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2009-11-12

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We are all Zimbabweans Now is a book written by James Kilgore while he was serving time in prison. Kilgore was a militant activist in America in the ’70s who escaped the authorities for twenty years by living in exile in Africa. As a fugitive he spent time in Zimbabwe and then South Africa until he was extradited to the United States in 2002. When he was finally incarcerated, he wrote this novel, based strongly on his experiences in post-liberation Zimbabwe.

Kilgore’s main protagonist is Ben Dabney, a doctoral student who travels from the US to Zimbabwe to write his thesis on the liberation of Zimbabwe. When he arrives in the newly democratised country, he is an avid admirer of Robert Mugabe. When Mugabe was first released from his ten years in prison he preached forgiveness and reconciliation. This behaviour won him many admirers in the West. Mugabe had become a symbol of benevolent liberation. When Dabney arrives in Zimbabwe, he ignores the promptings of his supervisor, Professor Latham, who urges him to interview Mugabe’s opposition in the interests of academic thoroughness. Dabney is reluctant to have anything to do with Mugabe’s detractors and he deflects Latham as much as he can. Robert Mugabe’s catch phrase “We are all Zimbabweans now” still resounds in his ears and Dabney is inspired with hope for this newly-born country. He meets fellow expats who are also researchers, but soon finds their company limiting. He is much more comfortable with the ex-freedom fighter Florence Matshaka. As he gets closer to Florence, he discovers that she and her son were intimately involved with one of the struggle heroes, Elias Tichasara, who died under mysterious circumstances. Soon Dabney can’t ignore that Zimbabwe’s new democracy is not quite as democratic as he thought. As his idol reveals his feet of clay, the novel gathers momentum until it reaches an inevitable conclusion.

This is a fascinating read. James Kilgore has written a novel which deals with Zimbabwe in its earliest incarnation, mixing actual events with fiction. We are all Zimbabweans Now is one of my three best reads of this year.  JvE

You wrote this novel while you were in prison. The story of Ben Dabney seems to echo your years in Africa as a fugitive. How many of your own experiences inspired Ben’s story?

A few of my own experiences are inserted into the book’s narrative, but it is not autobiographical. For example, I was a teacher at a school where Mugabe came and gave a speech on prize-giving day. Also, I did tutor at a co-op farm for ex-combatants, but I never met a woman like the character Rangi in the book. The major events of the book – the relationship between Ben and Florence, the investigation of Tichasara, and Ben’s trip to Matabeleland – never happened to me or anyone I knew. Those I made up out of my own understanding of the times and what I hoped might make an effective novel.

Did writing this novel in prison concentrate the memories of your time in Africa in any definite way, or were your recollections tinged with nostalgia?

That’s an interesting polarisation of processes. Writing the novel definitely concentrated my experiences in Zimbabwe. I was fortunate enough to have a wonderful network of supporters who sent me lots of books about Zimbabwe: fiction and academic history. Also, I spent a long time compiling a sensory diary of Zimbabwe – recalling the sights, sounds, smells, etc from the period. That concentrated my memories in a useful way. Though I greatly missed southern Africa while I was in prison, I’m not prone to nostalgia. I like to look ahead and learn from the past, not pine for days gone or try to recreate distant events and feelings which in the end can’t be recreated.

Ben’s rosy view of Zimbabwe straight after this country’s first democratic election is soon compromised when he witnesses thugs beating up an innocent school principal at a school in Matabeleland. Reluctantly Ben is forced to re-evaluate his view of Robert Mugabe’s rallying cry, “We are all Zimbabweans now.”  Did this perception of yours change while you were in Africa yourself, or did you make your protagonist have this epiphany in the light of the recent turn of events in Zimbabwe?

