SOWING  THE  SEEDS
OF LIBERATION
K. , wLi*?
We shall soon be starting to prepare the
land for new crops.
To many people production may seem
a rite, a necessity, just something we are
obliged to do in order to eat and clothe
ourselves. It is true that production is
aimed at satisfying our basic biological
needs, but we also need it to free ourselves from poverty, to better know,
control and use nature, and to educate
ourselves politically. We are revolutionaries, our activities always have political meaning and content. Therefore our
production, besides having an economic
meaning and content, must have also
political content.
In the enemy zone, under capitalism,
under colonialism, there is also production.   There too man wields the hoe to
At the beginning of the production cycle for 1971 - 1972, the
President of FRELIMO (above), issued directives concerning the
way production must be organised, its importance from the economic and social point of view, and its role in the political formation
of the militants. This text was widely circulated to help guide the
people during the production cycle.
break the soil. There too, on the factory
machine - which we do not as yet have
in our zone - man makes things. Yet we
say that production in the enemy zone is
exploitation, whereas in our zone production liberates man. But it is the
same hoe, the same man, the same act of
breaking the soil. Why then is there this
dividing line? Almost everyone knows
the G3 gun. In the hands of the enemy
the G3 is used to oppress and slaughter
the people, but when we capture a G3, it
becomes an instrument for liberating the
people, for punishing those who slaughter
the people. It is the same gun, but its
content has changed because those who
use it have different aims, different interests.
What use is made of the produce of a
Mozambican peasant who grows rice in
Gaza? Is it used to feed him, to satisfy
his family's needs? To a certain extent
perhaps.   But what is certain is that out
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