ABSTRACT
This chapter suggests that scholars of post-colonial violence have made silence do too much work. Is it the only way of muting discussion and muzzling debate about public knowledge of political violence? This chapter argues that speech does not always offer visibility and healing, but can conceal violence and public knowledge thereof. Looking specifically at Rhodesia's renegade independence (1965–1980)—an independence that troubles the colonial/postcolonial divide—and the guerrilla war waged against it by two African nationalist parties in exile, the chapter interrogates two very public speeches: one made after a civilian aircraft was shot down by guerrillas in 1978 and the other after the Rhodesian retaliation in bombing raids into Zambia. One speech—known as “the deafening silence” after its main refrain—served to locate political violence in other nations' silence about the tragedy. The other “piece of speech,” a snippet of a quotation heard over the radio, was repeated frequently after the raid. It was supposed to announce the bombing but in fact was given after the raid. Even so, the text of the speech and its repetition served to hide the very real violence of the attack and silence any debate or discussion about that violence.
