BOOK REVIEWSThe Mass Media in the Struggle for Zimbabwe: Censorship and Propagandaunder Rhodesian Front Rule By E. Windrich. Gwelo, Mam bo Press, Mam boOccasional Papers, Socio-Economic Series 15, 1981, 112 pp., Z$3.40,None But Ourselves: Masses vs. Media in the Making of Zimbabwe ByJ. Frederikse. Harare, Zimbabwe Publishing House, 1982, 368 pp., Z$8,95.These two books have at least three things in common. Both are written byAmericans who, from their particular historical legacy, have always had aŠpossibly exaggerated Š awareness of the role of the Fourth Estate, as co-guarantor of democracy. Frederikse herself is a journalist, who is continuing towrite in the interests of liberation in Southern Africa, and Windrich is a researcherwho had published two books on Rhodesia (The Rhodesian Problem: ADocumentary Record 1923-1973, London, Routledge, 1975 Š which, incident-ally, was banned in the country at the time ŠŁ and Britain and the Politics ofRhodesian Independence, London, Croom Helm, 1978) before she was able topursue her interests for a while within an independent Zimbabwe. Both books areabout the part that the propaganda war played in the struggle for independence,and both are written from a viewpoint openly sympathetic to the liberation cause.The Mass Media in the Struggle for Zimbabwe is a modest little book whichseeks to document in some scholarly detail, replete with footnotes, the intrigues ofthe settler-controlled Ministry of Information and radio from the time that theRhodesian Front came to power in 1962; it examines how the regime muzzled thefew publications which supported the nationalists, while the Argus-owned pressŠ which was hardly liberal Š was increasingly constrained from without andwithin to support the captains of UDI, It does not contain any great revelations,but renders a useful service in drawing together material from a wide range ofsources, including some confidential Rhodesian Government reports which arenot readily accessible.Although Windrich is not above employing sarcasm (such as when referring tothe 'talents of Harvey Ward' on p. 41), she offers a reliable historical record of thepersonalities, events, and strategies involved, without entertaining any particularhypotheses to account for the course of events. One is therefore inclined to ask 'SoWhat?' Were the Bensons, Wards and Van.der Byls of Huggins's (and journalistParker's) 'little White island' so notably and deviously clever? And is it reallysurprising, given the background, position and interests of the Whites, that theyshould have been 'duped1 into believing in the Communist threat, the basiccontentment of'their' natives, and the nobility of their cause? Given the role thatthe grapevine plays in a relatively small and cohesive community such as theRhodesians were, they knew more about certain realities such as the conduct andprogress of the war than would have been apparent in the media. Other things,such as the true temper of Black opinion, most of them could not, or would not,recognize. Had the media been freer, or more critical, one could ask how differentmight the course of events have been over Rhodesia's last twenty years. Onesuspects that the media shapes less than it is shaped.A similar shade of the mildly obssessive interest in the collective psychology ofthe White settler breed which can be detected in Windrich's work is also present9798in Frederikse's book. Apart from the fact that with a hard cover and glossy paperit would have qualified for the coffee-table category, it is altogether a moreinteresting book. It consists of an extended scrap-book-type collection ofphotographs, cartoons, pamphlets, posters and newspapers, as well as substantialquotations from documents and personal interviews with people ranging fromex-fighters, ordinary and not-so-ordinary Black and White civilians, politicians,media personnel, intelligence and military personnel, to missionaries andgovernment ministers. The selection of informants and sources is not necessarilyrepresentative. Some, like Fr Lewis's Encounter, receive more attention than theirreadership or influence probably warrant. Unlike the narrow focus of Windrich'sbook, however, None But Ourselves also includes material from the side of theliberation parties, such as the Zimbabwe News, the Voice of Zimbabwe radiowhich was beamed from Maputo, and numerous chimurenga (war of liberation)songs. But whereas the varied facets of the regime's propaganda effort receivemuch attention, very little, and only highly selective, use is made of educationaland publicity material put out by the Patriotic Front in Lusaka and Maputo.The general impression conveyed is that the regime was more or less totallysuccessful in persuading Whites of the truth of its news and its claims, but totallyunsuccessful with Blacks. Conversely, guerilla persuasion tactics are portrayed ashaving been more or less totally effective in the field, but too little attention is paidto their external propoganda activities to permit any assessment at all. Claims andcounter-claims regarding particular incidents and 'atrocities' effectively illustratethe wide divergence of perspectives and interpretation. Some are left withoutcomment, but in other instances the author supports the credibility of theliberation forces' version in explanatory paragraphs which are interspersed withthe text. The selection and presentation of material, however, leave only limitedroom for nuance and qualification. Occasionally, the author falls into over-simplification or over-statement, such as in ascribing Todd's ousting in 1958 asPrime Minister to his 'daring contact with the nationalists' (p. 230). That camerather later.All the same, None But Ourselves conveys a vivid and evocative picture of thewar and of facets of the settler ethos in particular. Touches of the tragic, thepathetic, the bizarre, the barbaric, the delusional, the heroic and the sympatheticare all there. There are footnotes at the end, but the work makes no pretence ofpresenting a systematic or profound analysis. Yet the author has assembled aconsiderable amount of useful material Š and indication of sources Š for suchanalysis and reflection. It is not a chronicle like David Martin and PhyllisJohnsons's The Struggle for Zimbabwe (Harare, Zimbabwe Publishing House,1981) with which it shares some of the same, or similar, sources. Together withDavid Caute's Under the Skin (Harmondsworth, Allen Lane, 1983), Frederikseoffers the best portrayal we have to date of 'the death of White Rhodesia' (to usethe subtitle of Caute's book).University of ZimbabweCM. BRAND