Ilongailunga
JF-Expert Member
- Jan 18, 2012
- 1,388
- 896
By Ilonga Kaitan Ilunga
(ilongailunga)
Yesterday in the year of our Lord 22 Feb. 2015 I came across Prof. Hirji critique, Beating the drum on one side: Confusing the people on both sides on Mr. Saids work, Tanzania: A nation without heroes, in which Said attempt to explain distortion of Tanzania official history. I have a fortune to come across some of Prof. Hirji writings notably his critiques.
Prof. Hirji has a misfortune to have four slip of the pen a common trademark in most of his defensive critiques. First, methodological inconsistences, here he can not comprehend his method Vis a Vis his reasoning extracted from his basic premises, second, to reduce the context understudy to purely personal debate that do away with historical realities, third to generalize various scenario within distinct Social contexts and call them into his aid, and last, opportunistic twisting the supposed premises to help his course. Professor is not so ignorant to make these mistakes, He understands them very well but he do so to fulfill his historical mission.
On premises deduce from Said work.
Prof. after careful reading of Said work came up with basic five premises (refer to his critique); if Prof. could read Said work more careful he would come with different premises:
On the Conclusion deduced from Said work
In this aspect our Prof. extracted five twisted conclusions.(refer to his critique) I concur with the last two I think our beloved Prof. could do better with the other three conclusions, that;
Methodological Confusion
Before anyone embark on the methodology used by Said, Hirji come up with bundles of disjointed examples and illustrations of distorted histories fetched from different corners of the globe partly to justify the distortion of official Tanzanian history. This is the caricature of methodology at best. If Hirji would make a concrete analysis on that situation he would discover that the distortion of those histories was made by the respective ruling class, the same conclusion arrived by Said.
Scientific analysis of any particular setting according to historical materialism requires that a concrete analysis is made to concrete situation, wherein a whole is taken as the basis to establish inroads into its parts so as to unveil its specific phenomena. It is also significant to note that this method is guided by a correct logic and proper reasoning so as to come up with valid conclusion.
In this case Prof. failed miserably as briefly shown He makes his inroads into specific by assembling various examples of distorted histories and lump them together. If you follow him logically He seems to have a naïve conclusion that the distortion of official history is general rule and Tanzania is not exception. This imply that if colonialism in the 19[SUP]th[/SUP] Century was a general rule it was a sin for Tanganyika to demand independence (dont laugh). Professor is not so brave enough to remain consistence with his own wonderful logic to reach that extent. He knows very well he will be reducing himself to a laughing stock.
Hirji having huge experience on methodological and philosophical issues was in better position to understand the standpoint and social class Said represents. It is my opinion that Said represents urban Muslims petty bourgeois who had legitimate grievances with Tanzania ruling elites since early years of independence (refer to book Muslim and state in Tanzania, the EMWS crisis etc). Darken with this reality Prof. lost in the jungle of historical adventurism and methodology confusion. The new form of historical preservation. The problem of Hirji class is their own school of thought known as defending our great man. They are capable deserting even their academic writing battling to protect their school of thought. Who has a short memory to forget one of Hirji's class who deserted his own academic writing to defend two government system created by Great man in their age?
Tanzania: Unity or diversity
Speaking in the inauguration of 10[SUP]th[/SUP] Parliament the president of United Republic of Tanzania come up with the revealing truth some (including our prof.) fear to speak that there is the growth of religious division in the Country and he made plead to the Government officials, academicians, religious leaders etc. to address this problem sooner rather than latter. Giving his own testimony to this reality one of the MP talked about his experience during election campaign. The two leaders were not talking about elites or politicians in fact they were referring to the grassroots people, the voters.
Regarding this matter our Prof. is in complete state of denial to this fact in which we live with since independence from top level now to grassroots level. But Prof. has a good reason to deny the above fact as he latter took humanist approach to argue that all socio-economic problems affect people irrespective of their religion. In other words this is to say since there are poor people to both black and white in South Africa therefore the question of black economic empowerment should not be raised. This is the 2015 Edition to Social inquiry by our brilliant Professor.
Hirji other than anybody would be in better position to realize that religious diversity is a thing not of appearance but of mind. This reality has yet to be properly addressed but the reality which has always been covered and feared.
Historical crime and Justice to history
To fight for his chosen path Hirji ending up inventing his own history, the stories no body new before but himself. That during German rule German colonialists were using student from madrassa to take lower administration positions and it was this period that Islam rapidly grew. Hence prof seems to conclude that Islam was compatible with German colonialism.
