DOCSLIB.ORG

FRELIMO's Socialist Experiment in Agriculture

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
FRELIMO's Socialist Experiment in Agriculture Merle L. Bowen. The State Against the Peasantry: Rural Struggles in Colonial and Postcolonial Mozambique. Charlottesville and London: University Press of Virginia, 2000. x + 256 pp. $65.00, cloth, ISBN 978-0-8139-1917-1. Reviewed by Rosemary Elizabeth Galli Published on H-SAfrica (October, 2000) FRELIMO'S Socialist Experiment in Agricul‐ peoples for the purpose of collective production ture and in order to create social services for their in‐ Merle Bowen has written an important indict‐ habitants. Bowen pulls no punches. She describes ment of the almost ten-year experiment with so‐ FRELIMO as having "evolved from a popular and cializing agriculture begun in the mid-1970s by victorious liberation movement into a bureaucrat‐ the postcolonial government of the Mozambican ic, anti-peasant, one-party state" (p.1) and its poli‐ National Front, FRELIMO, and disavowed in 1984. cies as inimical to peasant interests. When FRELIMO took power in 1975, the pop‐ Bowen also shows that in many ways FRE‐ ulation of the country was overwhelmingly rural LIMO continued policies which had their origins and the economy based on agriculture, especially in the colonial period and she structures her export agriculture, and services, particularly in opening chapters, on the state and policy issues, the areas of transport and port facilities, for its with a focus frst on colonialism from the 1950s to neighbors. There was a small industrial sector, 1975 and then on the socialist experiment. She mainly catering for the consumer needs of the distinguishes her critique from those who blame Portuguese settlers. Despite having a majority of the failure of rural socialism on the de-stabiliza‐ its supporters in rural area, FRELIMO gave priori‐ tion efforts of South Africa and other countries ty to industrialization as the motor of its national (Saul, Hanlon, among others), and also from those development strategy with agriculture relegated who see the primary fault for the rapid decline in to providing exports for earning foreign exchange production as due to the disruption of settlement and raw materials for domestic industry. The agri‐ patterns and denigration of the cultural practices cultural strategy was based upon a three-pronged and political structures of Mozambican rural soci‐ approach: creation of large-scale state farms; en‐ eties (Geffray, Cahen). Bowen saves her argu‐ couragement of production and consumer cooper‐ ments for the latter: villagization did not cover atives; and stimulation of the villagization of rural the entire country and did provide valuable H-Net Reviews health and education services and clean water to ceptionally well-endowed locale. Secondly is her the 1,360 communal villages. As far as the charge demonstration of the ways in which individuals that the party substituted its structures for 'tradi‐ and households adapted both Portuguese and 'so‐ tional authorities', Bowen identifies these local cialist' policies to their own particular survival authorities with the hierarchical, authoritarian strategies. In other words, this is not simply a Portuguese administration and has little sympa‐ record of the closing off of options by FRELIMO thy for them. but of producer initiative and creativity in a situa‐ Bowen's major attack on FRELIMO has to do tion of adversity. To the extent possible, the vari‐ with the organization's non-comprehension of the ous strata of producers turned the cooperative to realities of rural life, shown in its adoption of a their own advantage. However, even they could dualist perspective. "In planning their develop‐ not defend themselves from the growing civil war ment strategy, the new leaders embraced a sim‐ in the country and things fell apart from 1984 on‐ plistic vision of agrarian class structure based on ward. a dualist model of a traditional subsistence-orient‐ Bowen worked among the people of the Ilha ed peasantry opposed to a modern large-scale Josina Machel for two years on a project spon‐ commercial sector." (p.205) FRELIMO expected to sored by fve Scandinavian countries within the transform this peasantry through collective pro‐ context of the MONAP (Mozambique-Nordic Agri‐ duction, cooperatives and urbanization in com‐ cultural Program) program which dominated the munal villages. It expected to restructure in one Ministry of Agriculture in the 1980s alongside fell swoop what it saw as an archaic mode of liv‐ Eastern European advisers. Her account is there‐ ing and production and "it failed to consider the fore intimate, full of the life and energy of the process for getting from where people were to people with whom she worked. What becomes where FRELIMO hoped they could be." (p.119) Fi‐ clear from her study is that FRELIMO attempts to nally, FRELIMO never opened a discussion with replace the rural commercial structure estab‐ anyone but itself over either ends or means. lished by the Portuguese were ineffective and that The literature on the antagonism of the State this was particularly difficult for the Ilha produc‐ and the peasantry in Africa is voluminous and, ers who, for the most part, were used to market‐ mercifully, Bowen