Here is my article that was published by
Business Times…
Tanzania was the headquarters for revolutionaries from Africa
and around the world in the early 1960s. Revolutionaries like Sam
Nujoma, Oliver Tambo, Samora Machel, Robert Mugabe, and unknown young men and
women frequented Tanzania between 1960 and 1965. Dar es Salaam was the place to be if you were
a revolutionary. It is not surprising revolutionaries like Malcolm X and Che
Guevera from the Americas were also attracted to Tanzania. The African
American leader Malcolm X and Che Guevera came to Tanganyika and Zanzibar
within five months of each other in the end of 1964 and beginning of 1965.
Malcolm came to Tanzania first in October of 1964. The country was then
known as Tanganyika and Zanzibar. The new name Tanzania was adopted in November,
about a month after Malcolm left the country.
To understand Malcolm’s
attraction to Tanzania and learn about what he did once in Tanzania, it is
important to go back to the Second OAU Summit in Cairo, Egypt held from July 17
to 21, 1964. The conference came after Malcolm had made a pilgrimage to
Mecca; this was the first of the two transformative experiences for the 39 year
old African American leader. He had just broken off with the Nation of
Islam and embraced Orthodox Islam. Malcolm made his second tour of Africa
after the pilgrimage. The tour of West Africa from April to May 1964
helped cement his Pan African convictions. Malcolm felt at home wherever he
went in Ghana and Nigeria; he returned to the US in May of 1964 determined to
start a new organization and forge strong links with Africans. He founded
the Organization of Afro-American Unity (OAAU) in June; it was modeled after
the Organization of African Unity. More importantly Malcolm had made up
his mind to attend the OAU Summit in Cairo to lobby for the support of African
heads of state for his campaign for the human rights of African Americans.
The Second OAU Summit met
in Cairo, Egypt from July 17 to 21, 1964. This was the Summit of African
heads of state. Malcolm left the US in July 9th
determined to participate in the conference and lobby for support for his cause
in America. Malcolm was granted observer status and was allowed to
present a memorandum to the delegates. The memorandum argued eloquently that
African Americans were Africa’s long lost brothers and sisters; he argued that
African Americans had endured hardships for more than three hundred years
because of racial discrimination. He wrote in the memorandum: “Our
problem is your problem.. We beseech independent African states to help us
bring our problem before the United Nations…” The struggle to get African
heads of state to support his initiative faced an uphill battle. Some African leaders were
indifferent to the plight of African Americans. Malcolm had to lobby hard
to get the support of Africans. He faced an uphill battle trying to
convince African leaders to support his resolution. It all changed when
Malcolm linked up with the delegation from Tanganyika and Zanzibar at the
conference.
The Tanganyika and Zanzibar
delegation to the Cairo Summit included Julius Nyerere, Abdulrahman Babu, and
Salim A. Salim. This conference became legendary in the annals of African
history because Nyerere and Kwame Nkrumah of Ghana clashed over the state of
the liberation struggle in southern Africa and the strategy for achieving Pan
African unity. Another significant event that has often been overlooked
was the passage of a resolution addressing the plight of African Americans
drafted by Malcolm and supported by Tanganyika and Zanzibar.
There are scant details of
exactly how Malcolm linked up with the Tanganyika and Zanzibar delegation in
Cairo. It appears that Malcolm linked up with Abdurahman Babu in Cairo and the
two hit it off. Babu was a Pan Africanist and a revolutionary from
Zanzibar. He was then a Minister in the mainland. Babu wrote later
that Malcolm went to his hotel room late at night during the Summit discouraged
and ready to leave. His resolution was not going anywhere and riots had
just erupted back home in Harlem. Babu was among the people who convinced
Malcolm to remain in Cairo to help shed light on the struggles of African
Americans and get a resolution passed. The resolution was not
passed until the last night of the Summit at 2:30 am; Babu was the one who passed the good news to Malcolm. The OAU resolution AHG/Res. 15 (1) was
entitled Racial Discrimination in the United States of America. It
expressed concerns for racial discrimination in the US and called on the
government to do all it could to end discrimination based on race, color and
ethnic origin. It was this support that convinced Malcolm to visit
Tanganyika and Zanzibar after the Summit. The passage of the resolution
was a victory for Malcolm; it was a victory for African Americans and Africa.
