Fearless Fighter: An Autobiography, by Vera Chirwa. London: Zed Books, 2007; pp. 208, £12.99 (pb). ISBN 9781842779668.
Vera Chirwa's remarkable book takes the reader to deep insights into political struggles and the meaning of freedom in Malawi. While it is a personal account demonstrating her selflessness, perseverance and hope in bringing freedom and justice to Malawi, the story reveals an important political history of the country. The story brings to light the struggles that Malawian political fighters encountered in their quest to bring freedom and justice to the country, from the fight against colonialism, federation and racism during the colonial administration to the fight against the dictatorial one party regime, under which many political opponents were subjected to inhumane treatment through unfair trials, long periods of detention without trial and in some cases unexplained deaths. The story also highlights the harsh realities and sacrifices that Vera, as a woman, a mother and a wife, had to go through in order to achieve her ambitions and accomplish what she and her husband, Orton Chirwa, believed in.
In the first four sections Vera brings to light how the transition from colonial government to independence created the dictatorial regime through the leadership of Dr Hastings Kamuzu Banda, Malawi's first President. Through power struggles and in an effort to legitimise his position, Banda is shown to have developed a mentality of viewing himself as unquestionable, tolerating no critique. This attitude led to the cabinet crisis of 1964, due to policy differences between the leader, some of the ministers, as well as prominent figures such as Vera and Orton Chirwa. Through these political persecutions, the self-rule that many fought for became their worst nightmare. The three sections that follow narrate a story of her family in exile and how she established her career and became the first woman lawyer in southern Africa. It also highlights their passion in politics as a couple wherever they went and how their children suffered and faced many challenges during these struggles of political power. After almost two decades in exile, the couple were abducted back to Malawi, convicted on the grounds of planning to topple Banda's Government, and sentenced to death through a traditional court. Despite the death sentence, torture, unjust treatment and long period of separation from her husband and children, Vera maintained her will to live.
Back in society in 1993, after over a decade of imprisonment and unfortunately not with her husband who died in 1992, she actively dedicated herself to the promotion and safeguarding of human rights in Malawi. Her account shows how, through leading the transition to a democratic government, Bakili Muluzi fell into the same trap of the desire to cling to power by seeking to extend his terms of presidency and thereby threatening to take Malawi back into the political system that he and numerous others fought so hard to abolish. Vera's book highlights the important challenges that face young democracies like Malawi. She notes the negative effects of a weak economy and poorly designed and implemented economic and social programmes on the advancement of democracy, and how the worsening conditions turned people to review the old days of the one party regime as better in meeting their needs. The argument is that the masses are still sceptical that democracy has managed to meet their needs as many had hoped for and were promised at the dawn of the era. As such, the temptation to view the old days as glorious is real for some people. In the new democratic era led by Muluzi, corruption has increased considerably while levels of discipline and people's personal security has declined, making some Malawians uneasy about the new political set up. Vera concludes by highlighting how the political system in Malawi is democratic, but the leaders are not and how this threatens the full development of democracy in the country.
The core of the story is the life of Vera herself. It shows the two sides of Vera: a family person who cares deeply for her family, and a tough and resilient person who suffered and persevered despite political persecutions in all three political eras of Malawi. This remarkable story shows the inhumane treatment that she has suffered, while revealing her strength to stand up and fight for what she believed was right for Malawi and Malawians. Most startling is her ability to forgive those that made her suffer when she could seek justice. Furthermore, after 12 years in prison, Vera refused lucrative offers both abroad and at home as she still wanted to see her dreams come true by working to improve human rights, and making sure that she was in a position to be able to criticize leaders if they were not doing a good job.
However, in 2004 she expressed her interests to stand for the presidency. Here, unfortunately, there are not many details regarding her change of ambitions from a freedom fighter to a presidential candidate. We are left with no clues as to how she planned to run the country and at the same time provide the much-needed critique to keep the presidency in check. In addition, we do not have much detail on how she cooperated with other opposition leaders in the period leading to the general elections of 2004 and the role she played after she dropped out of the contest for the top seat. It would have been good to have these details in order to appreciate how she envisioned her political future as a presidential figure and how different she would have been from the other leaders. The story being a personal one, it is perhaps understandable that the concepts of human rights and democracy are discussed as taken for granted concepts. For an academic audience, a more critical evaluation of these concepts could have opened up some fruitful discussions. Nevertheless, this is indeed an insightful account of the life of a fearless fighter, as well as of the political transformation and history of Malawi, the warm heart of Africa.