Guerrilla Incursions into the Capitalist Mindset

468 pages

English

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Vita Books - Shiraz Durrani

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468 pages

English

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Guerrilla Incursions into the Capitalist Mindset is an unprecedented collection of over 60 essays, interviews, petitions and letters as well as poems and short stories flowing from the pen of Shiraz Durrani. It is a treasure trove of truths that has so far been obscured by the information vacuum created by capitalism and its sister, imperialism. By reprinting out-of-print material, and bringing to light limited access information, this book supplies a new language for understanding and articulating our realities. This collection not only recovers and recollects the remnants of previous displaced history but also makes alternative ideas and experiences available. Remarkably, it sets the record straight by establishing a historical link between the arrival of the trade union movement from India through Makhan Singh, who began calling for independence in 1950, to the Mau Mau war of independence in Kenya led by Dedan Kimaathi, and the subsequent clash between socialism and neo-colonialism, which claimed the life of its champion, Pio Gama Pinto.

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Histoire

History

Africa

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Publié par	Vita Books
Date de parution	23 janvier 2024
Nombre de lectures	0
EAN13	9789914970180
Langue	English
Poids de l'ouvrage	25 Mo

Informations légales : prix de location à la page 0,8250€. Cette information est donnée uniquement à titre indicatif conformément à la législation en vigueur.

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S H IR A Z D U R R A N I GUERRILLA INCURSIONS INTO THE CAPITALIST MINDSET ESSAYS WITH FOCUS ON KENYA 19792023

GUERRILLA INCURSIONS INTO THE CAPITALIST MINDSET

Essays with Focus on Kenya 19792023

SHIRAZ DURRANI

Never Be Silent Simama Imara

Vita Books P.O. Box 6250100200 Nairobi Email: info.vitabkske@gmail.com Website: http://vitabooks.co.ke

The author’s rights are fully asserted. The right of Shiraz Durrani to be identiﬁed as the author of this work has been asserted by him in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988

A CIP Catalogue of this book is available from the British Library

ISBN: 9789914970197 Paper ISBN: 9789914970180 Ebook

All rights reserved; no part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior written permission of the publisher. Nor be circulated in any form of binding or cover other than that in which it is published and a similar condition including this condition being imposed on the subsequent purchaser.

Cover design and typeset by www.chandlerbookdesign.com

Cover image contributors: AVA Bitter/shutterstock.com

Distributed Worldwide by: African Books Collective P.O. Box 721 Oxford, OX1 9EN

orders@africanbookscollective.com www.africanbookscollective.com

C O N T E N T S

Kenya: A Prison without Walls The Poem Reﬂects Capitalism Worldwide Preface: Kwamchetsi Makokha

I E S S A Y S

1.Introduction: On Heroes and Villains (2022) 2.Some Problems of Workers in the Industrial Area of Nairobi (1979) 3.Ismaili Library and Information Services in Kenya (1983) 4.Maji Maji, Tanzanian People’s War of Liberation (1984) 5.Levels and Handling of Contradictions (1989) 6.Foreword to Maina wa Kinyatti’s Mother Kenya (1995) 7.The Question of Nationalities in Kenya: A Force for Unity, Not Division (1995) 8.Information in Kenya’s Liberation Struggle  Facts and Fiction (2000) 9.Create A Culture of Resistance and Liberation (2003) 10.Desecration of History (2003) 11.Kenya Makers: Thorns in the Lion’s Paw (2003) 12.People’s Struggle for Publishing in Nationality Languages (1993) 13.Pio Gama Pinto: Conspiracy of Silence (2005) 14.Equality and Human Rights Approach in University Curricula (2007) 15.The Struggle for Kenya’s Future (2008) 16.Skills for a Globalised World (1) (2009)

17.Skills for a Globalised World (2) (2009) 18.Books for Zimbabwe (2014) 19.Mau Mau, the Revolutionary Force from Kenya  Part 1 (2013) 20.Mau Mau as a MilitaryandPolitical Organisation  Part 2 (2013) 21.Mau Mau, the Revolutionary Force from Kenya  Part 3 (2013) 22.Reﬂections on the Revolutionary Legacy of Makhan Singh (2014) 23.Arming People with Revolutionary History (2017) 24.Pinto Editor: My Escape from Dreaded Police (2018)

vîî îx xî

1 5 9 15 25 28 35

46 49 51 55 66 78 84 91 97

99 105 107 123 138 153 173 178

25.Kenya Resists: Artists Challenge the Hawk in the Sky (2019) 25b. Mau Mau Wood Carvings – Awaaz (2018)

182 196

26.Assessing Fitz de Souza’s Role in the Liberation of Kenya (2020)199 27.Introduction to the Reﬂections on the Legacy of Pio Gama Pinto (2021?)207 28.Solidarity Statement on “reﬂect on the Legacy of Pio Gama Pinto” (2021)216 29.Two Paths Ahead for Kenya at Independence: Capitalism or Socialism (2021)223 30.Forward to A Socialist PanAfrican Movement: Lessons from History (2022)228 31.The Kenya People’s Union Stood for Socialism (2022)239 32.Kenya’s December Twelve Movement Linked Theory with245 Practice in 1970s (2022) st 33.Congress (2022)Message to the Young Communist League of Kenya’s 1 273 34.Land is the Key Issue in Kenya (2022)277 35.Trade Unions as the Motive Force in Kenya, 19001950 (2022)282

