Professor braves peril in human-rights quest

By BRENT CUNNINGHAM
Reporter Staff

Guns, illegal border crossings, detention centers and last-minute escapes from life-threatening situations: Makau Mutua's journey from Kenya to Buffalo has all the elements of a Hollywood thriller. But for Mutua, an associate professor in the School of Law and co-director of its Human Rights Center, the attempt to build something out of his journey, to apply its lessons, is just as compelling as the journey itself.

Mutua came to Buffalo in 1996, but the chain of events that led him here was set in motion 15 years ago, while he was still a law student at the University of Nairobi. Opposed to the single-party state that controlled Kenya, he led a 1981 demonstration in favor of legalizing opposition parties. According to Mutua, he and the other student leaders both expected and encouraged a peaceful protest.

During the demonstration, police fired bullets over the heads of the crowd. Mutua, like many of his fellow protesters, had never heard the sound of a gun. Some demonstrators dispersed, while others broke into small groups, throwing rocks and overturning police vehicles throughout the city. By evening, the government brought out the army to restore order.

As symbolic leaders of the day's events, Mutua and a friend decided they had to go "underground," hiding from the police and the army for several days.

"It was difficult for us to get information underground, so at one point we decided to come out," said Mutua. "We put on three-piece suits and false mustaches and went to a pub that was open 24 hours a day. We had one drink, and listened to what people were talking about. After we got our second drink, I felt something pressing against my temple. I turned around, and there was a man standing next to me with a gun wrapped in newspaper. He told me to get up and follow him. I had never seen a gun up close."

The man, who worked for the police, put Mutua in the trunk of a car, taking him to an underground cell in a detention center. For several days, government authorities questioned him about his role in the protest.

"The general push," said Mutua, "was that we were pawns of the Soviets. Quite frankly, I did not even know where the Soviet embassy was, and I told him you don't need to prompt people to protest against unfair government policy."

Kenyan law required suspects to be produced in open court within 24 hours, but Mutua was held for several days. In an attempt to force his release, he went on a hunger strike, refusing to eat for one week. Presumably to keep him from dying in their custody, the police put Mutua back in the trunk of a car and dropped him in front of his sister's house. He was so weak his sister had to carry him inside, where he ate and showered.

"Shortly thereafter, we got word that they had only released me so I could eat," said Mutua. "That was when I decided to head for the border with Tanzania. I should say that, after I left the house, a few hours later, they came. I beat them by about two hours."

Taking only the clothes he was wearing, Mutua crossed near Kilimanjaro, beginning a second life in Tanzania. With the help of former law professors in Kenya and the UN high commissioner for refugees, he was able to enroll in the University of Dar-es-Salaam in Tanzania.

"Several years later," Mutua added, "the Kenyan government was going to swap political refugees with the Tanzanian government. Once again, I missed being captured by this much. That's when I decided to come to the States."

Mutua attended Harvard University, receiving his doctorate in juridical science in 1987. After working for a year for White & Case, a prestigious New York law firm, Mutua returned to Harvard, working as associate director of its Human Rights Program from 1991-96. In 1996, he joined the UB law faculty.

"When I interviewed at Buffalo," said Mutua, "I knew that this was exactly the place I wanted to be. I was struck by the civility of the faculty, but also the deep concern for society and for the place of the law in social change.

"As a place to live, Buffalo is not an intense and aggressive place," he added. "And, as strange as this may sound, it really reminds me of Africa. Despite what you read about Africa and its problems, the people are intensely hospitable, and I find people in Buffalo laid back and welcoming in that same way."

But as much as he might appreciate the specifics of Buffalo, Mutua's ideas and ambitions are international in scope.

"The essence of my own program," he said, "is to make Buffalo a destination for people interested in international law and human rights. For that to happen, we've got to have a first-rate program, we've got to have a student body that's in tune with the program and we've got to create opportunities for our students to become part of the practice of international law."

As national economies become international, Mutua contends, concern for human rights has to cross those same borders.

"I do not think that you can, in fact, secure respect for human rights and the rule of law without securing a standard of living. People do not fight for freedom in the abstract. Democracy is not just about voting; it's about eating."

But, he noted, this is not to say that human rights are only an economic issue. For Mutua, the international perspective means not only understanding the common ground of our diverse economies, but understanding the common ground of our diverse cultural influences.

"The human-rights project seeks to alleviate the tensions of difference," Mutua said. "It seeks to create a space under the state, a big tent, where all of us can live. And, since I left Kenya, I guess that's been my project, too.

"We can talk about difference," he added, "and be comfortable with difference, as long as we don't have to confront it. When your son or daughter comes home and says they are marrying someone different, that's when we find out what you're really made of."

Contrary to popular assumptions, Mutua believes practicing tolerance toward others actually brings one closer to one's own background and culture. Though he is married and has children in Buffalo, and though he has done human-rights work in Brazil, Japan and around the world, Mutua said he remains closely involved in Kenyan affairs.

In the wake of "the wave of democratization" that followed the dissolution of the Soviet Union in the late 1980s and early 1990s, Mutua had a chance to visit his home country. "I remember the press being very vibrant," he said, "and political parties were sprouting everywhere. This is what we had fought for 10 years earlier, and so it was a great pleasure for me just to see that happening."

In the seven years since Mutua went back, Kenya has had two elections, both won by the ruling party. "I would not call Kenya a democratic state," he said. "But I would say important steps are being taken."

While Mutua hopes to see greater changes in Kenya, he said his experiences there have taught him to be thankful for small things.

"I am very grateful that I've done the things I've done in my life," he said. "In those years when I was in Kenya and just before I left Tanzania, I think my life could have been ended. So I take every day as a blessing."