Yeah, he certainly went bad. But the fact that both he and Kaggia were accommodated in an African-nationalist coalition is strong evidence that it was much tighter than the liberal-leftist one against the fascists
Replies
You have two quite different personalities—one quite ideological and a bit of a leftish puritan; the other decidedly not—who found agreement about ends (the end of the colonial state) and means (at least: both willing to turn to violence). They also found places in KANU and eventually in cabinet
aug 31, 2025, 6:14 pm • 0 0 • view
That coalition was able to hold together very different people, and it had a fairly strongly held common view of the desired end. The left-liberal coalition lacks that clarity of purpose.
aug 31, 2025, 6:16 pm • 1 0 • view
I'd phrase it differently: the liberals aren't as willing to lie to the leftists about the preferred endgame as some African nationalists were. You had people like J. M. Kariuki openly questioning whether the resulting regime was worth their suffering.
aug 31, 2025, 6:26 pm • 0 0 • view
aug 31, 2025, 6:34 pm • 0 0 • view
I was referring to the quote he gave here: nation.africa/kenya/news/f...
aug 31, 2025, 6:38 pm • 0 0 • view
In any case, my original point was that the way liberalism has used antiimperialism is not very different from how the postcolonial elites themselves wielded a sanitized history for selfish ends.
aug 31, 2025, 6:43 pm • 0 0 • view
That’s slightly orthogonal to the point at issue, which is that the left-liberal coalition contra fascism is weak b/c it lacks strong agreement about ends or means; and, incidentally, that African nationalists had broad agreement about ends, and more agreement about means than this coalition.
aug 31, 2025, 6:47 pm • 0 0 • view
That African nationalists divided once power was won is not strong evidence that they lacked the relevant agreement before their ends were achieved.
aug 31, 2025, 6:48 pm • 0 0 • view
In a previous life before he was the father of a very successful actress, Nyong’o was a v good political theorist. His take is probably the academic read of the history closest to your view:
aug 31, 2025, 6:52 pm • 1 0 • view
And yet even he thinks there *was* a strong coalition here.
aug 31, 2025, 6:53 pm • 1 0 • view