Arusha Declaration
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The Arusha Declaration ( sw, Azimio la Arusha) and
TANU Tanu may refer to: People * Malietoa Tanumafili I (1879–1939), Samoan prince * Tanu Nona (1902–1980), Australian pearler and politician * Tanu Roy (born 1980), Indian actress and model * Tanu (born 1997), a Finnish/Assyrian rapper Places * Ta ...
’s Policy on Socialism and Self Reliance (1967), referred to as the Arusha Declaration, is known as
Tanzania Tanzania (; ), officially the United Republic of Tanzania ( sw, Jamhuri ya Muungano wa Tanzania), is a country in East Africa within the African Great Lakes region. It borders Uganda to the north; Kenya to the northeast; Comoro Islands and ...
’s most prominent political statement of
African Socialism African socialism or Afrosocialism is a belief in sharing economic resources in a traditional African way, as distinct from classical socialism. Many African politicians of the 1950s and 1960s professed their support for African socialism, althou ...
, ‘
Ujamaa Ujamaa ( in Swahili) was a socialist ideology that formed the basis of Julius Nyerere's social and economic development policies in Tanzania after it gained independence from Britain in 1961. More broadly, ujamaa may mean "cooperative economics ...
’, or brotherhood (Kaitilla, 2007). The Arusha declaration is divided into five parts: The TANU “Creed”; The Policy of Socialism; The Policy of Self Reliance; the TANU Membership; and the Arusha Resolution.


Contents


Creed

Part one of the Arusha Declaration, The TANU “Creed”, outlines the principles of
socialism Socialism is a left-wing economic philosophy and movement encompassing a range of economic systems characterized by the dominance of social ownership of the means of production as opposed to private ownership. As a term, it describes the e ...
and the role of
government A government is the system or group of people governing an organized community, generally a state. In the case of its broad associative definition, government normally consists of legislature, executive, and judiciary. Government is a ...
: # That all human beings are equal; # That every individual has a right to dignity and respect; # That every citizen is an integral part of the Nation and has a right to take an equal part in Government at local, regional and national level; # That every citizen has a right to
freedom of expression Freedom of speech is a principle that supports the freedom of an individual or a community to articulate their opinions and ideas without fear of retaliation, censorship, or legal sanction. The right to freedom of expression has been recogni ...
, of
movement Movement may refer to: Common uses * Movement (clockwork), the internal mechanism of a timepiece * Motion, commonly referred to as movement Arts, entertainment, and media Literature * "Movement" (short story), a short story by Nancy Fu ...
, of
religious belief Faith, derived from Latin ''fides'' and Old French ''feid'', is confidence or trust in a person, thing, or In the context of religion, one can define faith as "belief in God or in the doctrines or teachings of religion". Religious people often ...
and of
association Association may refer to: *Club (organization), an association of two or more people united by a common interest or goal *Trade association, an organization founded and funded by businesses that operate in a specific industry *Voluntary associatio ...
within the context of the law; # That every individual has a right to receive from society protection of his life and of property according to the law; # That every citizen has a right to receive a just return for his labour; # That all citizens together possess all the natural resources of the country in trust for their descendants # That in order to ensure
economic justice Justice in economics is a subcategory of welfare economics. It is a "set of moral and ethical principles for building economic institutions". Economic justice aims to create opportunities for every person to have a dignified, productive and creativ ...
the State must have effective control over the principal means of production; and # That it is the responsibility of the State to intervene actively in the economic life of the Nation so as to ensure the well being of all citizens and so as to prevent the exploitation of one person by another or one group by another, and so as to prevent the accumulation of wealth to an extent which is inconsistent with a
classless society The term classless society refers to a society in which no one is born into a social class. Distinctions of wealth, income, education, culture, or social network might arise and would only be determined by individual experience and achievement ...
(Publicity Section, TANU, Dar es Salaam, 1967, p. 1). The aims and objects of the Arusha Declaration are: # To consolidate and maintain the independence of this country and the freedom of its people; # To safeguard the inherent dignity of the individual in accordance with the
Universal Declaration of Human Rights The Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) is an international document adopted by the United Nations General Assembly that enshrines the Human rights, rights and freedoms of all human beings. Drafted by a UN Drafting of the Universal De ...
; # To ensure that this country shall be governed by a democratic socialist government of the people; # To cooperate with all the political parties in
Africa Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent, after Asia in both cases. At about 30.3 million km2 (11.7 million square miles) including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of Earth's total surface area ...
engaged in the liberation of all Africa # To see the government mobilizes the resources of this country towards the elimination of
poverty Poverty is the state of having few material possessions or little income. Poverty can have diverse social, economic, and political causes and effects. When evaluating poverty in ...
,
ignorance Ignorance is a lack of knowledge and understanding. The word "ignorant" is an adjective that describes a person in the state of being unaware, or even cognitive dissonance and other cognitive relation, and can describe individuals who are unaware o ...
and
disease A disease is a particular abnormal condition that negatively affects the structure or function of all or part of an organism, and that is not immediately due to any external injury. Diseases are often known to be medical conditions that a ...
; # To see that the Government actively assists in the formation and maintenance of cooperative organizations; # To see that wherever possible the Government itself directly participates in the economic development of this country # To see that the Government gives equal opportunity to all men and women irrespective of race, religion or status; # To see that the Government eradicates all types of
exploitation Exploitation may refer to: *Exploitation of natural resources *Exploitation of labour ** Forced labour *Exploitation colonialism *Slavery ** Sexual slavery and other forms *Oppression *Psychological manipulation In arts and entertainment *Exploi ...
,
intimidation Intimidation is to "make timid or make fearful"; or to induce fear. This includes intentional behaviors of forcing another person to experience general discomfort such as humiliation, embarrassment, inferiority, limited freedom, etc and the victi ...
,
discrimination Discrimination is the act of making unjustified distinctions between people based on the groups, classes, or other categories to which they belong or are perceived to belong. People may be discriminated on the basis of race, gender, age, relig ...
,
bribery Bribery is the Offer and acceptance, offering, Gift, giving, Offer and acceptance, receiving, or Solicitation, soliciting of any item of value to influence the actions of an official, or other person, in charge of a public or legal duty. With reg ...
and
corruption Corruption is a form of dishonesty or a criminal offense which is undertaken by a person or an organization which is entrusted in a position of authority, in order to acquire illicit benefits or abuse power for one's personal gain. Corruption m ...
; # To see that the government exercises effective control over the principal means of production and pursues policies which facilitate the way to
collective ownership Collective ownership is the ownership of property by all members of a group. The breadth or narrowness of the group can range from a whole society to a set of coworkers in a particular enterprise (such as one collective farm). In the latter (narro ...
of the resources of this country; # To see that the Government co-operates with other States in Africa in bringing about African Unity; # To see that the Government works tirelessly towards world peace and security through the
United Nations The United Nations (UN) is an intergovernmental organization whose stated purposes are to maintain international peace and international security, security, develop friendly relations among nations, achieve international cooperation, and be ...
Organization (Publicity Section, TANU, Dar es Salaam, 1967, p. 2).


