David Harold-Barry

David Harold-Barry taught history at St Ignatius College before moving to Silveira House Leadership and Development Training Centre in Chishawasha, as director of Training and subsequently Director of the centre....

Zimbabwe. The Past is the Future

 Edited by

David Harold-Barry

Those for whom Zimbabwe is home do not always share the dismissive judgements of their country, pronounced by much of the Western media. Nevertheless they do acknowledge some of the essential truths these may contain. The most persistent judgement and point of agreement is that one political party’s overriding ‘policy’ is the preservation of itself in power, no matter the consequences.
 
The contributors to the book, all Zimbabweans by birth or by adoption, argue that although this is not a sustainable policy in the long run, it may persist in the shorter term. To break the deadlock requires an understanding of the processes that have brought the country to its present state. The essays pose and respond to a range of questions concerning politics, the land, the environment, economics, civil rights, torture, the opposition, the press, Robert Mugabe, and the ideologies informing the decisions of those in power before and since independence. Contributors include Brian Raftopoulos, Godfrey Kanyenze, Emmanuel Manzungu, and Chido Makunike.
 
"This book is an invaluable collection of documents on our present situation in Zimbabwe, under a wide range of aspects, from people of widely different backgrounds and even a range of opinions that we see too rarely within one cover these days."
-Zimbabwe Independent

"This impressive volume brings together the views of influential Zimbabwean intellectuals as well as less well-known Zimbabwean voices to offer an important and much needed insiders' assessment of the current crisis...This is an important and very useful collection...It serves as a reminder of why engaged scholarship remains vital and an example of how well it can be done."
- African Studies Review

African Books Collective, Oxford