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Mwalimu Julius Kambarage Nyerere was the father of southern African liberation, and one of the founding fathers of the Southern African Development Community. Born in Butiama near Lake Victoria on 13 April 1922, when he passed away 10 years ago on 14 October 1999, Africans everywhere shared the sense of loss felt by Tanzanians.

He was Baba wa taifa, father of the nation, the moving force for the independence of Tanganyika on 9 December 1961 and for its unity with Zanzibar on 26 April 1964 to create the United Republic of Tanzania. A charismatic leader of sharp intellect and great personal integrity, he welded a country and a national identity from over 120 ethnic groups, united by their language Swahili and by a social harmony constructed on the ideals of peace, justice, unity and personal commitment.

His firm support for equality and tolerance ranged across all diversity of race, religion, class and gender. He encouraged Tanzanian women to play a leadership role in society and adopted a parliamentary system that has guaranteed seats for women. His pursuit of an equitable socio-economic society through collective self-reliance was more difficult than he had envisaged, and he once said that "we are very good at sharing the wealth in Tanzania but I only wish we had made more wealth to share."

Tanganyika's independence in 1961 was an inspiration to those who believed that political independence could be achieved by non-violent means and he worked tirelessly…

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Speech by Mwalimu Julius K. Nyerere at the Opening Ceremony of the Second Meeting of the Council of Representatives at the U.N. Trusteeship Council in New York on the 21st September 1998

Council of Representatives of the South Centre. We are honoured by the presence of our distinguished guests -President Mandela and Minister Al Atas, whom I warmly welcome and thank for finding some time in their very busy schedules to be able to be with us here.

During the next two years the Council will be exploring in detail the work accomplished and the experience gained during the last three years and it will chart the future course of the Centre. At this opening session, and in the presence of our distinguished leaders from South, I would like to stress the political and practical significance of the South Centre.

Today, we in the South live and operate in an external economic and political environment which profoundly affects and limits our situation and our choices and economic and social environment is not .'God given". It is "man made", and those who design it and run it happen to be the powerful from the North.

We from the South have little say, if any regarding this external setting, its rules and the application of these rules. We have very little, if any, influence on its operation and its management. Our position has not been helped by the pronounced weakening of the United Nations rote and voice in the economic sphere, and the general erosion of…

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International high level conference on mwalimu julius.kambarage nyerere to be held at the university of edinburgh, scotland 9th -12t of november, 2009.

Today the world knows a lot about President Nelson Mandela but seemingly conveniently always forgetting that Mwalimu Julius Kambarage Nyerere, a late Tanzanian President was a man behind Mandela Success. Without Nyerere effort's we probably would have had the Mandela's success story as we have it today, as presented to the world.

Let me walk you down the history lane to refresh our recollection. In 1959 Mwalimu Nyerere together with Archbishop Trevor Huddleston, founded the Anti-Apartheid Movement in Britain. In 1980s during the campaign for South Africa Nuclear Disarmament, the movement had individual membership of 6,000 people, and attracted 700 organizations, including the Labour, Liberal and Social Democratic parties affiliated. These together represented more than 18 million people.

This implies that whatever success Mandela is afforded it was because of Mwalimu Nyerere's high involvement which made it happen. In sum Tanzania could have had a better economy today if it did not accept sacrifices in building the future and freedom fighting for the region of southern Africa. Mwalimu Nyerere was true to his principles and his vision. He empowered ANC and Mandela. At the end, his vision of a liberated Africa was achieved.

Mwalimu Nyerere's story is one of the best untold stories as…

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Julius Nyerere, the former and founding President of the United Republic of Tanzania, is known not only as one of the world's most respected statesmen and an articulate spokesman of African
liberation and African dignity but also as an educator and an original and creative educational thinker. Before launching his political career, he was a teacher, and as a result of his writings on
educational philosophy and the intimate interaction between his political leadership and educational leadership for the country, he is fondly and respectfully referred to by the title of "Mwalimu"
(teacher) by Tanzanians and others.