This is crime to both history and logic. Prof. having spent many years at University of Dar es salaam would have come across to an archival source documented the German period in Tanganyika
By 1911 German Colonial government had built more than 80 schools in Tanganyika, while missionaries built more than 500 and taught more than 63,000 students, by 1914 there were 99 German sponsored schools by contrast missionaries had constructed more than 900 schools and educate more than 100,00 students
Prof. invents his own fact so as to suit his own logic and pre-emptive conclusion. According to available literature on German rule in Tanganyika up to 1912 German with collaboration with missionaries has almost sufficient civil servants recruited from both Government and missionary schools.(note that the need for civil servants went higher after WWI and WW2 due to change in colonial policy). This does not mean that there were no Muslim civil servants whatsoever but their role has been mystified by our Prof. If any body could speak about collaboration with German rule would speak about that of German and Missionary schools graduates.
History is not scared or shy off to our Prof. It is there to expose any fault. If Muslims were compatible with German rule, was not abushiri who led largely muslim dominated area to fight with Germans?
It was not Mkwawa with the support of Abushiri who stormed German fort in Lugaro? Was not Bwana Heri who organize his people to fight aginst German? Was not Kinjikitile who mobilized largely populated Muslim areas in the south to fight against German in Maji maji upheavals? History has exposed Prof. true color.
Fr. Kevin Haule in his paper read to the participants of the workshop on 100[SUP]th[/SUP] Annivesary of Maji Maji war in Wuppertal (Nov.15,2005) has the following to say about missionary activities in Tanganyika;
with few exceptions missionary activitities has gone hand in hand with colonization in Tanganyika, the missionary work had pushed the Bennectine(missionary) to relate politically not only the Germans but also with Africans, especially African chiefs. On the part of German Colonial Authority in Tanganyika , there was a tendency to view the missionaries as their very powerful and effective collaborators in extending and archieving their political end
Fr. Haule documented a strong collaboration between Missionary activities and German military during the Maji Maji upheavals. What was tthat kind of collaboration? It should be made clear that Missionaries have got no other Man power to offer except their Christian convents. This is why some honest historians(not Hirji) explains some Christians involvement in the War on the side of Germans.
Prof. also excels with his historical crime when he argued that during nationalisation schools of all sects were nationalised, we can forgive him for that type of error, however prof. should review his history books to get informed that while all Muslim schools were nationalised only Christian missionary school were nationalised while seminary schools were spared.
Prof. Hirji is very aware to the fact that any movement or any struggle starts with and driven by first the sense of self identification and then more important a sense of common identification, what kind of such common identification was there in early phase of liberation stuggle in Tanzania?Was it national? No! No my dear Prof. It was quasi national, in which people idenified themselves by their ethnicity or religion groups. Altenatively this to say that Mr. Said has done justice to history to depict early liberation activists and pay tribute to their religion and nationalist ideas and their emmence role in transforming the movement into nationalist one which incopoate all social groups in Tanganyika.
This movement while it was social in form but national and political in substence. Without recognisng the tremendours effort made by this activists the official tanzania history is without its feet. Contrary to this fact, our official history started in 1954 with the Leader and end with the leader. Prof. Has been carried away and he is there to defend his school of thougth The Great Man theory.
Said real basic weakness
In his writing Said major weakness lies on religious hegemonism which render his inability to draw a derseved conclusion from what he has explained about Christians contribution. This gave the haze impression of Christians contribution to Tanzania independence. His depiction of Christian leaders and Politicians is not fairly appreciated. Indeed he belittled the extended effort made by Christian in the making of Tanzania history. In addition to that he failed to link between Muslims grivancies and how they coincide with national grivancies. This could help him having a nationalist picture of early indepence struggle in Tanzania. Failure to comprehend this Mr. Said limited the role played by Christians in the making of free Tanganyika.
Hirji major weakness
Hirji major weakness is his school of thougth in which he belongs, according to Hirji and Co. History should start with a leader and end with a leader. I my view history should start whith the people and end with the people i.e peoples power. This is what Said is partly correct and our dear professor completely lost. His weakness lies on the model of thinking which nurture Hirji and his fellow travellers during their years at University of Dar es salaam. Glorification of the leader.
Lastly I pay tribute to Prof. Contribution to the debate, it is my humble appeal that people of all sorts will share that effort without favouring their religious affiliation s But the Truth.
