W.E.B.

Du Bois Institute

National Liberation and Culture Author(s): Amilcar Cabral Reviewed work(s): Source: Transition, No. 45 (1974), pp. 12-17 Published by: Indiana University Press on behalf of the W.E.B. Du Bois Institute Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/2935020 . Accessed: 08/12/2011 03:39
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TRANSITION 4o

NATIONAL LIBERATION AND CULTURE*

Amilcar Cabral

WHENEVERGoebbels,the brain behind Nazi propaganda, heard anyone speak of culture, he pulled out his pistol. That goes to show that the Nazis who were and and are the most tragic expressionof imperialism its thirstfor domination-even if they were,all of them sick like Hitler,had a clearidea of the value of culture as a factor in the resistanceto foreign domination. it History teaches us that, in certain circumstances, is quiteeasyfor a stranger imposehis ruleon a people. to Buthistoryequallyteachesus that, whatever material the aspects of that rule, it cannot be sustainedexcept by of the permanent and organizedrepression the cultural life of the people in question. It can only firmlyentrench itself if it physicallydestroys a significantpart of the dominated people. to dominate a nation by force of arms is, Indeed, above all, to take up arms to destroy or at least, to neutralizeand paralyzeits culture. For as long as a section of the populaceis able to have a culturallife, foreigndominationcannot be sure of its perpetuation. At any given moment, dependingon internaland external factors which determinethe evolution of the society in question,culturalopposition(indestructible) will take on new forms (political,economic, military) with a view to posing a serious challengeto foreign domination. for The idealsituation foreignrule,whether imperialist or not, would be one of thesetwo alternatives: - either to practicallyliquidatethe entire population of the dominated all country,thus eliminating possibility of that kind of culturalresistance; - or to succeedin imposing itself without adversely the affecting cultureof the dominated people, that is to
*This extract fromCabral's memorial lecturefor Eduardo Modliane is translated NII OSAH MILLS by 12

in question. The utter failureof this "theory",put in practiceby severalcolonial powers, of which Portugal is the most notable,affordsthe most readyproof of its non-viabilityif not of its inhumanity. It reachesthe Salazar's assertionthat Africadoes not exist. It is equallythe case of the so-calledtheoryof Apartheid, created, applied and developedon the basis of economicand politicaldominationby a racistminority, with all the crimes against humanitythat it involves. Apartheidis characterised the frenetic exploitation by of the labour of the Africanmasses, penned and surhighest degree of absurdity in the case of Portugal, with

genous population and, creates a void which takes away from the foreign domination its content and objective: the dominated people. The second hypothesis has not up till now been confirmed by history. Humanity's great store of experience makes it possible to postulate that it has no practical viability: it is impossible to harmonise economic and political domination of a people whatever the degree of its social development, with the preservation of its culture. With a view to avoiding this alternative-which could be called the dilemma of cultural resistance-colonial imperialist domination has attempted to create theories which, in fact, are nothing but crude racist formulations and express themselves in practice through a permanent siege of the indigenous populations, based on a racist (or democratic) dictatorship. It is for example so in the case of the so-called theory of the progressive assimilation of native populations, which turns out to be no more than an attempt to destroy more or less violently, the culture of the people

the say, harmonising economicand politicaldomination of thesepeoplewith its cultural personality. The first hypothesisimpliesthe genocideof the indi-

pressed in the largest, most cynical concentration camp that mankind has ever known.

TRANSITION 45

These facts show a little of the drama of foreign dominationwhen faced with the culturalrealitiesof the people. They also show the close interaction oppressed of dependenceand complementarity existing between the culturalfact and the economic (and political)fact in the functioningof human societies. Indeed, culture is, at any moment in the life of a society (whetheran open or a closed one), the more or less consciousresult of economic and political activities,the more or less dynamic expressionof the relationshipsprevailingin that society. On one hand between man (considered individuallyor collectively) and nature, and on the other hand, betweenindividuals,groups of individuals, social strataor classes. The value of culture as an element of resistanceto foreign rule lies in the fact that, in the ideologicalor of idealisticcontext,it is the vigorousmanifestation the materialistand historicalrealityof the society already under domination, or about to be dominated. The fruit of the historyof a people,culture,at the sametime determineshistory through the positive or negative influenceit exerts on the evolution of the interaction and betweenman betweenman and his surroundings, or groups of men within a society, as well as between differentsocieties. Ignoranceof this fact can explain the quite adequately failureof manyattemptsat foreign domination,as well as that of some nationalliberation movements.

