STUDENTS AND THE STRUGGLE FOR DEMOCRACY IN SUB-SAHARAN AFRICA 1995-2005: WITH A FOCUS ON SENEGAL AND ZIMBABWE

This thesis examines students as agents of political change in sub-Saharan Africa. It explores the extent to which students exercise political agency, and the ways in which opportunities for agency are shaped by historical and geographical circumstances. It is argued that in post-colonial Africa students are, in many respects, politically privileged actors. This is attributable to a host of factors including the relative weaknesses of other social groups; the cultural status of education; the small numbers who make it to university; their shared identity with political leadership; the need of the state for graduates and the nature of campus life. 1-lowever, structural factors intervene, shaping a wider political and economic context and the way students exercise agency. These processes are today associated with globalisation and related to the neo-liberal agenda of international financial institutions (IFIs); World Bank pressures on education systems and the role of non-governmental organisations (NGOs). Within these wider structural changes students do, however, exercise political agency to a varied extent.The two case studies in the thesis are based on interviews with leading student activists and archival research and focus on similar moments of political activism. In the late 1990s both Zimbabwe and Senegal under went important 'transitions'. In Zimbabwe it resulted in the formation of a mass party, the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC), in 1999 after a period of widespread social protests. As the regime regained momentum after the formation of the MDC the 'transition' became increasingly frustrated. Student activists were involved in each stage of this political ferment. Although Senegal did not see mass mobilisation, the country experienced an important 'electoral transition'. The ruling Parti Soda/isle (PS) was overturned for the first time since independence in presidential elections in March 2000 by an opposition coalition. University students played a vital role in the changement polilique that shook Senegal during this period. By focusing on these moments of student activism the research shows how students shape and are shaped by national processes of political change and popular protest and have maintained a role as politically privileged actors

From London to Maputo: Ruth First and the Failures of Independence

Ruth First’s work examined the projects for radical transformation of African’s political economy. She was hard-nosed about the failures of independence, writing in 1970 First argued that decolonisation had been little more than ‘a bargaining process with cooperative African elites’. But she remained an enthusiastic advocate of some of these ‘projects’ on the continent. In 1975 she wrote to her husband, Joe Slovo, ‘I may say I’m thrilled to bits. Tanzania is one thing, but Mozambique! Wow.’ Two years later she moved to Maputo to contribute to the transformation of the country. This paper will look at First’s contribution to the critical appraisal of post-independence ‘emancipatory’ projects in Africa and her own commitment to the transition to socialism in Mozambique. In this ‘commitment’ are many of First’s greatest strengths, but also some limitations and contradictions. The paper will present a biographical account of Ruth First’s brilliant enquiries into national independence and development. [This recording includes Leo's paper, a response from Matt Mahon and audience questions to both Leo and to Pierre Rousset, the other speaker on the panel.