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Freedom Is a Strange Feeling

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Freedom Is a Strange Feeling FREEDOM IS A British Guiana Jagan Wants STRANGE FEELING Independence '^illllllllllllllllliilllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllll lllllllllilllllllllllllllllllillllllllllllllllllllllllltllllllllllllll| By May 31 1 Says HENRI ALLEG, Algerian resistance hero whose book on the tortures to which j I he and others had been subjected first showed the world that the French colonialists were | Dr. Cheddi Jagan, Prime Minister of British Guiana, and' a guest at I using in Algeria the same methods as the Nazis. Alleg recently escaped from a French | the Tanganyikan Independence Celebrations, told a press-conference E jail after five years imprisonment and is now in Czechoslovakia. e in Dar es Salaam that he was meeting Mr. Maudling, the Colonial Secretary, to demand the fixing of ^iiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiim Illllllillllllllllllllllllllllllltllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllir his country’s independence date. The main opposition party had asked for independence on May 31, OW that I am free there is come, and when it did we hoped started all over again. 1962, and he was in full agreement. that we would not wake up in the This is why hunger-strikes were N an odd feeling that 1 can­ morning to sec another of our held so often. A recent one lasted Asked if British Guiana would not shake off. until the Algerian prisoners forced become a member of the Common­ friends die. wealth, he said that his country was Tt is the strangeness, after years Nor did those sentenced to death the French administration to con­ Henri Alleg cede to their demands and grant committed to do so, if the Common­ in prison, of being able to walk sleep. They remained awake so wealth was still there. With regard freely in the streets, of being able that they would not be surprised them the status of f>oliticaI prisr oners. women who have been driven out to relations with South Africa, Dr. to open a window and finding that by the sudden arrival of the guards of their villages now live in camps. Jagan said that Guianian trade with no iron bars obstruct the view. and the police who would drag This was a hig victory for the In spite of this they continue South Africa had been suspended Now my heart does not shrink them to the guillotine hardly prisoners who had been demanding their struggle under the leadership since 1960. Legislation had been every time T meet a policeman; awake. this for years. of their Government. But their enacted at the begining of this year now I can smile at him, knowing They wanted to die fully awake hopes for peace are great. to bar trade with the Republic. he is a friend. and alert so that they could shout Patriots Peace is possible if the French He told another questioner that I often think of the prison their confidence in the victory of Government stops manoeuvring, his country would either be called where I left so many friends. their country. Or if others were Their determination and their if it stops talking about peace New Guiana or Eldorado. He stated Particularly do I remember the to die we wanted to hearten them heroism have won the admiration while pontinuing the war, if it that he was a Socialist and would hard times in the De Barberoussc with our songs. of the whole world. Yet it is still ends its plans to divide Algeria, maintain friendly relations with Prison in Algiers. We lived under such conditions necessary to say that the conditions and if it sincerely wishes to nego­ Cuba and other West Indian ter­ In a few days’ time it will be in 1957 and 1958. Thanks to the of the concentration camps in tiate with the provisional Govern­ ritories. two years since we began a hunger actions organised by the prisoners which patriots are held, are remi­ ment of the Algerian Republic. His Government was not at this strike which was to have lasted 12 and our hunger strikes, thanks also niscent of those of nazi prisons. stage considering the nationalisation davs. No matter what happens, My prison mates and I were just to international solidarity and, The Algerian people as a whole of anything but he stated that above the death cell in which there above all, the struggle of the have suffered terribly during the Algeria will become independ­ colonial looting was responsible for were 120 prisoners at that time. Algerian people, things changed. seven years of war. More than a ent sooner or later and the the prosperity of Britain and other There were some improvements, million of their sons have been people of Algeria will take the metropolitan countries. In inter­ We staged the hunger strike to but no sooner were they won than murdered by the French colonial­ national relations a policy of non- obtain some improvement in the road of social progress and terrible conditions which