Culture,whatever may be the ideologicalor idealistic manifestationsof its character,is thus an essential elementin the history of a people. It is, perhapsthe product of history as the flower is the product of a plant. Like history,or becauseit is history,culturehas

as its physical base the forces of productionand the means of production. It plunges its roots into the materialrealityof the soil of the environment which in it grows, and reflectsthe organicnatureof society but being all the same capable of being influencedby exteriorfactors. If history allows us to know the nature and the causes of the imbalances and conflicts(econothe mic, political and social) which characterise evolution of a society,cultureteachesus what have been the dynamic syntheses, structuredand establishedby the mind of society for the solution of these conflicts, at each stage in the evoltitionof this same society in the questfor survivaland progress. As with the flowerin a plant, it is in culturethat you find the capacity(or responsibility) the production for and the fertilisingof the seed which ensuresthe continuity of history,ensuringat the same time, the perspectives of the evolution and of the progress of the societyin question. It is thereforeseen that imperialist domination being the negation of the true historical be process of the oppressedpeople, it must necessarily the negationof its culturalprocesses. We understand further why the practice of imperialistrule, like all otherforeignrule,demandsfor its own security,cultural oppressionand a direct or indirectattempt to control the essential aspects of the culture of the oppressed people. The study of the historyof liberationstrugglesshows that in general, they are precededby an increasein cultural phenomena which progressively crystallize or into an attempt,successful not, to assert the cultural of peoplein an act of rejection personality the oppressed of that of the oppressor. Whatever may be the state of subjectionof a nation to foreignrule and the influence of economic, political and social factors in the furtheranceof this domination,it is generallyin culture that the seed of protest,leadingto the emergence and developmentof the liberation movement, is found. A nationwhichfreesitselffrom foreignrule,will only be culturallyfree if, without a complex and without the underestimating importanceof positive contributions fromthe oppressors' cultureand of othercultures, it recaptures commanding the heightsof its own culture, which derivessustenancefrom the living reality of its and equally rejectsthe harmfulinfluences environment to whichany kindof subjection foreigncultures involves. Thus one sees that if imperialist dominationnecessarily practices cultural oppression, national liberationis an necessarily act of culture. Nowadays it has become quite commonplace to assert that each nation has its own culture. The time has gone when,in an attemptto perpetuate dominathe tion of people,culturewas considered be the prerogato tive of privilegedpeoples or nations,and by ignorance or bad intention,culturewas confusedwith technology, or with the colour of the skin or shape of the eyes. Liberationmovements,representa'ive and defenderof the culture of the people, have to be conscious of the fact that whatevermay be the materialconditions of the society that it represents, that society is the bearer and creatorof culture. The liberationmovementmust besidesachievea mass character, popularcharacter the of the culture,whichis not, and cannot be the prerogative of one or of certainsectorsof the society. In the detailedanalysisof the social structure that all liberationmovementsshould be capable of makingin
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TRANSITION 45

coming to grips with the imperativesof the struggle, of the cultural characteristics each sector of society have a supremely important place. For, though culture it has a mass character, is nevertheless uniform,it not does not develop equally in all sectors of the society. The attitudeof each social group when faced with the struggleis dictatedby its economic interests,but it is also profoundlyinfluencedby its culture. One could in even say that it is the differences the levels of culture which explain the differentreactionsof individualsin the same socio-economic group to the liberationmoveof ment. And it is herethat the full importance culture for each person is reached: understandingof, and integration with his environment,identificationwith of the fundamental problemsand aspirations the society, of and acceptance the possibilityof changein the direction of progress. of Experience colonialdominationshows that, in the attempt to perpetuateexploitation, the coloniser not of only createsa whole systemof repression the cultural life of the peoplecolonized,but also arousesanddevelops the cultLralalienation of a section of the populace either by the so-called assimilationof the indigenous people or by the creationof a social abyss betweenan indigenouselite ar.d the popular masses. As a result of this processof division,or wideningof the divisions section of the in society,it happensthat a considerable population, notably the petite bourgeoisie,urban or peasant assimilates the mertality of the coloniser, themselves culturally superiorto the people considering they belong to, and whose culturalvalues they either despise, or do not know. This situation,characteristic of the majority of colonized intellectuals,crystallizes as the social privilegesof the assimilatedor alienated for with directimplications the response groupincreases, of of the individuals this groupto the liberationmovement. Thus a reconversionof minds-of mentalities, becomes indispensableto their integration with the national movement.Such a reconversion-reafricanisation in our case-can be started before the struggle but it is not complete until during the course of the struggle,in the daily contact with the masses, and in the communionof sacrificethat the struggledemands. to It is necessarynevertheless be aware of the fact that, as the prospect of political indeperdencedraws that the liberanear,the ambitionand the opportunism tion movementgenerallysuffersfrom, may bring nonconverted individaals to the struggle. Such people armed with their learning,their scientificor technical knowledge,ard without losing their class prejudices, could ascend to the highest ranks of the liberation movement. On the culturalas well as political level, vigilanceis thus indispensable.For also in the concrete and verycomplexconditionsof this phenomenon called the national liberation movement, all that glitters is not necessarilygold: the political leaders-even the alienated. most celebrated-may be culturally But the class nature of culture is even more perceptible in the behaviourof the privilegedgroups in the rural areas, notably, kin-groups with a sociothe verticalstructure,where nevertheless, influencesof assimilationor alienationare nil or practicallynil. It is for exampleso in the case of the Fula elite. Under colonial dominationthe politicalauthorityof this class is leaders) purelynominal, (chiefs,royalfamilies,spiritual
14