Malcolm decided to take a
tour of East Africa after spending about two months in Egypt. He first
stopped in Ethiopia on September 30, 1964 were he spoke to students, leaders,
and diplomats. Malcolm meet and spoke to numerous people, including
Tanzanian leaders, diplomats, and students. He spent time talking to the
Tanganyika consul in Ethiopia. He held meetings with Otini Kambona, the
brother of Oscar Kambona. Babu and Malcolm met again on October 3 and 4
in Ethiopia. The two had started forging a close friendship from the time they
met at the Cairo conference. Malcolm made up his mind to visit Tanganyika
and Zanzibar. He visited the passport services on October 6th and found
out that Americans did not need a passport for Tanganyika, but they did need to
get ‘special permission’ for Zanzibar.
Malcolm boarded a flight on
October 9th in
Nairobi for Zanzibar and then Tanganyika. The flight flew from Nairobi to
Malindi, from there to Zanzibar, and finally Dar es Salaam. Malcolm was
not allowed entry into Zanzibar because he did not have the required special
permit. He continued with the flight from Zanzibar to Dar es
Salaam.
Malcolm spent the first
night in Dar es Salaam at the Club Hotel. The hotel did not have private
bathrooms. He wanted to find another hotel. He walked over to Twiga
and Agip Motel on October 10, 1964 to see if he could get a room. The
hotel rooms were fully booked and he could not get a room. Eventually,
Malcolm decided to call a number to the office of Oscar Kambona in the Ministry
of External Affairs. Otini Kambona gave Malcolm the number. Oscar
Kambona was then a Minister of External Affairs. Oscar Kambona’s secretary
picked up the phone and spoke to Malcolm. She was an African American
woman married to a Ghanaian. Her named was Joyce. Joyce and her
husband drove to pick up Malcolm and took him to the Delux hotel.
The African American
community in Tanganyika in 1964 was very small. There was a large
community of African American expatriates living in Ghana when Malcolm visited
the country in the beginning of 1964. Malcolm had to find his way
around Dar es Salaam and learn about the city and its people. Dar es Salaam was burgeoning
city with a small, but rising number of expatriates. Tanganyika and
Zanzibar had just united less than six months before. The nation had
undergone a tumultuous period following the January 12th
revolution in Zanzibar and an army mutiny of January 20, 1964. There were
also security concerns at the borders with Congo and Mozambique; there was
looming violence in the Congo that threatened to destabilize the region and
there were concerns in the border between Tanganyika and Mozambique because
FRELIMO had just launched their first military campaign against the
Portuguese. Malcolm came to Tanganyika at a time when the nation
was going through a difficult period. Yet the presence of revolutionaries
from most of southern Africa was a welcoming site for Malcolm. More importantly, the people of Tanganyika and Zanzibar provided great hospitality to Malcolm.
Malcolm decided to walk over to the New Africa House on the first day in Dar es Salaam. This was one
of the newest hotels in the city; it was the meeting place for the Tanganyika
members of the upper class and a place where leaders of liberation movements
frequented. At New Africa hotel he met Nathanial Nakasa. Nakasa or Nat as
Malcolm called him, was a South African reporter who had just escaped from
apartheid South Africa and was on his way to take up a scholarship in the US.
Malcolm and Nakasa spent several evenings in the course of the next week
talking about various topics. Nakasa later wrote that he found Malcolm to
be a very warm and a “great fun to be with” in Dar es Salaam. Like many
people who had learned about Malcolm from the Western media sources, he had
built an image of Malcolm as unreasonable and destructive. Nakasa was
greatly impressed by Malcolm. He decided to take Malcolm with him to a
birthday party given by a diplomat from the Algerian Embassy on the evening of
October 10th. It
was at this birthday party that Malcolm linked up with the African American Pan
Africanist and pacifist Bill Sutherland who drove him around the city for the
next week.
