UTAFITI NOTES In the last issue we briefly discussed the UNCTAD conference in Nairobi in May 1976; the World Employment Conference in Geneva held by the 'ILO: the Soweto m~ssacre in South Africa and Amin's atrocities at the Makerere University; and the d~t~.ri9rat- ing situation in the East African Community. As for developments in the University we reported on the discussions on the ways and means by which the University could be made more self-reliant; the Decentralisation Project at the Facul~y of Art~' and Social Sciences; the Adult Education and Development Conference; as well as on the wot;'k. done in tl)e Departments and Bureaux in the Faculty which reported to us on thei.r activities. In this issue we cover the events during the last quarter of 1976 and the first half of 1977. Events unfolded rapidly in Southern Africa. The agitation by the oppressed people of South Africa continued unabated even after the June 1976 Massacre in Soweto of"revolutionary youths and workers. In $ep.tembe.r. the workers organised a series of massive 3-Day strikes in Johannesburg and other large cities, and demonstrated the f~ct that without workers there can be no production. The final denouement of capital will come when workers have seized power. Kissinger, the diplomatic trouble-shooter of-~onopoly capital, took notice of events in Southern Africa, and was prepared to grant that majority rule in Namibia and Zimbabwe was inevitable. What, then, of South Africa? South Africa, monopoly capital views somewhat differently. There its stakes are much higher, and the challenge from the workers much more direct and potentially over- whelming. If South Africa becomes a proletarian state ruled by the dictatorship of 7.5 million sturdy, militant, industrial workers (more workers than there were in China in 1949), then the rest o~ Southern, Central and Eastern Africa will undergo unprecedented economic and political transformation. South Africa, therefore, must be "saved" for Capital. All that Kissinger was prepared to.."grant" for South Africa was that apartheid was incompatible with human dignity. If only monopoly capital could buy time and create in Southern Africa a class of black indigenous capitalists loyally serving the interests of imperialism ••••• this was what lay behind Kissinger's statements on Zimbabwe, Namibia and South Africa. Thus after a series of whistle-stops in the capitals of some of the front-line states and in Johannesburg, Kissinger (this time he was "welcomed" by a protesting delegation from University Students at the Oar es Salaam airport) proceeded to push Britain to hold the 393 fateful Geneva Conference on Zimbabwe. I mperialism had expected the nationalist forces in Zimbabwe to quarrel amongst themselves at the sight of "independence", but instead the patriotic forces welded together even firmer. Imperialism had expected the armed struggle of the people to relax while political negotiations were going on in Geneva, but instead the armed struggle continued without relent. The conference collapsed and Smith retul'ned to repair broken hedges. When people have learnt how to acquire power through the barrel of a gun, watch out imperialism '. Meantime South Africa declared Transkei "independent" in October. Such are the ploys of imperialism. And in Namibia the so-called "constitutional conference" continued without the participation of SWAPO. Imperialism now depends on crutches consisting of anachronistic chiefs and hangmen to prop itself in Southern Africa. It cannot last long. Already imperialism finds itself increasingly alienated from the masses. In Uganda, it has to rely on a whimsical, unpredictable and murderous dictator to sustain the rule of capital . We mentioned the June massacre at Makerere in our last issue. The reports on the massacre turned out to be vastly exaggerated. But the massacres that took place in February, 1977, following the discovery of ,qrms, and the brutal killing of Archbishop Luwum and two ministers of Amin's cabinet, have been reported in imperialist and nationalist press with far better supporting evidence than before. Only a few weeks earlier Britain had sent a large delegation to celebrate the anniversary of Amin's coming to power; and twice a week a planeload of consumer items are flown from London to Entebbe to whet the appetite of "Field Marshall" Amin and his "officers". Imperialism does not really mind what kind of government it deals with as long as it ,allows the dictatorship of capital. But when the masses protest, and even the church which historic~lly has paved the way for imperialism, comes out in support of the masses, imperialist governments begin