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Makhan Singh A Revolutionary Kenyan Trade Unionist
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Book Synopsis Makhan Singh: A Revolutionary Kenyan Trade Unionist by : Durrani, Shiraz
Download or read book Makhan Singh: A Revolutionary Kenyan Trade Unionist written by Durrani, Shiraz and published by Vita Books. This book was released on 2016-10-06 with total page 194 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: 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.
Book Synopsis History of Kenya's Trade Union Movement, to 1952 by : Makhan Singh
Download or read book History of Kenya's Trade Union Movement, to 1952 written by Makhan Singh and published by . This book was released on 1969 with total page 378 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Study of the historical origins and evolution of the trade union movement in Kenya up to 1952 - covers political aspects, nationalist and labour movements, union membership, collective agreements, labour relations, leadership, strikes, grievances, aspects of social participation, etc.
Download or read book Pio Gama Pinto written by Durrani, Shiraz and published by Vita Books. This book was released on 2018-10-19 with total page 393 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Pio Gama Pinto was born in Kenya on March 31, 1927. He was assassinated in Nairobi on February 24, 1965. In his short life, he became a symbol of anti-colonial and anti-imperialist struggles in Kenya and India. He was actively involved in Goa's struggle against Portuguese colonialism and in Mau Mau during Kenya's war of independence. For this, he was detained by the British colonial authorities in Kenya from 1954-59. His contribution to the struggle for liberation for working people spanned two continents - Africa and Asia. And it covered two phases of imperialism - colonialism in Kenya and Goa and neo-colonialism in Kenya after independence. His enemies saw no way of stopping the intense, lifelong struggle waged by Pinto - except through an assassin's bullets. But his contribution, his ideas, and his ideals are remembered and upheld even today by people active in liberation struggles. This book does not aim or claim to be a comprehensive record on Pio Gama Pinto, just the beginning of the long journey necessary to record the history of Kenya from an anti-imperialist perspective. It introduces readers to voices of many people who have written about Pinto to build up as clear a picture of Pinto as possible. In that spirit, it seeks to make history available to those whose story it is - people of Kenya, Africa and progressive people around the world.
Book Synopsis Trade Unions in Kenya's War of Independence by : Durrani, Shiraz
Download or read book Trade Unions in Kenya's War of Independence written by Durrani, Shiraz and published by Vita Books. This book was released on 2018-08-03 with total page 119 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: It is due to the success of the trade union movement in the national liberation movement that the colonial government suppressed prominent trade unions and attacked TU leaders like Makhan Singh, Fred Kubai, Pio Gama Pinto and Bildad Kaggia. It also passed on colonial laws to the independent Kenya government so as to ensure that future trade unions were forced to take the non-radical approach to meet worker needs. They thus created imperialist-oriented and led trade unions that bedevil working class politics to this day. There are valuable lessons to be learnt from the history of the militant trade unions in Kenya and also from understanding how colonialism and imperialism enforced changes that made the trade unions ineffective after independence. The selections in this book recall relevant events in the history of the militant trade union movement in Kenya and record the contribution that the trade union movement made to Mau Mau and to Kenya’s war of independence. The Kenya Resists Series covers different aspects of resistance by people of Kenya to colonialism and imperialism. It reproduces material from books, unpublished reports, research and oral or visual testimonies. The three aspects chosen for the first three publications in the Series – Mau Mau, Trade Unions and People’s Resistance – make up the three pillars of resistance of the people of Kenya.
Book Synopsis Guerrilla Incursions into the Capitalist Mindset by : Shiraz Durrani
Download or read book Guerrilla Incursions into the Capitalist Mindset written by Shiraz Durrani and published by African Books Collective. This book was released on 2024-01-23 with total page 468 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Guerrilla Incursions into the Capitalist Mindset is an unprecedented collection of over 60 essays, interviews, petitions and letters as well as poems and short stories flowing from the pen of Shiraz Durrani. It is a treasure trove of truths that has so far been obscured by the information vacuum created by capitalism and its sister, imperialism. By reprinting out-of-print material, and bringing to light limited access information, this book supplies a new language for understanding and articulating our realities. This collection not only recovers and recollects the remnants of previous displaced history but also makes alternative ideas and experiences available. Remarkably, it sets the record straight by establishing a historical link between the arrival of the trade union movement from India through Makhan Singh, who began calling for independence in 1950, to the Mau Mau war of independence in Kenya led by Dedan Kimaathi, and the subsequent clash between socialism and neo-colonialism, which claimed the life of its champion, Pio Gama Pinto.