The birthday party was attended by a variety of guests, including diplomats, government officials, expatriates, and
exiles from South Africa. Sutherland wrote later that Malcolm spent most
of the time standing in the kitchen; many people went to the kitchen to get food
and drinks and ended up talking to Malcolm. He did not dance or drink,
but charmed many of the guests at the party who made a stop in the
kitchen. Sutherland decided to drive Malcolm around after he learned from Malcolm that
he did not have transportation.
Malcolm spent part of
Sunday October 11, 1964 on the suburbs of Dar es Salaam meeting with Harvard
University and Radcliffe Institute students who were teaching in Tanganyika as
part of Project Tanganyika. Malcolm had an opportunity to speak with the
mostly white American students who came to teach as part of the project.
Mr. and Mrs. Ed Anderson invited Malcolm to their home. Several African
Americans came to the dinner and got a chance to speak to Malcolm. Later
that evening Malcolm met up with Nakasa for dinner at Africa House.
Malcolm woke up early on
the first full business day in Dar es Salaam, Monday October 12, 1964.
He was interviewed by an Indian reporter and later by a reporter from the Tanganyika
Standard and by the Tanzania Broadcast Company. Some South African
leaders stopped by to meet and speak to him. He called Babu and set up a
meeting. The two met later that day. Malcolm
wrote in his diary that Babu was “very informal and friendly.” He described
Babu in his diary as “an extremely alert man, and dedicated to what he
believes.” Malcolm was impressed by Babu and came to respect him.
The Tanganyika and Zanzibar public awoke
to an article on Malcolm X published by the Tanganyika Standard on
October 13, 1964. The paper reported that African Americans were
beginning to see their relationship with Africans as something that could not
be denied; they recognized that they were linked to Africa. This was a message that Malcolm brought to Tanzania. The day
turned out to be one of the highlights of Malcolm’s visit to Tanganyika.
Malcolm walked to Babu’s office around 1:15pm in the city center. Malcolm had
asked for an audience with the President when he first arrived. This was
a very busy time for government officials and Nyerere. The government was
preparing a meeting of heads of states from Kenya, Uganda, and Northern
Rhodesia (Zambia) that was scheduled for October 16th.
Malcolm was told it would be impossible to meet with Nyerere. The bad news did not last very long. Babu picked up
Malcolm and took him to his house. Four government officials were there
at Babu’s house to meet Malcolm. Malcolm wrote on his diary on October 13th, 1964,
that he knew he was being “weighed” for a meeting with President Nyerere.
Babu eventually informed Malcolm that he would meet President Nyerere.
Babu treated
Malcolm like a member of his family. Malcolm went to Babu's home several times while he was in Dar es Salaam. He met Babu’s wife and two
children. Later in December of 1964, Malcolm recalled that he had
observed Babu interacting with his family in Dar es Salaam and realized that a
revolutionary could also be a family man. It was an important lesson for
Malcolm who was a committed family man, but found his work and travels increasingly keeping him away from his family.
Malcolm and Babu left
Babu’s house for the State House around 5:45 on October 13th.
Malcolm first met Oscar Kambona at the State House. Nyerere did not
come out until 6:15. Malcolm and Nyerere spent the next three hours discussing
various subjects. The two talked about the major events happening around
the world at the time. China had just exploded a nuclear bomb. Nyerere
told Malcolm how ironic it was for a former colony to develop a weapon equal
to that of a colonial power. Malcolm told Nyerere that he had been
thinking about it. Malcolm presented Nyerere with a gift of a booklet of
one of his speeches entitled “Message to the Grassroots.” Malcolm
described Nyerere as “very shrewd, intelligent, and disarming.” The discussions
Malcolm held with Nyerere and Babu helped shift Malcolm’s views on the international component of the challenges of the struggle against racism and imperialism.
The last two days in Dar es
Salaam were spent meeting with various people. Malcolm posed for pictures
with Babu on October 14,1964; at least two of those images were published and circulated widely. The pictures appears to have been taken by a
photographer named Amini who was doing a story with another reporter named
Rahina for the UPI. The Washington Post published a short story
from UPI on October 14. The article quoted Malcolm X from Dar es Salaam saying he would
not return to the US until after the Presidential elections.
