Prof. Mazrui reply to attacks by Wole Soyinka

How early in my life did I identify with the African side of my ancestry? My answer is that I became a Pan-Africanist as soon as I became politically conscious in colonial Kenya. By the time I was an undergraduate at the University of Manchester in England I was Pan-African enough to be elected President of the African Students’ Association, leading a membership which included Nigerians, Ghanaians as well as East Africans. They all looked to me for leadership. As an African I never looked back.
I do not need Wole Soyinka’s stamp of confirmation that I am an African. My identity is in my blood, my ancestry, my history, my commitment, my life. If I was somebody constantly looking for approval from people who were "blacker" than me, I would have kept a low profile instead of becoming a controversial African political analyst. If I was looking for the stamp of approval from governments which were "blacker" than me, I would not have challenged Milton Obote and Idi Amin of Uganda, Daniel Arap Moi of Kenya or Julius K. Nyerere of Tanzania. Obote was sometimes tempted to detain me or expel me; Idi Amin eventually wished he had eliminated me; and Julius Nyerere was in recurrent debates with me. Moi does not know what to do with me. And yet none of the politicians have tried to dis-Africanize me unlike Wole! What a pity! Why do you descend to ethnic politics?
Mr. Soyinka, your interpretation of my behaviour as a human being is so simplistic that it does not do justice to you as a writer and intellectual. Shall I tell you how I would have behaved if I wanted to live down my ancestry and play to the gallery of those who claim to be "purely Black"? First and foremost, I would not have used the name "MAZRUI" as my surname. Since surnames are a Western tradition, I could have used instead the name of my father or grandfather as my surname. There are other members of the Mazrui clan who have chosen to do without the Mazrui name, including some very distinguished Kenyans. They have thus disguised their ancestry. The name "Mazrui" is well-established in East African history. By CHOOSING it as my surname, I decided I could be an African without denying my historic ancestry. That was not a sign of guilt-ridden opportunism.
Secondly, if in the post colonial era I wanted to play down the Arab side of my descent, I would avoid the Arabs. I have done nothing of the kind. Although I have both Arab friends and Arab relatives, they treat me as their AFRICAN relative. I lecture about Africa in the Arab world, and often wear a kente scarf instead of an Arab turban when I speak in the Middle East. I do not try to affirm my Africanity by rejecting my Arab relatives. Is that a sign of guilt-ridden opportunism?
Thirdly, I came from an African country where Muslims are a minority (Kenya). If I wanted to play to the dominant Christo-secular gallery in Kenya, I would not choose to be highly visible as a spokesperson for Muslim minorities. Indeed, I would not choose to become one of the most highly visible Islamicist scholars from Africa. I have chosen not to affirm my Africanity by hiding my Islamicity. Is that a sign of guilt-ridden opportunism?
I have never worried about religious tolerance from followers of African traditional religion. I have said time and again that I regarded the indigenous tradition as the most ecumenical of Africa’s triple heritage. Mr. Soyinka, you have not read my writings. You do not have to. But do not pretend you know anything about what I stand for. If you had only seen my TV series, or read the companion book The Africans: A Triple Heritage, you would know that I repeatedly give full credit to the tolerance and ecumenical spirit of Africa’s traditional religion. It is a pity you like to attack a TV series you have never seen (like mine) and defend some other TV series before you have ever watched it (like Gates’). If you have to be judgmental, I can think of more rational ways of evaluating television series than your idiosyncratic methods.
Fourthly, if I was insecure about my Africanity and was afraid of the disapproval of the so-called "pure Black Africans", I would have kept a low political profile in the sub-region of Africa where I belong. Let me repeat. I would not have gone around either irritating or infuriating powerful "Black African" Presidents in Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania. I certainly would not have engaged in public debates on sensitive policies with Milton Obote when he was in power in Uganda. On one occasion he attacked me in a presidential speech in the Uganda Parliament ­ but he never used a single ethnic epithet against me. To the credit of all those African politicians, they never questioned my Africanity. They knew more about the Mazrui in history than you do. They certainly did not make their recognition of my Africanity dependent on my good behaviour, as you seem to be doing. Our East African leaders might have had many faults, but (apart from Idi Amin with regard to Indians) they were less "racially purist" in public posture than Mr. Wole Soyinka. I spoke my mind and criticized their faults. Was that the behaviour of an insecure guilt-ridden Arab opportunist? My relationship with Idi Amin had its ups and downs.
But even when I criticized his policy towards Uganda Indians, he never questioned my Africanity. Like you, I have interacted with the high and mighty in politics, diplomacy, the military, high society as well as academia. But unlike you, I am a minor player and could easily have been brushed aside in ethnic terms. Yet as far as I know only you, Bioden Jayefo and William Ochieng (a Moi academic supporter in Kenya) have ever publicly played the ethnic card against me.
Yours is an exclusive club of three racial purists among African intellectuals! Congratulations!!
When President Idi Amin in Uganda did not like the challenge of Frank Kalimuzo, he said Kalimuzo was not a Ugandan. Amin later killed Kalimuzo. When Patrick Chiluba, President of Zambia, did not like the challenge of Kenneth Kaunda, Patrick Chiluba said Kaunda was not a Zambian. When President Konan-Bedie of the Ivory Coast did not like the challenge of Alassane O. Outtara, the incumbent president said the challenger was not Ivorian.
Similarly when Wole Soyinka does not like the challenge of Ali Mazrui, Wole Soyinka says that Ali Mazrui is not an African!! Can you imagine? How different is Soyinka from the likes of Idi Amin, Patrick Chiluba, and Konan-Bedie apart from the fact that Soyinka does not control the state apparatus? The authoritarianism in Kongi Soyinka is unmistakable!

