Is Ujamaa a replication of Zambian humanism? - Part three

Traits in the philosophy of Ujamaa that could be solutions for Zimbabwe's diverse ethnic and race relations
 
The philosophy of Ujamaa and the Zambian humanism had good intentions. To recap the definition of Zambian humanism: according to President Kenneth Kaunda, Zambian humanism is a combination of many ingredients: that is the African socialism, radical Christianity and existential humanism.  Within the definition, KK says it was his desire to create a humanistic society that had a national identity that emphasized the importance of man he described as common man of unique worth regardless of his/her tribal race and ethnic grouping.

 The Zambian philosophy of humanism is mainly rooted in Christian and traditional African socialism combined. These noble values were enshrined in Zambian humanism that was adopted as a national philosophy of Humanism: what was going to be known as Mulungushi Declaration of 1967  

The philosophy of President Nyerere's Ujamaa and its intentions is not very far from Zambian humanism. Ujamaa was based on the assumption of human equality that emphasized the need to abhor the exploitation of man by man. Ujamaa was created to be a model of development of African socialism.

The mainline meaning of Ujamaa being: brotherhood/sisterhood which was to be the basis of national development. President Nyerere notes: the nation exists as the extension of extended family as a basic social unit and is well embodied in his argument about rural development. Ujamaa was meant to build a socialist, self reliant national economy.
Nyerere philosophized Ujamaa based none exploitation of man by man, every person has the right to live in freedom and be able to lead a decent life in favourable conditions of peace with his/her neighbours. He also noted that is philosophy Ujamaa is well above all human self-centeredness. The philosophy will ensure wellbeing and happiness to all citizens that can be best achieved in a context of shared social and economic wealth.

It is in this loaded context that President Nyerere single-mindedly formed a one party state, Chama Cha Mapinduzi, a workers' party. (In Zimbabwe we call it Vashandi/Abasebenzi) He institutionalised social and economic entities through creating a central democracy that would abolish every form of discrimination in the Peoples Republic of Tanzania, Villagization of rural population to collective farming to maximize production, creation of Tanzania as a nation rather than tribal identities through the use of Swahili as the national language that was at par with the official English language and he also made attainment of education compulsory.

 Ujamaa and its definition do not explicitly extend the values of ethnic cohesion but to be seen and understood in holistic analysis of the ideology itself. These ethical principles were the basis of practical policies that were implemented across the country socially, economic, politically and culturally. Since its inception Tanzania underwent a revolution that transformed itself in all aspects of the country's development. It was for this reason that the philosophy of Ujamaa was also code named an Arusha Declaration of 1968.

Because Ujamaa was meant to build socialism, the policy of nationalisation was adopted for the industries and finance sectors. The mantra was self reliance: most private enterprises were nationalized, major institutions such as banks were nationalised as a means to move away from capitalism to socialism that emphasized the equal sharing of the national cake through hard work and self reliance. He said, the use of Tanzania's natural resources to boost the national treasury and less reliance on lending from international money lenders should be one of the core values of Ujamaa.

Another mainstay of Ujamaa was the Villagization processes that took place in rural and peasant areas of Tanzania, a much considered the significant theme of Ujamaa Vijijini. The purpose of Villagization was to ensure self-reliance by work in the agricultural sector to substitute for dependence in international aid. The Arusha Declaration emphasized the need for rural development coupled with education and rural investment programs.

Again the main purpose of Villagization was implementing socialism at rural levels. It was to initiate and create rural economy and social communities. There were common service centres such as schools and clinics, local Ujamaa villages formed cooperatives and farming was commonly done at village participation levels.

There were many reasons why Ujamaa Vijijini failed to take the heat and succeed mostly at village level. Most villagers were coerced to form Ujamaa villages. Leaving their traditional homes of their ancestors was too much of the peasantry comprehensions. The other reason was that men were forced to work a lot harder in communal farms, what they were not used to, it was the women who always worked in farming at their nucleated villages and not men, and there was always less work for men. (Lazy men! Why women marry such lazy men?) It became apparent too that this Villagization was a way to check the movements of people and control any dissenting voices against the government and its philosophy of Ujamaa Vijijini.

To come back to our topic of this essay, what do we learn from Ujamaa as a philosophy that put together the ideas of diverse ethnic groups live side by side with respect of one another's social and cultural backgrounds? Are there poignant points we could take on board in formulating our own ideology that will embrace all ethnic and race groups in Zimbabwe, to able to respect one another as peoples however different in our social and cultural backgrounds we are?