Book Synopsis Trade Union Studies in the UK and Kenya by : Nigel Flanagan
Download or read book Trade Union Studies in the UK and Kenya written by Nigel Flanagan and published by African Books Collective. This book was released on 2024-07-02 with total page 273 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Nigel Flanagan brings a distinct perspective to the problems of trade union organising. In this account he draws on his own experiences as an activist, shop steward, strike organiser and working for the global union UNI. The book has be very well received and after six impressions this revised and enlarged edition is also being published in a Kenyan version with our partners, Vita Books - Nick Wright. Nigel Flanagan's Our Trade Unions: What Comes Next? was first published in Britain in early 2023 at the height of the country's inflationary crisis, when basic food costs were increasing by up to 20 per cent and energy by far more. Workers were fighting, through their trade unions, to protect their living standards and local services from the biggest attack for a century. This new Kenyan edition of Flanagan's book is, therefore, doubly welcome because it provides real life substance to these links. The chapters from Shiraz Durrani, himself a veteran of these struggles, reveal how far the movements of resistance to colonial rule were rooted in, and largely sprang from, the trade union movement in the 1920s and 30s. The importance of the contribution from Shiraz Durrani is that he places this resistance squarely in the special circumstances required for capitalist exploitation to take place in Kenya... Resistance demands mass-based political trade unions. This is why Kenya's experience and that of other African nations is of relevance not just to workers in Africa but those who wish to rebuild the workers' movement internationally. But this process must be political. It cannot be simply that of 'organising'. As Shiraz Durrani stresses, 'without a vision of achieving equality and justice, unions remain merely to make capitalism more acceptable to workers'- John Foster
Download or read book Unquiet written by Zarina Patel and published by . This book was released on 2006 with total page 596 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Makham Singh (-1973) was an Indian settler in Kenya, who became a founding father of the trade union movement, and a leading opponent of the colonial state. He is distinguished by his consciously multi-racialist politics and his indomitable spirit. Ahead of his times, Singh was extraordinarily immune from colour prejudice and religious intolerance. He refused to accept a trade union movement segregated by race and the colonial apartheid that reinforced a hierarchy of races between black Africans, Asians and whites in such humiliating fashion. Instead, he demonstrated that the liberation of Asians and Africans were inextricably linked, and that imperialism and colonialism are the enemies of all peoples, and should be met with non-violent resistance. These stances gained him remarkable popularity amongst the ordinary people. The author explores her subject's childhood in India, his life outside his political concerns, the evolution of his politics, personality, and his experiences in detention. The research documents a hitherto un-researched archive of Singh's private papers, housed at the University of Nairobi. The primary source material, evidenced throughout the work, dates from 1927. It includes the subject's correspondence, poetry, press cutting, statements, hand-written notes, campaign posters and photographs. The project took the author further afield - to the northern border of India in Pakistan where Singh grew up; to Delhi, Jalhandar and Amritsar; and to Punjabi language sources.
Book Synopsis Kenya's War of Independence by : Shiraz Durrani
Download or read book Kenya's War of Independence written by Shiraz Durrani and published by African Books Collective. This book was released on 2018-02-08 with total page 451 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Kenya's War of Independence restores Kenyas stolen history to its rightful place, stripped of colonial interpretations. In this expanded and revised version of his 1986 booklet, Kimaathi, Mau Mau's First Prime Minister of Kenya, Durrani covers Mau Maus resistance to colonialism and neo-colonialism and reflects on its ideology, organisation and achievements. He sees Mau Mau in the larger context of Kenyas war of independence and looks at the influence of organised, radical trade unions as the engine of resistance, linking economic with political demands of working people. Additional chapters document the post-independence resistance by the underground December Twelve Movement-Mwakenya. Durrani captures the dynamism of transition from colonialism to neo-colonialism: Imperialism replaced colonialism, African elites replaced White Settlers, neo-colonial government replaced colonial government. Resistance changed from the War of Independence to War of Economic Independence. Worker and peasant resistance is evident once again. History is on the march.
Book Synopsis The Kenya Socialist by : Durrani, Shiraz
Download or read book The Kenya Socialist written by Durrani, Shiraz and published by Vita Books. This book was released on 2019-10-22 with total page 39 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Kenya Socialist exists to: Promote socialist ideas, experiences and world outlook; Increase awareness of classes, class contradictions and class struggles in Kenya, both historical and current; Expose the damage done by capitalism and imperialism in Kenya and Africa; Offer solidarity to working class, peasants and other working people and communities in their struggles for equality and justice; Promote internationalism and work in solidarity with people in Africa and around the world in their resistance to imperialism; Make explicit the politics of information and communication as tools of repression and also of resistance in Kenya. This first issue covers several areas that remain neglected in public discourse in Kenya. The study of class remains one such topic and Kimani Waweru’s article, Class and Class Struggle in Kenya, fills this gap. Waweru also contributes a briefing on ideology as a weapon of oppression or liberation. He will continue his theoretical explorations in the next issue with an article on gender and women’s oppression and liberation. History is never far from any liberation struggle. Nicholas Mwangi looks at Mau Mau and the origin and meaning of the term ‘Mau Mau’. Njoki Wamai’s contribution is her presentation at the All African Peoples’ Conference in Accra in 2018. Linking up with the launch of the Ukombozi Library, the question arises, ‘What is the role of information in liberation?’ Shiraz Durrani answers some question from Julian Jaravata on various aspects of information. Finally, Durrani looks at the challenge by Wakamba wood carvers to the information embargo under President Moi.
