Voices Of Africa

Press, Volume CIII, Issue 30562, 3 October 1964, Page 4

Voices Of Africa

Africa’s Freedom. Unwin Books. 94 pp.

In this Unwin paperback, five notable Africans, Albert Luthuli, Kenneth Kaunda, the late D. K. Chisiza, Tom Mboya and Julius K. Nyerere, have combined to give their views on their countries’ problems. Each contribution is In the form of an essay or paper which was written originally for different purposes. It is therefore not surprising that the impression that the essays leave collectively is a little confusing, but for all that none the less interesting.

Albert Luthuli opens the “symposium” with a transcription of his Nobel Peace Prize address in which he comments mainly on the comparatively peaceful struggle for freedom from colonialism in Africa as well as on his

personal bewilderment, shared by many others, that he should be honoured by the prize. Kenneth Kaunda reflects on the iniquities of the past and of a non-racial and unaligned (in the power bloc sense) future for Africa. D. K. Chisiza discusses the real need for strong-man governments in emerging Africa and points to the very real dangers of degeneration of such governments into dictatorships. African socialism is analysed critically and well by both Mboya and Nyerere, and in a final chapter the Pan-African dream of a United States of Africa is discussed with eloquence and feeling by Nyerere. Students of contemporary African affairs should find this compact little book of considerable interest.