To answer the above question it is batter to compare the two philosophies: Tanzania's Ujamaa and Zambian humanism. The similarities in both are as follows: Ujamaa means an attitude of mind or ethic based on three key elements; mutual respect, sharing of property and hard work through self reliance. Ujamaa emphasises family ties relations, the basis of Africa socialism marked by classless egalitarian distribution benefits.

The Zambian humanism echoes the same reasoning as Ujamaa; it is a combination of many elements: the main ingredients are African socialism, radical Christianity and existential humanism. He codified his ideas of man's rights and duties in society and was adopted as national philosophy of humanism. He argued that man should be the centre of all activities as the African society has always been man-centred. Humanism would be the foundation of his philosophy.

President Nyerere's Ujamaa is rooted in traditional Africa values, but was immensely influenced by Fabian socialism and Catholic social teachings and some antidotes of Rousseau ideas and he codifies all those ideas  and presented them to the National Council and was approved and came to be known as Arusha Declaration of 1967. His philosophy included extended family values, community, mutual aid and respect for persons.

President of Zambia, KK's Zambian humanism was based on Christian values but was immensely influenced by Dr. Julius Nyerere's Ujamaa. He favoured socialism to capitalism. Ujamaa, an ideology deeply rooted in traditional African values. He was profoundly inspired by Mahatma Gandhi's self discipline, austerity, oneness with the people, holiness and sanctity. His humanism included extended family values, community, mutual aid and respect for persons.

President Nyerere's Ujamaa has economic and social aspect; he openly favoured socialism to capitalism. The nationalisation of institutions and Villagization processes that formed Ujamaa Vijijini was the core values of Ujamaa. The economic aspect of Ujamaa failed. What remained as his positive achievements are mass education that led to high literacy was extended to all ethnic groups and races, health facilities were accessible to many and to all ethnic societies, as a result the life expectancy standards rose very high. Cohesion of ethnic groups was facilitated implicitly in his Ujamaa philosophy; a stroke of genius!

President Kaunda made naïve connections between implementation of economic and social policies that failed to resonate together. He was most times at pains in articulating the two as an entity in his philosophy. It was only the social element that held and continued to inspire the nation: One Zambia, one Nation, and Humanism! Each and every citizen of Zambia sang this mantra at every corner of the country. A stroke of genius! This became ingrained in their psyche. The ethnic groups remained united even after KK's defeat in elections of 1991.

The two presidents were strong believers of one-party state, became less tolerate of opposition voices. They shared the same premise and fallacy of developmentalism in their philosophies. Implementation of the economic aspect in their very social African rooted values collided seriously with the adopted western values of economic development.
It is only when one talks about the two philosophies in economic terms, a complete failed ideologies. Where they really? The ideals of Ujamaa Vijijini seem to have died when the President of Tanzania passed on in 1999. Equally when the President of Zambia lost elections in 1991 humanism was deleted in the politics of Zambia. It went crushing together with the UNIP lost elections. The positives of it socially still linger on.
What remained intact from these two philosophies: Zambian Humanism and Tanzanian Ujamaa that shaped the lives of millions of people with complete diverse and distinct ethnic differences?

The citizens of both countries share the same values and principles when it comes to human dignity and respect for human life. The citizens of both countries enjoy strong national identities. Very few African countries can boast about national identity in the way Tanzania and Zambia do. Both countries remained stable politically even after the change of administrations. The ethnic violence leading to genocide like was the case in Rwanda; the crimes against humanity experienced in Kenya's ethnic conflicts and Ugandan wars have never had any political impact regarding political instability in Tanzania even to date, despite their proximity o Tanzania, thanks to Dr. Julius Nyerere.

Yes Dr. Julius Nyerere and Dr. Kenneth Kaunda have their legacies intact. They are Africa's heroes and not only in their countries but in the entire continent of Africa. We remember Rolihlahla Nelson Mandela as one of the finest father of the rainbow nation: South Africa. Whatever shortcomings they are spoken about, it was because they are human.
The coming generations will remember them and will be grateful for that giant unparallel steps they took to liberate the minds of the African people. What distinguishes them from many is their sacrifice for other people, making them great! They achieved greatness, was not trust upon them. All three of them, are a hard act to follow.

My part four of these series of essays is how Germany managed its multi-culturalism since the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989. Can Zimbabwe learn how to deal with ethnic conflicts from the German experience of inclusion with that "other" in their societies?