prevailed the French administration put an ists. alignment would be followed by in that and all other Algerian end to them and our problems Thousands of Algerian men and real democracy. his country. prisons. The French colonialists refused to consider us as political prison­ ers. Our peonle were often treated worse than the common criminals Lutuli’s Portrait At Tanganyika Celebrations who enjoyed advantages we were denied. We didn’t have beds, bedclothes One of the sights at the recent Tanganyika Independence celebrations at Dar Es Salaam was a spiritedly and with much enthu­ or tables. We ate from rusty pots huge picture of South Africa’s Chief Lutuli displayed alongsidie the new Tanganyikan flag, siasm. on the floor. A procession of Ibirly floats writes New Age reporter James Hadebe in a dispatch received this week. toured the newly pronounced City ^IllillllllllllllllllllllilllllllltllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllilllllUllllllllllllllllllltllllllUtllllllllllimilllllllllll'^ visitors from all of Dar Es Salaam. The first and The G uards second prizes for the best float) = over the world remarked on the were awarded to those which The prison guards beat the pris­ E stupidity of the Nationalist carried the South African refugee- oners with keys, fists and constantly E government in refusing Chief frcedoni-fightcrs. They received insulted them. On the slightest AT THE STATE BAU = Lutuli permission to attend the silver trophies. pretext prisoners got two or three celebrations, M r. Hadebe adds. At a press conference attended months’ solitarv confinement. Other highlights of the celebra­ bv about 150 members of the Each morning death awaited oversea press the Duke of Edin­ two or three Algerian prisoners. tions were;— burgh chatted for several minutes At night we waited in vain to to the New Ace representative sleep. Sometimes sleep would not about South African affairs and asked about Chief Lutuli and his The unveiling of the Indepen­ policies. dence monument, a stone obelisk Mr. Nyerere. the Prime Minis­ Bechuanaland Bans 33 ft. hijjh and surmounted by a ter, received the gifts to Tangan­ torch. At its base is the inscrip­ yika from various governments tion “Uhuru na Umoja” (Free­ at his oflficial residence. These Sunday Meetings dom and Unitv), which is also included £2().0(X) from Nigeria “to the new inscription on the Tangan­ spend as he deemed fit”, £31 mil­ PALAPYE yika coat of arms. lion from West Germany. 10 mil­ “Khama’s law for the Bamang- lion dollars from the U.S.A., 100 wato and the tribal law which is scholarships for various courses observed throughout the tribal ter­ from Israel, and scholarships ritories docs not allow public as The lowering of the British flag from Australia. opnosed to private meetings to be to the cheering of some 8(),0(K) ★ held on Sundays.” states a letter citizens, and the raising of the from the Government Secretary to There was a colourful youth new green, black and gold Tan­ display at the National Stadium Mr. M. K. Mnho, Secretary of the ganyikan flag to the accompani­ Bechuanaland People’s Party. ment of the Mungu ihariki Afrika attended bv the Prime Minister, (Nkosi Sikelela i Afrika in Swa­ foreign eiiests and local citizens. Drinking and sports activities are hili) the Tanganvikan national The youth of all races vigorously regarded as social events of a private anthem. The Governor Sir took part, very impressively show­ nature and not public meetings and Richard Turnbull and the Prime ing pride and awareness of their are therefore excluded from the ban, Minister Mr. Julius Nyerere stood role in the new Tanganyika. states the letter, which adds that the close bv the flag-post throughout Government does not want to inter­ the ceremony and looked coldly fere in this matter “particularly as at each other for a few moments. The celebrations went off in this case it would seem that the Those were the most thought- smoothly, too smoothly in fact, attitude of the Tribal Authorities for - there was a lot of the very nrovokinc and deep moments of stiff, formal and British conserva­ has the support of a considerable this particular occasion. weight of public opinion in this tive atmosphere. The citv was rural conservative area.” pleasantly decorated, and the wpntVier good throughout. The B.P.P. feels that this ban is Taneanyika has gained in­ a deliberate tactic to prevent the After the adiournment of the development of opposition political Parliament of the first independent dependence. All that remains parties in Bechuanaland. Tanganyikan Government, which is KAZI—as the Tanganyika will reassemble on Februarv 13. African National Union slo­ “If the Government want to test 196?. the Prime Minister and the the feeling of the people on this Mini"ter of Fdueation. Mr. Oscar gan savs — Uhura na Kazi — matter, let them put it to the peo­ Kambona. and other ministers and FREEDOM AND WORK.
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