by Amy on May 22nd, 2012
In an interview with LitNet’s Janet van Eeden, James Kilgore says that his fiction teases out the contradictions between political rhetoric and the reality of what politicians and activists are actually doing.
His latest novel, Freedom Never Rests, focuses on post-apartheid South Africa. The interview is preceded by Van Eeden’s review of the book:
James, even though you are an American by birth, you spent eleven years in Africa in exile from your own country in a way. Are your novels inspired by Africa rather than America because you were here during a very volatile period in this continent’s history? If not, can you explain why Africa is such a strong source of inspiration and story to you?
Actually I spent eighteen years in Africa – seven in Zimbabwe and eleven in South Africa. So I guess it’s not surprising that Africa has inspired my work. But there are two other things as well. Firstly, the period of time I was in southern Africa was incredibly dynamic – the transition from white minority rule to some form of democracy. Secondly, in both countries I drew incredible inspiration from the ways people organised themselves and sacrificed for freedom, particularly how culture and tradition were integrated into a sort of class struggle model. Yet at the same time, that freedom never did rest, it was never a static thing, a singular destination. Rather freedom became more and more complicated and elusive once political power was gained. This process of hope and disillusionment was both triumph and tragedy, the essential ingredients of a novel.
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by Amy on Apr 10th, 2012
This month Jacana publishes Battle for the President’s Elephants: Life, Lunacy and Elation in the African Bush, a follow-up to The Elephants and I, by Sharon Pincott:
Searching for something more than her high-flying IT-executive life was offering her, Sharon Pincott traded her privileged First World existence to start a new life with the Presidential Elephants of Zimbabwe – the country’s flagship clan of over 450 wild elephants. She knew nothing of Zimbabwe’s ways; she was unpaid, untrained, self-funded and arrived with the starry-eyed air of most foreigners.
For more than a decade, this passionate wildlife conservationist has lived in the Hwange bush among the Presidential Elephants of Zimbabwe – a celebrated clan of wild elephants that she is devoted to and will do anything to protect. One minute she’s cherishing incredibly intimate encounters with these gentle giants, the next she’s accused of being a spy and then her name appears on a Zimbabwe police wanted-persons list. While things often seem to go from bad to worse, she relentlessly perseveres in the face of overwhelming odds to stick by the elephants she so obviously loves.
Written with engaging humour and warmth and a deep, tangible love of Africa’s wildlife, Sharon recounts the enchanting times that make her life in the wilds bearable, as well as some of the preposterous incidents that force her to question her sanity in staying in Zimbabwe.
Succeeding her highly praised book, The Elephants and I, this captivating collection of bush tales offers a further glimpse into the wonders, and grim realities, of choosing a life less ordinary.
About the author:
Sharon Pincott was born in Queensland, Australia, and now lives in the Zimbabwean bush. She has dedicated the past 11 years of her life to the preservation and promotion of the clan of wild Hwange elephants known as the Presidential Elephants of Zimbabwe.
Her accomplishments have been featured in BBC Wildlife, Africa Geographic, Getaway and Travel Africa. An international television documentary about her work, which was commissioned by Natural History Unit Africa, will be screened from mid-2012.
~ ~ ~
All of a sudden, a young eight-year-old elephant came out of the bush in front of me, running at breakneck speed. Her ears waved as she ran; her body was barely able to keep up with her racing feet. Squealing and roaring, she was heading straight towards my vehicle, and stopped a mere metre away. I knew I was in no danger, and kept my video camera rolling. It was Twilight and she’d come to rescue her baby cousin! Another two T family elephants quickly joined her, all of them trumpeting and roaring, and surrounded the baby. Gently making contact with her trunk, Twilight ushered the de-snared baby off into the bush, with the other two elephants in tow.
“Did you see that?” I later exclaimed excitedly to Roger. “That was one of the most incredible things I’ve ever witnessed.” I’ve never known other animals to look after each other as lovingly as elephants do.
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by Amy on Mar 23rd, 2012
The spark for James Kilgore‘s latest novel, Freedom Never Rests, which centres around service delivery protests in the Eastern Cape, came while Kilgore was incarcerated in the USA for political offences committed as an activist in the 1970s.
As a prisoner, Kilgore enjoyed unlimited access to free water and even saw litres of the live-giving substance wasted when it took a month for a faulty shower to be fixed. “Every time I saw that water gushing out I thought of communities in South Africa that I had visited and researched, places where municipalities and private providers were squeezing every last cent out of the poorest water consumers,” Kilgore told Andre Marais in an interview for Amandla!:
Andre Marais (AM): In this novel, you return back to Africa and Southern Africa, any reason for this?
