Mau Mau Movement

For the purposes of this paper, a primary source shall consist of the following:

a) accounts by persons who were in the same general area where the events of which they speak took place, AND

b) mainly consisting of events which they and not others witnessed and/or experienced, OR

c) evidentiary type documents such as compilations of letters or official proceedings of investigations.

Recollections through translators and through reporters are acceptable as primary sources.

Opinion/analysis may be a primary source, provided that it was made by persons who satisfy criteria (a), above. While this is not technically “news” or “fact,” it does tend to show contemporary attitudes and assumptions.

Furthermore, accounts may be recorded some time after the actual event; in some cases decades afterwards at the prompting of a reporter or author. Although such accounts lack immediacy and are more likely to contain self-serving information, they are made by persons with firsthand knowledge of the facts involved and should not lose their identity as primary sources merely because of the passage of time.

For the purposes of this paper, a secondary source shall consist of all sources which are not primary sources.

A note about primary sources and newspaper articles: in many cases it is difficult to tell whether or not newspaper reports were actually filed by persons who had knowledge of the facts reported. This is especially doubtful when the author is a syndicate, such as the AP or Reuters. In many cases we must simply assume that when articles are filed with a byline of “Nairobi”, for example, that they have been sufficiently researched according to our primary source criteria. Articles filed from extreme distance -- such as “London” -- are considered to be secondary sources unless they consist almost entirely of the firsthand accounts of persons actually present.

“350 Arrested in Aftermath of Kenya Riot.” Washington Post 25 November 1952, pg. 50.

“Kenya ‘Spear’ Vexes Colonial Office.” Washington Post 3 December 1952, pg. 16.

Associated Press. “Mau Mau Kills.” Washington Post, 5 November 1952, pg. 6

Associated Press. “8 Kikuyu Tribesmen Hanged in Nairobi.” Washington Post, 26 February 1953, pg. 37

Associated Press. “Kenya Terrorists Murder Old Chief: Mau Maus Hack Tribe’s Leader as He ‘Foolishly’ Braves Their Secret Meeting.” The New York Times 24 October 1952, pg 4.

Associated Press. “New Raids in Kenya: Dread Mau Mau Group Kills 2 African Chiefs.”

Ingalls, Leonard. “Mau Mau Strife Dominates Kenya.” The New York Times 12 June 1955, pg. 21.

In this special report, filed from Nairobi, Ingalls quotes the British authorities as hoping that the emergency, which had been in effect for four years, would be over by December, perhaps.

Ingalls takes note of the way whites went about armed to the hilt, with guns and bandoliers of ammunition, and talks about airplanes taking off almost every day to drop bombs on fighters hiding in the forests.

He also notes that the government for the first time had a multi-racial nature, with two Indians and one black person as ministers. Although the government has not accomplished anything, according to Ingalls it is better that they fight out their differences politically rather than with arms.

Johnson, Forrest. “Struggle in Kenya.” Christian Science Monitor 11 May 1953, pg. 9.

Mathegne, Gakuu. “Freedom Fighters Recount Ordeals in Detention Camps.” Daily Nation Online 28 October 2002.

Our Nairobi Correspondent. “Evidence Given by Mau Mau Men: Beatings at Kenya Camp Described.” The London Times, 15 April 1959, pg. 8, col. C

Our Nairobi Correspondent. “Loyal Chief Murdered in Kenya Hospital: Demands for More Effective Action Against Mau Mau.” The London Times, 5 January 1953, pg. 6, col. A.

Our Nairobi Correspondent. “Mau Mau Gang Surprised: 11 Killed by Mount Kenya Patrol.” The London Times, 11 March 1953, pg. 7, col. A

Our Nairobi Correspondent. “The Growth of Mau Mau: Politics and Terrorism in Kenya.” The London Times, 9 October 1952, pg. 7.

Our Nairobi Correspondent. “Subversive School in Kenya Closed: Hotbed of Mau Mau Suppressed.” The London Times. 15 November 1952, pg. 6, col. A.

Our Nairobi Correspondent. “General Sir Brian Robertson in Kenya: New Campaign against Mau Mau.” The London Times 7 January 1953, pg. 6 col. A.

Our Nairobi Correspondent. “Kenya African Union Banned: Proscription by Government; ‘Cover’ for Mau Mau.” The London Times 11 March 1953, pg. 7 col. A.