VI. CONCLUDING OBSERVATIONS
Let me paraphrase from the 2nd Earl of Birkenhead (1872-1933): Soyinka: You are extremely offensive, against Mazrui! Mazrui: As a matter of fact, we both are. The only difference is that I am trying to be offensive, while you can’t help being offensive! At least your Mr. Hyde can’t! I can fully understand why Mr. Soyinka would want to defend Gates. But until this latest dirty exchange between Soyinka and myself, I have never been sure why he was so hostile towards me.
The Southern Sudanese scholar, Dr. Dunstan Wai, called these symptoms "MAZRUIPHOBIA". But a more elaborate psychiatric explanation for Soyinka’s "Mr. Hyde" mentality and his animosity towards me personally comes from another distinguished Nigerian literary figure. ("Soyinka, their Soyinka"). According to this literary critic, there was one coincidence in 1986 which was bound to disturb a mind as proud as Wole’s. Wole Soyinka won the Nobel Prize and Ali Mazrui aired the first global TV series by an African both in 1986. For at least a few months as many people discussed Ali Mazrui’s TV series as refereed to Soyinka’s Nobel Prize. This was intolerable to Soyinka’s monopolistic pride, especially since Ali Mazrui was a Muslim. Soyinka did not want to share the limelight even for a few months with an African Muslim! Mr. Hyde was possessive in any case about the limelight! But my being a Muslim was the last straw.
So Soyinka (or his Hyde) embarked on a crusade to demean and denounce my TV series. That campaign of yours is fully documented. You turned against me from 1986. You called me a born-again Islamic fundamentalist because I had dared to share the limelight very briefly with you in 1986. Kwame Nkrumah would be uneasy in his distorted? That question of wisdom and prudence still remains. Is comparing Gates to Garvey a hyperbole? I certainly hope so! I certainly hope that the negative impact of Gates on Pan-Africanism is not as lasting as the positive impact of Marcus Garvey. But who is to know? Marcus Garvey died almost a pauper in 1940. Few people thought his influence would be long lasting. And yet in 1999 the natural scientists of Africa (chemists, biologists, and physicists) gave him a posthumous Distinguished Award for his services to Africa. The African Academy of Science gave this award at their conference in Tunisia in April, 1999.
I was designated to receive the award in Tunisia on behalf of the family of Marcus Garvey. I also gave the acceptance speech. I brought the award back to the United States and handed it over to Dr. Julius Garvey, Marcus Garvey’s son. Receiving the Garvey Award on behalf of his family was one of my great honours of the 20th century. And yet this man, Marcus Garvey, died almost a pauper and in obscurity sixty years ago. Skip Gates is not a pauper, and may the Lord grant him continuing prosperity. Skip has remarkable access to the highest echelons of the Western media. Is it really that far-fetched to envisage a scenario in which Skip Gates would leave his mark on Black perspectives? If Skip does become a major historical figure, I hope his impact will be much healthier than that of "Wonders of the African World". Skip may not himself be encyclopedic, but he is controlling encyclopedias! Garvey had no such mechanisms of dissemination. You are right that in 1999 I wrote far too often in the Gates debate. But the frequency of my interventions was neither a crusade nor a jihad.
Originally I envisaged three interventions in all ­ my first one ("The Preliminary Critique"); secondly, a reply to the hundreds of Internet participants who responded to my "Critique"; and thirdly, my response to Gates himself in his rebuttal of my arguments.
What provoked additional responses from me was not Gates himself but Biodun Jayefo and his startlingly personal attacks on me. I thought B.J. singularly lacked "decorum" and brazenly lacked "proportion". But that was before you lately joined the debate. The vitriol of your latest onslaught!! You used to combine rudeness with art. Now there is only rudeness. Alas, the pity of it!!
Dear Mr. Soyinka, you clearly have no idea what the concept of collective love means.
If someone sincerely says "I love my people" of course he or she includes those who have fallen from grace as well as those who strive for perfection. Likewise, when I said "I love Black America", I did not simply mean I loved the Randall Robinsons and the Martin Luther Kings. I also meant I loved those on death row, and the millions of others damaged by history. I also loved simply those whose views or values I regarded as fundamentally wrong. That is what loving a whole people means, Mr. Soyinka. Even patriotism means loving the saints and the sinners.
Obviously collective love to you means discarding Carole Mosely-Brown and Roy Innis and anybody else who does not put the latest dictator in Africa at the centre of their global and universal moral code. We cannot abuse our brothers and sisters in the Diaspora by the yardstick of whether or not they are polite to Daniel arap Moi or some other African tyrant. Before harassing African Americans who had dealings with Sani Abacha, have you resolved never to speak to hundreds of thousands of fellow Nigerians who had many more extensive dealings with Abacha?
In December 1992 I wrote to you a letter and begged you to stop quarrelling with me. I said: "I would like to return to the normality which once characterized our relationship. Younger Africans look up to us as intellectual elders. We have lately been disturbing their peace of mind . . . . If you would stop abusing me in public, we could be friends and serve our people better." (See Appendix) Instead you have opened the new millennium with your new HATE MAIL! The pity of it; yes, the pity of it! Please re-read my 1992 plea for reconciliation that is attached here. Each time you have attacked me, it has been totally unprovoked. You slapped me last evening; I am slapping you this afternoon. Even if you and I cannot be friends, can we at least end this public brawl? If it will keep the peace between us, I will even settle for the aphorism of Thomas Szasz (The Second Sin, 1973): The stupid neither forgive nor forget; the naive forgive and forget; the wise forgive but do not forget. Let us settle for the silent wisdom of forgiving even if we cannot forget.


