The extraordinary Swahili poetry collection Sauti ya Dhiki (Voice of Agony), is a collection of prison poems composed by Abdilatif Abdalla between 1969 and 1972. He originally wrote the poems while incarcerated by the government of Jomo Kenyatta for sedition as a result of his political activism and smuggled them out of prison on scraps of paper. Imaginative Vision is the first complete literary translation into English—translated by the late Kenyan novelist and scholar Ken Walibora Waliaula and edited by Annmarie Drury—of one of the most esteemed and influential collections of Swahili poetry of the twentieth century. Yet, Imaginative Vision is also something more. Even as it centers on a literary translation of a singularly beautiful and influential book of poetry, it tells English-language readers the story of that book. Supporting materials illuminate the circumstances of its inception when Abdilatif, aged 22, was arrested and tried. They explore what the volume meant to its first readers and its affiliations with subsequent extraordinary works of prison literature by Alamin Mazrui and Ngũgĩ wa Thiong’o. They trace its links to literary art of the past, including the nineteenth-century poet Muyaka bin Haji, and to writing that followed. And they explain social and historical aspects of the Swahili coastal world that nurtured Abdilatif’s political engagement and stunning verbal art. Under the editorship of scholar, translator, and poet Annmarie Drury, contributors bring insights from their diverse backgrounds to present contextualizing material that illuminates the poems at the heart of this book.

ISBN-13: 9780472056613

ISBN-10: 0472056611

Language: English

Publisher: University of Michigan Press

Year: 2024

Pages: 370

Cataloged: Nov. 13, 2024, 1 a.m.

Public spending is under threat and public libraries are suffering. At a time when libraries can play a critical role in supporting people facing difficult economic and social situations, the dominant conservative model of librarianship has nothing meaningful to say about the role and relevance of libraries. It offers more of the same, but no qualitative change so necessary today. . It continues to maintain the myth that there is no alternative to its own policies and practices. There is thus an urgent need for alternative ideas and practices to address people's needs. The progressive librarianship movement - in USA, Europe and other places - is taking up this challenge. P It has also been active in in Kenya and Britain but its work is not widely known. The Kenyan movement differed from the others in that it grew within the underground political movement in the 1980s - the December Twelve Movement. It was its Library Cell that set out its ideas on what a relevant library service should be and put many of its ideas into practice. This experience later reached Britain. Using original documents, this book records this hidden history. In the process, it examines key concepts such as the role of libraries and the relevance of service. Linking library work with the wider social and political concerns, the book explores issues such as politics of information and the role of activism and "neutrality" in library work. Deriving ideas from practice, it offers an alternative approach to librarianship, to the training of librarians and to organisational change to make libraries more relevant to people's lives. The book will be of interest to library staff and professionals, students and teachers of librarianship as well as to political activists and historians.

ISBN-13: 9781869886202

ISBN-10: 1869886208

Language: English

Publisher: Vita Books

Year: 2014

Pages: 435

Cataloged: Nov. 13, 2024, 12:55 a.m.

ISBN-13: 9781869886097

ISBN-10: 1869886097

Language: English

Publisher: Vita Books

Year: 1997

Pages: 254

Cataloged: Nov. 13, 2024, 12:51 a.m.

"It is my duty to take the message of revolt to other[s]. is is the only way to liberate the victims of suffering and slavery", Nazmi Durrani quotes W.L. Sohan in this book. Resistance to imperialism in pre-independence Kenya by progressive South Asian Kenyans propelled the Kenyan liberation struggle to new heights. They were active in almost every field, from publishing progressive newspapers to supplying arms and material to Mau Mau. Liberating Minds consists of biographies of progressive South Asian Kenyans written by Nazmi Durrani. Originally published in Gujarati in the 1980s, they are available here in English for the first time, together with the original Gujarati. Also included is Naila Durrani's 1987 conference paper, "Kenya Asian Participation in People's Resistance", while Benegal Pereira introduces Eddie H. Pereira (1915-1995) and his resistance letters to the Colonial Times Newspaper.

ISBN-13: 9789966097415

ISBN-10: 9966097414

Language: English

Publisher: Vita Books

Year: 2017

Pages: 202

Cataloged: Nov. 13, 2024, 12:40 a.m.

ISBN-13: 9780980200409

ISBN-10: 0980200407

Language: English

Publisher: Vita Books

Year: 2008

Pages: 345

Cataloged: Nov. 13, 2024, 12:34 a.m.

This book examines the life and work of a remarkable trade unionist and revolutionary. Makhan Singh laid the foundation for radical trade unionism and influenced the liberation struggle in Kenya. He actively participated in the struggles of the working classes in India. For this, the colonial authorities in India and Kenya detained him for over 15 years. This collection, marking 101 years of Makhan Singh's birth, explores different aspects of his life as a father, a trade unionist, a political activist, a poet and a communist committed to social, political and economic liberation from colonialism and imperialism. His vision, his action and his courage are as relevant today as they were in his time.