I I I N T E R V I E W S , T A L K S & L E T T E R S

36.Content and Relevance of BBC Radio 4 (1993)295 37.Who Is a Terrorist? (1999)297 38.People Resolving Land Issue  Letter to Nation Editor (2004)298 39.Middle East: Middle of What? East of Who? (2004)299 40.Can We View Historical Events from All Sides? (2007)300 41.Information at the Centre of Life Today (2009)302 42.Vita Books: Publishing against Imperialism (2017)305 43.Cyprian Fernandes: Who is Shiraz Durrani? (2018)335 44.Mwakenya Questions (2020)343 45.Perception & Reality: Giving Preference to Asian Freedom Fighters (2020)346 46.Connecting for International Librarianship (2018)350 47.Respondent 3: Shiraz Durrani interviewed by Sam Dennis Otieno (2021)359 48.Pio Gama Pinto interview (241020)  April Zhu and Stoneface367

I I I L A T E A D D I T I O N S

49.Understanding Socialism Through Literature (2023) 50.What role did trade unions play in the struggle for independence in Kenya? (2023) 51.Trade Unions in Kenya in a Changing World (2023) 52.Capitalist Exploitation Entrenched in Kenya (2023) 53.The Kenya Resistance Archives Adds the Missing Link (2023) 54.Trade Unions are the Future in Kenya (2023)

I V S U B M I S S I O N S T O C O M M I S S I O N S

55.Submission to TJRC (2003)  Pio Gama Pinto 56.Submission to TJRC (2003)  Shiraz Durrani 57.Petition to President Kibaki, 2005 58.Privatised Nation — BBC Consultation (2010)

V C R E A T I V E W R I T I N G

59.The Killer Cops of Kenya (2020) 60.Nairobi Here and There (1996) 61.Never Ever 62.Not Even the Clouds 63.Sina Habari Mwanangu 64.Wi Tayari Kwamukira Uhoro? 65.Song to the Unsung 66.When Tigers Come Out 67.Turn Your Anger into Action 68.We Have a Dream 69.Will Nyanjiru Be Silenced?

APPENDIX A: Contents of Information and Liberation (2008)

371 382

384 389 392 401

409 412 415 418

423 425 427 429 431 432 434 436 437 438 441

445

Acknowledgement

Vita Books and the author would like to thank the publications in which these essays were originally published.

Dedicated To all those who sacriﬁced their lives, limbs and livelihood in the struggle against capitalism and imperialism.

KENYA: A PRISON WITHOUT WALLS

There are no walls in this prison It is built on a foundation of fear, intimidation, and threats. Keep the history book closed Keep the historian in prison The prison without walls Has room for many.

How to subdue the anger of millions who see their sweat and blood enriching but a few?

Concentration camps and stone prisons are never enough. Gallows will not silence them they are too many…far too many.

Quick, open the gates Gates of the prison without walls. Create a terror worse than death.

| vii

viii|GUERRILLA INCURSIONS INTO THE CAPITALIST MINDSET

No evidence of violence No, not even a scratched forehead. Yet opposition is silenced; millions are struck dumb.

Blame the victim Make the innocent guilty for questioning their misery for … being.

Interrogations, threats, and insults. Why think? Why not be an animal? Threaten by suggestions, intimidate by looks will your child be safe?

The prison without walls is never full Bring in more…and still more till the whole country becomes a prison house…without a single wall.

And yet Questions keep coming voices of protest keep singing minds keep working day and night

The prison without walls will never solve the problem. Only the united will of the people will.

Shiraz Durrani London October 20, 1984

THE POEM REFLECTS CAPITALISM WORLDWIDE

| ix

The poem,Kenya, A Prison Without Wallsdepicts the situation in Kenya. But that situation is not conﬁned to Kenya only. It is the situation in countries under capitalism for working people. Although a sizeable number are held in prisons withwalls, particularly in the USA, others are held in other types of prisons created by capitalism and imperialism. The primary type is the economic one where working people are reduced to almost slavelike situations and kept at the bottom of the social and economic order by debt created to keep them in lifelong bondage to capitalism. Whether it is student loans, housing mortgages or loans that people are forced to acquire for food and rents, the result is the control of working people through ﬁnancial manipulation. Employment, when available, cannot provide enough funds to survive. Once the wages of one person (male usually) was enough for the survival of the entire family.The capitalist thirst for extraction of ever more surplus value now means that even with two members of a family working, the wages are sometimes not enough even for food. All social services, once provided by the state, are being privatised and made ever more difﬁcult to access. The provision of food is no longer the responsibility of a disappearing welfare state. It is being returned to the community through a volunteering process they call ‘food banks’. Even as branches of ﬁnancial banks close, food banks are ﬂourishing in Britain. In such ways, capitalism takes away the selfrespect and dignity of working people for having to depend on others for their survival, even though they work ever harder. And there are other types of prisons that control working people. An important one is the imprisonment of minds, done through distortion and