) said more than 11,000 children have been affected by political violence since Zimbabwe's disputed March 29 elections. In addition, this is affecting the continued delivery of humanitarian relief to children and their families in parts of the country.

To add salt to injury, claims by Mugabe that the MDC is behind the violence have exposed his desperation and the visit to victims of his own violence offended many. These barbaric actions represent the most eloquent argument why Mugabe's time is up and why he should accept defeat. Not even the best PR (public relations) firm in the world can still identify anything positive to say about Mugabe to overcome the collective national revulsion against his primitive tyranny.

It is unfortunate that Zimbabwe's justice system has been politicised and severely degraded over the years as it is now fostering impunity rather than delivering justice. There have been remarkably few prosecutions in the wake of mayhem in the southern African country, except of course for members of the MDC. Winning MDC MPs are being dragged before the courts on trumped up charges of violence.

Human rights organisations have chronicled heinous and brutal assaults, torture and rape of women. There is evidence of brutal wanton, maiming, abductions and beatings and the primitive and unjustifiable price Zimbabweans seemingly have to pay for their fundamental rights. Retired South African army generals investigating post-election violence in Zimbabwe have uncovered "shocking levels" of state-sponsored terror, sources close to them said. They said that the continued violence makes any chance of a peaceful run-off election "almost impossible".

Senior members of the investigating team said their findings were "alarming" and that most of the violence was state sponsored, although the opposition had also retaliated. "What we have heard and seen is shocking. We have heard horrific stories of extreme brutality and seen the victims," said one of the generals. "We have seen people with scars, cuts, gashes, bruises, lacerations and broken limbs, and bodies of those killed. It's a horrifying picture."

It is an open secret that senior military commanders and police commissioners strongly opposed to the MDC have been instrumental in committing these atrocities and preventing a democratic transition following the March 29 election. A government that is willing to attack its own citizens for exercising the right to vote violates the most basic tenets of democracy.

Robert Mugabe now faces an even greater challenge in defending his presidency with the revelation by a group that broke away from his ZANU (PF) party that it will now support his opponent, Morgan Tsvangirai of the MDC. The Mutambara group, which supported Makoni in his presidential bid in March, has already pledged its support for Tsvangirai. This strengthens Tsvangirai's hand against Mugabe in the forthcoming election. Mugabe's position is likely to be further weakened by the alienation of a large section of grass-roots support following the orgy of brutal violence perpetrated by ZANU (PF) militants, including in the armed forces, against innocent civilians.

Mugabe has not accepted that he may be the problem to a democratic dispensation and economic progress choosing to characterise the voter apathy as a consequence of naïvety

on the part of the citizens. It is clear that Mugabe is definitely not living in the same world as the suffering masses.

The ZANU (PF) leader has not accepted and probably will never accept any responsibility for leading the country into despair and undermining Zimbabwe's liberation aspirations. His mind has been directed at pursuing self-serving political ends with disastrous social and economic consequences.

Mugabe and ZANU (PF) are refusing to acknowledge that the struggle for democracy is a continuous process; that democracy is about the constant evolution of ideas about governance and societal arrangements. There is need to minimise anti-imperialist rhetoric and instead to open space for new ideas to enable the evolution of current thinking on democracy and governance.

Democratic processes will continue to be developed long after our generation. Leaders come and go, but ideas on democracy will continue to develop. The defeat of the racist Rhodesia did not represent the achievement of democracy, but just the first step towards democracy. The continuation and evolution of ideas on democracy and governance is an on-going process.

It is pertinent to point out that the MDC may yet assume a governance role but it, too, will succumb to defeat if it does not deliver according to its undertakings. And when it fails, a new set of people and ideas will emerge to take its place. The electorate has the right to change their legislators from time to time if they believe they have performed poorly. In that way, systems and democratic ideas evolve.

Political analysts have predicted that no amount of violence would alter decisions already made in the hearts and minds of Zimbabweans who are hungry for change. People discovered that even with the massive pre-polling rigging that included ghost voters on the voters' role, Robert Mugabe and his corrupt ZANU (PF) clique can be defeated at the polls. And this is precisely what they intend to do during the run-off on June 27.

However, for the change to be accomplished through the ballot-box requires fortitude on the part of voters who supported the MDC last time around and extreme vigilance on the part of MDC polling agents and all the election observers.

It is quite inevitable that there will be seismic changes on issues of governance, demographic power bases and a reshaping of the political landscape, resulting in a new political power structure and status quo after June 27, 2008.

"For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off every thing that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us." (Ephesians 6:12; Hebrews 12:1)