ISBN-13: 9781869886226

ISBN-10: 1869886224

Language: English

Publisher: Vita Books

Year: 2015

Pages: 192

Cataloged: Nov. 13, 2024, 12:31 a.m.

Abdilatif Abdalla: Poet in Politics celebrates the work of Abdilatif Abdalla, one of Kenyas most well-known poets and a committed political activist. It includes commentary essays on aspects of Abdilatif Abdallas work and life, through inter-weaving perspectives on poetry and politics, language and history; with contributions by East African writers and scholars of Swahili literature, including Ngugi wa Thiongo, Said Khamis, Ken Walibora, Ahmed Rajab, Mohamed Bakari, and Sheikh Abdilahi Nassir, among others. Abdalla became famous in 1973, with the publication of Sauti ya Dhiki (Voice of Agony), a collection of poems written secretly in prison during three years of solitary confinement (1969-72). He was convicted of circulating pamphlets against Jomo Kenyattas KANU government, criticizing it as dictatorial and calling for political resistance in the pamphlet, 'Kenya: Twendapi?' (Kenya: where are we heading?). His poetry epitomizes the ongoing currency of classic Swahili form and language, while his work overall, including translations and editorships, exemplifies a two-way mediation between traditional and modern perspectives. It makes old and new voices of Swahili poetry and African literature accessible to a wider readership in East Africa, and beyond. Abdalla has lived in exile since 1973, in Tanzania, London, and subsequently, until now, in Germany. Nevertheless, Swahili literature and Kenyan politics have remained central to his life.

ISBN-13: 9789987753482

ISBN-10: 9987753485

Language: English

Publisher: Mkuki na Nyota Publishers

Year: 2016

Pages: 154

Cataloged: Nov. 13, 2024, 12:27 a.m.

The Annual General Meeting of the Labour Trade Union of Kenya in Sept 1936 fixed Oct 1936 for implementation of the eight-hour day .. In December 1936, the Union gave notices to employers that all wages should be increased by 25% from April 1937. The strike began on 1 April, 1937. It was a complete strike. A strike-committee was formed, picketing was organised, a free kitchen was started .. the decision was popularised through handbills, meetings in residential areas, works-discussions and public announcements (preceded by ringing of a large bell), in the the main thoroughfares of Nairobi, and daily mass meetings. The campaign created a new spirit among workers. The employers were at last compelled to reach a settlement. They agreed to wage-increase of 15-22%, to an eight-hour day and reinstatement of all workers. The workers resumed work on 2 June, 1937. - Makhan Singh (1969) Thus ended the longest, and the most successful, strike in the history of Kenya. But the sacrifices, the actions and the reality of the strike for workers is not captured by history books. Nor are the organisation by the East African Trade Union Congress and the role of its leader, Makhan Singh, fully understood. In going on strike for sixty-two days, the workers showed their industrial and political power, unmatched to this day. Shiraz Durrani's A Struggle of Sixty-Two Days is a welcome addition to a growing backlist of drama texts that draw on the rich and often hidden history of East Africa. A Struggle of Sixty-Two-Days sets itself apart from the tradition of historical plays before it by eschewing the use of a singular heroic figure to centre the drama. Instead, the play deliberately delivers the texture of the lived realities, skills and experiences of the workers who made a success of the longest and most consequential strike in the country's history, but also acknowledges the collaboration and support they drew from the people against the backdrop of the imperialist, racist and colonial era The 1937 strike would not only deliver an eight-hour working day as a right, besides wage increases, but would also be the seeding for mobilising the people of Kenya to challenge injustice and launch the fight for freedom. It is a struggle that pits the might of imperialist capital against the survival instincts of the oppressed and their quest for justice. The scenery and dialogue transport the reader back to 1937, but its echoes still ring true in continuing present-day clashes between labour and exploitative capital. - Kwamchetsi Makokha Source: Publisher

ISBN-13: 9789914970128

ISBN-10: 9914970125

Language: English

Publisher: Vita Books

Year: 2024

Pages: 133

Cataloged: Nov. 13, 2024, 12:21 a.m.

The Pen and The Gun will make an excellent addition to the study of the struggle for democracy, the imposition of dictatorship and state terrorism in Kenya. The book will also enrich Kenya's prison revolutionary literature and, at the same time, reveal the brutality of the Kenyan penal system. Linked to all of the above, it will shed light on the broader role of African nationalism, Pan-Africanism and Marxism-Leninism-Maoism in the African social revoution. the role of the working class and its peasant ally in the liberation of Africa from world imperialism is clearly defined.

ISBN-13: 9781869886134

ISBN-10: 1869886135

Language: English

Publisher: Mau Mau Research Center

Year: None

Pages: 289

Cataloged: Nov. 13, 2024, 12:15 a.m.