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While appreciating the inevitable limitations of their action, we welcome the stand taken by the White Fathers, both as a contribution to the international effort to counter Portuguese propaganda concerning the colonies, and as an effective attack on the Portuguese regime - all the more effective just because it attacks Portugal on her own ground. Here is a segment of the church (itself one of the mainstays of the colonial regime up to the present day) which not only criticises the regime's physical brutality (as many have done before) but which dares to challenge, on the grounds of basic Christian principles, the very foundations of Portugal's «Estado Novo» and of her colonial empire: the «civilising mission)), the ((multiracial society», and indeed the fact of «Portugal in African itself. The full repercussions of the «White Fathers incident)) are probably yel to be felt, but it has certainly posed many new problems for the Portuguese government. Increased repression to control dissidents within the Catholic Church based on the presumed existence of a «red threat)) there might prove to be stretching credibility a little too far. Yet the Pope receives «terrorist» leaders, the World Council of Churches gives them money, and now the White Fathers also turn traitor. At home, two of this year's major political trials centred around the stand taken by priests concerning the colonial wars; one openly declared the wars to be wrong and a second was accused of actually aiding the liberation movements! Small wonder that there exists growing consternation and even confusion in the Portuguese camp. Of course, there have been one or two moves to placate the restless. The exiled Bishop of Oporto was allowed to return and more recently the old hard-line Sala- zarist, Patriarch of Lisbon and Primate of Portugal, Cardinal Cerejeira has been replaced by a younger person reputed to represent 'a much more liberal faction in the church hierarchy.' But this is little more than window-dressing; the powers that control Portugal cannot permit any drastic changes that would open the flood gates of revolt. Moreover, precisely because the church does on balance remain such an integral part of the present system, we must be wary of overestimating its own capacity for internal change. Thus we must not be taken in even when the window-dressing referred to above is extended to the colonies as seems likely to be the case: already one hears ru mours that Portugal is willing to consider the appointment of African bishops to the two vacant sees in Mozambique, for example. But note that this ((requires guarantees that the men proposed will have the right attitude toward her presence in the overseas territories.)) Here in this latter phrase we return to the real problem. Welcome as the initiatives of the White Fatehrs are, tempting as certain marginal reforms within the Church or outside it, may appear, one fundamental fact remains paramount: there can be no really effective opposition to the Portuguese regime, at home or abroad, which is not based on a political analysis and organised political action. In the short run, the action of the Church may, as could be the case in Portugal during the next year or so, reveal cracks in the edifice and compound the regimes' mounting problems, but it is not such action which will bring that edifice crashing down. It is on such a premise, of course, that we in FRELIMO continue to intensify our own revolutionary efforts; and on such a premise that we also call upon all individuals and organisations genuinely concerned to redress the situation in the Portuguese colonies to provide us with full and effective support. The White Fathers Testimony 1. 27th April, 1971: A mine exploded near river Mukumbura One car was blown up. In the car were Rhodesian soldiers. Three were killed and two wounded. 2. Portuguese Reprisals. On 4th May the troops caught 2 African farmers. They were physically tortured until they confessed about their relations with FRELIMO. They said that they had sometimes seen FRELIMO guerrillas, and one confessed that his son had run away to join FRELIMO. The farmers were kept prisoners and forced to sleep in the bush. The next day, again under torture, one of them revealed that another man from the village named Aroni, had a nephew in FRELIMO. Aroni was arrested and interrogated. He denied ever having seen or contacted FRELIMO. Even while under brutal torture he continued to deny this, until he discovered that the other villagers had betrayed him and then he confessed that his nephew had in fact joined FRELIMO. He was killed immediately by three shots in the head. The aim of this murder, the Portuguese explained, was to frighten the other vil- 20 lagers so that no one else would deny having seen FRELIMO fighters. Aroni's body was buried three days later by the priests from the mission as all the people from the village (Changwa) had fled when they heard that the Portuguese troops were coming to finish them all off. 3. 