Another important stop for Malcolm was at the Cuban Embassy in
Upanga, Dar es Salaam. He met an Afro-Cuban diplomat named
Rodriguez. Later that day, Otini Kambona organized a big dinner for
Malcolm X. There were many government officials in attendance, including
the Director of Tanganyika Broadcast Corporation. Malcolm was encouraged
to postpone his departure from Tanzania. Malcolm must have found
his time in Dar es Salaam very productive. He had just met President
Nyerere and had spent considerable time with Babu talking about the state of the
struggle and future strategies. He made a call the next day and postponed his
departure until October 17th.
Dar es Salaam was a busy
city in October 15th, 1964. Three heads of states from Kenya, Uganda, and
Northern Rhodesia visited the city to hold a meeting with
Nyerere. Malcolm was in his hotel when President Jomo Kenyatta of Kenya
passed by the hotel. He pulled out his camera and took photos of
Kenyatta’s motorcade. He spent most of the day speaking with
Nakasa, some white American students and Pamela, a white South African Jewish
woman at Africa House. Nakasa was amused by how Malcolm interacted with
whites. It was clear that Malcolm’s views about race had begun to
change. His experience in Mecca sparked a shift in the way he viewed different races. He described praying with whites in Mecca and realizing that the problem lied with the system that whites in America adopted.
On the last day in Dar es Salaam, Friday October 16th, Malcolm
met Margaret Snyder at the New Africa Hotel. She was a white American who
decided to work in East Africa after taking a sabbatical leave as the dean for
women at Le Moyne College in Syracuse. Malcolm had been “unyielding” when
it came to whites' participation in the struggle when he met Snyder in New York
a year before. The Malcolm Snyder met in Dar es Salaam was different. Snyder later wrote that Malcolm told her that Nyerere and
Kenyatta were free of racial animosity. Malcolm also told her that his
conversations with Nyerere “had enriched him.”
There was at least one more important meeting that Malcolm held with Tanganyika leaders. Bill
Sutherland drove Malcolm to a meeting with TANU leaders at the home of Bibi
Titi Mohamed. Details of the meeting are not available. However, it
is clear that Malcolm had an opportunity to present his case and share ideas
with TANU leaders.
Malcolm took a flight out
of Dar es Salaam on October 17th, 1964. He was on the same flight with Kenyatta and Milton
Obote from Uganda. The Zanzibar officials who had denied Malcolm entry on
his way to Tanganyika, gave him VIP treatment on his way back. He was put
in the VIP room with other important dignitaries, but he did not leave the
airport. One of the Kenyan Ministers later told Kenyatta who Malcolm was during the flight. Kenyatta sent someone to ask Malcolm to move in front of the plane and sit between Kenyatta and Obote. Such
was the charm and respect that Malcolm commanded wherever he went in East
Africa. He was comfortable talking to heads of state or street peddlers
in Dar es Salaam. Malcolm was able to travel around the city, meet with
high government with ease.
The trip to Dar es Salaam
was not the last time Malcolm was linked to the country. Malcolm and Babu
met again for the last time in December 1964 when Babu travelled to New York to
attend meeting of the United Nations General Assembly. Babu spoke on a
couple of rallies organized by Malcolm and his organization. Babu later
reported that he discovered there was tremendous interest for Tanzania after
attending the rallies organized by Malcolm. He was quoted by The
Nationalist saying he had not realized before how much sympathy,
understanding and support existed in the US for the struggles of
Tanzania. It was this understanding that Malcolm had sought to build with
Africans before he was assassinated. He had attempt to do so at the OAU
and when he visited East Africa. Malcolm learned from his trip to Africa
that Africans were interested in the struggles of African Americans and that they were
ready to offer their support. Unfortunately, the young life of this
African American giant was cut short by assassins bullets on February 21, 1965 as he spoke to an audience in New York
Azaria Mbughuni is Assistant Professor of History at Spelman College, Atlanta, USA. (azmbughuni@gmail.com). Follow me on twitter @ AzariaTZ
© Azaria Mbughuni
