New Volume of Nyerere Works to be Published Next Week

Twelve years after his death Mwalimu Julius Kambarage Nyerere will be immortalized once again after a new collection of his speeches and other literal works will be published by the foundation bearing his name. On November 16^th, 2011 the Mwalimu Nyerere Foundation will release three collections of Nyerere’s works at a gala which will be followed by a public symposium.

 

The new collection of Nyerere’s works  cover the years between 1974 and 1999. The three books will be available at the foundation and at the Oxford Printing Press in Dar-es-Salaam. Other arrangements are being made to have the books available at various bookstores and libraries around the country.

 

This new collection contains over 120 speeches that the Founding Father Mwalimu Nyerere gave on various national and international issues  which were very dear to his heart as a political philosopher, Africa’s senior Statesman, and a humanist of a distinguished caliber.  There are three volumes of the new collection which are titled Freedom and Liberation (Uhuru na Ukombozi wa Africa), Freedom, Non-Alignment and South-South Cooperation (Uhuru, Kutofungamana na Ushirikiano wa Nchi za Kusini), and Freedom and A New World Economic Order (Uhuru na Mfumo Mpya wa Uchumi Duniani).

 

According to an internal description from the foundation- that FikraPevu was honored to have access- the first volumes of Freedom and Liberation contains Nyerere’s speeches at the height of African liberation struggle of the early 1970s to late 1980s. In this work Nyerere argues that “when basic human rights i.e. equality, freedom, respect and justice are denied and humiliation is the order of the day, then there is no option left for dialogue; confrontation is the only option. He emphasizes this in one of his speeches: For if men cannot live as men they will at least die as men”

 

For Tanzanians as well as to other historians the world over this work is of paramount academic and intellectual importance. It contains the thoughts, motivations, and reasoning of why Nyerere and his government supported liberation struggles all over the world and more specifically of his support for armed liberation struggle in Southern Africa which culminated by the ending of apartheid regime in South Africa.

 

It is in this book that Nyerere thoughts on the use of armed struggle are clearly and boldly articulated. “But when all hope of change is denied, because the very principle of freedom and equality is denied, and when the laws prevent the peaceful expression of opinion, then the people are confronted with a clear choice. They either acquiesce in their oppression and humiliation, or they commit themselves to an armed struggle” Nyerere is quoted of saying in the book.

 

In Freedom, Non-Alignment and South-South Cooperation Mwalimu Nyerere expound his thoughts on the nature of cooperation that African countries and the other Countries of the “Economic South” have to undertake in order to have ‘relevance’ to the developed “Economic North”. According to the MNF internal description of this volume “(Nyerere) often said the world is one but not one, insisting in the Report of the South Commission of which he was Chairman,  that the struggle for any fairer international system has consolidated the cooperation and strengthened the resolve of the countries of the South to pursue united action.”

 

Nyerere is described as “a brilliant and visionary leader, a powerful advocate of greater collective self-reliance and a people-centered development strategy for Africa and the rest of the countries of the Third World. For him South-South Cooperation was both a strategy and an end in efforts to enhanced solidarity and unity of purpose in dealing with the developed strong and powerful North.”

 

However, the most relevant and timely collection of Nyerere’s work is the one that deals with the issue of “Freedom and A New World Economic Order”.  This new book will be an invaluable treasure for any politician, activist or economist especially one who is trying to understand and challenge the current world economic system.  In describing this work the MNF says “the message of this book relates to the past, present, and future relations between the developed and the developing countries of this one world. Nyerere lived in his world, and has left behind a world which he believed was one but at the same time, not one. It is a divided between the rich and the poor: a world with an unfair and unjust economic system. The poverty of the world is related to the wealth and affluence of the same world.”

