Cheche: Reminiscences of a Radical Magazine

2. Activism at the Hill

2 Activism at the Hill Yoweri Museveni “A country is not socialist simply because all or all the major, means of production are controlled and owned by the Government.” - The Arusha Declaration Editorial Note: This chapter is an edited version of an article that appeared in Cheche No. 2 (Museveni 1970a). 12 Chapter 2 Expectations and Reality Tanzania stands out as one of the few African countries that are struggling against imperialism. I spent the past three years [July 1967 to March 1970] in Tanzania as a student at the University College, Dar es Salaam (UCD). For me and my fellow students, it was a period of intense activism. In this article, I will lay down a resume of some aspects of that struggle. I will use my personal experiences to illuminate the general struggle which we were engaged in at the College. Before I came to Tanzania, I expected a lot, probably too much, of the Tanzanian revolution. At a distance, one gets an exaggerated image of the anti-imperialist stance of Tanzania. You get the image of clearheadedness regarding socialism, anti-imperialism and Pan-Africanism. You get the impression that the government leaders, ministers, top civil servants and party officials are devoted cadres with a high level of political consciousness. You get the impression that this and that type of situation would never arise in Tanzania where so much is supposed to happen. All such impressions, I have since discovered, are exaggerated. But how does one get them in the first instance? Tanzania’s foreign policy is what I think creates such impressions. The strong reaction towards German arrogance, the breaking of diplomatic ties with Britain, the resolute support that Tanzania accords to the liberation movements in the South are sources of pride and inspiration to African nationalists all over Africa. Remember this African nationalist is starved of any dignity; he is an heir of the oppressed, degraded, dehumanized ancestors. He is a relative of slaves both on the continent and abroad. Any act of defiance by an African state vis-à-vis the centuries old enemies of our people thus has high marginal utility. Sometimes it is overblown. It is against such background that we must understand the impressions of non-Tanzania African nationalists who almost invariably over evaluate Tanzania’s militant anti-imperialist stand. That is, however, a dangerous attitude on our part because it can lead to disillusionment. It was mainly because of my over-evaluation of Tanzania’s achievements that while at home in Uganda, I was determined to come to Tanzania at any cost. I was so determined that I put UCD as my only choice on the university entrance forms. In fact, if, for any reason, I had failed to get admission to UCD, I would not have gone to university at all. This is because I was not so much interested in going to a college as in coming to Dar es Salaam -- to Tanzania. It is Dar es Salaam’s atmosphere of freedom fighters, socialists, nationalizations, anti-imperialism that attracted me rather than the so-called “academicians” at the UCD. I considered my stay at the college as a means of staying in Dar es Salaam. aCtivism at the hill 13 While in Uganda, I had looked at President Nyerere’s leadership as a source of inspiration to the struggling people of Africa. Tanzania’s staunch anti-colonialist policy and the President’s commitment to the formation of an East African federation made his leadership exemplary. I regarded Tanzania as Africa’s Prussia and President Nyerere as our Bismark. This was in the days when my political views had not coagulated into a (socialistic) ideological outlook. I did not know at that time that unity by itself could not mean much; and that what mattered was whether the purpose of the political unit was to serve the people or to serve imperialism. Expecting all this from Tanzania, I arrived at the College in July 1967. I was, almost immediately, disappointed. I found the students lacking in militancy. Many were hostile to socialism, and some, even to the question of African liberation. There was no clear social commitment on the part of the broad sections of the student body. Most of our extracurricular time was taken up by frivolous activities: drinking, dancing, and watching decadent Western films. I remember one occasion when I was really most unhappy. This was the...