In January 2004, residents of Zambia’s capital, Lusaka, were treated to a disturbing sight. Over 200 members of the governing Movement for Multiparty Democracy party marched through the streets of the capital carrying a mock coffin bearing the name of Roy Clarke, a prominent newspaper satirist and white British national who had been a permanent resident in the country since the early 1960s. The protesters accused Clarke of insulting and defaming President Levy Mwanawasa in his previous column and demanded his immediate deportation. The Minister of Home Affairs obliged, but the satirist successfully challenged his deportation in Zambia’s courts. Drawing from newspaper sources, court documents, and interviews with key informants, this article shows that these protests were anything but a spontaneous demonstration of public outrage. Instead, they had been carefully orchestrated by Mwanawasa and his close allies to bolster Mwanawasa’s beleaguered presidency. The article argues that deportation orders and racial nationalism against racial minorities are strategies adopted by political elites during periods of weakness, even when these ideas have little or no popular support. More broadly, we argue that the status of racial minorities and other foreigners in Zambia is often provisional, depending on political considerations.

中文翻译：

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诽谤总统、种族民族主义和赞比亚的罗伊克拉克事件

2004 年 1 月，赞比亚首都卢萨卡的居民看到了令人不安的景象。执政的多党民主运动党的 200 多名成员在首都的街道上游行，抬着一具印有罗伊克拉克名字的假棺材，罗伊克拉克是一位著名的报纸讽刺作家和英国白人国民，自 1960 年代初以来一直是该国的永久居民. 抗议者指责克拉克在之前的专栏中侮辱和诽谤总统利维·姆瓦纳瓦萨，并要求立即将他驱逐出境。内政部长同意了，但这位讽刺作家成功地在赞比亚法庭上对他被驱逐出境提出质疑。根据报纸资料、法庭文件和对主要线人的采访，本文表明这些抗议绝非公众愤怒的自发示威。反而，他们是由姆瓦纳瓦萨和他的亲密盟友精心策划的，以支持姆瓦纳瓦萨陷入困境的总统任期。文章认为，驱逐令和针对少数民族的种族民族主义是政治精英在软弱时期采取的策略，即使这些想法很少或没有民众支持。更广泛地说，我们认为赞比亚的少数民族和其他外国人的地位通常是临时的，取决于政治考虑。