The hope that existed in 1960s era independent Africa was contagious. There was a belief that without colonial oppressors things would get better through a system of brotherhood called Ujamaa. What if the colonial system stays in place, now with a black face and corruption, but lacking the colonials competence. Then you get Wabenzi, a modern oppression named after the Mercedes autos so favored by the corrupt new black elite. So slip on your smoking jacket, fill your pipe, take your first sip of your adult beverage, and sit back in your most comfortable chair. Welcome to todays offering from The Philatelist.
Todays stamp is of a type that is sad to me. A cartoonish topical of an elephant. Tanzania was supposed to be a center of Ujamaa. It was a system designed by Africans influenced by Christianity and Socialism where the people bring themselves up by working together. If that had worked even half way, imagine the interesting stamps possible that really teach you about a far off place. Instead desperate revenuing by an almost non existing postal service with farmed out stamps. Other issues that year was a stamp for not Tanzanian Elvis and the paintings of not Tanzanian Vincent Van Gogh.
Todays stamp is issue A123, a 15 Shilling issue of the one party state of Tanzania. It was a 7 stamp issue in various denominations featuring elephants. There was also a much higher denomination souvineer sheet. According to the Scott catalog, the stamp is worth 60 cents cancelled to order. The sovineer sheet is up at $7.25.
Tanzania formed in 1964 upon the merger of the former British colony of Tanganyika and the Arab offshore island of Zanzibar. The African former slaves of Zanzibar rebelled against their post independence Arab King who was related to the Omani royal family. After the uprising, Arabs were forced into exile. See https://the-philatelist.com/2018/01/29/zanzibar-when-the-arabs-needed-the-british/ This had also happened in Tanganyika when many whites and Indians were forced to leave, often with only 24 hour notice. Blacks themselves lost the previous ability to seek work in more prosperous South Africa. The first President consolidated power in one political party.
That does not mean everything was down trodden. People got their hopes raised that Africans working together through Ujamaa could get things moving. It was proposed that all laborers contribute one day a week toward community projects. There was nationalization of not just large organizations to bring them into black hands. There indeed was a great increase in literacy especially among women over colonial times.
Many mistakes were made. Collective farms concentrated on export cash crops instead of food. This left the country reliant on food aid. The administration left over from colonial times was now manned by incompetent locals who figured out how to enrich themselves by selling the permits required for everything.
To his credit, Julius Nyerere the first President, when he saw Ujamaa was not working, retired from government in 1985. At this point he was still somewhat revered for achieving independence and for not being personally corrupt. His ministers continued to govern without him with ever more corruption. Eventually most sources of foreign aid except old friend China cut off Tanzania. Zanzibar requested a vote on continued union with Tanzania in 1990 but was ignored. Aid started again after the first multiparty elections in 1995, but all parties proved corrupt. There is a new Bantu work called Wabenzi that refers to the corrupt new elite in Africa. The new oppressors. There is now some nostalgia for the optimism of Ujamaa. You hear the term popping up in African rap music and it is the fourth principle of the Kwanza holiday. Hope for the future is hard to sustain.
Well my drink is empty and I will smash my glass in frustration with the reality of Wabenzi. Let us hope it proves no more sustainable than Ujamaa. Come again for another story that can be learned from stamp collecting. First published in 2019