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VISITORS IN FREE MOZAMBIQUE post-liberation Mozambican society. As a result we everywhere witnessed the emphasis which is placed upon the primacy of politics and of the people in the present struggle. All militants, even those most clearly involved in administrative chores, have military training, and ordinary villagers are actively engaged in the militia; no caste system premissed on military professionalism is to be allowed. And those most clearly engaged in military activities are constantly reminded of, and instructed in, the basically political nature of the overall struggle for Mozambican independence. A fourth aspect perhaps impressed me forceably because of my own studies of efforts at collective rural development in Tanzania. For in the village at which we spent the longest time during our 16 days inside the liberated areas, it was clear that exploitation was being actively discouraged and that the villagers where rapidly finding collective solutions to their agricultural problems. Seven communal fields were in operation and artisans - basket-makers and iron-workers - who had previously worked and earned individualistically had now taken their places within a collective division of labour. The community spirit thus engendered seemed also to make it easier for the village to shoulder its broader responsibilities - helping feed the fighting forces by providing produce, joining periodically in the carrying of vital war materials from the frontier. In short, this was an experiment which compared favourably with most of the «ujamaa villages» that one knew in Tanzania. Fifth, one could not fail to be impressed by the spirit of internationalism which seemed consistently to animate the Mozambicans with whom we came into contact, even at the village level. As was constantly reiterated, both at meetings and in casual conversation, here there was no room for simple-minded racialism or opportunist brands of «ultra-nationalism». Instead a more sober national spirit defined the enemy - the Portuguese State, Portuguese colonialism and its imperialist allies - more clearly and more effectively. It was gratifying - as a white and as Canadian — to be warmly accepted as a comrade by such people, despite the graphic realities, on a world scale, of racial oppression and North American imperialism. It also heightened my own awareness of how much more progressives in the metropolitan countries must do to be worthy of such trust and friendship. John Saul meets two Mozambicans who deserted from the colonial army to join FRELIMO A final point touches on the military sphere - and certain of its implications. Talking to militants and cadres from all corners of Tete Province, to the people themselves, and even to several deserters from the Portuguese army, it was clear that FRELIMO is winning the war in Tete as it is also doing in Cabo Delgado and Niassa. Clear, too, that so important a project as Cahora Bassa in Tete is seriously threatened as its supply lines are increasingly harassed. And further advances-are inevitable. Yet already the Rhodesians are an active military presence in Tete beyond the Zambezi; a deserter from the Portuguese army we met revealed that he had even had Rhodesian instructors in his counter- insurgency course while with the Portuguese! And the intensified involvement of the South Africans can surely not be far behind. In this respect, too, my Tete experience dramatized the responsibilities which will increasingly fall upon metropolitan progressives who are concerned about the future of Mozambique. For in a wider war, our own governments will be tempted to back the side of their investments, as indeed they have already begun to do in dramatic ways. The necessity to alert the Canadian people to such a danger was one of the imperatives which struck me most forceably during my stay in the liberated areas. The ten or more years which elapsed before a significant challenge - intellectual or political - could be mounted at home to imperialist intrigues or subterfuge in Vietnam must not be allowed to occur with respect to Mozambique. 14
Object Description
Title | Mozambique revolution, no. 52 (1972 July-Sept.) (copy 2) |
Description | Contents: Editorial - The opening of a new front (p. 1); We value Africa's aid - FRELIMO at the conference of East and Central African states (p. 3); War review - Developments over the past 12 months (p. 4); FRELIMO's women envoys - In Africa, Europe and Asia (p. 7); The crimes of colonialism - Testimony to the un human rights commission (p. 9); Visitors in free Mozambique - British solidarity group; Canadian lecturer; Italian delegation; Bulgarian doctor (p.11); A soldier escapes from Caetano's war - A Portuguese deserter speaks (p.17); FRELIMO's new recruits - Mozambicans desert the colonial army and join FRELIMO (p.18); O.A.U. Secretary-General visits FRELIMO (p.19); War communique - Latest report from the front (p. 20); Economic development in the liberated areas - Report to the economic commission for Africa (p. 22). This is an issue reprinted and distributed by the LSM Information Center in Richmond, Canada. |
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 | -18.6696821,35.5273474 |
Coverage date | 1964/1972 |
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 | 1972-07/1972-09 |
Type |
texts images |
Format | 28 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-355 |
Description
Title | CENPA-355~16 |
Filename | CENPA-355~16.tiff |
Full text | VISITORS IN FREE MOZAMBIQUE post-liberation Mozambican society. As a result we everywhere witnessed the emphasis which is placed upon the primacy of politics and of the people in the present struggle. All militants, even those most clearly involved in administrative chores, have military training, and ordinary villagers are actively engaged in the militia; no caste system premissed on military professionalism is to be allowed. And those most clearly engaged in military activities are constantly reminded of, and instructed in, the basically political nature of the overall struggle for Mozambican independence. A fourth aspect perhaps impressed me forceably because of my own studies of efforts at collective rural development in Tanzania. For in the village at which we spent the longest time during our 16 days inside the liberated areas, it was clear that exploitation was being actively discouraged and that the villagers where rapidly finding collective solutions to their agricultural problems. Seven communal fields were in operation and artisans - basket-makers and iron-workers - who had previously worked and earned individualistically had now taken their places within a collective division of labour. The community spirit thus engendered seemed also to make it easier for the village to shoulder its broader responsibilities - helping feed the fighting forces by providing produce, joining periodically in the carrying of vital war materials from the frontier. In short, this was an experiment which compared favourably with most of the «ujamaa villages» that one knew in Tanzania. Fifth, one could not fail to be impressed by the spirit of internationalism which seemed consistently to animate the Mozambicans with whom we came into contact, even at the village level. As was constantly reiterated, both at meetings and in casual conversation, here there was no room for simple-minded racialism or opportunist brands of «ultra-nationalism». Instead a more sober national spirit defined the enemy - the Portuguese State, Portuguese colonialism and its imperialist allies - more clearly and more effectively. It was gratifying - as a white and as Canadian — to be warmly accepted as a comrade by such people, despite the graphic realities, on a world scale, of racial oppression and North American imperialism. It also heightened my own awareness of how much more progressives in the metropolitan countries must do to be worthy of such trust and friendship. John Saul meets two Mozambicans who deserted from the colonial army to join FRELIMO A final point touches on the military sphere - and certain of its implications. Talking to militants and cadres from all corners of Tete Province, to the people themselves, and even to several deserters from the Portuguese army, it was clear that FRELIMO is winning the war in Tete as it is also doing in Cabo Delgado and Niassa. Clear, too, that so important a project as Cahora Bassa in Tete is seriously threatened as its supply lines are increasingly harassed. And further advances-are inevitable. Yet already the Rhodesians are an active military presence in Tete beyond the Zambezi; a deserter from the Portuguese army we met revealed that he had even had Rhodesian instructors in his counter- insurgency course while with the Portuguese! And the intensified involvement of the South Africans can surely not be far behind. In this respect, too, my Tete experience dramatized the responsibilities which will increasingly fall upon metropolitan progressives who are concerned about the future of Mozambique. For in a wider war, our own governments will be tempted to back the side of their investments, as indeed they have already begun to do in dramatic ways. The necessity to alert the Canadian people to such a danger was one of the imperatives which struck me most forceably during my stay in the liberated areas. The ten or more years which elapsed before a significant challenge - intellectual or political - could be mounted at home to imperialist intrigues or subterfuge in Vietnam must not be allowed to occur with respect to Mozambique. 14 |
Archival file | Volume23/CENPA-355~16.tiff |