Read the full essay here.
The essay examines how Tanzania’s 29 October 2025 election and the ensuing violent crackdown shattered the Chama Cha Mapinduzi (CCM) regime’s long-cultivated image of popular and benevolent rule. It describes how security forces massacred protesters and concealed their bodies, exposing a state that rules through terror rather than consent. The essay argues that these events undermined CCM’s manufactured legitimacy and catalyzed a revived, protest-oriented antiauthoritarian movement rooted in demands for democracy and justice. Deep socioeconomic grievances and constitutional questions will continue to fuel contention, ensuring that Tanzanian politics after 2025 cannot return to the previous low-protest order.
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