Wilstar Choongo

From AnarWiki

Wilstar Choongo (1964 - 1999) was a librarian and anarchist who organised the Anarchist & Workers' Solidarity Movement (AWSM) of Zambia. Born to peasant farmers in rural Zambia, he joined worked as a university librarian in Lusaka, the largest city in Zambia.

He was a self-taught political organiser and managed to get a pay rise for university staff at the library he worked at in 1996, also establishing links with the Workers' Solidarity Federation (WSF) in South Africa. He also collected a lot of anarchist literature and described as "a friendly, shambling man with a ready grin. I well recall sitting on the bed in his cramped apartment eating a meal of eggs, bread and oranges and engaging in fervent discussions on anarchist strategies."

He often gave talks about anarchism, trade unionism and government corruption. But he died of malaria brought about by menigitis at age 35, leaving behind a wife and three young children. Unfortuantely, the Anarchist & Workers' Solidarity Movement collapsed after his death.[1]

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