James Kilgore (JK): I lived in southern Africa for 20 years. My kids were born in southern Africa. I met my wife in southern Africa. During my time in the region, I immersed myself in the political struggles of the day. When I was arrested and extradited to the US to serve six and a half years in prison, I felt as if I had been ripped away from my roots. Writing about southern Africa helped me to maintain an emotional connection to this place where my family and friends lived, where my comrades continued their struggles for popular power and the fabled better life for all.
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by Amy on Mar 9th, 2012
The New Age has released an extract from Chapter 10 of James Kilgore‘s latest novel, Freedom Never Rests. In Freedom Never Rests, Kilgore, who spent 11 years living as a fugitive under the name John Pape, weaves a narrative about the historical roots of service delivery revolts in South Africa.
Note: While The New Age extract ends mid-sentence, the actual passage concludes: “He might just scold her for being foolish enough to travel in a taxi. She wasn’t in the mood for a sermon.”
Suddenly the man in the floppy hat grabbed her thigh. She looked down in disbelief and saw the blood pumping under his fingernails. She stared out the window. Screaming wouldn’t work. The man could deny everything. His grip dug deeper. The beer smell was too close.
“I know you like it,” he whispered to her. She grunted, as ugly a noise as she could produce. He didn’t stop. She’d have a bruise the next morning. She was about to shriek when the driver cranked up the volume on the cassette – a Lucky Dube song about being a prisoner drowned out Joanna’s options for attracting attention. She’d have to fight the battle alone.
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by Amy on Oct 17th, 2011
The Institute for Justice and Reconciliation and Fanele are pleased to invite you to the launch of Zimbabwe in Transition: A View from Within edited by Tim Murithi and Aquilina Mawadza.
The launch will take place this Friday, 21 October, at the Sheraton Hotel Pretoria.
See you there!
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by Amy on Oct 7th, 2011
The first comprehensive study of the voices of ordinary Zimbabweans drawn from a broad spectrum of society, this book is written by Zimbabweans about Zimbabwe. It discusses the contemporary issues affecting Zimbabwe citizens, gives a fresh look on Zimbabwe and is up to date with what is happening in the country.
Zimbabwe has occupied a prime news position – from its political position to its economical instability. The question is – is all that has been said about Zimbabwe in any way true? Do Zimbabweans themselves see and view their country as external observers do? What are Zimbabweans saying about the social, economical and political situation in Zimbabwe?
To understand the complexities of challenges to Zimbabwe’s transition to democracy as well as prospects for political change and democracy in the country, Zimbabwe in Transition critically examines both the historical and contemporary dynamics shaping political and economic developments in the country, taking into account voices from a broad spectrum of Zimbabwean society, including civil society, faith-based communities, the Diaspora, women, community leaders, the media, youth, and regional actors such as SADC and the AU.
This timely book questions whether Zimbabwe has been undergoing a transition and provides insights into the role of ordinary citizens in achieving a more stable future. Learn about what the Zimbabwean are saying about their country.
Zimbabwe in Transition: A View from Within is published by Fanele, an imprint of Jacana Media.
About the authors
Tim Murithi, PhD is head of the Justice and Reconciliation in Africa Programme at the Institute for Justice and Reconciliation in Cape Town, and a research fellow with the Department of Political Sciences at the University of Pretoria, South Africa. He is author of two books including: The African Union: Pan-Africanism, Peacebuilding and Development (2005) and The Ethics of Peacebuilding (2009); editor of: Towards an African Union Government: Challenges and Opportunities (2008); and co-editor of: The African Union and its Institutions (2008).
Aquilina Mawadza is a researcher and academic and currently a programme officer for the Swedish International Development Agency, in Harare, Zimbabwe. She is a former project leader of the Southern Africa desk at the Institute for Justice and Reconciliation in Cape Town. Her research interests are around issues of migration, media and gender.
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by Amy on Apr 29th, 2011
Levi Kabwato from Pambazuka News interviewed Lloyd Sachikonye, author of When A State Turns on its People: Violence in Zimbabwe. Sachikonye says his investigation into Zimbabwean political violence began in 2008, when Zimbabwe seemed poised on the verge of a political upheaval with the presidential run-off, but instead the process was interrupted by political intimidation and violence.