andthe popularmassesare awareof the fact that actual power resides in and is exercisedby the colonial administration. Yet the ruling classes preservea basic :ulturalauthorityover the populace with implications of greatpoliticalimportance. Aware of this reality, the coloniser, who represses, and opposes the culturally significantmanifestations of the popularmassesat its roots, supportsand protects the prestige and the cultural influence of the ruling class. He installs some friendlyand influentialchiefs, gives them various material privileges including the educationof older children,he createschiefdomswhere they do not exist, establishes and develops cordial relationswith religiousleaders,builds mosques, organises trips to Mecca, etc. And, especially,he assures of the politicaland socialprivileges the rulingclass over the popularmassesby meansof the repressive machinery of colonial administration. All that does not make it impossible that there might be, among these ruling or who might classes,individuals groups of individuals adhere to the liberationmovement,although this will happen less often than in the case of the assimilated "petite bourgeoisie". Many traditionaland spiritual leadersbecome involvedin the struggleright from the start or duringits course,makingan enthusiastic contribLtionto the cause of liberation. But here also, need for vigilance:preserving there is an indispensable well anchored,the culturalprejudicesof class, firmly of anchored,the individuals this categorygenerallysee in the liberationmovementthe only viable means of succeedingin eliminatingcolonial oppressionof their own classand re-establishing samecomplete the political and culturaldominationover the people-and in the the processexploitingto theirown advantage, sacrifices of the people. In the general frameworkof the struggle against colonialist rule imperialist and in the concreteconditions to which we refer,it is confirmed that among the most faithful allies of the oppressor,one fii_dssome high officials and assimilated intellectuals in the liberal and numberof representatives professions, an important of the rulingclass in the ruralareas. If this fact gives a measure of the influence (negative or positive) of cultureand cultural in prejudices the problemof political option with regardto the liberationmovement,it also and revealsthe limitsof this influence the supremacy of the class factor in the behaviourof the various social groups. The assimilatedhigh official or intellectual, characterised his total cultural alienation, identifies by himself politically with the traditional or religious leader, who has not been significantlyinfluencedby foreign cultures. For these two categoriesplace their economic and social privileges-their class interests above all the facts or needs of theircultureand against the aspirationsof the people. Here is a truth that the liberationmovement can only ignore at the risk of betrayingthe economic, political, social and cultural objectivesof the struggle. betweenthe cultureof the The greaterthe differences oppressedpeople and that of the oppressor,the more possible such a victory becomes. History shows that to it is muchless difficult dominateand sustaindomination over a people with a similaror analogousculture to that of the conqueror. One could perhaps,assert that Napoleon's ultimate defeat, whatevermay have been the economicand politicalmotivationof his wars