Book Synopsis Mau Mau the Revolutionary, Anti-Imperialist Force from Kenya: 1948-1963 by : Shiraz Durrani
Download or read book Mau Mau the Revolutionary, Anti-Imperialist Force from Kenya: 1948-1963 written by Shiraz Durrani and published by African Books Collective. This book was released on 2018-08-03 with total page 155 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Very few countries hide or obscure the significance of their most important historical achievements. Kenya has managed to do so without any regrets or even a thought about the implication of such a major oversight in connection with Mau Mau Resistance. The reason for this underplay is not difficult to understand. The government that came to power at independence was not only not part of the Mau Mau movement which fought for land and freedom for working people, but actively opposed it. It sought and was given by the departing colonial power state power, land and freedom for its class, thereby sidelining the radical resistance movement and its activists. This elite then used its state power to ensure that the nation forgets its radical history which would have alerted future generations to the theft of their inheritance and country. This book provides essential facts about Mau Mau. It seeks to give voice to the Mau Mau resistance fighters. It is aimed at young people who were born after independence and who have been deprived of their historical heritage; it is also a tribute to those who played a part in the war of independence and in Mau Mau without whose contribution independence would have remained a dream. It seeks to restore Kenyas working class history of resistance to colonialism and imperialism. The Kenya Resists Series covers different aspects of resistance by people of Kenya to colonialism and imperialism. It reproduces material from books, unpublished reports, research and oral or visual testimonies. The three aspects chosen for the first three publications in the Series Mau Mau, Trade Unions and Peoples Resistance make up the three pillars of resistance of the people of Kenya.
Book Synopsis Mau Mau the Revolutionary, Anti-Imperialist Force from Kenya: 1948-1963 by : Durrani, Shiraz
Download or read book Mau Mau the Revolutionary, Anti-Imperialist Force from Kenya: 1948-1963 written by Durrani, Shiraz and published by Vita Books. This book was released on 2018-08-03 with total page 155 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Very few countries hide or obscure the significance of their most important historical achievements. Kenya has managed to do so without any regrets or even a thought about the implication of such a major oversight in connection with Mau Mau Resistance. The reason for this underplay is not difficult to understand. The government that came to power at independence was not only not part of the Mau Mau movement which fought for land and freedom for working people, but actively opposed it. It sought – and was given by the departing colonial power – state power, land and freedom for its class, thereby sidelining the radical resistance movement and its activists. This elite then used its state power to ensure that the nation forgets its radical history which would have alerted future generations to the theft of their inheritance and country. This book provides essential facts about Mau Mau. It seeks to give voice to the Mau Mau resistance fighters. It is aimed at young people who were born after independence and who have been deprived of their historical heritage; it is also a tribute to those who played a part in the war of independence and in Mau Mau without whose contribution independence would have remained a dream. It seeks to restore Kenya’s working class history of resistance to colonialism and imperialism. The Kenya Resists Series covers different aspects of resistance by people of Kenya to colonialism and imperialism. It reproduces material from books, unpublished reports, research and oral or visual testimonies. The three aspects chosen for the first three publications in the Series – Mau Mau, Trade Unions and People’s Resistance – make up the three pillars of resistance of the people of Kenya.
Book Synopsis Key Points in the History of Kenya,1885-1990 by : Shiraz Durrani
Download or read book Key Points in the History of Kenya,1885-1990 written by Shiraz Durrani and published by African Books Collective. This book was released on 2022-07-15 with total page 209 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: History never dies. It is embedded in people's memories when books are burnt and children are taught false histories, imagined by false historians from near and far - says the author in this book. This is the context in which Key Points in the History of Kenya, 1885-1990 is published. This, the 4th in the Kenya Resists Series from Vita Books, brings together presentation points from several conferences and meetings on the history of Kenya. It also includes historical records on Kenya by Saleh Mamon and Ladislav Venys. Key Points highlights many hidden facts about the history of Kenya. References are included for those who wish to explore the history further. While these books and facts are readily available in many history books, they are not easily available to all people in Kenya and in a form that meets their needs. The book therefore aims to familiarise people with the history of Kenya. It seeks to keep people's struggles, sacrifices and history alive. The author hopes that it will be a weapon in the sense that Bertolt Brecht meant when he said: 'Hungry man, reach for the book: it is a weapon'. That is the aim of the series, Kenya Resists too.