7th May, 1971: Portuguese troops killed 14 peasants in the villages of Kapinga and Catacha. The names of those killed were: Guidilo, Miriano, Grizi, Zeze, Tapureta, Caropora, Fungurane, Pitroce, Maizi, Matias, Kenete, Diquissoni, Lan- gisse and Jona. Very few men remained alive in those two villages. When we arrived there we found the villages completely deserted: everybody had joined the widows and children of the 14 murdered men who had fled into the bush. We saw a hole near the river Dak where 5 of the murdered men from Kapinga had been buried - badly buried. Six meters away from the grave we saw a human head, ribs, fingers and leg bones. The people from the village of Mahanda told us that the men had not been shot, but had been tortured and
Object Description
Title | Mozambique revolution, no. 48 (1971 July-Sept.) |
Description | Contents: Message from the president of FRELIMO on the day of the Mozambican revolution (p. 1); Alliance against imperialism - FRELIMO's visit to socialist countries (p. 5); War communique - report from the military front (p. 8); The United Nations: one step forward - role of UN specialized agencies (p. 9); War review - analysis of the political and military situation over the last twelve months (p. 11); End of a mission - why the white fathers left Mozambique (p. 23); Visitors in free Mozambique - six journalists and cameramen from Soviet Union and a representative of the Union of Secondary Schools of Finland (p. 23); Guine: 12 years after Pijiguiti - FRELIMO's statement on the national day of Guine-Bissau (p. 28). |
Subject (lcsh) |
Nationalism -- Mozambique Self-determination, National Mozambique -- History Portugal -- Politics and government -- 1933-1974 |
Geographic Subject (Country) | Mozambique |
Geographic Subject (Continent) | Africa |
Geographic Coordinates | -18.6696821,35.5273467 |
Coverage date | 1960/1971-10 |
Creator | Mozambique Liberation Front (FRELIMO) |
Publisher (of the Original Version) | Mozambique Liberation Front (FRELIMO). Department of Information |
Place of Publication (of the Origianal Version) | Dar Es Salaam, U.R. of Tanzania |
Publisher (of the Digital Version) | University of Southern California. Libraries |
Date issued | 1971-07/1971-09 |
Type |
texts images |
Format | 36 p. |
Format (aat) | newsletters |
Language | English |
Contributing entity | University of Southern California |
Part of collection | Emerging Nationalism in Portuguese Africa, 1959-1965 |
Part of subcollection | Mozambique Collection |
Rights | The University of Southern California has licensed the rights to this material from the Aluka initiative of Ithaka Harbors, Inc., a non-profit Delaware corporation whose address is 151 East 61st Street, New York, NY 10021 |
Physical access | Original archive is at the Boeckmann Center for Iberian and Latin American Studies. Send requests to address or e-mail given. Phone (213) 821-2366; fax (213) 740-2343. |
Repository Name | USC Libraries Special Collections |
Repository Address | Doheny Memorial Library, Los Angeles, CA 90089-0189 |
Repository Email | specol@usc.edu |
Filename | CENPA-346 |
Description
Title | CENPA-346~26 |
Filename | CENPA-346~26.tiff |
Full text | While appreciating the inevitable limitations of their action, we welcome the stand taken by the White Fathers, both as a contribution to the international effort to counter Portuguese propaganda concerning the colonies, and as an effective attack on the Portuguese regime - all the more effective just because it attacks Portugal on her own ground. Here is a segment of the church (itself one of the mainstays of the colonial regime up to the present day) which not only criticises the regime's physical brutality (as many have done before) but which dares to challenge, on the grounds of basic Christian principles, the very foundations of Portugal's «Estado Novo» and of her colonial empire: the «civilising mission)), the ((multiracial society», and indeed the fact of «Portugal in African itself. The full repercussions of the «White Fathers incident)) are probably yel to be felt, but it has certainly posed many new problems for the Portuguese government. Increased repression to control dissidents within the Catholic Church based on the presumed existence of a «red threat)) there might prove to be stretching