hypocritically to commiserate for the suffering masses. The masses do not need such commiseratioI]., for they know the wolf inside the sheep's clothing. In the meantime, the affairs Gf the East African Community get worse. Many people preterred to see the impending collapse of the Community as the work of either the "Nyang'aus" in Kenya or the "good-for-nothing-Socialists '1 in Tanzania. Mutual recriminations between Kenyan and Tanzanian press, and even leaders, served to obscure the real forces at work. No doubt, more research needs to be carried out for a deeper unierstanding of the reasons behind the 394. collapse of the community, reasons that go beyond II'imm.e.diatei" causes. In the last issue of ~ some of the groundwork was laid for this kind of necessary research, but more needs to be done. ~hat needs to be done especially is the extent to which competing capitalist monopol:es are pulling Tanzania and Kenya apart. Take tourism, for instance. It is connected with large monopolies which have interests in air lines, hotels, catering and, wild life preservation. Is it accidental that the crisis of relationship between Kenya and Tanzania should be connect- ed with the immediate entry of Tanzania in a major way in the compe- tition for the tourist industry? The closure of the borders between the two countries will no doubt help build the Tanzanian tourist industry, and the months to come will show which section of fihance capital enters Tanzanian tourism from outside. Or take the aircraft industry. The Kenyan Airways was already born, all but in name, even before the East African Airways were grounded. Which monopolies were involved in this, and how did they seek to benefit from the collapse of the EM? These are some of the questions that need to be answered, as well as those that attempt to seek an explanation for the break- down of the Community in terms purely of "internal" factors to Kenya and Tanzania. Farther afield, a major event, a major tragic event, was the death of Chairman Mao in September, 1976. Earlier, in April, his two comrades-in-arms Chou En-Lai and Chu Teh had died. They had blazed a trail of revolutionary fire, which had given strength to the struggles of the exploited and oppressed masses everywhere, especially in the third world. We must mourn their death, but at the same time as the Chinese say, turn our sor.row into a source of renewed strength and dedication in our struggle against our oppressors. The students of the University of Dar es Salaam, and workers everywhere in Tanzania, joined with the masses the world over to give their homage to this great man of our epoch, and to dedicate, themselves anew to the tasks of revolutionary struggle. At home, in Tanzania, the beginning of the year 1977, saw the birth of the Chama Cha Mapinduzi (C. C •M.) • It inaugurated both the merger of the TANU and the ASP, and the heightening of struggle against all those who work against the Socialist principles of Tanzania. It was also an occasion for a critical review of develop- ments in Tanzania ten years after the inauguration of the Arusha Declaration. As Mwalimu Julius K. Nyerere said in his The Arusha Declaration: Ten Years After: "Ten Years after the Arusha Declaration, Tanzania is certainly neither socialist, nor self-reliant. The nature of 395 exploitation has changed, but it has not been altogether eliminated. There are still great inequalities between citizens. Our democracy is imperfect. A life of poverty is still the experience of the maj ority of our citizens ••••• Further, our nation_: is still economically dependent. upon the vagaries of the weather, and upon economic and political decisions taken by other people without our participation or consent. And this latter is not a reciprocal situation; Tanzania is still a dependent nation, not an interdependent one". Here are the words of a leader who has not only striven hard to give guidance to a people struggling for self-reliance and independence from imperialism, but who is also prepared to sit back and take stock of the objective situation. But self-criticism should not obscure real gains made. So the document goes on: "We have not reached our goal. It is not even in sight. But that is neither surprising, nor alarming. No country in the world is yet fully socialist, although many committed themselves to this philosophy decades before Tanzania even became independent. Few other developing countries, and those only the biggest, are fully self-reliant. What matters is that in the last ten years we in Tanzania have taken some very important steps towards our goal, despite adverse climate and international conditionsll• The document then