According to him, the roots of Zimbabwe’s violence goes deep: “They go back to the 1960s. When ZANU PF and ZAPU were rivals in this period, they used violence as a tool for mobilisation, especially in the townships. These groups used petrol bombs, stones and other tools which enabled them to gain the upper political ground. That tradition continued during the liberation struggle, particularly within the liberation parties themselves; there was use of violence against dissidents and those who questioned the leadership both in ZANU PF and ZAPU.”
Zimbabweans ought to take time to understand the country’s tortured history of violence in order to make sense of the present. This is the message from the University of Zimbabwe’s Professor Lloyd Sachikonye who is in South Africa to launch his new book, ‘When A State Turns on its People: Violence in Zimbabwe’.
The book itself is the end product of research into political violence in Zimbabwe, especially during the 2008 election campaign. Hence, it is primarily an analysis of records of violence documented in the past 10 years. ‘What sparked my concern,’ Sachikonye says, ‘is that in 2008, Zimbabwe was on the verge of political change with [Morgan Tsvangirai of the Movement for Democratic Change] having won the first round of the [March 2008] presidential election and the indicators were there to suggest a similar result in the run-off. But then you had a process whereby state agents intervened and stopped that process.’
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- When a State Turns Against its Citizens: Institutionalized Violence and Political Culture by Lloyd Sachikonye
EAN: 9781431401116
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by Amy on Apr 19th, 2011
At the recent launch of Lloyd Sachikonye’s When a State Turns Against its Citizens at Lobby Books, the author spoke with passion about the changes he hopes to see in his home country, Zimbabwe.
Here is the full text of his address:
I am enormously grateful to be here today to share in the launch of this book, When a State Turns Against its Citizens. I am really happy to meet many friends, guests, compatriots who have come to grace this occasion. My profound thanks go to the organizers of this event, SALO and Lobby Books, and to the publishers who have made the publication process possible within two months from the initial submission of the manuscript…The turn-around of the process and the publicity have been superb and professional, thank you.
This is a publication about Political Violence in my country, Zimbabwe. A country of enormous contradictions: on the one hand, it has one of the highest rates of literacy on this Continent, and one of the largest proportions of educated and skilled professionals. A country that showed great promise three decades ago, that was described variously as ‘a jewel’ and ‘breadbasket’.
But as the narrative of this book chronicles, it is now a country deeply mired in political violence and moral crisis. The roots of Political Violence go back not only to 2000 as some analysts assume, but to the 1950s and 1960s, half a century ago. The roots are to be found in:
- The ruthless suppression of moderate African nationalism by the colonial state; they used beatings, dogs and guns for example.
- Violence by nationalists between their parties in the early 1960s, the original ZAPU and ZANU in 1963-64; they employed stones, sticks and petrol bombs, for instance.
- Violence against civilians by colonial regime forces but also by liberation forces during the 1970s, and
Use of violence to settle differences within liberation armies themselves.
After Independence in 1980, the post-colonial state inherited the apparatus and techniques of violence against those who criticized it. As years went by, that arsenal was used against rival parties such as ZAPU till 1987, against ZUM in 1990 and the MDC since 2000.
This culture and practice of violence were celebrated by leaders of Zanu PF who openly boasted of having ‘degrees in violence’. As the country witnessed, these were not empty boasts.
The book observes that the consequences of the culture of violence reached a peak in 2008 when the citizens’ bid for political change was blocked like in Kenya, and now Cote d’Ivoire. The incumbent party and the state used their apparatuses to frustrate a free and fair run-off election.
Subsequent chapters of the book show that the consequences of Political Violence include widespread trauma, scars, fear, stress and apathy. The full magnitude of these psychological and physical conditions is not known. It is partly because Zimbabwe is a society under trauma that it has experienced an exodus of up to 3 million, or a quarter of its population.
This situation of Political Violence needs to change because the consequences are terrible. Other countries that experienced large-scale Political Violence have demonstrated great political will to stop it. Take this country, South Africa. In the 1994 election, about 1 000 people were killed in Political Violence, many were maimed. In the last several elections, like in 2009, no single person died in Political Violence.
Why should Zimbabwe be exceptional? Why should its elections be marred always be marred by Political Violence? Why should impunity be tolerated? These are some of the questions raised in this book.
