Two weeks ago a national shutdown — or “stay-away” — paralyzed Zimbabwe. For the first time in years the country’s ruling party, the Zimbabwe African National Union Patriotic Front (ZANU-PF), and President Robert Mugabe seemed seriously rattled. Young people, workers, and traders — who survive by hawking food and cheap imported goods — engaged in pitched battles with the police and army. In many cases the protesters outnumbered security forces.

Although the mainstream press has focused on Pastor Evan Mawarire and his ‪#‎ThisFlag movement, the demonstrations have much deeper roots. An explosive convergence of issues including food shortages, corruption, and unpaid wages all helped fuel it.

The protesters demanded that the police stop erecting roadblocks and harassing citizens for bribes, and that the government fire and prosecute corrupt officials. The stay-away was also timed to support a national civil service strike as nurses, teachers, doctors, and other civil servants have not been paid for June.