From 1961 to 1985, under the leadership of Julius Nyerere, Tanzania was among the poorest countries in the world. Much of that was due to the policies of socialism or 'ujamaa' which he had introduced in the late 1960s. These policies killed the morale of the people and instead of being motivated, the people of Tanzania were in apathy. Nyerere's brand of socialism involved persuading people to choose new ways of living in new villages while breaking ties with their customary ways of life. The media, all of which was state owned, was instrumental in persuading people to change their ways of living. The author believes the wills of the people are sacred. But 'ujamaa' did not respect the individual wills of the people to choose things on their own. In 1992 the multi-party system was introduced. Before that Tanzania was a one party state. Today in Tanzania things have changed and there are a lot of free media outlets and people are free to choose their own lifestyles due to a free enterprise that has replaced 'ujamaa.' This is a book about the use of mass media in persuading people to participate in socialism. The author analyses the use of media in persuasion in Tanzania during 'ujamaa' experimentation. This experimentation was in the shadowy footprints of soviet communism. This work is about the use of mass media, the failure of the 'ujamaa' experiment and misuse of political machineries to disrespect, dwarf and oppress the wills of the people which are sacred.
About the Author: HUBERT TEMBA was educated at the Iowa State University of Science and Technology (MSc), University of Minnesota (BA) and University of Nairobi (DSJ). BORN on the slopes of Mt. Kilimanjaro, in Tanzania, Hubert Temba attended St Francis College, Pugu during which time he would write news articles for the Tanzanian Standard on school holidays. After graduating from St Francis College, he worked briefly for "The Daily News" paper in Dar es Salaam. Then he left to study radio, newspaper and television journalism at the University of Nairobi, Kenya where he was the first foreign correspondent to report to the world about the student riots at the campus then. Even as a college student at Nairobi, he wrote a weekly newspaper column in the East African news weekly "Taifa Wiki". After finishing at the top of the graduating class he won an award to visit 14 cities in Europe and Britain to further study radio, newspaper and television journalism. He was recruited to be a Reuter's foreign correspondent during that time. . Upon return from Europe, he worked briefly at the offices of The "Daily News" and "Sunday News" of Tanzania who quickly made him a copy editor while giving him a weekly column. Not for too long before he won a Fulbright Award. He headed for the University of Minnesota where he earned a 4-year degree in 18 months. This academic achievement of finishing a degree in record time won him a second Fulbright Award. This would send him to Iowa State University, Ames Iowa (USA) to study for the degree of the Master of Science in Journalism and Mass Communication. While a graduate (MSc) student at Iowa State University, he also studied music while forming with his "The Hubert Temba Band", a five member rock band. He also had a weekly radio show "Music of the World" on ISU student radio station... Mr. Temba is now a publisher/member of the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers (ASCAP), author of several books and also a singer/songwriter... He has his own website huberttemba.com to which he is the webmaster.