Our Nairobi Correspondent. “Mau Mau Rallying Cry Heard: Evidence at Kenya Inquest of Attempted Mass Escape. The London Times 3 April 1959, pg. 8 col. E.

Our Nairobi Correspondent. “Kenya Prison Staff Cleared: Alleged Brutality at Detention Camp.” The London Times, 10 June 1959, pg. 9 col. C.

Our Nairobi Correspondent. “500 Police Hunt Mau Mau Suspects: Governor Orders Detention of ‘Subversive Elements.’” The London Times 9 July 1960, pg. 6 col. E.

Our Nairobi Correspondent. “Mau Mau ‘Rife’ Again in Kenya: Security Precautions for Election.” The London Times, 30 January 1961 pg. 10 col. E.

Our Nairobi Correspondent. “Kenya Fears of Terrorism by Mau Mau: Mr. MacLeod to See Delegates.” The London Times 16 May 1961 pg. 12 col G.

Our Nairobi Correspondent. “Mau Mau Seek Sweets of Office.” The London Times, 19 May 1961, pg. 11 col. C.

Our Nairobi Correspondent. “Mau Mau Oath Taking in Kenya: Police Estimate Nearly 1000” The London Times, 27 May 1961 pg. 6. col. E.

Our Nairobi Correspondent. “Mau Mau Men to Attend Kenya Celebrations.” The London Times 9 December 1963, pg. 8, col. A.

Our Nairobi Correspondent, “5,000 Released in Kenya Amnesty.” The London Times, 10 December 1963, pg. 10, col. D.

Reuters. “1600 Africans Seized: Police and Troops Take Suspects in Mountains of

Reuters. “Kenya Airs Plan to Punish Whole Towns to Crush Rebels.” Christian Science Monitor 22 November 1952, pg. 10

Reuters. “Kenya Authorities Smash Secret Gathering.” The New York Times 27 October 1952, pg. 1.

Reuters. “Kenyatta Faces New Trial on Running Mau Mau Cult.” Christian Science Monitor 15 July 1953, pg. 5.

Reuters. “Six Mau Mau Organizers Appeal Seven-Year Terms. Christian Science Monitor 1 July 1953, pg. 10.

Sulzberger, C.L. “Kenya Crisis Mirrors Africa’s Changing Face.” The New York Times, 28 December 1952, pg. E3.

“600 Arrested in Terrorist Hunt in Kenya.” Washington Post 31 October 1952, pg. 12*

“A Courier Profile: The Lonely Vigil of Jomo Kenyatta.” New Pittsburgh Courier (National Edition), 16 July 1960, pg. 4.

“British Fly Troops to Kenya To Quell Anti-White Mau Mau.” The Washington Post, 21 October 1952, pg. 1.

“Desecrations Laid to Kenya Terrorists” The New York Times, 17 September 1952, pg. 5.

“Economic Scheme Bared to Halt Kenyan Tension.” The Christian Science Monitor, 28 October 1952, pg. 10

“In the Drive to Round Up Mau Mau Terrorists.” The New York Times, 26 October 1952, pg. 3

Karimi, Joseph. “How the Mau Mau Burnt Treetops to the Ground.” Daily Nation Online 18 February 2002.

“Kenya Head Threatened: Two Others Also Get Death Threats From Terrorists.” The New York Times, 15 October 1952, pg. 3.

Long, Tania. “British Worried by Kenya Terror: Secret Tribal Society Strikes at Africans and Whites Alike – No Red Influence Seen.” The New York Times 20 October 1952, pg. 6.

Lyne, Peter. “African Cauldron Boils Over.” Christian Science Monitor 10 November 1952, pg. 2

Morgan, Carlyle. “Britain to Send Troops to Aid Kenya.” Christian Science Monitor 20 October 1952, pg 7

Morgan, Carlyle. “Mau Mau Society Stalks East Africa: Searchlight on African Darkness.” Christian Science Monitor 18 October 1952, pg. 2.

This secondary source article was obviously written in a place other than Africa. It talks about the Mau Mau threat to the British colonial power. Mau Mau is viewed as being a return to paganism, since among the Kikuyu Christianity and missionaries are inevitably associated with imperialism according to the author. Kenyatta and the Kenyan African Union is mentioned, noting that the British are unsure whether Kenyatta is a Communist, although he has studied Marxism in Russia.