The book concludes with a few recommendations. Zimbabwe has great human resources but also resilient moral resources, and potential for civic values and democratic change. Let them be harnessed against Political Violence and the authoritarianism which sponsors it. Let them be harnessed for a credible process of transitional justice, and reform of security sector institutions. Let our knowledge of the history of Political Violence and various negative effects propel us to do something about it.
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- When a State Turns Against its Citizens: Institutionalized Violence and Political Culture by Lloyd Sachikonye
EAN: 9781431401116
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by Amy on Apr 4th, 2011
Lloyd Sachikonye’s When a State Turns Against its Citizens: Institutionalized Violence and Political Culture was launched at Lobby Books last Thursday night. A small group of committed activists was present to welcome this latest addition to the literature of contemporary Zimbabwean politics, including Kader Asmal.
The emcee for the evening, Zimbabwean activist Clever Chikwanda, introduced the author and discussants, saying that the book had come at the right time, with Zimbabweans grappling to resolve the issue of the runaway violence in their country.
“The old adage that we have to look back in order to go forward is revealing,” he said. “The author takes us back to the colonial regime showing us how the government of the day employed violence as a repressive mechanism during colonial period. It was used in the liberation struggle and was also adopted by the successive government, by ZANU and ZAPU. To some extent Abel Muzorewa and Ndabaningi Sithole used it, and even the MDC has adopted it. Some parties have employed violence to deal with intra-party conflict.”
The author took the podium and described Zimbabwe as a “country of contradictions”. He said, “It’s a country with one of the highest rates of literacy on continent, and one with the largest proportion of educated, skilled professionals; a country that showed great promise 20 years ago; a country described variously as a ‘jewel’ and a ‘bread basket’, but now a country deeply mired in political violence and a moral crisis.”
He continued that the roots of political violence went back to the 1950s and ’60s, more than half a century ago. “Those roots are found in the ruthless suppression of moderates. There were beatings and the use of dogs against those who campaigned for independence. Even guns. People were shot in the township. But violence came also by the nationalist parties themselves from early 1960s, with the original ZANU and ZAPU – particularly ’63 and ’64. They used stones, they used the sticks, they used petrol bombs. During the liberation war violence was waged by the colonial forces against civilians and by the liberation armies against ‘sell outs’.”
(The full text of Sachikonye’s speech will hopefully be featured in a later post on this blog.)
Two discussants, Horst Kleinschmidt and Frances Lovemore, a civil society doctor working for human rights, continued where Sachikonye left off.
Kleinschmidt said we had to make sense of what it means if we came from a history of violence. Gesturing out the window and across the square to a tree he said, “I would like you to ponder the memorial stone, next to that place where ‘the slave tree’ was, a huge tree that stood for 200 years under which slaves were traded. That’s an origin of violence that goes back even further than the 60 years covered in this book, if we are to look for the historic relationships that have an impact on how social makeup turns out later on.”
He emphasised how important it was to say that history matters. “We need to understand it and study it if we’re to deal with the type of society we aspire to.”
Frances Lovemore, whose organisation provides medical and psychological care to the victims of violence, spoke of the remarkable hope that lived on in the hearts and lives of ordinary people. For her, the most remarkable thing was how in the depth of violence in 2008, 200 a day were being brought into the hospital with fractures of both arms and legs and the small bones in their hands, and yet people came to hospital bringing food, newspapers and good cheer, begging them to vote again, desperate to protect democracy.
She said she had a deep respect for what Zimbabweans had tried to achieve with minimal retaliation. She thanked the author for putting down so clearly the issues that need to be discussed.
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- When a State Turns Against its Citizens: Institutionalized Violence and Political Culture by Lloyd Sachikonye
EAN: 9781431401116
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by Amy on Mar 25th, 2011
Jacana Media and Lobby Books are pleased to invite you to the launch of When a State Turns on its Citizens: 60 Years of Institutionalized Violence in Zimbabwe by Lloyd Sachikonye.
Sachikonye’s book looks at the history of violence in Zimbabwe, focusing in particular in the period after 2000, which saw the state’s violent disruption of elections and the fast-track “land reform” programmes.
The consequences of this violence run fast and deep. Aside from inflicting trauma and fear on its citizens, the impunity enjoyed by its perpetrators has helped to mould a culture within which personal freedoms and dreams are strangled.
We look forward to welcoming you at the launch.
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Book Details
- When a State Turns Against its Citizens: 60 years of institutionalised violence in Zimbabwe by Lloyd Sachikonye
EAN: 9781431401116
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