Palaver Finish
|
|
|
This is a slender work, more of a pamphlet than a book, which nevertheless packs a hefty punch. Chenjerai Hove is a Zimbabwean writer whose output has included novels, poems and essays. Palaver Finish brings together some 21 of his recent columns from the Zimbabwe Standard, one of the last newspapers to carry material critical of Robert Mugabe’s regime.
Hove’s incandescent anger and contempt for the lies and platitudes of the time-serving politicians, opposition as well as government, burns off the page. The squandered potential of Zimbabwe is crystallized in a heartbreaking essay of less than three pages entitled ‘Zimbabwe’s Lost Visions’ in which Hove excoriates the bad faith of a political élite intent only on self-enrichment as the infrastructure of the country crumbles and violence takes root at the heart of society.
There are words that recur in these pieces whose repetition beats out a rhythm of rage and despair while speaking of an alternative possible future: ‘culture’, ‘censorship’, ‘creativity’, ‘control’, ‘conscience’. For Hove the rulers of his country are thugs and vandals who have knowingly created a climate of fear in which each individual is beset with ‘mini states of emergency which reside in the heart’. This is an impassioned polemic from a writer agonizingly aware of the catastrophic path his country is taking and doing his utmost to alter that course.
- Product information
- by Chenjerai Hove
- Publisher
- Weaver Press
- Product number
- ISBN 1 77922 001 4
- Star rating
- Product link
- www.africanbookscollective.com
Join over 30,000 people just like you. Get e-mail updates about new content, action alerts, contests, and more!
Voices from the margins:
Multimedia: video, podcasts, and more.
- Poetry Slam in Zimbabwe
- The House of Hunger poetry slam held in Zimbabwe in 2006, and organised by the Pamberi Trust, showcased young artists performing inspirational work on issues from corporate power to child soldiers. The video features four of the poets.
Published by Pambazuka News.
- Iranian women speak out
- 3 March 2007, London. Women's rights activists marched through the English capital last week to celebrate International Women's Day with a protest against the misogyny of the Islamic regime in Iran and the threat of invasion by the US. Hear the voices of Iranian feminists Azar and Leila Parnian and the sounds of the demonstration as it passed through the heart of the city. Click here to learn more about the campaign.
Produced by Heidi Bachram.
- Raised Voices audio:
- Benny from West Papua on Corporate Power
- Vinayan from India on agriculture