Michaels, Marguerite. “The Bloody Mau Mau Revolt.” Time, Vol 161. Iss. 13. 31 March 2003: 30.

This short article documents the assassination of a loyal African chief, Kungu Waruhiu, by the Mau Mau movement on October 20, 1952 – one of about 2,000 loyal Kikuyu who were destroyed during the Emergency. The article claims that Mau Mau emboldened other native independence movements across Africa, pointing to Ghana, which earned its independence six years before Kenya.

Whittesley, Derwent. “Kenya: The Land and Mau Mau.” Foreign Affairs, October 1953, pp. 80 – 91.

Secretary of Sate for the Colonies by Command of Her Majesty. “Further Documents Relating to The Deaths of Eleven Mau Mau Detainees at Hola Camp in Kenya,” London: Her Majesty’s Stationery Office, 1959.

Hola Camp was probably the most infamous of the detention centers set up by the British authorities in the years after the emergency. In camps such as Hola, those suspected of having taken the Mau Mau oath were subjected to rehabilitation programs designed to bring them back to “civilized society.” While enjoying a certain legitimacy in the eyes of the Empire at first, these camps were eventually the site of considerable scandal, as the abuses in them were revealed to the public. These documents are part of the reaction to the abuses – an investigation into the deaths of Mau Mau “hardcores.”

The investigation is typically British: formal, legal, bureaucratic. The testimony of the camp director and other witnesses indicates that the hardcore group refused to work and were beaten. At some point during the outing, the man responsible for supervising the work party left for about twenty minutes, during which some of the prisoners were beaten to death. Inadequate medical care and nutrition, most especially vitamin C deficiencies, contributed to the deaths of some of the injured persons. The findings of the committee were that two officials had made mistakes, but that they were essentially good people.

In hindsight, it is obvious that there was no easy solution to the problem of prisoner discipline, most especially the hardcore group, and one suspects the colonial authorities of making a scapegoat of the prison authorities charged. The mistake as not necessarily in the abuses of the detention system; it was in the existence of the detention system. Rounding up thousands of young men and imprisoning them for years at a time most likely required, in the implementation, a level of violence with which the instigators of the policy where not comfortable, but which the executors of the policy were forced to use. Outrage over such actions doubtless encouraged the British to turn over the government to natives sooner.

Berman, Bruce. “Nationalism, Ethnicity and Modernity: The Paradox of Mau Mau.” Canadian Journal of African Studies, Vol. 25, No. 2. (1991), pp. 181-206.

Cleary, A. S. “The Myth of Mau Mau in Its International Context.” African Affairs, Vol. 89, No. 355. (Apr., 1990): 227-245.

Elkins, Caroline. “The Struggle for Mau Mau Rehabilitation in Late Colonial Kenya.” The International Journal of African Historical Studies, Vol. 33, No. 1. (2000): 25-57.

Green, Maia. “Mau Mau Oathing Rituals and Political Ideology in Kenya: A Re-Analysis.” Africa, 1990, Vol. 60 Issue 1, pg. 69.

Simpson, Brian. “The Devlin Commission (1959): Colonialism, Emergencies and the Rule of Law” Oxford Journal of Legal Studies, Spring 2002, 22, 1, Criminal Justice Periodicals, pg. 17.

Kershaw, Gretha. “Mau Mau from below: Fieldwork and Experience, 1955-57 and 1962.” Canadian Journal of African Studies, Vol. 25, No. 2. (1991): 274-297.

Lonsdale, John. “Mau Maus of the Mind: Making Mau Mau and Remaking Kenya.” The Journal of African History, Vol. 31, No. 3. (1990): 393-421.

Lonsdale, John. “The Emergence of African Nations: A Historigraphical Analysis.” African Affairs, 67 (Jan. 1968) pp. 11-28.

Maughan-Brown , David. “Myths on the March: The Kenyan and Zimbabwean Liberation Struggles in Colonial Fiction.” Journal of Southern African Studies, Vol. 9, No. 1. (Oct.1982): 93-117.

Presley, Cora Ann. “The Mau Mau Rebellion, Kikuyu Women, and Social Change.” Canadian Journal of African Studies, Vol. 22, No. 3.

