Author: Jerzy Prokopczuk. Source: Nowe Książki, no. 10. Date of publication: 31 May 1969.

In the preface to the book the author wrote: “The reportages collected in this book constitute accounts of my African wanderings. In Africa I was not looking for adventure, I did not hunt elephants, I did not dig for diamonds. I was a correspondent of the Polish Press Agency and I had to write about what I heard or saw there, about what was happening there. And much was happening. I spent nearly six years in Africa in its most turbulent and restless period — full, moreover, of hopes, though sometimes overly easy ones. It was a turning point between two epochs: colonialism was ending, independence was beginning. That change of reality, that upheaval, that revolution — I tried to describe it. That is how the reportages came into being. I did not write them with a book in mind. Not even with publication in mind. In the years when I was making these notes, a number of the views they contain belonged to the highly controversial, not to say heretical. But I cared about one thing: to write how it really was — for that is, after all, the ambition, the ambition of the reportorial brotherhood.”

It would be hard to find a more lapidary characterisation of the book than the one the author himself has provided. Kapuściński writes superbly. He has indeed conveyed to us a substantial slice of his own experiences, adventures, and impressions in language that is communicative and plain.

The book encompasses virtually the whole of Africa from the years 1962–1966, with its complex problems: on one hand a consequence of the past, on the other — an outline of sketched-out prospects, not entirely realistic in terms of time and space. The book also reflects the evolution of our views on the affairs of the Black Continent that we underwent during those several years. That evolution was the result of changes in Africa itself and of an increase in our knowledge of the continent. In the years 1960–1962 African countries played a significant role — especially in the UN — in the struggle for the liquidation of colonialism and for international détente. The following years, however, brought a blunting of the anti-imperialist edge in the policies of those states, expressed among other things in the crisis of the Afro-Asian solidarity movement and the failures of attempts to realise African unity. What were the causes of the decline in revolutionary tension in the politics of Black Africa?

It seems that those causes were both internal and external. One was undoubtedly the necessity for the governments of African states to concentrate on internal problems — political, social, and economic. The decline in the activity of those states was, however, largely determined by changes in the global balance of forces that took place in the years 1960–1967. Their essence consisted in the fact that the role of the “Third World” countries, including Black Africa, as mediators between East and West had significantly diminished. At the same time, deeper internal divisions had emerged among African countries, making it impossible to take more effective steps on the international stage. All of this contributed to the consolidation of the conviction that the fate of the world lay in the hands of the great powers, and that the “Third World” could change little in this regard.

On the other hand, many countries of this sphere, seeking assistance from imperialist states, consciously renounced progressive slogans in foreign policy.

It is an interesting fact that in recent years, partly as a result of a series of coups and processes of political polarisation, we are observing significant changes in the composition of the governing teams of many Black African states. The pattern is that the leaders of national liberation struggles are leaving the helm — those who earned their position and authority during the time when independence had to be fought for. Their place is being taken by specialists, educated often in the post-colonial years. Perhaps this direction of change will accelerate the formation of new programmes of action.

In what direction will the development of independent Africa proceed? There is too great a diversity in the starting levels for one to speak of development tendencies identical for all states. The course of events to date suggests that several directions are possible.

Ryszard Kapuściński’s book, even though it shows only the exoticism of political life, allows us to better understand all these processes and the searchings that accompany them. The author introduces the reader to the romantic troubles of an activist from the Mozambique Liberation Front, reports on the sessions of the Tanganyika parliament and its deliberations on the question of the future and the paying of alimony. He is everywhere — at the African “summit” in Addis Ababa, and during the coup d’état in Dahomey and Nigeria. It is impossible to count all the events he witnessed. These are decidedly the best parts of the book. Weaker are those where the author attempts theoretical generalisations, where he begins to draw parallels and historical comparisons.

Those whom Kapuściński’s book shocks, I refer to the preface, where the author himself wrote: “In Africa I was fascinated by the exoticism of political life. What interested me most was the way in which local traditions, customs, and environment influence the style of politics — how they deform its mechanisms and shape its new forms. That junction of custom and politics, the mutual influence of both spheres of life upon one another — what a superb object of observation.” This is exculpatory — but not entirely. Many of the author’s theses are, to put it gently, highly debatable. Not all of them can be agreed with. But ultimately this is a political reportage maintained in an excellent fictionalised form — of a kind we generally lack. I am convinced it will find many readers.

Today independent Africa stands at another bend in its history. It must be said that the processes taking place there are not always correctly assessed; analysis of the complex reality is often characterised — however reluctantly we admit it — by Eurocentrism, manifest in attempts to find European patterns of behaviour in African reality. Hence the naively optimistic assessments of past years, and currently — extreme, unjustified pessimism. In reality we are dealing with a long-term process of historical development, full of internal tensions. The difficulties facing the newly created states of Africa are accompanied by the growth of conditions and forces which, as time passes, will exert an ever-greater influence on the perspective of their development.

source: kapuscinski.info