(ilongailunga)
Yesterday in the year of our Lord 22 Feb. 2015 I came across Prof. Hirji critique, Beating the drum on one side: Confusing the people on both sides on Mr. Saids work, Tanzania: A nation without heroes, in which Said attempt to explain distortion of Tanzania official history. I have a fortune to come across some of Prof. Hirji writings notably his critiques.
Prof. Hirji has a misfortune to have four slip of the pen a common trademark in most of his defensive critiques. First, methodological inconsistences, here he can not comprehend his method Vis a Vis his reasoning extracted from his basic premises, second, to reduce the context understudy to purely personal debate that do away with historical realities, third to generalize various scenario within distinct Social contexts and call them into his aid, and last, opportunistic twisting the supposed premises to help his course. Professor is not so ignorant to make these mistakes, He understands them very well but he do so to fulfill his historical mission.
On premises deduce from Said work.
Prof. after careful reading of Said work came up with basic five premises (refer to his critique); if Prof. could read Said work more careful he would come with different premises:
- Tanzania official history is distorted history
- History is a product not of individual hero but of the people both leaders and common men and women.
- Religion is a mobilizing agent toward socio-political change
- Leaders used history to glorify themselves
- Muslims were forefront in the liberation movement who incorporated Christians in the movement..
On the Conclusion deduced from Said work
In this aspect our Prof. extracted five twisted conclusions.(refer to his critique) I concur with the last two I think our beloved Prof. could do better with the other three conclusions, that;
- Muslims in cooperation with Christians liberated Tanzania from Colonial rule
- Majority of Muslim activists and few Christians who differ with the Leaders have been written off from official history
- The welfare of large section of Muslim has been systematically limited.
Methodological Confusion
Before anyone embark on the methodology used by Said, Hirji come up with bundles of disjointed examples and illustrations of distorted histories fetched from different corners of the globe partly to justify the distortion of official Tanzanian history. This is the caricature of methodology at best. If Hirji would make a concrete analysis on that situation he would discover that the distortion of those histories was made by the respective ruling class, the same conclusion arrived by Said.
Scientific analysis of any particular setting according to historical materialism requires that a concrete analysis is made to concrete situation, wherein a whole is taken as the basis to establish inroads into its parts so as to unveil its specific phenomena. It is also significant to note that this method is guided by a correct logic and proper reasoning so as to come up with valid conclusion.
In this case Prof. failed miserably as briefly shown He makes his inroads into specific by assembling various examples of distorted histories and lump them together. If you follow him logically He seems to have a naïve conclusion that the distortion of official history is general rule and Tanzania is not exception. This imply that if colonialism in the 19[SUP]th[/SUP] Century was a general rule it was a sin for Tanganyika to demand independence (dont laugh). Professor is not so brave enough to remain consistence with his own wonderful logic to reach that extent. He knows very well he will be reducing himself to a laughing stock.
Hirji having huge experience on methodological and philosophical issues was in better position to understand the standpoint and social class Said represents. It is my opinion that Said represents urban Muslims petty bourgeois who had legitimate grievances with Tanzania ruling elites since early years of independence (refer to book Muslim and state in Tanzania, the EMWS crisis etc). Darken with this reality Prof. lost in the jungle of historical adventurism and methodology confusion. The new form of historical preservation. The problem of Hirji class is their own school of thought known as defending our great man. They are capable deserting even their academic writing battling to protect their school of thought. Who has a short memory to forget one of Hirji's class who deserted his own academic writing to defend two government system created by Great man in their age?
Tanzania: Unity or diversity
Speaking in the inauguration of 10[SUP]th[/SUP] Parliament the president of United Republic of Tanzania come up with the revealing truth some (including our prof.) fear to speak that there is the growth of religious division in the Country and he made plead to the Government officials, academicians, religious leaders etc. to address this problem sooner rather than latter. Giving his own testimony to this reality one of the MP talked about his experience during election campaign. The two leaders were not talking about elites or politicians in fact they were referring to the grassroots people, the voters.
Regarding this matter our Prof. is in complete state of denial to this fact in which we live with since independence from top level now to grassroots level. But Prof. has a good reason to deny the above fact as he latter took humanist approach to argue that all socio-economic problems affect people irrespective of their religion. In other words this is to say since there are poor people to both black and white in South Africa therefore the question of black economic empowerment should not be raised. This is the 2015 Edition to Social inquiry by our brilliant Professor.
Hirji other than anybody would be in better position to realize that religious diversity is a thing not of appearance but of mind. This reality has yet to be properly addressed but the reality which has always been covered and feared.