Socialism

Part two of the Arusha Declaration focuses on socialism and some key features of socialism which include a policy of receiving a just return for one’s labour and the necessity for the leadership and control of major resources, services and government, to be in the hands of the working class. In “a true socialist state no person exploits another, but everybody who is able to work…gets a his
r her R, or r, is the eighteenth letter of the Latin alphabet, used in the modern English alphabet, the alphabets of other western European languages and others worldwide. Its name in English is ''ar'' (pronounced ), plural ''ars'', or in Irela ...
income for his
r her R, or r, is the eighteenth letter of the Latin alphabet, used in the modern English alphabet, the alphabets of other western European languages and others worldwide. Its name in English is ''ar'' (pronounced ), plural ''ars'', or in Irela ...
labour” (Publicity Section, TANU, Dar es Salaam, 1967, p. 3). The “major means of production”, which the TANU identify as those resources and services which a large section of the population and industries depend, are “under the control and ownership” of the working class (Publicity Section, TANU, Dar es Salaam, 1967, p. 3). It follows that a democratically elected government of the people is an essential component of socialism (Publicity Section, TANU, Dar es Salaam, 1967). The policy of socialism, the TANU posits, “can only be implemented by people who firmly believe in its principles and are prepared to put them into practice” as well as “live by the principles of socialism in their day to day life” (Publicity Section, TANU, Dar es Salaam, 1967, p. 3-4).


Self-reliance

Part three of the Arusha Declaration espouses the importance of national self-reliance and debates the nature of development. Asserting that “A poor man does not use Money as a Weapon”, the Arusha Declaration identifies the heart of economic struggle:
"We have chosen the wrong weapon for our struggle, because we chose money as our weapon. We are trying to overcome our economic weakness by using the weapons of the economically strong – weapons which in fact we do not possess. By our thoughts, words and actions it appears as if we have come to the conclusion that without money we cannot bring about the revolution we are aiming at. It is as if we have said, “Money is the basis of development. Without money, there can be no development" (Publicity Section, TANU, Dar es Salaam, 1967, p. 5).
Secondly, no amount of money, whether it is accrued through
taxation A tax is a compulsory financial charge or some other type of levy imposed on a taxpayer (an individual or legal person, legal entity) by a governmental organization in order to fund government spending and various public expenditures (regiona ...
,
foreign aid In international relations, aid (also known as international aid, overseas aid, foreign aid, economic aid or foreign assistance) is – from the perspective of governments – a voluntary transfer of resources from one country to another. Ai ...
or private investment, will ever be enough to achieve the development targets and independence needs of a nation (Publicity Section, TANU, Dar es Salaam, 1967). The essential and true nature of development is this: “The development of a country is brought about by people, not by money. Money, and the wealth it represents, is the result and not the basis of development.” In addition to people, the prerequisites of development are land, good policies and good leadership and the necessary condition and root of development are the hard work and intelligence of the people (Publicity Section, TANU, Dar es Salaam, 1967).


Membership

Part four of the Arusha Declaration, TANU Membership, stresses the importance of leadership’s commitment to the principles and objectives of the TANU and that “above all, the TANU is a party of Peasants and Workers” (Publicity Section, TANU, Dar es Salaam, 1967, p. 19). This good leadership principle bleeds into Part five of the Arusha Declaration which states the role of government in this ideology to take action and steps to “implement the policy of Socialism and Self-reliance” (Publicity Section, TANU, Dar es Salaam, 1967, p. 20).


References

*TANU, Dar es Salaam. (1967). The Arusha Declaration and TANU’s Policy on Socialism and Self Reliance. Dar es Salaam:Tanzania. Published by the Publicity Section, TANU, Dar es Salaam. {{Authority control Chama Cha Mapinduzi 1967 in Tanzania 1967 documents Political history of Tanzania Arusha Julius Nyerere Socialism in Tanzania