Pass Blog

FRELIMO President Dr. Mondlane addressing a public meeting in Kawe near Dar es Salaam.

Day two of our Liberation Radio: Dar es Salaam  broadcast, live from TPH Bookshop:

2pm – Liberation Dance: When Tarzan Met the African Freedom Fighter
An ongoing exploration of struggle music – literally, music produced by and through the movements and people involved in Africa’s liberation struggle, rather than about it. “Struggle Music” is also a misnomer, it designates collective expression which, although musical, refuses to be “music” – or the process of individuation that produces it. It helps us demarcate from what is customarily called “protest music” – which, at times, may be used to silence protest, or, as our comrade Harmony Holiday sweetly put it, “harmonise with the state”. Liberation Dance is unscripted and serves as both intro and outro to the day’s programming.

3pm – Radio USARF: FRELIMO in Dar
Of interest is the struggle for control of FRELIMO between the Adelino Gwambe/Marcelino dos Santos faction, which was backed by Nkrumah and financed by Moscow, against Mondlane/TANU/CIA. FRELIMO is also interesting because it is the firstborn of the exiled lib movements, and for a decade at least, was the most notorious as well as the most favoured both by Nyerere and the Cold War big boys. The civil war within FRELIMO, culminating in Mondlane’s assassination at the end of that decade, embodies not just the contradictions within individual liberation movements, but the wider dilemma of tactical relationships with Cold Warriors.

5pm – Pungwe Radio: Black August
Connecting intergenerational practice of liberation through time Black August unpacks continuous struggles of hardship and resistance. Moments of rebellion coincidently taking place in the politically auspicious month of August, mirrors one of the million connections our African states share, connections that should not stop at experience but move into unified resolution. To dig into the multitude of processes of liberation we engage in conversation vital minds such as Nora Schimming Chase, a SWAPO exile in Dar who in the 60s, along with her sister 0ttille, left European Doctoral programs to come home.

6pm – We dreamt of Utopia and Woke Up Screaming
Getting to know Dar and searching for the liberation movement buildings, Yasmina and Bernard Ntahondi, the city’s history and architecture heritage guide, re-enact their city tour of Dar es Salaam. Their experience in looking for the buildings which once housed Frelimo, ANC, the OAU, etc., and their disappointment in what they found in what was sites of resistance.

7pm – Liberation Music with John Kitime
Legendary musician and broadcaster John Kitime reviews the music from/about the liberation struggle in Dar of the 1970s.

[Live crossover to Freies Radio (Kassel, Germany) from 2pm-4pm CET]