Echoes of resistance: Unsung heroes in Africa's freedom fight

President Ruto and late Raila Odinga's widow, Mama Ida Odinga, during the unveiling and dedication of Raila’s mausoleum at Kang’o ka Jaramogi on October 7, 2026. [PCS]

It is often said that eternal vigilance is the price of liberty. This is an apt subject to reflect on in October, the month in which Kenyans celebrate their heroes through Mashujaa Day. October this year has also been marked by tributes to the late former Prime Minister Raila Odinga, whose political life embodied the clamour for justice, democracy and freedom.

At the 27th Nairobi International Book Fair,  held at Sarit Expo Centre, Westlands, from September 23 to 27, the Kenya Publishers Association (KPA) paid tribute to Raila, including through a newsletter whose lead stories captured him not only as a political leader but also as someone whose influence extended from newsroom planning to the world of books.

In African literature, heroism is not confined to the deeds of individuals, however pivotal their contributions may be. In many works, it is also associated with the small, often uncelebrated contributions of ordinary people whose collective actions help bring about social change.

This is evident in works such as Sembène Ousmane’s God’s Bits of Wood, which depicts the solidarity and resistance of railway workers and their communities during a colonial-era strike. Such works remind us that history is not made by celebrated figures alone. It is also shaped by the daily choices, sacrifices and acts of courage of ordinary people.

This is the premise of Chinonso Elom N’s Echoes of Resistance, a novel about the struggles of two Nigerians, Obidika and Nnameka. Obidika is a brilliant but financially struggling teacher, while his friend Nnameka is a hustler who divides his time between eking out a living in the local market and engaging in social activism.

The novel opens when the two are university students. To make ends meet, Obidika divides his time between his studies and teaching at a local secondary school. Despite their different circumstances, the two share an unwavering vision of a better Nigeria.

Their struggle takes various forms, including university student strikes against runaway corruption and other grievances that have plagued not only the Nigeria depicted in the novel but also many other African countries.

These protests highlight police brutality, abuse of office and excessive force by state authorities to suppress legitimate public grievances.

 The novel locates the struggle for freedom not merely in political pronouncements but in everyday encounters between citizens and institutions meant to serve them.

The book is undergoing revision, which should address developmental editing issues. These include explanatory subtitles and interpretive descriptions in literary works.

Although subtitles can serve artistic purposes, they become problematic when they interpret a work for readers, prescribing how a novel, play or short story should be understood before they engage with it.

 Literature should be allowed to speak for itself. Readers should discover meaning through their encounter with a work rather than simply receive the author’s interpretation.

What they take away may represent only a fraction of the author’s intent, shaped by personal experiences, hopes, fears and, where relevant, historical trauma.

Room for interpretation

Conversely, readers bring their own experiences, hopes, fears and traumas to a work.

Their interpretations may differ from the author’s intentions. Ten people reading the same book may come away with different understandings, like the blindfolded people who touch different parts of an elephant and offer conflicting descriptions.

Independent authors should avoid over-explaining, using words to paint their literary worlds and trusting readers to make discoveries. Room for interpretation creates a more meaningful relationship with a work.

Despite these reservations, Echoes of Resistance is a worthwhile addition to African literature exploring what Chinua Achebe called The Trouble with Nigeria. Achebe’s critique of Nigeria’s failures also resonates across Africa, where natural wealth has not translated into widespread prosperity.

Many post-colonial states remain trapped in corruption, poor governance and mismanagement of public resources. Some leaders appear more inclined to seek solutions from former colonial powers than confront failures at home

This dependence resembles postcolonial Stockholm syndrome, though the metaphor should not obscure the structures sustaining it.

In Echoes of Resistance, corruption and misuse of public resources help explain why many Africans remain poor despite their countries’ natural wealth.

The novel therefore invites readers across the continent to examine political leadership, accountability and the promise of independence.

The novel is dedicated, among others, to Achebe, one of Africa’s most celebrated writers. Its use of Umuofia as part of its setting also invites comparisons with Achebe’s Things Fall Apart, in which Umuofia is the community at the centre of the narrative.

This association places Echoes of Resistance in conversation with a significant tradition of African writing, although a shared setting alone does not establish deliberate intertextual borrowing.

Ultimately, Echoes of Resistance is an artistic exploration of how ordinary people, going about their daily lives, contribute to the cumulative struggle for a better, more just and freer society.

Its central proposition is that freedom is secured by the persistence of countless individuals who refuse to accept injustice as inevitable.

The struggle may be slow, its victories uncertain and its participants largely uncelebrated. Yet every act of resistance, however small, can contribute to a larger transformation.

As Martin Luther King Jr – echoing the words of abolitionist minister Theodore Parker – famously put it, “the arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward justice”.