Book Rl/yieW$ 95
Women's Liberation and the African Freedom Struggle, Thomas Sankara, Pathfmder
Press, London, 1990 (36pp, £1,60 hbk, ISBN 0873485858 pbk).
This publication contains two of Thomas Sankara's speeches on women: The Revolution
cannot Triumph without the Emancipation of Women (March 8, 1987), and Women's Role
in the Democratic and Popular Revolution (October 2. 1983).
Sankara basically explains the history of women's oppression in tenns of the class
struggle. He shows how a woman's duties evolved from thedivision onaboor, and relegated
her to an inferior position. Because of her love for the family, a woman suffers double
OJllXession. both in the horne and outside it
The speeches are easy to comprehend, full of respect for women, and for their status,
what they go through, why they go through it, and most of all, what they stand for. They
lead the reader to appreciate the endeavours of governments in different countries who form
ministries or departments focusing on the affairs of women.
Reviewed by Stabile Nkorno, Student, School of Social Work, Harare, Zimbabwe.
The Politics of Reconclliatlon, Zimbabwe's First Decade, Victor De Waa1,David Philip,
Cape Town, 1990 (146pp, R39,95, ISBN 1 85065 097 7 cased, 1 85065 100 0 pbk).
This highly readable account of Zimbabwe's past combines a broad historical overview
with rich personal anecdote to make a sensitive perceptive whole. As a historical document
it is selective and patchy but the theme of reconciliation is the broad thread that holds the
book together.
The book goes back to the early exploitation of Africa to provide the historical
framework for understanding the issue of reconciliation in the first decade of Zimbabwe's
independence. The aims and attitudes of the white settlers, the missionaries, the politicians,
and of the different sectors of the black population and the liberation movements are brought
to life by pertinent anecdote and illustration.
The book is divided into twelve chapters examining issues concerning the colonial
period, Zimbabwe-Rhodesia under Bishop Muzorewa, the election period, the churches'
role at different stages, moral and cultural issues, and different facets of the postindependence
period. The latter provides some critique of the move towards socialism,
indicating some of the pitfalls and limitations in achievements so far. There is also a three
page chronology highlighting key events from 1888 and the Rudd Concession to the 1990
elections and the lapse of the remaining Lancaster House provisions. References are given,
including firsthand interviews, and there is a useful index of names. The author spent six
months, in 1988, interviewing a wide cross section of Zimbabwean society for the book,
recording a wealth of personal impressions and views.
Aparticular focus is on the role of the church, and on the moral justifications given for
colonialism, the liberation struggle and reconciliation. Calls for the churches to remain
neutral in the face of oppression, or to plead for peace in opposition to Smith's aggression,
are seen as totally inlldequate, if understandable in context. The fundamentaIlinkage
J?etweenChristianity and the socialist politics ofliberation and reconciliation is well argued
and illustrated, contrasting with the hollow rhetoric of Christianity used by the colonial
regime to justify capitalism and the domination of the people. Indeed, it is argued that such