Malawi is a land where silence rules. Censorship is pervasive: Orwell, Hemingway, Graham Greene, and Wole Soyinka are among hundreds of authors who have been banned. Dozens of Malawians suspected of critical views are detained without charge or have been unfairly tried. Teachers, students and civil servants from the northern part of the country are systematically discriminated against and those who protest are imprisoned. Yet, as a long-time ally of Western interests in southern Africa, Malawi has escaped criticism for its appalling human rights record. Here is a rare look into the myth of Malawi’s ethnic harmony and the government of Life- President Kamuzu Banda who embodies a combination of totalitarian control and personal despotism rarely seen in Africa.
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