Abstract

Conflicts over the permissible limits on speech that weaponizes racial, religious, and ethnic identities are a global phenomenon. Tanzania’s constitutional and legal debates over this matter are a microcosm of a global dialogue. Since the early years of independence, Tanzania has imposed constitutional and legal restrictions on speech that speech that espouses ethnic, religious, or racial divisions. These restrictions are the surviving portion of founder-President Julius Nyerere’s multi-faceted effort to construct a multi-cultural political environment. Tanzania’s early leaders were deeply aware that ethnic rivalries had come to cominate the political life of other countries in their region. They were determined that Tanzania should become and remain the non-Sudan, non-Rwanda, and non-Kenya of Eastern Arica. They did so by introducing constitutional and restrictions on ethnic political appears into the country’s constitution and electoral laws. Since independence, each iteration of the Tanzanian Constitution has forbidden the registration of political parties that base their electoral appeal on these forms of speech. Tanzania has also embedded these limitations in its electoral laws, which limit candidacy for electoral office, at both national and local levels, to candidates nominated by registered parties. These limitations have given rise to more than twenty years of constitutional litigation. This article presents a study of the key constitutional cases. The methodology of this article is a close examination of a series of trials in which Tanzania’s constitution and electoral laws have been subjected to litigation. Four trials are of utmost significance: two, before the Tanzanian High Court; one, before the Tanzania Court of Appeal, and one before the African Court of Human and People’s Rights. Despite adverse court rulings, Tanzania’s political leaders appear determined to retain the restrictive portions of their constitution and electoral system; these remain in place to the present time.

Highlights

  • Conflicts over the boundaries of speech that weaponizes racial, religious, and ethnic identities are a global phenomenon

  • This paper considers the legal trajectory of this issue in Tanzania

  • For Mtikila, the true Tanzanian nation consisted of Africans of indigenous descent, not the offspring of immigrant minorities who came later such as Asians or Arabs, whose presence had created a racial caste system

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Summary

Introduction

Conflicts over the boundaries of speech that weaponizes racial, religious, and ethnic identities are a global phenomenon. Others advocate limits on forms of speech that exacerbate those social divisions, sometimes termed “hate speech.”. They argue that these forms of speech can inflict traumatic hurt on targeted individuals or groups and incite political violence. The debate between these viewpoints has absorbed the attention of countless scholars, jurists, legislators, academic administrators, and political philosophers [1]. Michael Frank Lofchie: Contesting Constitutional Multi-Culturalism in Tanzania: The Trials of Christopher Mtikila regarded as a bastion of free speech, the country that defended mawkish cartoons of the Prophet Mohamed, has begun to restrict speech that inflames religious animosity. The European Court on Human Rights, which derives its legal principles from the European Convention on Human Rights, has begun to view hate speech ... as an ‘abuse’ of [the Convention] and allows it no legal free speech protections [3].” The common denominator of these restrictions is a conviction that the harmful effects of speech that inflames racial, religious, and ethnic animosities can outweigh the benefits

Purpose and Method
The Tanzanian Background
Multi-Cultural Policies
Consitutional and Legal Provisions
Reverend Christopher Mtikila
Anti-Asian Sentiment
The Constitutional Trials
The First Trial
The Second Trial
The Third Trial
The Fourth Trial
Findings
Conclusion
Full Text
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