Arusha Declaration Monument, Socialist memorial in Arusha, Tanzania.
The Arusha Declaration Monument is a landmark memorial in Kati ward, Arusha, Tanzania, standing at the centre of a roundabout on Makongoro Road. It was unveiled in 1977 by the ruling Chama Cha Mapinduzi party to mark ten years of the Arusha Declaration. In April 2015 one of its copper plaques was stolen.
The monument was built in 1977 by the Chama Cha Mapinduzi party, ten years after Tanzania adopted socialist principles through the Arusha Declaration. It was part of a national effort to make the ideas of that declaration visible through public art.
The carved stone panels show farmers with tools and animals working the land, reflecting the values Tanzania's leadership wanted to promote at the time. This makes the monument one of the few examples of political public art still visible in Arusha today.
The monument is easy to spot as it sits at the center of a large roundabout that connects several main roads in Arusha. Approaching on foot requires some care since the roundabout carries heavy traffic and there is no dedicated pedestrian crossing.
The monument marks ten years since the 1967 Arusha Declaration, the text that set out Tanzania's socialist ujamaa policy; the Swahili Wikipedia links the monument's subject directly to the ujamaa article. Its copper plaques were prised off and stolen in April 2015, leaving part of the structure damaged.
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