Struggle for release Jomo and his colleagues
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The book has been out of print since it was published on December 12, 1963 — Kenya’s Independence Day. It is being reprinted by Vita Books in 2024. It was published at the end of one phase of Kenya’s history of liberation as colonialism was forced out of the country after long battles which culminated in an armed struggle under the Kenya Land and Freedom Army — Mau Mau. It was also the beginning of a new phase which was expected to bring land and freedom to people who had suffered massacres, murders, concentration camps, land thefts and all forms of torture under colonialism. The hope naturally was that all this will end with the gaining of independence. It was during this interim, hopeful period in the history of Kenya that Ambu H. Patel edited and published the book. It is no ordinary book. In days before the Internet, it carried the voice of 130 progressive personalities from Kenya and around the world. It was the anti-colonial and anti-imperialist voice of Kenya, as much as that of the progressive world. Their voice reflected the optimism that the colonial rule of injustice had ended and that a new, prosperous Kenya was about to be born. The hope was that there would be justice for people whose land and livelihood had been stolen and taken over by colonial looters. Their hopes were pinned on Jomo Kenyatta and his colleagues, detained and imprisoned by colonialism. Surely their release was the key issue at the time. Surely that group of people would ensure justice for the people. It was at this time that Ambu H. Patel started the Release campaign. Events proved that such hopes for justice were premature. A new world had not yet been born. The struggle had to go on and the children of Mau Mau fighters would have to continue their parents’ struggle. But that was in the future. Now, at the dawn of independence, there was hope.