I never had as rosy a view of Zimbabwe or Mugabe as Ben. Still, I never would have dreamed that Zimbabwe could descend to the current level of chaos and economic disintegration. However, my protagonist didn’t have this epiphany due to recent events in Zimbabwe, but because I thought it would be an effective way to portray the political processes of the time in Zimbabwe. One of the major points of my novel is that 1980s Zimbabwe was not a carbon copy of the present-day situation. There were lots of contending forces there, lots of competing dreams. The outcome was not inevitable. Sadly there were no organised forces able to chart a different course from ZANU and mobilise effectively to make a different course a reality.

Florence Matshaka is a vivid character in this novel. As a former ardent freedom fighter for ZANU who lost a leg in a landmine explosion, she’d certainly paid her dues in terms of the struggle. Her attitude towards other disasters which befall her is quite sanguine. Was her character based on someone you met while you lived there, or is she typical of the former freedom fighters you met when you were in Zimbabwe who accept whatever life throws at them?

Neither one, really. She’s just a character I created because it seemed like that time period would have produced someone like her. I suppose I met many parts of Florence in various people I knew, but I never met a Florence. I’d hesitate to say that she just accepted whatever life threw at her. She was proactive in so many ways. She fought back when she was arrested, she worked hard at the relationship with Ben, she was a dedicated teacher who never seemed to give up on her students. She had her problems, but she wasn’t passive, just maybe didn’t display her feelings in a gushy sort of way. Fighting in a war will do that to you.

You wrote your novel almost as a result of finding yourself incarcerated for five years. The solitude and lack of any other stimulation obviously gave you the perfect opportunity to write. Do you think you would have written this novel if the circumstances were not quite so opportune?

I love writing, but I doubt I would have ever gotten to a novel if I hadn’t gone to prison. In southern Africa I focused mainly on writing educational materials and a handful of academic articles. I probably would have stayed with that if I hadn’t gone to prison. But without access to a lot of research materials I didn’t think I could write non-fiction very effectively. So I taught myself how to write fiction. I read a lot of “how to …” books on setting, plot, character, dialogue, etc. Plus, I got a lot of feedback from friends via letters and visits.

I wouldn’t argue that prison necessarily presents a perfect opportunity to write. Despite the fact that you have a lot of time, writing takes focus. If you have a lot of family problems on the outside or if you get into conflicts with some of the unusual characters you meet in prison, you won’t be able to focus on writing. I was fortunate. I had the most wonderful family and friends. I knew my family was healthy and supported by many, many people. That kept my mind clear enough to write. Without that, despite all the “free” time, I wouldn’t have written a paragraph.

You are obviously a political animal, as your protagonist would not feel injustice so deeply if you did not feel it yourself. Have you always been politically active? Do you believe the United States is entering a new age with Barack Obama in the White House?

I became politically active in the late 1960s. I was part of the anti-Vietnam War movement. Then I became involved in a lot of activities I’d rather not talk about at this stage. Then I was an anti-apartheid activist in the late 1970s. That’s what led me to southern Africa. As far as Barack Obama goes, I’d prefer not to comment.

You live in the United States at the moment, but I know how Africa gets into your blood. I found living overseas for five years very difficult, as I missed Africa so much. I wondered if you’ve ever considered coming back to this continent again, either for a visit or to live here?

Of course, but at the moment I’m on parole and I can’t travel outside the state of Illinois. When that parole expires in a year or two, we’ll meet in Durban.

Do you have another novel planned, or was this novel a one-off for you? If you do, could you give us some idea of what your next novel will be about?

I have drafts of several. A couple of mysteries, a fictional reflection of a 1960s US activist at age 60, a novel set in post-1994 South Africa, and a screenplay of We are all Zimbabweans now. I’m busy getting them all on computer as I had access to an electric typewriter only for my last two and half years in prison. I’ve got about 2 000 typed pages with lots of notes penned into the margin. I’m almost halfway in terms of transferring them to computer. There’s lots of typing in my life at the moment, but I’m optimistic that one day I’ll manage to get it all done and see one or two more books in print.