TRANSITION 45

of conquest,lay in his not limiting or not being able to limit his ambitionsto the dominationof people of a culture more or less similar to that of France. One could say the same for other empires,ancient,modern or contemporary. One of the gravestmistakes,if not the gravestcommittld by the colonial powers in Africa, must be that the of not knowing or of underestimating culture of the peoples of Africa. This attitude is particularly evident in Portiguese colonial rule, which has not been contentwith the absolutenegationof the existence of the African'sculturalvalues and of his status as a social being, but is stubbornlybent on banning him from every kind of political activity. The Portuguese people who have not even enjoyed the riches seized from the African people by Portuguese colonialism but have all the same assimilatedmost of them, the imperialist mentality of the ruling classes of their country,are payingvery dearlytoday, in threecolonial our cultural wars, for the error of underestimating reality. The political and violent resistanceof the people of Portugal'scolonies as in other countriesor regions of Africa, has been crushed by the technologicalsupewith the complicity conquerors, riorityof the imperialist or treacheryof some indigenousruling classes. The elites who are faithfulto the historyand cultureof the people have been destroyed. Entire populationshave been massacred. The colonial kingdom entrenched itself with its characteristiccrimes and exploitation. But the cultural resistanceof the African people has not been destroyed. Suppressed, persecuted,betrayed by some sections of society that have compromised their stand against colonialism, African culture has survivedall the storms, by seeking refuge in villages, of in forests and in the spirit of generations victimsof colonialism. Like the seed that long awaits the most so propitiousmomentfor germination, as to assurethe cortinuityof the species and its evolution,the culture of the Africanis today continuingits growthacrossthe for continentin the struggles nationalliberation. Whattheirsuccessorfailure, everthe forms of these struggles, the length of their development, they mark the beginning of a new phase in the historyof the continentand are in form as well as in content, the most important culturalphenomenonin the life of the Africanpeople. The fruit and proof of culturalvigour, the liberation struggleof the African people opens up new vistas of for the development culturein the serviceof progress. to The time when it was necessary marshalarguments to prove the cultural maturity of African peoples is past. The irrationalityof the racist "theories"of a neither interest nor Gobineau or of the Levy-Bruhls, convince anyone except the racists. Despite colonial rule (and perhapsbecause of it) Africa has been able to achieve respect for its culture. She even proved herself to be one of the richest continentsin culture. From Carthageor Gizah to Zimbabwe,from Meroe to Benin and Ife, from the Sahara or Timbuctoo to Kilwa, across the immensediversityof the continent's natural conditions, African culture is an undeniable fact: in works of art as well as in oral and written traditions,in cosmologicalconcepts as wellas in music and dancing,in religions and beliefsas well as in the of dynamic equilibrium economic political and social structures the Africanhas created. that

If the universalworth of Africancultureis today an undeniablefact, it mtst not howeverbe forgottenthat the Africanwhose hands as the poet has said "has laid the foundation stones of the world", has evolved his culture under conditionswhich have frequentlyif not alwaysbeen hostile: from the desertsto the equatorial forests, from the coastal marshesto the banks of the great rivers which are subjectto frequent floods, and despite all the complicationsof plagues which destroy not only plants ard animalsbut people as well. One can say with Basil Davidson and other students of, Africansocietyand culture, the economic,political, that social and culturalachievements the African genuis, of consideringthe unfriendlyenvironment,constitite an epic comparable to the historical examples of the of grandeur man. Of course, this fact is cause for pride and is an encouraging fact for those who fight for the liberation and the progressof the Africanpeople. But it is importantnot to lose sight of the fact that no cultureis a perfect and complete whole. Culture,like history is necessarilya dynamic, moving phenomenon. Even more important,one must realisethat the fundamertal of characteristic cultureis its intimateinteractionwith the economic and social realities of the environment, and with the level of the forces of productionand the means of productionof the society which created it. Culture, the fniit of history always reflects each moment the material and spiritual realities of the man, and of man the social being, society,of individual confrontedby the conflictswhichput them into opposiof tion with nattre and the imperatives life in a community. Further,everycultureis made up of essential and secondary elements, strengths and weaknesses, values and defects, positive and negative aspects, and factors. Further, progressive stagnantor regressive culture-the creation of the society and the synthesis and of the equilibriums solutionswhichsocietyengenders which characfor the resolutionof the contradictions terise it at every stage of history-is equally a social of realityindependently the will of men, of the colour of skin, or the shapeof eyes. In a profoundanalysisof culturalrealityone cannot claimthat continentalor racialculturesexist. And like history, the development of culture proceeds in an racialor even societal unevenmannerat the continental, level. The co-ordinatesof culture like those of any other dynamic phenomenonvary in space and time, or whether they be material (physical) human (biological and psychological). The fact of coming across the existenceof specificcommon traits in the culturesof of Africa's peoples, independently the colour of their skin does not necessarily imply that one and only one cultureexists on the continent, In the same way that from an economic and political point of view one discoversthe existenceof severalAfricas, so also are thereseveralAfricancultures. Undoubtedlythe denigrationof the cultural values of the African peoples based on racialist prejudices, their exploitationby and on the aim of perpetuating has foreigners, done much harm to Africa. But in the face of the vital necessityof progress,the followingacts and practices will be just as harmful: undiscerning praise; systematic exaltation of virtues without any criticismsof faults; blind acceptanceof culturalvalues
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IN TRANSYIO