Historical crime and Justice to history
To fight for his chosen path Hirji ending up inventing his own history, the stories no body new before but himself. That during German rule German colonialists were using student from madrassa to take lower administration positions and it was this period that Islam rapidly grew. Hence prof seems to conclude that Islam was compatible with German colonialism.
This is crime to both history and logic. Prof. having spent many years at University of Dar es salaam would have come across to an archival source documented the German period in Tanganyika
By 1911 German Colonial government had built more than 80 schools in Tanganyika, while missionaries built more than 500 and taught more than 63,000 students, by 1914 there were 99 German sponsored schools by contrast missionaries had constructed more than 900 schools and educate more than 100,00 students
Prof. invents his own fact so as to suit his own logic and pre-emptive conclusion. According to available literature on German rule in Tanganyika up to 1912 German with collaboration with missionaries has almost sufficient civil servants recruited from both Government and missionary schools.(note that the need for civil servants went higher after WWI and WW2 due to change in colonial policy). This does not mean that there were no Muslim civil servants whatsoever but their role has been mystified by our Prof. If any body could speak about collaboration with German rule would speak about that of German and Missionary schools graduates.
History is not scared or shy off to our Prof. It is there to expose any fault. If Muslims were compatible with German rule, was not abushiri who led largely muslim dominated area to fight with Germans?
It was not Mkwawa with the support of Abushiri who stormed German fort in Lugaro? Was not Bwana Heri who organize his people to fight aginst German? Was not Kinjikitile who mobilized largely populated Muslim areas in the south to fight against German in Maji maji upheavals? History has exposed Prof. true color.
Fr. Kevin Haule in his paper read to the participants of the workshop on 100[SUP]th[/SUP] Annivesary of Maji Maji war in Wuppertal (Nov.15,2005) has the following to say about missionary activities in Tanganyika;
with few exceptions missionary activitities has gone hand in hand with colonization in Tanganyika, the missionary work had pushed the Bennectine(missionary) to relate politically not only the Germans but also with Africans, especially African chiefs. On the part of German Colonial Authority in Tanganyika , there was a tendency to view the missionaries as their very powerful and effective collaborators in extending and archieving their political end
Fr. Haule documented a strong collaboration between Missionary activities and German military during the Maji Maji upheavals. What was tthat kind of collaboration? It should be made clear that Missionaries have got no other Man power to offer except their Christian convents. This is why some honest historians(not Hirji) explains some Christians involvement in the War on the side of Germans.
Prof. also excels with his historical crime when he argued that during nationalisation schools of all sects were nationalised, we can forgive him for that type of error, however prof. should review his history books to get informed that while all Muslim schools were nationalised only Christian missionary school were nationalised while seminary schools were spared.
Prof. Hirji is very aware to the fact that any movement or any struggle starts with and driven by first the sense of self identification and then more important a sense of common identification, what kind of such common identification was there in early phase of liberation stuggle in Tanzania?Was it national? No! No my dear Prof. It was quasi national, in which people idenified themselves by their ethnicity or religion groups. Altenatively this to say that Mr. Said has done justice to history to depict early liberation activists and pay tribute to their religion and nationalist ideas and their emmence role in transforming the movement into nationalist one which incopoate all social groups in Tanganyika.
This movement while it was social in form but national and political in substence. Without recognisng the tremendours effort made by this activists the official tanzania history is without its feet. Contrary to this fact, our official history started in 1954 with the Leader and end with the leader. Prof. Has been carried away and he is there to defend his school of thougth The Great Man theory.
Said real basic weakness
In his writing Said major weakness lies on religious hegemonism which render his inability to draw a derseved conclusion from what he has explained about Christians contribution. This gave the haze impression of Christians contribution to Tanzania independence. His depiction of Christian leaders and Politicians is not fairly appreciated. Indeed he belittled the extended effort made by Christian in the making of Tanzania history. In addition to that he failed to link between Muslims grivancies and how they coincide with national grivancies. This could help him having a nationalist picture of early indepence struggle in Tanzania. Failure to comprehend this Mr. Said limited the role played by Christians in the making of free Tanganyika.
Hirji major weakness
Hirji major weakness is his school of thougth in which he belongs, according to Hirji and Co. History should start with a leader and end with a leader. I my view history should start whith the people and end with the people i.e peoples power. This is what Said is partly correct and our dear professor completely lost. His weakness lies on the model of thinking which nurture Hirji and his fellow travellers during their years at University of Dar es salaam. Glorification of the leader.
Lastly I pay tribute to Prof. Contribution to the debate, it is my humble appeal that people of all sorts will share that effort without favouring their religious affiliation s But the Truth.