credibility a little too far. Yet the Pope receives «terrorist» leaders, the World Council of Churches gives them money, and now the White Fathers also turn traitor. At home, two of this year's major political trials centred around the stand taken by priests concerning the colonial wars; one openly declared the wars to be wrong and a second was accused of actually aiding the liberation movements! Small wonder that there exists growing consternation and even confusion in the Portuguese camp. Of course, there have been one or two moves to placate the restless. The exiled Bishop of Oporto was allowed to return and more recently the old hard-line Sala- zarist, Patriarch of Lisbon and Primate of Portugal, Cardinal Cerejeira has been replaced by a younger person reputed to represent 'a much more liberal faction in the church hierarchy.' But this is little more than window-dressing; the powers that control Portugal cannot permit any drastic changes that would open the flood gates of revolt. Moreover, precisely because the church does on balance remain such an integral part of the present system, we must be wary of overestimating its own capacity for internal change. Thus we must not be taken in even when the window-dressing referred to above is extended to the colonies as seems likely to be the case: already one hears ru mours that Portugal is willing to consider the appointment of African bishops to the two vacant sees in Mozambique, for example. But note that this ((requires guarantees that the men proposed will have the right attitude toward her presence in the overseas territories.)) Here in this latter phrase we return to the real problem. Welcome as the initiatives of the White Fatehrs are, tempting as certain marginal reforms within the Church or outside it, may appear, one fundamental fact remains paramount: there can be no really effective opposition to the Portuguese regime, at home or abroad, which is not based on a political analysis and organised political action. In the short run, the action of the Church may, as could be the case in Portugal during the next year or so, reveal cracks in the edifice and compound the regimes' mounting problems, but it is not such action which will bring that edifice crashing down. It is on such a premise, of course, that we in FRELIMO continue to intensify our own revolutionary efforts; and on such a premise that we also call upon all individuals and organisations genuinely concerned to redress the situation in the Portuguese colonies to provide us with full and effective support. The White Fathers Testimony 1. 27th April, 1971: A mine exploded near river Mukumbura One car was blown up. In the car were Rhodesian soldiers. Three were killed and two wounded. 2. Portuguese Reprisals. On 4th May the troops caught 2 African farmers. They were physically tortured until they confessed about their relations with FRELIMO. They said that they had sometimes seen FRELIMO guerrillas, and one confessed that his son had run away to join FRELIMO. The farmers were kept prisoners and forced to sleep in the bush. The next day, again under torture, one of them revealed that another man from the village named Aroni, had a nephew in FRELIMO. Aroni was arrested and interrogated. He denied ever having seen or contacted FRELIMO. Even while under brutal torture he continued to deny this, until he discovered that the other villagers had betrayed him and then he confessed that his nephew had in fact joined FRELIMO. He was killed immediately by three shots in the head. The aim of this murder, the Portuguese explained, was to frighten the other vil- 20 lagers so that no one else would deny having seen FRELIMO fighters. Aroni's body was buried three days later by the priests from the mission as all the people from the village (Changwa) had fled when they heard that the Portuguese troops were coming to finish them all off. 3. 7th May, 1971: Portuguese troops killed 14 peasants in the villages of Kapinga and Catacha. The names of those killed were: Guidilo, Miriano, Grizi, Zeze, Tapureta, Caropora, Fungurane, Pitroce, Maizi, Matias, Kenete, Diquissoni, Lan- gisse and Jona. Very few men remained alive in those two villages. When we arrived there we found the villages completely deserted: everybody had joined the widows and children of the 14 murdered men who had fled into the bush. We saw a hole near the river Dak where 5 of the murdered men from Kapinga had been buried - badly buried. Six meters away from the grave we saw a human head, ribs, fingers and leg bones. The people from the village of Mahanda told us that the men had not been shot, but had been tortured and |
Archival file | Volume22/CENPA-346~26.tiff |