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Simon Zukas: Difference between revisions
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As a soldier in East Africa during World War II, he had acquired a profound distance for racism and the assumptions of white superiority that seemed to him part and parcel of the colonial enterprise. Overcoming African suspicions, he helped organise opposition to Federation, one of the few whites to work with African groups. It cost him most of his white friends at the time when it was difficult to be accepted on familiar terms by Africans.<ref name="biography"/> | As a soldier in East Africa during World War II, he had acquired a profound distance for racism and the assumptions of white superiority that seemed to him part and parcel of the colonial enterprise. Overcoming African suspicions, he helped organise opposition to Federation, one of the few whites to work with African groups. It cost him most of his white friends at the time when it was difficult to be accepted on familiar terms by Africans.<ref name="biography"/> | ||
Zukas | Zukas was an important activist for Zambia's independence. After a stint in the army and at university in Cape Town he campaigned against colonial rule, which led to him being imprisoned for eight months and eventually deported to England in 1952. He continued to campaign from London, until being invited to return home when Zambia finally won its independence in 1964.<ref name="cnn">[http://edition.cnn.com/2012/01/19/world/africa/zambia-jewish-history/index.html CNN, The forgotten story of Zambia's Jewish settlers, January 19, 2012]</ref>. He stayed in exile for eleven years.<ref name="biography"> Eugenia W. Herbert (2004). Review of Simon Zukas 'Into Exile and Back' African Studies Review, 47, pp 235-236. doi:10.1017/S0002020600030730. </ref> | ||
An active participant in the country’s struggle for independence, he was eventually deported to Britain but, following statehood, was invited in 1965 to return by the new country’s president [[Kenneth Kaunda]] and went on to be a [[government minister]].<ref>[https://www.lusakatimes.com/2021/09/28/simon-zukas-has-died-aged-96/ Simon Zukas has died aged 96], [[Lusaka Times]]</ref> | |||
He gradually became disillusioned with the [[United National Independence Party|UNIP]] and [[Kenneth Kaunda|President Kaunda]]’s one-party state and became one founders of the Movement for Multi-party Democracy (MMD). After the party’s triumph in the [[1991 elections]], he served as [[Member of Parliament]] and a member of the government in several positions, finally resigning after the government tried to prevent Kaunda from [[1996 elections|contesting the presidency in 1996]] on the grounds that he was not a Zambian citizen.<ref name="biography"/> | He gradually became disillusioned with the [[United National Independence Party|UNIP]] and [[Kenneth Kaunda|President Kaunda]]’s one-party state and became one founders of the Movement for Multi-party Democracy (MMD). After the party’s triumph in the [[1991 elections]], he served as [[Member of Parliament]] and a member of the government in several positions, finally resigning after the government tried to prevent Kaunda from [[1996 elections|contesting the presidency in 1996]] on the grounds that he was not a Zambian citizen.<ref name="biography"/> | ||
