'Championing common humanity and African education'

SANKOFA SELECTIONS: REVIEWING NYERERE IN YEAR OF ELECTIONS

For Africans at home and abroad who concern ourselves with Africa’s liberation, it becomes increasingly important to anchor our steps in the reality of our environment and to benchmark our progress to the giant leaps forward obtained by our elders. For those reasons, I recommend a book for review and reflection that uplifts the legacy of Mwalimu Julius Nyerere, a servant-leader who helped to usher into existence the independence of Tanzania.

'Africa’s Liberation: The Legacy of Nyerere' is an important contribution to the library of books bearing his name. During these times when in the continent, and notably in the diaspora, African leaders have been lauded institutionally for ‘promoting peace’ internationally without championing justice locally, interviews with Nyerere spring from the past to redirect attention to the truth: 'Injustice and peace are in the long-run incompatible.' In reading on Nyerere, one finds oneself captivated by a man who appreciated the urgent need for wealth redistribution to the poor and sought to steer national and intercontinental political will toward serving that aim. At the same time, the book offers critical and honest reminders to view his political career and controversial decisions made along the way as a sincere journey of a people-centred leader from humble beginnings.

As a practicing pan-African socialist, Julius Nyerere will forever be respected for his stance against neoliberal economic oppression, his works in the area of African liberation and the uplift of African culture and language, and notably, by many in the Arab nations for his support of Palestinian struggle for self-determination. Those who remember the anti-apartheid movement, hail Mwalimu’s contributions to the OAU (Organisation of African Unity) Liberation Committee and Pan-African Freedom Movement of East, Central and Southern Africa (PAFMECSA), the solidarity he extended to facilitate the establishment of Solomon Mahlangu Freedom College (SOMAFCO), and his outspokenness in highlighting American and British support of the apartheid government on different occasions.

The well-spoken Nyerere of the 1970s screams for a development framework rooted in empowering people to determine their future through skills acquisition and job creation. 'Africa’s Liberation: The Legacy of Nyerere' captures the Mwalimu who was vocal about the need for a paradigm shift away from charity into investment in Africa, as well as African unity as a goal of highest priority for a sustainably prosperous future. It highlights his efforts to preserve and promote religious tolerance and to expedite an African cultural renaissance, but also offers balanced commentary from Helen Kijo-Bisimba and Chris Maina Peter on Mwalimu when considering the provision and protection of human rights in times when he perceived them to oppose the long-term aims of African independence and unity.

The Mwalimu of the 1990s was one who, as Horace Campbell aptly noted, 'raised his voice loudly against the genocide in Burundi, Rwanda and the Eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo' and served in his time as an African peacemaker. As a leader who voluntarily stepped down from the towers of executive office, Nyerere set the powerful precedent that African leadership must include succession planning. If only his words and works could rekindle within the minds of the demagogues the principles that guided them in their rise in power, I humbly request that one copy of this Pambazuka Press publication be sent to every head of state within the OAU.

The questions are simple that come after a night with Nyerere on the mind. Where is the Mwalimu of today to speak confidently and consistently call into question continued militarisation in Africa (e.g., through US Africa Command (AFRICOM))? Which African leaders are willing to host liberation movements and marquee individuals of nations within their borders while fighting for their own nation’s emancipation from poverty? Which leader today is championing common humanity and African education that incorporates traditional knowledge systems? How can African leaders of today more effectively collaborate with and leverage the capacity from other nations within the global South? Essentially, the book brings thoughts that may contribute to the growth of our next generation of leaders and could also serve in the development of pan-African curricula in the diaspora.

If you are a new student of African affairs, 'Africa’s Liberation: The Legacy of Nyerere' is a worthy read from which one can draw insight in taking our people further, faster. If you are an African fighting for the real liberation of your community in Laayoune, Mogadishu, Chisimayu, Harare, Darfur or Cape Town, be encouraged to continue without hesitation toward the freedom which is your inalienable human right. Mwalimu said: 'The right of a man to stand upright as a human being in his own country comes before questions of the kind of society he will create once he has that right. Freedom is the only thing that matters until it is won.'

On the continent, you can get a copy of 'Africa’s Liberation' from Diaspora Books in Freetown, Editions Le Printemps in Vacaos, EPP Books in Accra, Shama Plc in Addis Ababa, The Nile Bookshop in Khartoum, Storymoja in Nairobi, Librarie Ikirezi in Kigali, Soma Book Centre in Dar es Salaam, Botswana Book Centre in Gabarone, Alabaster Books in Lusaka, the Book Café in Harare and Windhoek Book Den in Windhoek. As one of the latest books from Pambazuka Press to hit the stores, the book is likely to leave the shelves quickly, in which case you can order a copy from www.pambazukapress.org.

Disclaimer: In this great year of presidential elections around Africa (in Burkina Faso, Burundi, the Central African Republic (CAR), Comoros, Côte d'Ivoire, Equatorial Guinea, Guinea, Madagascar, Nigeria, Rwanda, Somaliland and Togo), we should prepare ourselves by all means necessary to make the right decisions for Africa’s long term.

BROUGHT TO YOU BY PAMBAZUKA NEWS

* 'Africa's Liberation: The Legacy of Nyerere' is now available from Pambazuka Press.
* Amir Demeke is a contributing writer and photographer with Great Lakes Communications and Media Center and a Black Power Media ('Nothing more, nothing less') correspondent.
* Please send comments to [email protected] or comment online at Pambazuka News.