Marjorie Mbilinyi

Adopting Issa Shivji’s paradigm, “The philosopher in Nyerere was informed by, and in constant search for, human equality and freedom, while the king in him was driven by the imperatives of building a nation-state” [Shivji 2020 Book Three: 2]. Mwalimu Nyerere advocated transformative pedagogy and liberating adult education, which he linked to nation building and people-centred participatory development, especially at grassroots level. He argued that adult learners have knowledge to share. They need to be encouraged to think, analyse critically and act on their own behalf so as to improve their situation. They thereby became active subjects, and participated equally in making key decisions on resource allocations at all levels and benefited equally. While referring to individual demands for freedom and dignity, Mwalimu emphasized the collective nature of these demands, and argued that the African people can only realize real democracy and freedom by uniting together so as to fight against neo-colonialism and corporate globalisation and to struggle for equitable, just development and economic liberation. At the same time, he was a powerful ruler who established an Executive with no checks and balances and focused on nation building and African liberation, not socialism. He denounced global elites and Northern based imperialism, but in the early years he rarely took action against the growth of a bureaucratic bourgeoisie in his own state and party. The failure to translate his ideals of equality and justice into a popular mass movement of workers, peasants, students and others contributed to the ultimate downfall of ujamaa. At the same time, he succeeded in sustaining national unity in an increasingly hostile context during the 1980s debt crisis and confrontation with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) demands for Structural Adjustment (SAP) and neoliberalism [Shivji 2020 Book Three].

Fonte: Mbilinyi, Marjorie. "Liberating Adult Education, Animation and People Centred Democracy." Convergence 44.1: 3-16.