45

without considering the negative, reactionaryor reaspcetsit has or can have;confusionbetween trogressive of that whichis the expression an objectiveand material historicalrealityand that which seems to be a figment of the mind,or the resultof a specific nature;the absurd linkage of works of art be they valuable or not, to of claimed characteristics a race; and finally the unscientificcritical appreciationof the culturalphenomenon. The important thing also is not to wastetime in some rather byzantinediscussion on which African cultural values are specific or non-specificto Africa but to envisage these values as a conquest by a parcel of humanityfor the common heritage of man, achieved in one or severalstagesof his evolution. The important thing is to get on with the criticalanalysisof African cultures faced with the task of liberation, with the demands of progress, and of this new stage in the historyof Africa. To be awareof its valuein the context of universalcivilisation,but to comparethis value with that of othercultures,not with a view to decidingwhich is superior or inferior, but to determine within the general framework of the struggle for development what help it can or must receive. As we have said the liberationmovementmust base its programmeon profound knowledgeof the culture of the people, and it must be able to appreciatethe elementsof this culture,giving to each its due weight, the and also, appreciate variouslevels it has reachedin each social category. It must also be able to discern the essentialfrom the secondary,the positive from the the negative, the progressivefrom the retrogressive, strengths from the weaknessesin the total cultural complex of the peoples. All this, with a view to the variousdemandsof the struggle,and with an aim of
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being able to concentrateits efforts on the essential withoutforgettingthe secondary,to arousethe developelementsand to resist ment of positive and progressive elements; flexiblybut stoutly, negativeand retrogressive and finally, with a view to utilizingthe strengthsand eliminatingthe weaknessesor transformingthe latter into strengths. The liberationmovementmust be able to bringabout slowlybutsurely,in the courseof its politicalprogramme, a convergenceof the levels of culture of the various whichcan be deployedfor the struggle, social categories and to transformthem into a single national cultural force which acts as the basis and the foundationof the armedstruggle. It must be noticed that the analysisof the cult lre gives at once an id-:aof the strengthsand weaknessesof the people, faced with the demands of the struggle, and constitutes a valuable acquisition and tacticsto follow as much the concerning strategems on the politicalplane as on the military. But it is only launched froma satisfactory in the courseof the struggle, base of political and moral unity that the complexity of culturalproblemsmakes itself known in full. This frequentlydemandscontinuousadaptationsof strategy and tactics to the realitieswhich only the strugglecan reveal. Knowledge of the struggle shows just how utopian and absurd it is to pretendto apply methods adoptedby otherpeoplesduringtheirwarsof liberation and the solutions which they found to problemswith which they were or are faced, without consideringthe the facts of the locale (especially culture). The armed revolutionary struggle, launched in reitself and action to colonialaggression oppressionreveals for as a sad but efficaciousinstrument the development cadresof of the culturallevel, not just of the leadership