Santoru, Marina E. “The Colonial Idea of Women and Direct Intervention: The Mau Mau Case.” African Affairs, Vol. 95, No. 379. (Apr., 1996): 253-267.

Tamarkin, M. “Mau Mau in Nakuru.” Journal of African History, XVII, 1 (1976), pp. 119 – 134.

Throup, David W. “The Origins of Mau Mau.” African Affairs, Vol. 84, No. 336. (Jul., 1985): 399-433.

Youé, Christopher. “’A Delicate Balance’: Resident Labour on Settler Farms in Kenya, Until Mau Mau.” Canadian Journal of History XXII (August 1987): 209 - 228.

Buijtenhuijs, Robert. Mau Mau: Twenty Years After (The Hauge: Mouton and Co., 1973).

Throup, David. Economic and Social Origins of May May: 1945 – 53 (Athens: Ohio University Press, 1988

Edgerton, Robert B. Mau Mau: An African Crucible (New York: The Free Press, 1989).

Clayton, Anthony. Counter Insurgency in Kenya: A Study of Military Operations Against Mau Mau (Nairobi: Transafrica Publishers Ltd., 1976).

Corradini, Stephen. Chief Luka and the Lari Land Massacre: Contrary Notions of Kikuyu Land Tenure and the Mau Mau War (Madison: Board of Regents, University of Wisconson System, 2000).

Leakey, L.S.B. Defeating Mau Mau (36 Essex Street, Strand, WC: Methuen and Co. 1954.)

Furedi, Frank. The Mau Mau War in Perspective (Athens: Ohio University Press, 1989).

This is a large study of the Mau Mau revolt. The book has at least four main arguments.

First, Furedi argues that the revolt of the native Kenyans was part of an agrarian revolution, as squatters fought the white settlers to keep their rights to work the land. These squatters became politically mobilized only after their aspirations were thwarted by white settlers at every turn.

Second, these agrarian movements were aided by an urban political movement of educated Kikuyu from Nairobi.

Third, that the heavy presence of Kikuyu in the resistance movement has caused the Kenyan nationalist movement to be misinterpreted as a tribal issue. Furedi argues that “the tribal colonial authorities succeeded in preventing the spread of Mau Mau in any significant sense to non-Kikuyu ethnic groups. That is a testimony to their strength rather than the inherent Kikuyuness of Mau Mau” (Furedi, 143).

Fourth, the Mau Mau movement and its excesses were the result of the British marginalization and suppression legitimate nationalist sentiments. The Mau Mau movement was the result of a “breakdown of the uneasy alliance with the moderate wing of the KCA” and the “loose network of militant activists” that became Mau Mau (Furedi, 109). “Since it appeared that the colonial government was in no mood to compromise, the militant option seemed the only way forward to the younger generation” (Furedi, 109).

Furedi backs up his claims with extensive research, including settler statistics and government reports.

Presley, Cora Ann. Kikuyu Women, the Mau Mau Rebellion, and Social Change in Kenya (Boulder: Westview Press, 1992).

Venyś, Ladislav. A History of the Mau Mau Movement in Kenya (Prauge: Charles University, 1970)

Odhiambo, E.S. Atieno, and Lonsdale, John, ed. Mau Mau & Nationhood: Arms Authority and Narration (Athens: Ohio University Press, 2003).

Wachanga, H.K. and Whittier, Robert, ed. The Swords of Kirinyaga: The Fight for Land and Freedom (Kampala: East African Literature Bureau).

Wandai, Karuga. Kimathi: A Tribute to a National Hero (Thika: Mouth Kilimanjaro Publishers Co., 1990).

Sykes, John P. Slaves Uprooted and the Mau Mau Massacre (Hicksville: Exposition Press, 1978).

Slater, Montagu. The Trial of Jomo Kenyatta 2^nd Ed. (London: Heinemann, 1975).

Barnett, Don (ed). The Hardcore: The Story of Karigo Muchai (Richmond, B.C.: L&M Press, 1973).

Hewitt, Peter. Kenya Cowboy: A Police Officer’s Account of the Mau Mau Emergency. (Johannesburg: Covos Day, 2001).

Kariuki, Josiah Mwangi. ‘Mau Mau’ Detainee: An Account by a Keny African of his Experiences in Detention Camps 1953-60 (Middlesex: Penguin Books Ltd., 1964).