This is Gillette's view of him: Indeed, part of Nyerere's charisma lies in the fact that, before launching his political career with the founding of the Tanganyika African National Union (TANU) in 1954, he was a teacher and that his concept of his role as national leader includes constant reassessment, learning and explanation, i.e. education in the broadest sense. Since Independence, and particularly since the threshold year of 1967, Tanzania has been something of a giant in-service seminar, with Nyerere in the professor's chair (Gillette, 1977).

Many features of his educational philosophy have a universal relevance and have inspired many educators and educational and development organizations around the world. In particular, his
educational philosophy has often been regarded as an appropriate and rational educational…

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Salma Maoulidi unpacks Nyerere's legacy in the realm of racial and religious tolerance. "As Nyerere became more exposed to politics and other races," she observes, "he attained the sophistication of tolerating mutual coexistence where acknowledging the humanity of others in lieu of settling scores informed a more encompassing political strategy." However, despite all his efforts and those of the liberation struggles, prevailing racial and religious tensions continue to find expression in post-independence Tanzania. Salma concludes that "Tanzania's inability to overcome the vestiges of racial and religious exclusion exposes the government's and the ruling party's inability (or unwillingness) to address racial and religious discrimination that continues to dominate Tanzania's political culture in a forthright and objective manner."

What does racial and religious tolerance signify to a nation like Tanzania? Is it solely the absence of violent conflicts i.e. kisiwa cha amani ('island/pocket of peace') as described by the current 'political speak'; or is it the absence of grievances explained as peaceful coexistence? Specifically, what is the legacy of Mwalimu Nyerere with regards to the question of racial and religious tolerance in the larger political culture of Tanzania?

The literature revieed for this piece suggests strongly that the question of racial and religious tolerance has been glossed over. The fuzziness with which the…

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One of the most important and respected African leaders to emerge out of the colonial era has passed away. Julius Nyerere, the former president of Tanzania, died of leukemia at age 77 on Oct. 14.

By Clarence Lusane <clusane@american.edu>, 19 October 1999

It is easy to be loved when one has an endless record of successes. Nyerere did it the hard way. He led Tanzania as its first president from 1962 until 1985 and he is as much noted for his mistakes as for his achievements.

As a contemporary of Zambia's Kenneth Kaunda, Ghana's Kwame Nkrumah and others from the liberation movement era of the 1950s and early 1960s, Nyerere flowered in a period of transition in Africa that saw black majorities come into power grappling with all the problems of development and democracy that colonialism had left behind. Nyerere's solution was what he called "African socialism." For Nyerere, this meant nationalizing property, banks and large plantations, as well as efforts at collective farming and one-party rule. Although Nyerere's policies did make Tanzanians more literate and healthier than before, they failed to eradicate Tanzania's poverty.

Nyerere sometimes mistakenly supported nationalist-talking African leaders such as the former Ugandan President Idi Amin, who was a butcher of the first order. He atoned for this by sending in Tanzanian troops to overthrow Idi Amin in 1979.

While as president and after his retirement,…

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Julius Nyerere, the former President of Tanzania and architect of Tanzania's Independence movement, is one of the few African leaders that will receive a favorable mention in history. From 1962 when he became president until his retirement in 1985--the first African leader to do so voluntarily--Nyerere worked to free the continent of Africa from white minority rule, and for closer ties between African states. He instilled a sense of limitless possibility among Tanzanians and Africans in general, and took wise steps to diminish the impact of ethnic identification in Tanzanian society. Nyerere's advocacy of self-reliance introduced a new paradigm for development in Africa

Author: Muna Kangsen

Julius Kambarage Nyerere was born on April 13, 1922 in Butiama, on the eastern shore of Lake Victoria in northwest Tanganyika. He was the son of a minor chief of the Uzanaki, a small ethnic group in Tanzania. Nyerere excelled in primary school and was permitted to study at Tanganyika's only secondary school at Tabora, a place he subsequently described as being "as close to Eaton as you can get in Africa". Nyerere received a scholarship to study at Makerere College in Uganda in the early in 1940's. He graduated in 1945 with a teaching degree and taught for several years in Makerere, where he helped found the Tanganyika African Association, a civic organization that assumed a greater political role as Tanganyika moved closer to its independence…

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