'we are pushing' - Zambian socialist politicians and the dialectics of waiting

Abstract (English)

Following Tuck and Yang's (2014) insistence that 'Decolonisation is not a metaphor' in the multipolar world, requires reckoning with the emerging powers that be. Re-insituting indigenous power and governance, disentangling the neocolonial apparatus of the past century, begins with, but may not end with, the withdrawal of Western hegemony. The strengthening of the Marxist-Leninist Left in Africa, galvanised by the AES overthrow of the French, the rise of China and continued struggles on the continent, is at its core informed by a dialectical materialist strategy, controlled at the helm by Dr. Fred M'membe, the wealthy socialist businessman, public figure, beneficiary of the 90s privatisation and former owner of Zambia's top independent newspaper. The Zambian Copperbelt politician, born into a world where modernity had collapsed with the ailing copper industry (Ferguson 1999) - these religious, aspirational, organised, Pan-Africanist and educated youth are beset with everyday struggles, with a repressive authoritarian government, limited resources, many responsiblities as leaders of their desperate communities, all whilst the country faces massive inflation. In this atmosphere, where there is little opportunity for 'moving' (Haynes 2017), are merely 'getting by' (Mususa 2010), how does the Zambian ethic of 'pushing' project forward an individualist and collectivist vision of progress and development. This work draws upon 15 months of fieldwork in the Zambian Copperbelt, with aspiring politicians and activists of the Socialist Party of Zambia.