USA Africa Dialogue Series - Karim Hirji's Preliminary Response to Contesting Nyerere: Communists, Catholics & Cheche Comrades in Context

----- Forwarded Message ----
From: "Kfhirji@aol.com" <Kfhirji@aol.com>
To: chambi78@yahoo.com
Cc: issashivji@cats-net.com; georgiosgalinos@hotmail.com; mapolu@gmail.com
Sent: Sun, April 17, 2011 6:49:19 PM
Subject: Re: CONTESTING NYERERE: COMMUNISTS, CATHOLICS AND CHECHE COMRADES IN CONTEXT

Dear Chambi:

 

Please forward this email to the wnazuoni group. (I am not a member).

 

In her email on the subject of Cheche and communists, Annar Cassam

makes many strong assertions readrding Cheche and Cheche comrades.

In my view, she has many facts completely wrong and her asssertions

are not only historically dubious but politically inconsistent as well.

 

I suggest that people who are interested in a historically more accurate

version should first read the book Cheche: Reminiscences of a Radical

Magazine. This book gives a detailed historically researched first hand

account of the life and times of Cheche. It is better to base one's judgement

of empricial evidence rather than pure memory or partial and one-sided

information.

 

I am going to give a detailed response to Cassam later on; but for now let

me point out one completely wrong assetion given by her: that there was a

magazine being published in the Soviet Union with a Rrussian name equivalent 

to that of The Spark or Cheche. Completely false - the magazine in question was

the one published by Lenin and others (Russian exiles in Europe fighting the

feudal Tsarist dictatorship in Russia) at the turn of the 20th century (around 1905).

  

That was but one inspiration behind the name Cheche. Another was the fact that

Kwame Nkrumah also had an ideological magazine (a Pan-Africanist magazine

devoted to the study and practice of socialism) that was also called The Spark.

 

Second, let me point out that it was not Cheche that was banned as such. What

was banned was an independent Pan-Africanist and socialist organization whose

members included students from Tanzania and other parts of Africa called the

University Students African Revolutionary Front, and since Cheche was it organ,

it was forced to close its doors as well. Why ban this group which was militant

but had never engaged in any illegal activity and which -- unlike many reactionary

students as well as church organizations on the campus which opposed socialism

in any form -- firmly supported socialism and self-reliance?

 

Anyway, it is a long story -- read the book Cheche to judge for yourself and of course

do your own research for a more valid account of what happened and why.

 

I will continue to participate in this debate and will be pleased to respond to queries

and further comments.

 

Karim Hirji

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Karim F Hirji, DSc
Professor of Medical Statistics
Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics
Muhimbili University of Health and Allied Sciences
United Nations Road, P O Box 65015
Dar es Salaam, Tanzania
Email: khirji@muhas.ac.tz; kfhirji@aol.com
Tel: (255) (022) 215 2174

 

 

 

 

In a message dated 4/17/2011 3:27:33 A.M. Pacific Daylight Time, chambi78@yahoo.com writes:

FYI: Read Annar Cassam's rejoinder and its background at http://udadisi.blogspot.com/2011/04/quoting-nyerere-communists-catholics.html

 

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My mission is to acquire, produce and disseminate knowledge on and about humanity as well as divinity, especially as it relates to Africa, in a constructive and liberating manner to people wherever they may be.
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Address: P. O. Box 4460 Dar-es-Salaam, Tanzania

Cellphone: + (255)(0)754771763/718953273

Skype: chambi100

Twitter: @Udadisi

Blog: http://udadisi.blogspot.com/

Group: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/wanazuoni/
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Karim F Hirji, DSc
Professor of Medical Statistics
Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics
Muhimbili University of Health and Allied Sciences
United Nations Road, P O Box 65015
Dar es Salaam, Tanzania
Email: khirji@muhas.ac.tz; kfhirji@aol.com
Tel: (255) (022) 215 2174