Above is Dr. Shaaban Fundi who earned his M.S. in Education from the Johns Hopkins University; M.S. in Environmental Science from the Towson University both of Baltimore, Maryland; and a B.S. degree in Marine Biology and Microbiology from the Dar Es Salaam University, Tanzania. He successfully defended his PhD in Education at Mercer University in Atlanta, Georgia concentrating on curriculum design, educational research methodologies, evaluation and assessment.
By: Dr. Shaaban Fundi
Dear Esteemed Reader
After engaging carefully with the arguments raised in response to my initial rebuttal, I have come to realize that my interlocutor and I are not as far apart in our interpretations of Tanzania’s political condition as it first appeared. The disagreement was less about substance than about framing. For that reason, I have rewritten my original essay by removing Václav Havel and his theoretical framework entirely, while preserving the core analytical argument. The ideas are now grounded explicitly in Tanzanian political realities rather than filtered through an external lens. What remains is a critique that stands on its own—and whose force does not depend on analogy.
The Political Climate in Tanzania: A Critique
By: Shaaban Fundi, Ph.D.
Tanzania’s contemporary political environment reveals a system of control that operates less through constant force and more through calculated uncertainty, selective enforcement, and moral compromise. Power is maintained not only by those who wield it openly, but also by those who comply, adapt, and remain silent. This dynamic explains why repression can persist even when it appears excessive, inefficient, or widely resented.
1. Fear as a System, Not an Accident
Repression in Tanzania is not random. It functions as a signaling mechanism.
Abductions, extrajudicial killings, selective arrests, and prosecutions are not designed to target everyone. They are designed to remind everyone that boundaries exist—and that those boundaries are intentionally unclear.
The objective is not mass incarceration. It is psychological discipline.
As a result:
2. Trumped-Up Charges and the Performance of Legality
The frequent use of vague or inflated charges—such as economic crimes, cybercrime, terrorism, or sedition—turns the legal system into a performance rather than an instrument of justice.
In this process:
The system survives not because people believe the process is just, but because they act as if it were. Normalization of obvious injustice becomes a condition of political survival.
3. Elites as Stabilizers of the System
The system does not depend solely on top leaders. It is stabilized by elites who benefit from proximity to power.
These actors:
Their compliance is not always driven by ideology. It is driven by calculation. In that sense, elites are both constrained by the system and essential to its endurance.
4. Corruption as Moral Blackmail
Corruption in Tanzania functions as political insurance.
When elites are deeply entangled in embezzlement and illicit deals:
Opposition becomes risky not only politically, but legally and personally.
5. Truthful Action Under Constrained Conditions
In such an environment, resistance does not necessarily take the form of mass protest—which may be devastating or suicidal, as recent events have shown. Instead, it often appears as ordinary integrity practiced quietly.
This includes:
Truthful behavior reminds people that recognition is shared—that isolation is manufactured.
6. Why the System Is More Fragile Than It Appears
Authoritarian power depends not only on force, but on compliance—often simulated.
When:
7. The Cost—and the Long View
The human cost of dissent is real. People disappear. Careers are destroyed. Families suffer.
But survival achieved through constant moral compromise is not neutrality. Silence and participation actively reproduce the system that causes harm.
The most uncomfortable question for Tanzanians today is not abstract or heroic. It is deeply personal:
What untruths am I repeating in order to live comfortably?
That question—not slogans or spectacle—is where meaningful resistance begins.
Not with grand gestures, but with moral refusal.
After engaging carefully with the arguments raised in response to my initial rebuttal, I have come to realize that my interlocutor and I are not as far apart in our interpretations of Tanzania’s political condition as it first appeared. The disagreement was less about substance than about framing. For that reason, I have rewritten my original essay by removing Václav Havel and his theoretical framework entirely, while preserving the core analytical argument. The ideas are now grounded explicitly in Tanzanian political realities rather than filtered through an external lens. What remains is a critique that stands on its own—and whose force does not depend on analogy.
The Political Climate in Tanzania: A Critique
By: Shaaban Fundi, Ph.D.
Tanzania’s contemporary political environment reveals a system of control that operates less through constant force and more through calculated uncertainty, selective enforcement, and moral compromise. Power is maintained not only by those who wield it openly, but also by those who comply, adapt, and remain silent. This dynamic explains why repression can persist even when it appears excessive, inefficient, or widely resented.
1. Fear as a System, Not an Accident
Repression in Tanzania is not random. It functions as a signaling mechanism.
Abductions, extrajudicial killings, selective arrests, and prosecutions are not designed to target everyone. They are designed to remind everyone that boundaries exist—and that those boundaries are intentionally unclear.
The objective is not mass incarceration. It is psychological discipline.
As a result:
- journalists soften language preemptively
- activists divide issues into “safe” and “unsafe” causes
- ordinary citizens withdraw from political discussion altogether
2. Trumped-Up Charges and the Performance of Legality
The frequent use of vague or inflated charges—such as economic crimes, cybercrime, terrorism, or sedition—turns the legal system into a performance rather than an instrument of justice.
In this process:
- everyone understands that charges are not the real reason for prosecution
- courts continue procedural rituals regardless
- officials insist that “due process” is being followed
The system survives not because people believe the process is just, but because they act as if it were. Normalization of obvious injustice becomes a condition of political survival.
3. Elites as Stabilizers of the System
The system does not depend solely on top leaders. It is stabilized by elites who benefit from proximity to power.
These actors:
- repeat official narratives in public
- remain silent about abuses they privately
- acknowledgeexchange loyalty for contracts, land, licenses, positions, or protection
Their compliance is not always driven by ideology. It is driven by calculation. In that sense, elites are both constrained by the system and essential to its endurance.
4. Corruption as Moral Blackmail
Corruption in Tanzania functions as political insurance.
When elites are deeply entangled in embezzlement and illicit deals:
- they lose credibility as critics of repression
- they fear exposure if power shifts
- they become personally invested in the system’s survival
Opposition becomes risky not only politically, but legally and personally.
5. Truthful Action Under Constrained Conditions
In such an environment, resistance does not necessarily take the form of mass protest—which may be devastating or suicidal, as recent events have shown. Instead, it often appears as ordinary integrity practiced quietly.
This includes:
- journalists insisting on verifiable facts, even when language must be cautious
- lawyers documenting abuses meticulously, knowing cases may fail now but matter later
- civil servants refusing to falsify records
- citizens naming corruption honestly in private spaces—homes, churches, universities, and online communities
Truthful behavior reminds people that recognition is shared—that isolation is manufactured.
6. Why the System Is More Fragile Than It Appears
Authoritarian power depends not only on force, but on compliance—often simulated.
When:
- elites stop performing loyalty
- institutions quietly refuse to lie
- citizens stop repeating official narratives
- The system does not collapse immediately. Instead, it begins to decay internally.
7. The Cost—and the Long View
The human cost of dissent is real. People disappear. Careers are destroyed. Families suffer.
But survival achieved through constant moral compromise is not neutrality. Silence and participation actively reproduce the system that causes harm.
The most uncomfortable question for Tanzanians today is not abstract or heroic. It is deeply personal:
What untruths am I repeating in order to live comfortably?
That question—not slogans or spectacle—is where meaningful resistance begins.
Not with grand gestures, but with moral refusal.
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