VITA BOOKS

Forthcoming Publications from Vita Books

Tunakataa! We Say No! Poems of Resistance. By Nazmi Durrani

The poems depict peasant and worker resistance in Kenya in the 1980s to the oppressive Moi-KANU government. Here is the voice of people saying ‘no’ to capitalism and imperialism. The poems, in Kiswahili and English, are as relevant today as they were in the 1980s. They are as relevant in Kenya as they are in the rest of Africa struggling against capitalism and imperialism.

Two Paths Ahead: The Ideological Struggle for the Liberation of Kenya, 1960-1990. By Shiraz Durrani

The battles between socialism and capitalism in Kenya have been long, bitter and violent. Capitalism won with the active support of USA and UK governments at the time of independence in 1963. Yet the original Kenya African National Union (KANU) Party was in favour of socialism. It was Presidents Jomo Kenyatta and Daniel wrap Moi who used violence to suppress socialism and assassinated, disappeared, exiled or imprisoned its adherents. Capitalism became the unstated state policy. However, the desire for socialism never died. Resistance movements and opposition parties made socialism their aim, reflecting people’s

desire for justice, equality and empowerment.

Many studies on Kenya focus on personalities or ‘tribes’ or race, ignoring the all-important class and ideological position of organisations and their leaders. Two Paths Ahead examines the Kenyatta and Moi governments’ support for capitalism and contrasts it with the socialist stand of the original KANU Party, the Kenya People’s Union (KPU), the December Twelve Movement-Mwakenya as well as the voice of the 1982 coup leaders. This long history of socialism has also been suppressed by forces of capitalism represented by all the Kenyan governments since independence. This book traces the battles between the two ideologies, between the radicals and the conservatives within and outside KANU. It looks at the struggle at the Lumumba Institute in the 1960s. It examines the position on land, social policy and worker rights through documents and actions of the opposing sides. It traces the stand of key leaders as proponents of either capitalism or socialism. The final section reproduces some of the documents which inform discussions on the ideological struggle in Kenya. The book exposes the hidden hand of imperialism in the country’s rush to capitalism. It fills a gap in understanding the real contradictions that divide Kenya to this day.

Crimes of Capitalism in Kenya: Massacres, Murders, Detention, Imprisonment, Dissappearing and
Exiling

Press cuttings on Moi’s-KANU’s Reign of Terror in Kenya, 1980s, Research & Documentation Series No. 1 (2019) Prepared from material in the Ukombozi Library

Much is written about the appalling human rights record of Presidents Jomo Kenyatta and Daniel arap Moi. However, these crimes are not attributed to the ideology that drove them: capitalism. The press cuttings in the first R&D Series records the brutal methods that KANU and imperialism used to remain in power. A future issue will focus on resistance to capitalism and the search for socialism.

Escape from Moneyville
A Short Story for Young People by Shiraz Durrani

Translated from Gujarati: Muri nagar nu nash. Edited by Noosim Naimasiah. Illustrations by Bwana Mdogo

It was a cold, dark night. Everything was quiet. A Mawingo bus was travelling from Nairobi to Mombasa.

It had big signs painted on the outside: Dangerman. It had travelled over two hundred kilometres and was approaching Mtito Andei. Everybody in the bus was fast asleep. Everyone, that is, except four people.

So begins an adventure for four Kenyan youths, two boys and two girls, that explores the depth of deprivation and disaster that capitalism has been for working people in Kenya. Tricked into becoming forced workers for a factory with owners from USA, British and Japan, the youth live the harsh life of exploited workers.

However, their sense of justice soon turns them into rebels seeking life and freedom. The story takes them through life- threatening adventures, fighting the armed forces summoned by the factory owners. Will they manage to survive the brutal attacks by fierce dogs and armed militia? Will they live to see the sea at Mombasa they had set out for?

Singh, Makhan: History of Kenya’s Trade Union Movement to 1952 (Reprint)
ISBN 978-9914-7875-2-2

From the start the trade union movement played a crucial part in political struggle for the freedom in Kenya. Makhan Singh, the author of this scholarly book, has for a long time been one of the most formidable figures in the growth of Kenya’s trade unions. In this careful and readable study, authentically based on personal knowledge and a deep study of all available documentary sources, he has outlined the growth of labour protest from the forgotten heroes of this long struggle are given their rightful place and the book adds important new perspectives to the history of the nationalist movement in Kenya 2020 Reprint “Makhan Singh dedicated this book ‘To all those who struggled, suffered and sacrificed for the cause of Kenya’s national and trade union movements’. Yet it is these very people, including Makhan Singh himself, whose suffering and sacrifices have yet to be recognised by history. The injustices they suffered, and continue to suffer, need to be righted if there is to be peace in Kenya. It is for this reason that the life, work and writings of Makhan Singh have an enduring relevance today. Vita Books need to be congratulated for reprinting these important documents from Kenya’s past. They are essential readings for Kenya’s future” – Willy Mutunga, Chief Justice & President of the Supreme Court of Kenya, 2011-2016. (Foreword to the Reprint)

Durrani Shiraz: Key Points in the History of Kenya 1885 – 1990
ISBN 978-9914-9921-3-7 

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 presentations points from several conferences and meetings on the history of Kenya. It also includes short articles, some written recently, others from earlier books and articles by Shiraz Durrani. 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.