TRANSITION 45

the liberationmovement, but also the various social whichtake partin the struggle. categories The leadersof the liberation movement,comingfrom the "petite bourgeoisie"(intellectuals,employees) or chauffrom the workingclasses of the towns (workers, in general), having to live daily feurs, wage-earners with the variouspeasant communitiesin the heart of the rural population, get to know the people better, discover at the source, the richness of their cultural values (philosophical, political, artistic, social and moral), acquirea sharperawarenessof the economic and the realitiesof the countryside, problems,suffering expectationsof the masses. Not without a certain of they discoverthe richness spirit,the capacity surprise, and for argument for clearexpositionof ideas,the ease with which they understandand assimilateconcepts, that the masses have-they the masses, who only yesterdaywere ignoredif not despisedand considered by the colonisersand seen by some nations, as lesser beings. The leadersthus enrichtheirpersonalculturecultivate themselvesand free themselvesfrom some complexes,whilst reinforcingtheir ability to put the movementto the serviceof the nation. From their point of view, the labouringmasses,and especially the peasants, usually illiterate and never of havingcrossedthe boundaries villageor region,lose the complexeswhich once hinderedthem in their relations with other ethnic and social groups, by coming into contactwith othergroupsthey realisetheirposition as the decisiveelementin the struggle;they shatterthe bounds of the villageworld and progressively integrate themselvesinto the whole country,andinto the world; useful they aqquirean infiniteworldof new knowledge, to their immediateand future activityin the struggle; and their political awareness grows, whilst assimilating the principles of the national and social revolution demandedby the war. They thus becomemore fit to play the decisive role of being the backbone of the movement. It is well known that the violent war of liberation of and organisation a signifidemandsthe mobilisation cant majorityof the population, political and moral unity of the various social categories, the efficient handling of modern and other tools of war, the progressive liquidationof the remnantsof the tribalmentality, the rejection of social and religious rules and taboos which hinderthe struggle(gerontocracy, nepotism, social inferiorityof women, ritualsand practices that are incompatiblewith the rational and national characterof the struggle,etc.) and bringsabout many other profound changes in the lives of the people. The armedwar of liberationthus implies a veritable forced marchon the road of culturalprogress. If we were to go to the inherentfacts of a liberation struggle, the practice of democracy,of criticism and self-criticism, of increasingpopular participationin the running of their lives, mass literacy, creation of schools and the provision of sanitary facilities, the formation of leadershipcadres among the rural and working population,we shall see that the armed strugfact of gle is not only a cultural butalso a builder culture. This undoubtedlyis for the masses the primary compensation for the efforts and sacrificeswhich are the it price of war. From this perspective, falls upon the liberation movement to defineclearlythe objectivesof the cultural resistancewhich is the integrating and decisivefactorin the struggle. From all that we have just said, one can conclude

and that in the context of gainingindependence, from the point of view of bringing about economic and social progressfor the masses, the following at least a developing popularculture, ought to be the objectives: and all the positive and indigenouscultural values; developmentof a nationalculturegroundedin history and on the victories of the liberationstruggleitself; the constant raising of the political and moral conof sciousriess the people(fromall sectorsof the society) as well as of patriotism,the spirit of sacrificeand of of devotion to the cause of independence, justice and of progress; the developmentof a scientificculture, technical and technological,compatiblewith the demands of progress;the developmentof a universal culture, grounded in a critical assimilation of the and of achievements mankindin art, science,literature in so on; witha viewto a perfectintegration the modern world and in the prospectivecourse of its evolution; the ceaseless and widespreadraising of humanistic sentimentsof unity of respectand of selflessdevotion to the humanperson. of The realization these objecti es isindeedpossible, in for the armedwar of liberation, the concrete condiwith tions of the life of the Africanpeoples,confronted the imperialistmenace,is an act of enrichinghistory, of the expression our cultureand of our African-ness. It must be expressedwhen victorycomes, in a ferment signifying above all the culture of the people which has freeditself. If this is not the case,thenthe effortsandthe sacrifices voluntarily undergoneduring the struggle will have been in vain. The strugglewill have failed in its goals, and the people will have missed a chance to make of progressin the generalframework history. with this conferencethe anniIn commemorating, versaryof Dr. Eduardo Mondlane,we renderhomage and especially to to the politician, the soldierfor freedom to the man of culture. Culture, not only that acquired in the course of his personal life, and in the lecture rooms of the university,but principallyamidst his for of peopleduringthestruggle the liberation his people. One can say that EduardoMondlanehas been barbarously assassinatedbecause he proved capable of identifyinghimselfwith the cultureof his people, with their deepest aspirations, despite all the attemptsand the temptations of alienation from his African and Mozambiquanidentity. Becausehe forged for himself a new culture in the struggle,he fell like a soldier. It is no doubteasy to accusethe Portugues colonialists, and the agentsof imperialism theiralliesof the abominable crime perpetrated againstthe person of Eduardo Mondlane, against the people of Mozambiqueand against Africa. They are the cowardlyassassins. However, all men of culture, all soldiers for freedom, all souls who believe in peace and in progress-all the enemies of colonialism and racism-must have the courage to hear part of the responsibilitywhich attaches to them for this tragicdeath. For if the colocan still assasnialists and the agents of imperialism sinate a man like Dr EduardoMondlane,it is because somethingfoul still flourishesat the heart humanity: the will to dominate. It is becausemen of goodwill, defenders of the culture of nations, have not yet actheir task on this planet. complished This to our mind, gives a measureof the responsibilitiesof those who are listeningto us in this temple of culture, on the subject of the movementfor the liberationof oppressed C1 peoples.
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