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PUBLISHED BY
N SCIENCE PUBLISHING SOCI
Mozambique
To The Christian Science Monitor:
The articles on Mozambique by Pieter
messing appearing in the Monitor certainly   indicate   the   increased   interest
Americans have in that part of Africa,
lowever,   as  one who has  lived  and
Jtraveled in Mozambique as the wife of
lone of its native Africans, I must challenge Mr. Lessing's assertion that this
[truly beautiful country is a relatively
'untroubled land. Also, being the wife
of the leader of the rebel Mozambique
African party, I must correct Mr. Lessing's description of me as a wealthy
Swedish woman who is able to give my
husband   "limited   financial   independence." I am a white American from the
Midwest; and I,  as well as our three
small children, still depend on him for
board and room.
During my stay in Mozambique
(1960-61, before the time of my political interests) I came to know the
African areas well, their problems, their
living conditions, and their attitudes toward their Portuguese rulers. Contrary
to the impression given by Mr. Lessing,
Mozambique is a country pregnant with
tension and fear. The Africans keep
smiling for the benefit of the PIDE
(International Police for the Defense of
the State) whose agents are in practically every institution, and those "helpful" Africans would never dare to express dissatisfaction to a white man for
fear of future reprisals. Brutal beatings
with the palmatoria is the price meted
out to those suspected of economic protest, of disrespect for a white man, of
expression of political opinion. Imprisonment without trial and mysterious
disappearances are more long-term
punishments.
The African population has but one answer to the vicious circle of oppression-
poverty-illiteracy-oppresion, and that is
freedom. The Portuguese Government is
well aware of that fact. It is not fear
of land-grabbing in northern  Mozam-
i bique by the supposedly "hostile" countries of Tanganyika and Nyasaland that
prompts  stringent  defense  movements.
It  is, rather, the fear of the Mozambique   African   nationalist   party,   the
I frente   de   Liberacao   de   Mozambique
(FRELIMO) led by American-educated
1 Eduardo C. Mondlane, that has brought
an estimated 40,000 armed  Portuguese
! soldiers into  the country.  Nor  do  the
internal   conditions   present   FRELIMO
with an impossible task.
Experience is knowledge, and the
FRELIMO leaders know without a
doubt that the country can be successfully penetrated with the steady enthusiasm and eager cooperation of every
tribal group—in spite of the Portuguese
show of force. The rebel policy is to
try to negotiate first, but failing that,
they are prepared for conflict. Unhappily, the Portuguese do not appear
to be in a negotiating mood.
Premier Salazar of Portugal labels
the freedom movement as the work of
Communists. I am amused by that
name-calling, for the African population
hardly knows the meaning of that word.
They are simply people who love their
homes, and want only to see a brighter
and more dignified future for their
children. Nothing that Portugal can do
will prevent them from achieving that
end—and soon.
Janet Rae Mondlane
Syracuse, N.Y.