Defamation of the president, racial nationalism, and the Roy Clarke affair in Zambia.

The article examines the 2004 Roy Clarke affair in Zambia, where the deportation attempt of Roy Clarke, a white British satirist and long-term resident, was orchestrated by President Levy Mwanawasa and his allies to consolidate political power amid internal party divisions and a weak presidency. Clarke's satirical column, which depicted the government as animals and insulted Mwanawasa, was framed by the ruling Movement for Multiparty Democracy (MMD) as a racial and national insult, prompting staged protests and a deportation order that Clarke successfully challenged in court. The case illustrates how racial nationalism and deportation are used by political elites in Zambia as strategic tools during periods of political vulnerability to marginalize critics, particularly racial minorities and foreigners, whose status is often provisional and contingent on political considerations. The article situates this incident within broader historical and regional patterns of racialized political exclusion and highlights the complex interplay of race, nationalism, and citizenship in post-colonial African states.