As Mugabe’s Zimbabwe spirals further into turmoil — inflation over 1000% and 80% of the population underfed, underemployed, and living in poverty — you might think that such conditions would spur action in people to act against the government. They have tried, and they have tried again, but every single time they fail. This time a national strike was called involving some of the country’s largest labor unions, but at the last minute many withdrew as the government dispatched paramilitary units to arrest opposition leaders.

Police arrested trade union leaders and blocked streets and the main square in the Zimbabwe capital and thwarted an anti-poverty and anti-government march Wednesday.

Police bundled leaders of the Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions into vans as they tried to start a procession. Congress spokesman Mlamleli Sibanda said 15 union leaders and activists were arrested in Harare, 20 in the second southern city of Bulawayo and four in northwest Chinhoyi town. They included the congress’ president, Lovemore Matombo, and secretary-general, Wellington Chibebe.

Chibebe, speaking by telephone from jail, told the BBC police beat him and others with batons and rifle butts.

The main labor federation apparently canceled a planned national strike that also had been called for Wednesday. Managers at one Harare construction firm said labor leaders withdrew the strike call in what they called a last-minute tactical change.

With record unemployment of about 80 percent, many workers showed little enthusiasm for a walkout, fearing they could lose their jobs after the government declared the strike and protest marches illegal, managers said.

It seems that, for now, Mugabe is safely sitting on his throne. It leads me to believe that perhaps there is some point when a people can no longer fight back because they are so starved and so scared that doing so would mean losing your ability to even eat for the rest of their short-lived lives. Every other strike has fizzled, why would this one be any different?

This suggests to me that, despite previous reports, Mugabe still has control over his security forces and at least for now still has their loyalty. House-building programs supposedly for the poor have mainly been used for civil servants and police officers. Also, even though it has not matched the rampant inflation, these same people have been given pay raises and food. Beating people up for a living is a lucrative career in Zimbabwe — you get to eat when everyone else doesn’t. As long as this is a fact of life, neither those in the security forces nor those who are lucky enough to have jobs will be willing to give it up.

You have to wonder how long this can keep up, though. How long will it take for people to fight back? Like I said, they may be past the breaking point. Zimbabwe has taken the path of North Korea, where only those close and loyal to the government have food and shelter; the rest die. A humanitarian case can be made for intervention in the situation. If it can be done for Sudan, then it definitely should be done in Zimbabwe.