Articles

Between “Africans” and “Arabs”: Party Struggles in Mid-Twentieth Century Zanzibar

Vostok/Oriens '2015, №6

 
The article deals with party struggles in Zanzibar during the “time of politics” and on the eve of Revolution (1957–1964). The author investigates the parties` creation, ideology and activity in the run-up to the parliamentary elections in the Sultanate. In the first half of the twentieth century “racial” associations were established in the Protectorate with the permission of the British. In the 1950s these associations served as a basis for the establishment of political parties. When competing for popular vote both leading political organizations – the “Pro-Arab” Zanzibar Nationalist Party (ZNP) and the “Pro-African” Afro-Shirazi Party (ASP) exploited and promoted cultural nationalism. The ZNP and the ASP employed an “Arabness-Africanness” antithesis to win the voices of Shirazis. The author also studies the origins of aggressive communalism which together with the discriminatory practices led to intercommunal violence. After the Revolution of 1964 “racial conflict” was an impediment to integration process in the Tanganyika–Zanzibar Union, namely the United Republic of Tanzania.

Keywords: Tanzania, federalism, racial question. Zanzibar Revolution, socio-political processes

Pages: С. 99–108