goes on to enumerate the gains made since Arusha, amongst these, the stopping and reversal of "a national drift towards the growth of a class society"; establishment of "some of the attitudes which are necessary to the development of socialism"; establishment of many of the institutions and, working out of many of the strategies, for socialist advance; progress towards basic health, education an~ transportation; and "contribution to the freedom struggle in Africa". Because the University is part of the larger society in Tanzania, members of its community also took part in the discuss- ions at the National level of the President's The Arusha Declaration: ~ ears After. These dj scussions took place at different levels: the leaders who took stock of the realities at the University and mea- sured these against the President's list of criticisms. The expected outcome is a series of programmes to correct mistakes of the past and to inj ect new impetus to efforts for beti~r services to the nation. The second level at which discussions took place was .at the workers level. Seminars were organized to discuss the report 396 with the same goal in mind. Reports resulting from the discussion:::. have since been presented to higher national organs so as to form a basis for a nationa.Jly integrated effort at better implementation of the policy of self-reliance and socialism. A new debate has just been ,sparked off by an address by the new Vice-Chancellor who was interpreted to be less liberal on his views on foreign ideologies. There are those who interpret his address to imply that no more Marxism/Leninism will be allowed on campus while the other camp believes that the address highlighted the need to be more ,critical when discussing "foreign" ideologies. Not every ideology is relevant for Tanzania and in arriving at any conclusion this should be done through a thorough scientific analysis. The debate continues. As usual, active Departments and Bureaux organised their regular seminars. The range of themes can be gauged from the titles, although these are not the best measures of what really happened. The Economic Research Bureau organi,sed successful seminars on Women: Producers and R~roducers in under developed capitalist systems by Dr. (Mrs) Mbilinyi of the Department of Education. Her paper is available as an ERB 1977 Paper and can be ordered from the Bureau. Staff of the Bureau. presented papers titled: Money Supply and Credit: Critique and Suqqested Improvements of Monetary Multipliers by Francis Nsengiyumwa; A Simple 'Economic Model of the Sisal Industry in Tanzania by O.F. Lameck; Hiqh Manpower Development and Utilization in Tanzania by Dr. Khamis; Uiamaa Policy and Peasant Production in Tanzania by R.R.Matango and M. Fivawo of the Department of Sociology. This paper is available in publication from the ERB as are the next two, Transfer of Technoloqy: An Overview of the Tanzania case by p. Masette Kuuya of Bureau and A Reconsideration of Marx's Theory of Unemployment by Dr. p. P~ofumieri of the Economics Department. Two other papers were presented at E. R.B. seminars and these are The Lome Convention with Special Reference to the Export Stabilisation Scheme (ST ABEX) by R. Mabele, the Director of the Bureau and Methodoloqy in Farm Manaqement: A Case Study of Arusha Plantation Ltd. by R. M. Shah of the Moshi Cooperative College. The Department of Swahili continued to attract students and researchers from other African countries and overseas. Of special interest were open lectures delivelled by Ahmed Nassir of Mombqsa, 'Kenya on Aspects of Swa~ili Poetry while the Department organized a public discussion on Some Aspects of Swahili Grammar and Swahili-literature. 397 On the cultural front, the Department of Art, Music and Theatre has had a busy season. The play MABATINI produced and directed by G. Kaduma of the Department was a great success and was staged not only on .campus but also downtown and up country. The second play THE STRONG BREED produced by the Nigerian play- wright.., Wole Soyinka was directed by Miss A. Lihamba of the Department and staged during the term. The Department has also been compiling a cataloque of 30 prominent Tanzanian artists (painters, sculptors, designers and potters) which will soon be .on sale here and abroad. Active on and off campus, the Department of Geography has had a pretty full programme these past few months. The Department's main activities have been on conferences and research. As regards conferences, it hosted the 3rd Regional Symposium of the Common- I . wealth Geographical Bureau, it liaised with the Institute of Education over preparation for a Geography Teacher's