 

When we look at the current world economic crisis, the new “Occupy Movement” which has spread all over the world the words of Nyerere in this book are as enlightening as the proverbial ‘light at the end of the tunnel.’ With an intellectual clarity and boldness of argument befitting the man of his caliber, Nyerere deals with the issue of economic inequality between the people of the same nations as well as between peoples of various nations. “The real challenges” according to MNF description “is whether the leaders and peoples of different nations of this one world will accept this truth, be ready and willing to talk about it, identify issues common to all and to reach agreement on solutions, or will reject the truth and end up in a global confrontation”

 

Nyerere previous works include the first collection of his speeches and writings which contained three volumes. The first being Freedom and Unity (Uhuru na Umoja). This was a collection of essays and speeches Nyerere gave between 1952 and 1965. The second one was Freedom and Socialism (Uhuru na Ujamaa) which mostly an ideological work that covered the period between 1965 and 1967 and the third one was Freedom and Development (Uhuru na Maendeleo) which contained other speeches and writings covering the period of 1968-1974. The new collection then covers all the years after 1974 to the time of his death in October 1999. However, it should be noted that these are just selected works and do not contain all the speeches or literal works by Nyerere for there are still a lot more left out there.

 

To Tanzanians Nyerere is seen and revered as the Founding President, the Father of a Nation – although the later is becoming more enigmatic to a small section of the country.  Because of this sometimes the intellectual community in Tanzania and even young politicians do not approach and appreciate Nyerere as a political philosopher, a humanist and an academic of an incredible sharp mind. It is for this reason most critics of Nyerere have judged him – sometimes harshly- purely based on his years as the president of Tanzania.  Some have dismissed his ideas on dignity, equality and African socialism as “failures” which led to the backwardness of his country.

 

However, the current world economic crisis which has rattled the developed capitalist countries as well as socialist countries have found themselves in economic woes similar to those experienced in the late 1970s as well as in the 1980s. This crisis shows that may be an unchecked capitalist system is not a panacea of all economic problems of the world. In this new collection we find in them the depth and prophetic-like perception of Nyerere especially when he expose the nature and contradictions inherent in capitalism. Nyerere argument is very simple and yet profound – capitalism can not flourish where there is inequality whether it be that of dignity or of resources or that of opportunities.

 

I for one believe that to understand the future of the relationship between the world’s “99% to those of the 1%” we have to look at the system in existence. For as long the system continue to favor the world “wealthiest societies” while dooming the “poorest societies” to perpetual poverty the struggle between the disenfranchised majority against the privileged few will continue. At the end a “new synthesis” – as Nyerere called it in the 1960s – of economic and political processes and structures will be required, and indeed inevitable.

 

This new collection of arguably Africa’s greatest political philosopher and arguable most influential African of the 20^th century is just the beginning to that new sythesis. It can be rightly said Nyerere’s works will be Africa’s contribution in understanding and ultimately proposing better ways of resolving the current disparity and inequality between the developed North and the underdeveloped South. But even more, it will be Africa’s contribution in understating the nature of poverty within nations and societies in general.

 

It’s a collection that every politician, students of politics, activists, historians, philosophers as well as intellectuals of the world must have. Nyerere gives us a clear window to look at ourselves as a society and as indeed not as isolated individual societies but as ‘one people’ and only from that view it forces us to come together to tackle the challenges that our modern world pose. Only dealing with them based on our shared humanity and shared human dignity as we continue to share a common future.

 

This new collection will be an incredible addition to any home library and indeed to any office. Once again Nyerere speaks with his witty eloquence and poignant reasonability that will leave any reader impressed if not transformed. I’m quite confident that even the best of his critics will find themselves thoughtful once reading Nyerere at the beginning of the 21^st Century. It is the century in which human dignity – as Nyerere so many times said- will have to be seen as the purpose of all our human development.

 

To inquire about the new collection of Nyerere’s works contact:

 

The Mwalimu Nyerere Foundation
6 Sokoine Drive,

P.O. Box 71000
Dar es Salaam, Tanzania.

255 22 2118354/ 255 22 2116040/ 255 22 2119216

 

Or

Oxford University Press

Maktaba Road,
PO Box 5299
Dar es Salaam,
Tanzania

Tel: +255 222 781403

By. M. M. Mwanakijiji