Wanjau, Gakaaara Wa. Mau Mau Author in Detention: An Author’s Detention Diary (Nairobi: Heinemann Kenya Limited, 1988).

Gakaara wa Wanjau’s diaries, along with letters written to his wife during his detention, provide an excellent – if dull – look inside the prison system that British authorities set up for thousands of black men and women during the Mau Mau Emergency. Gakaara spent time in several different detention facilities, including the infamous Hola Camp. He survived the experience and as of 1981 was living in Karatina.

Gakaara’s narrative is short on detail: it is exactly what it claims to be – a detention diary. It catalogues the mundane existence of the prisoners – digging here, working there, being inspected twelve times a day, being starved and beaten and interrogated. He has a special concern for ensuring that the names of the people involved are carefully recorded – who helped to dig a secret well while the detainees were being starved, for example, and who went to the beach and “drowned” while throwing away garbage. Each entry is usually only a few paragraphs long, and all is presented in a disarmingly matter-of-fact tone.

Notably missing from the account is any mention of female prostitution, which if other detention accounts are accurate, was rampant and gratefully welcomed by the male camp members. Perhaps Gakaara’s experience was different.

Gakaara was in a state of semi-house arrest about a mile from Hola during the 1959 beating deaths documented in the primary sources section of this paper, and he provides some more information about the event. The man in charge of the operation was terminated with full honors and benefits, according to Gakaara, but the “closed” camp within the camp, where the hardest prisoners were locked up, was done away with. This is where Gakaara claims the beatings took place, actually – not on a road, as in the official story. Given the initial attempt by the authorities to concoct a story about poisoned water to cover up the killings, it is very likely that Gakaara’s version of events is closer to the truth.

Gakaara seems to have comparatively little resentment for his ill treatment – a feature of native Kenyans that seems common enough according to more than one source, including the video Black Man’s Land.

Kinyatti, Maina wa. Kimathi’s Letters: A Profile in Patriotic Courage (London: Zed Books Ltd., 1986).

Njagi, David. The Last Mau Mau Field Marshals (Kenya’s Freedom War 1952-63 and Beyond) Their Own Story (Meru: Ngwataniro Self Help Group and David Njagi of Property Magazine and Guide, 1993).

Kinyatti, Maina wa (ed). Thunder from the Mountains: Mau Mau Patriotic Songs (Nairobi: Zed Press, 1980).

This particular primary source is unusual and deserves a category of its own. Kinyatti is one of the “main exponents of the thesis that Mau Mau was an anti-imperialist nationalist movment” (Furedi, 142). To this end, he has compiled a number of Mau Mau songs. The idea of nationalism in the Mau Mau movement finds a fair amount of support here, as many of the songs have a political or explicitly nationalist nature: “Our Delegation Was Sent to the U.N.O,” “This Country is Ours,” “Let Us Worship the National Heroes,” and “The Sufferings of Kenyan Patriots”, for example.

These are catalogued under “mobilization songs.” There is a second section for “detention songs.” These are less jingoistic and have to do with beatings, torture and resistance within the camp: “Prisons Are Terrible Places,” and “Embakasi Detention Camp” are representative of this genre.

The final section is devoted to “guerrilla songs.” Many of them are mini-hagiographies of guerrilla leader Dedan Kimathi, (“When our Kimathi ascended / Into the mountains alone / He asked for strength and courage / To decisively defeat the colonialists”) and etc, who was ultimately captured and hung by the British. Even Kimathi’s wife comes in for the hero treatment, for “Kimathi’s Wife Was the Secretary.” Others are political arguments, but there is an interesting subcategory having to do with marriage. “In the Garden Were Many Fruits,” is the most prominent example, in which the singer has impregnated a young woman and yet lacks the wealth to negotiate a bride-price. The only nationalist line in the song is when the singer leaves: “Now stay in peace my love / I am going deep into the forest / To fight for the land and freedom of the Kenyans.” As is the case in all wars, perhaps this young man’s motivations for joining the battle were numerous.

Thiong’o, Ngugi wa. A Grain of Wheat. Charles Mungoshi, trans. (Harare: Zimbabwe Publishing House, 1984).

The professor recommended this book, and the UF library had it. It claims to be translated by Charles Mungoshi, but unfortunately it was not translated into English. I include it here simply to show that I obtained it.