Mazrui’s letter to Soyinka

PLEA FOR RECONCILIATION
Professor Wole Soyinka Chair of the Editorial Board Transition
1430 Massachusetts Avenue,
4th floor Cambridge,
Massachusetts 02138

Dear Wole:
We missed you in November at the African Studies meetings in Seattle. Many people were disappointed that you were not able to come. I hope you are well (health-wise). We were concerned. Upon my return from Seattle I found Transition No. 57. I do appreciate your desire to put an end to this fratricidal warfare between you and me, though your concept of giving me "the last word" seemed a little ambivalent! You allowed yourself a couple of additional pages of entirely new accusations of "diabolical" proportions.
The Democrat newspaper in Kaduna, Northern Nigeria, is not my "mouthpiece". I respect the newspaper. But even before I alerted The Democrat, I had alerted The Guardian in Southern Nigeria (through Dr. Olatunji Dare) that I was about to answer Wole Soyinka’s repeated attacks on me and my TV series. Given that you had been attacking my TV series since at least 1988, it was a fair assumption that some of your attacks were made within Nigeria.
When I finally wrote my response for readers of Transition, I wanted to alert Nigerians also of what I had to say in my defence. I therefore alerted The Guardian in the South and The Democrat in the North about the Transition debate and where I stood. As you may know, The Guardian had lead-time since I was their 1991 Distinguished Anniversary Public lecturer. I tipped The Guardian off about the impending transition debate!! Was that also "diabolical", to use your word?
On the basis purely of your own reaction, I deduce that The Guardian ignored my disagreement with you, while the northern Nigerian newspaper, The Democrat, did not.
Did the former publish nothing while the latter published my defence? Is that what happened? I had nothing to do with which newspaper published what. Indeed, I still have not seen what you say The Democrat published. The Democrat did not send me a copy of what they had used. They did not consult me before going to press. Above all, I am not guilty of trying to incite Northern Nigerian Muslims against their distinguished compatriot, as you seem to suggest. Heavens forbid. Nothing "diabolical" was conspired.
Are The Guardian and The Democrat the only newspapers I alerted about the Soyinka/Mazrui debate? As you know, I am myself a Kenyan. I have written articles from time to time for the Sunday Nation in Nairobi. I alerted the Sunday Nation about my defence against your original charges. The paper made its own selection of what to publish. I had nothing to do with what the newspaper selected. (However, it was good East African publicity for Transition! Definitely nothing "diabolical" there!)
You refer to a "Satanic Trilogy" - presumably omitting both your original article in Transition No. 51 which provoked my response, and your final two-pages in Transition No. 57 implying a diabolical conspiracy between a Kenyan Muslim and a Northern Nigerian Newspaper. Clearly you do not think your original charges were "Satanic"? Nor do you Satanise your final two pages (after allegedly letting me have "the last word"). Alas, our differences in perception are about more than a mere television series. I, the victim of unfounded charges, is turned into the culprit of a "Satanic" debate.
Wole, nothing would please me more than to put all this fratricide ehind us. But it does not help when you come up with new allegations in every new response. By all means let us stop arguing in the columns of Transition. But what can I say in semi-private correspondence to convince you that (a) I am not an intolerant religious fanatic (b) my TV series does not denigrate indigenous African culture (c) I am as African as you are and (d) I have not entered into a conspiracy with The Democrat to incite Northern Nigerian Muslims against you? (In any case, I do not regard Nigerian Muslims as fanatics waiting to be incited! But I do agree that Nigeria as a whole has a sectarian problem.)
I would like to return to the normality, which once characterized our relationship. Younger Africans look up to us as intellectual elders. We have lately been disturbing their peace of mind with our quarrels. If you would stop abusing me in public, we could be friends and serve our people better.
Best wishes of the season and Happy New Year to you and to your loved ones.
Yours sincerely,

Ali A. Mazrui, D.Phil., (Oxon)