Bibi Titi Mohammed

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Bibi Titi Mohammed (* 1926 in Dar es Salaam ; † November 5, 2000 in Johannesburg ) was a civil rights activist and politician from Tanzania .

Life

Bibi Mohammed was born in Dar es Salaam in 1926 as the daughter of a Muslim working-class family and attended a Koran school as a child . After her first marriage (at the age of 14), she initially lived very withdrawn as a housewife and had her first child (a daughter).

Through a mutual acquaintance she was introduced to Julius Nyerere , who aroused Bibi's interest in politics. She shared Nyerere's political ideals and, at his request, became the organizer of women's work in 1955, and later also a founding member of the Tanganyika African National Union (TANU). During the political disputes, women were able to express their opinions more clearly at this time, as their husbands stayed away from the political events, mostly because they feared losing their jobs.

In mostly unconventional ways - for example by organizing dance courses and household consultations - Bibi was able to motivate the ordinary population, especially women and Muslims, to vote for the TANU party as a propagandist . Bibi alone managed to recruit over 5000 women as TANU party members in Dar es Saalam in a three-month advertising campaign. In the later election campaign Bibi, who because of her conspicuous bust size was mostly called "Titi" by the people, took over this nickname . Her increased popularity among the population and the considerable influence on the voting behavior of women gave her a meteoric rise in the TANU party; after Nyerere gained independence, she was appointed to his cabinet as Minister for Family and Women's Affairs. In this role she was able to vigorously fight for the further emancipation of African women.

Bibi Titi Mohammed's success as a personified “woman from the people” was of little use to her in the following years. Overstrained with government work, she became more and more involved in political intrigues and in 1965 lost her seat in parliament.
In 1967 she massively criticized Nyerere's autocratic politics and resigned from the TANU leadership in protest. In doing so, she had drawn the wrath of the ruling elite. During a wave of political purges , Bibi Titi Mohammed was arrested as one of the most prominent people, accused of treason in October 1969 and sentenced by the court to life imprisonment after 127 days of trial . This show trial destroyed her private life, her family distanced themselves publicly, and her husband at the time obtained a divorce.

After the fall of this charismatic civil rights activist, Nyerere's reputation among the population also deteriorated. In April 1972, the President pardoned the broken woman and converted her prison term to house arrest , which amounted to a release.

During a stay in a Netcare hospital in Johannesburg died Bibi Titi Mohammed on 5 November 2000th

Honors

In recognition of her political work, an important street in the center of the capital was named after her.

literature

  • Iris Berger, E. Frances White: Women in sub-Saharan Africa: restoring women to history . Indiana Univ. Press, Bloomington (IN) 1999, ISBN 0-253-33476-4 , Mohammed, Bibi.
  • Kathleen E. Sheldon : Historical dictionary of women in Sub-Saharan Africa . Oxford (UK) 2005, ISBN 0-8108-5331-0 , Mohammed, Bibi.
  • Godfrey Mwakikagile: Life under Nyerere . New Africa Press, Dar es Salaam 2006, ISBN 0-9802587-2-3 (English).
  • Bibi Titi Mohammed , in: Internationales Biographisches Archiv 34/1962 from August 13, 1962, in the Munzinger archive ( beginning of article freely available)

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b en: Wiki; biographical data on "Bibi Titi Mohammed"
  2. ↑ a b c Bibi Titi Mohammed. In: Oxford Encyclopedia of Women in World History. Retrieved December 19, 2010 .
  3. ↑ Kathleen E. Sheldon : Historical dictionary of women in Sub-Saharan Africa . Oxford (UK) 2005, ISBN 0-8108-5331-0 , Mohammed, Bibi.
  4. ↑ Andreas Eckert : Rule and Administration . African Bureaucrats, State Order and Politics in Tanzania, 1920–1970. R. Oldenbourg Wissenschaftsverlag, Munich 2007, ISBN 978-3-486-57906-2 .
personal data
SURNAME Mohammed, Bibi Titi
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Tanzanian civil rights activist and politician
DATE OF BIRTH 1926
PLACE OF BIRTH Dar es Salaam
DATE OF DEATH November 5, 2000
Place of death Johannesburg