Drive-In Socialism: Debating Modernities and Development in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania
2013; Oxford University Press; Volume: 118; Issue: 4 Linguagem: Inglês
10.1093/ahr/118.4.1077
ISSN1937-5239
Autores Tópico(s)African history and culture studies
ResumoIN MAY 1966, THE FIRST—and perhaps only—socialist drive-in on the planet opened in Tanzania, on the site of what is today the American embassy in the nation’s capital, Dar es Salaam.1 The brainchild of C. C. Patel, a cunning and well-connected insurance magnate with business, political, and family ties throughout East Africa, with the assistance of Second Vice-President Rashid Kawawa, a former actor, the drive-in was heralded by leading Tanzanian politicians as a stunning example of the modernist development opportunities achievable through African socialism.2 At the ribbon-cutting ceremony, the minister of commerce and cooperatives, Abdulrahman Mohamed Babu, an avowed Marxist and an avid supporter of state socialism, hailed it as an “exemplary project of co-operation” between private enterprise and the socialist state.3 The capital for building and operating the drive-in was provided entirely by Patel. The Tanzanian government acquired a 30 percent stake in the
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