Black Man's Land: Images of Colonialism and Independence in Kenya. Written by David Koff, produced by Anthony Howarth and David Koff. The Bellwether Group, 1991. Part 2.

This film was produced in the 1970’s. Its argument is that there was no such thing as Mau Mau, per se – rather, there was a Land Freedom Army led by proto-nationalist black Africans in Kenya.[2] It has some excellent footage from the 1950’s, with interviews of local authorities and white farmers, period newsreels and current interviews with Mau Mau activists and a white ex-detention camp guard.

While Black Man’s Land emphasizes the inarguable disparity in casualties between white and black Kenyans and the over-reaction of the colonial administrators, its examination of the line between black politics and black violence is extremely weak. The film is so eager to show that “Mau Mau” was only a nationalist political movement rather than the quasi-religious blood cult that colonial authorities claimed it was that it never digs behind the testimony of the ex-Mau Maus it interviews. What was the oathing ceremony that they keep talking about?[3] What was the LFA’s position on violence? What was the connection between settler’s murders and the nationalist movement – were they supporting such actions or were they attempting to discourage massacres? These are the kind of difficult questions that should have been asked.

The film’s strongest point, perhaps, is in its footage of colonial authorities trying to explain away the brutal realities of detention camps. There is a priceless interview with a strapping camp guard whose shifty-eyed responses betray more than the nervousness everyone in that generation experienced when dealing with the new medium of television; he doesn’t know, he says, why the Mau Mau renounce their oaths inside the camp. No, he doesn’t, he says again. We know it is not true, but it illustrates the creepy ways in which large numbers of people can be deceived. Ditto for the camp “psychologist”, with his pipe and mustache and vague answers and appeals to “law and order” and “civilization.”

The conclusion of the film is that the ex-Mau Mau detainees now live in shanties and had no part in the government once the Kenyan nationalists came to power. If Furedi’s analysis on the dichotomy in Mau Mau membership between rural, agrarian squatters and Nairobi intellectuals is to be believed, this is quite understandable, since the new government would almost certainly be made up of the latter. Certainly this is borne out by the difference between the political and agricultural members shown on the film: the political leaders spoke perfect British English, with upper class accents, while the shanty-dwellers did not speak English at all.

Alport, C.J.M. “Kenya's Answer to the Mau Mau Challenge.” African Affairs, Vol. 53, No. 212. (Jul.1954): 241-248.*

Housed as it is inside a scholarly journal, this was at first treated as a scholarly article. However, upon closer examination it deserves to be classified as a primary source because it is the abridged version of a speech given by C.J.M. Alport, a member of Parliament and Chairman of the Joint East Africa Board in 1954.

In it, Alport talks about the organization of Mau Mau, and some of the “courts” that it has set up to enforce loyalty. He also mentions the oaths, and reproduces one of the oaths; this one has the requirement of cutting out eyes and drinking the liquid from them. Through an anecdote, Alport compares Mau Mau to the Nazi threat, implying that even the Nazis did not have the fanaticism of the Mau Mau.

Alport’s ideas for solving the problem are essentially vague appeals to racial understanding. Unsure of whether the races are actually equal, Alport nevertheless desires some kind of positive interaction; he thinks that the Africans are bored because they have been deprived of their native dances and should be allowed to amuse themselves in harmless ways.

The speech ends with Alport taking questions from the audience. The only question of interest was whether women were playing an important part in Mau Mau; Alport said that they were and that it was unusual in a secret society to have female involvement. Women served as food carriers and messengers, for example.

[1] Colonial oppression of Kenyan political groups goes back at least to 1940, but it was not until after World War II that the conflict broke into the open and military/terrorist activity began.

[2] The video makes a certain amount of fuss over the fact that the words “Mau Mau” do not mean anything in the native language of the peoples of Kenya, but since even the guerrilla fighters viewed themselves as “Mau Mau” by a certain point – “Though you banned both KCA and KAU / You did not succeed / since we have already formed another one / and it is called Mau Mau. / Unity and cooperation are demanded of you / You the Mau Mau Members / So that we can fight for our land together” – it is difficult to see why this matters. (Kinyatti, Maina wa (ed). Thunder from the Mountains: Mau Mau Patriotic Songs (Nairobi: Zed Press, 1980), 83).

[3] The details of the oath, while often exaggerated, were usually grotesque and thus do not fit within the “political” argument of the video.