Book Synopsis People's Resistance to Colonialism and Imperialism in Kenya by : Shiraz Durrani
Download or read book People's Resistance to Colonialism and Imperialism in Kenya written by Shiraz Durrani and published by African Books Collective. This book was released on 2018-08-03 with total page 126 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book looks at the third pillar of resistance to British colonialism peoples resistance, the others being Mau Mau and radical trade union movement. It brings together several aspects of peoples resistance to colonialism and imperialism before and after independence and includes resistance by nationalities, women, students, peasants and workers in what can only be described as peoples resistance. While Mau Mau and trade unions were essential in the liberation struggle, on their own they would have faced innumerable difficulties to achieve their goal. Peasants, nationalities, women, children and young people, students, independent churches, independent schools, all played a part in reinforcing the organized and ideology led resistance of Mau Mau and trade unions. Additional material is included to provide thought for reflections. The first two essays deal with the question of nationalities and with the contradictions between capitalism and socialism with the collapse of USSR. They point to the fact that that the struggle in Kenya influences, and is in turn influenced by, developments around the world. The next section is the presentation at the launch of Kenyas War of Independence in Nairobi on February 21, 2018. The final section contains solidarity messages from Shiraz Durrani, Abdilatif Abdalla and Kang'ethe Mungai at the event to commemorate and celebrate the revolutionary work of Karimi Nduthu held on March 24, 2018 at the Professional Centre in Nairobi. The Kenya Resists Series covers different aspects of resistance by people of Kenya to colonialism and imperialism. It reproduces material from books, unpublished reports, research and oral or visual testimonies. The three aspects chosen for the first three publications in the Series Mau Mau, Trade Unions and Peoples Resistance make up the three pillars of resistance of the people of Kenya.
Book Synopsis Stronger than Faith by : Oduor Ong'wen
Download or read book Stronger than Faith written by Oduor Ong'wen and published by African Books Collective. This book was released on 2022-10-28 with total page 419 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Few events in Kenya's recent history have captured the imagination of the nation as those of the period from the late 1970s. Between the pages of this memoirs is a history of that period which is hardly taught in our schools and is fast receding into the holes of the insignificant as a younger generation takes over. The history of that era, like that of all the eras that have made this country, needs to be preserved by those who witnessed and participated in it. In Stronger Than Faith, Oduor Ong'wen adds clarity to the politics of an important but dark era of our history. It adds clarity to why that era is not entirely gone.
Book Synopsis The Kenya Socialist Volume 7 by : Shiraz Durrani
Download or read book The Kenya Socialist Volume 7 written by Shiraz Durrani and published by African Books Collective. This book was released on 2021-01-12 with total page 35 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The year 2023 saw one of the latest genocides in modern times - that of the people of Palestine by Israel. People born in the last or this century find it difficult to understand how such genocides in the past were allowed to take place at all, so barbarous an action this is. Yet the current genocide continues unabated, despite the millions of people around the world demanding an end to it. This exposes the real nature of capitalism and imperialism. It is in this situation that issue no 7 of The Kenya Socialist focuses on the Palestine Question. Articles include The Palestine Question, Claim to be Pan-Africanist? Until Everyone is Free, Zionism and the Myth of Democracy. The title of the Editorial is ‘We are all Palestinians’. Another article examines why ‘the struggle for Palestine is the struggle of working people worldwide’, showing the class and imperialist background to the genocide. The issue ends with solidarity statements from Kenyan organisations and a book review. It carries a number of illustrations on the struggle.
Book Synopsis A Struggle of sixty-two days by : Shiraz Durrani
Download or read book A Struggle of sixty-two days written by Shiraz Durrani and published by African Books Collective. This book was released on 2024-02-14 with total page 133 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: 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
Download or read book Constimocrazy written by Nsah Mala and published by African Books Collective. This book was released on 2024-01-12 with total page 113 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The lyrical pessimism of Nsah Mala's poetry presents a world characterized by violence, inhumanity and destruction, a world that is sadly too familiar. While many of the poems address contemporary issues in the poet's native Cameroon, much of the human-inflicted damage they describe is not limited to 'Cam-Kingdom'. Although much of the content is negative, many of the poems contain questions. These questions express the cynical voice of this politically committed poet, but behind them lies the distant possibility of a better version of the world in which values of love, peace and unity reign: 'Don't we know,' the poet asks, 'that violence is out of fashion?' - Professor Nicki Hitchcott, University of St Andrews, UK