Seminar which brought- together about 100 Geography teachers teaching in secondary schools and finally, participated in the Geography subject meeting in Nairobi which brought. together University Geographers from East African Universities. In addition to these commitments, the Department conducted its regular staff seminars. Themes are self-evident from the titles of the papers discussed: The Impact of Self-help in Rural Water Supply by Dr. M. Mujwahuzi; DemoQraphic Transition in Africa by Mr. C. L. Kamuzora; Decentralization and Spatial Eauality by Dr. P. S. Maro; Aqricul tural Development in East Africa by W. Rugumamu; The Spatial Dimension of Urbanization in Relation to Development Planninq by Dr. Darkoh; Studies of Water Consumptive- Us~ for Crops in East Africa, by Mr. Lema and Satelite Mappinq in Rukwa by Dr. King. It is worth noting that it was at one' of the Conferences that the Department presented a paper outlining its teaching and research strategy. This strategy is the evolutionary path towards a dialectical approach. The exact title of the position ,paper is Underdevelopment and Reqional Planninq: Chanqinq Perspectives .in Teachinq and Research within the Department of Geoqraphy. The Department of History appears to have had an interesting series of seminars. Some of the papers read at the seminars have generated campus-wide debate while others appear in one form or another in this issue of Utafiti. Titles of the papers are descriptive' as is evident in the following list: The Mystification of African Historv: A Critiaue of W. Rodnev's "How Europe Underdeveloped Africa" by G. T. Mishambi, , a final year student in History and Education. This paper has provoked a lot of tliscussion and appears 398 elsewhere in Utafiti. The History of Oar es Salaam: A Reappraisal was presented by David Anthony of Wisconsin while A. Odhiambo Anacleti of the Institute of Development Studies presented Is Pasto- ralisrn a Problem? An Overview of Opinions and Views on Pastora- lism and Pastoralists in East Africa. 1870-1.970. This paper raises a few critical questions which ought to interest policy makers at both local and national levels. Is History Incompatible with Marxist !~eory? A Review of B. Hindess and P. Hirst, "Pre-Capitalist Modes of Production'l which appears in this is:me of Utafiti was presented by Jacques Depelchin of the Department of History while Seth Nyagava, of the same Department presente d A History of the Bena to 1914: Aspects of Bena History' in Tanzania. While many Departments organised seminars at which staff or distinguished guests presented papers, the Department of Education encouraged groups of students to present papers, interspersed with staff and invited guest scholars. These include those by Z.B. Machunda, T. W• M. Mugeni and K. M. Magino on Universal. Primary Education (UPE): Re{)ort on Research in Oar es Salaam Reqion which is of current interest at the national international levels. A group of Third year students in education presented a paper "Policy and Practice: Relations Between the Ministry. Teachers and Pupils/Students which attracted participan ts from several schools in Oar es Salaam and from the Ministry of National Education headquarters. Another group of Third Year students presented the paper Further Discussion on Self-Reliance in Schools which is a topic of perennial interest. Every time the topic is discussed new issues are raised and new interpretations are given. Two other groups of students in Education presented papers on Teaching, and on Punishment and Discipline. Individual papers: were on Student's Aspirations at Secondary School and how they are met bv the Government by a third year student, Peasants Education in Tanzania by Dr. (Mrs) Mbilinyi Reflections on Geography Teaching in Secondary Schools by Suleiman Sumra - these last two are members of the Department's teaching staff. One more membel" staff presented a paper on Implementation of the Musoma Resolutions: the University of Oar es Salaam Admission Expepience by G. Mmari while a student in Education presented the paper A Comparison of Overall conditions of Day and Boarding Schoo/Is: A Case Study of Two Schools by E. E. Lushakuzi. Two visitors addressed Departmental seminars on Class and Schooling in Kenya by K. Kinyanjui of the 399 University of Nairobi and on Parents and Teachers: AllIes 01" Adversaries, by 01". Sara Lightfoot of Harvard University, U. S •A. It is hoped that those Departments/ Bureaux which did not have, their a~tivities reported here will be featured in the next issue of Utafiti. From these notes it is clear that the campus is far from idle when it comes to intellectual matters. 400