does not rehearse it again. ing their crops. Ilha cultivators used the FRELIMO Moreover, since the 1980s there have been a num‐ cooperatives as an outlet for their production. ber of studies on the anti-smallholder bias in Wealthy producers used the cooperatives in order Mozambican programs and in her sister Lu‐ to get access to agricultural inputs and both they soafrican countries, Guinea-Bissau and Angola and the poorer families used the cooperatives as a (Wuyts, Raikes, Galli and Jones, among others). way of obtaining essential consumer goods in What Bowen brings to this legacy is an analysis of short supply in the local area. the impact of the Frelimo strategy in one concrete Bowen has produced a fascinating tale of the setting, the Ilha de Josina Machel, a rural locality dynamic evolution of family agriculture in a small situated at the confluence of the Incomati and fertile, well-watered area of Southern Mozam‐ Matseculi rivers in Manhica district, Maputo Prov‐ bique from the 1950s until 1983, when she left the ince. Two things above all make her study impor‐ area. She shows the integration of the area into tant. First is her exposition of the links between the South African mining community, into the lo‐ the 1950s and the 1970s and 1980s when both the cal economy dominated by the Incomati Sugar Portuguese government as well as FRELIMO en‐ Mill, Portuguese settler farms and the Cereals In‐ couraged the formation of cooperatives in this ex‐ stitute during colonialism, the latter two being re‐ 2 H-Net Reviews placed mainly by the MONAP project after Inde‐ tion, while the remaining seventy-five percent are pendence. de facto poor peasants who consume most of their Chapters four to six show how the communi‐ production. There are problems basing one's anal‐ ty responded with a differentiated labor force for ysis solely on a study whose reliability may be in the mines, settler farms and the sugar cane felds, doubt as well as with categorizing producers ac‐ how it fed the sugar cane workers and local urban cording to landholding size. For one thing, the sig‐ areas even with such exotic crops, in an African nificance of having two hectares differs widely setting, as wheat. Out of the population of over depending upon soil fertility, amount of rainfall, three thousand, two farmers evolved into capital‐ access to sufficient labor and inputs. Moreover, ist entrepreneurs and twenty others were accord‐ there is no indication whether the size of holding ed the status of pequena agricultures ('small farm‐ represents lands only under cultivation or total ers'). It is a pity that she does not describe this landholdings. process of capitalization, as it would have greatly In the studies conducted by the Institute for enhanced her analysis and our understanding of Rural Development in which I participated, we the social, economic and political set-up under found that a more reliable yardstick for classify‐ late colonialism. It is particularly interesting be‐ ing wealthy, middle and poor peasants is the cause Bowen follows the course of one of these amount of labor available to a household. Access farmers until 1993 and shows that even after the to animal traction is the exception rather than the war with RENAMO, he was able to re-establish rule in most of Mozambique, so that having one himself as a farmer-trader on a capitalist basis. or more pair of oxen and a plough was an almost Chapter six details the cases of seven individuals automatic sign of a wealthy farmer. Having three and households in 1982 who were more typical of or more wives and a number of teenage children the majority of small commodity producers of the was also a good indicator of an upper status. Mid‐ Ilha. dle peasants lived mainly in nuclear families and There are some problems with Bowen's analy‐ had the help of children and other family labor. sis of Mozambican rural cultivators, part of which In the areas that we perused in the center and lies in the fact that her experience is limited to north of the country, it was not unusual for the southern producers. A greater part lies with her majority of producers to cultivate two or more analytical concepts. >From page one, she intro‐ hectares and to have quantities of produce for duces us to two categories of 'peasants', the mid‐ sale if the weather was 'right' and thus the har‐ dle peasants who have at least three hectares and vest abundant. Poor peasants were mainly the el‐ who have animal traction, rely on family labor derly, sick or physically handicapped, widows, and sometimes hire seasonal workers, and the widowers, in a word, the abandoned that were poor peasants, who have two or less hectares of barely able to support themselves.
Load more

Recommended publications
  • What Does the Case of Mozambique Tell Us About Soviet Ambivalence Toward Africa?
    A publication of ihe African Studies Program of The Georgetown University Center for Strategic and International Studies No. 46 • August 30, 1985 What Does the Case of Mozambique Tell Us About Soviet Ambivalence Toward Africa? by Winrich KUhne Developments in southern Africa since early 1984 have ambivalence-was Moscow's subdued response to the raised a range of new questions about Soviet policy signing on March 16, 1984 of a "nonaggression and and Soviet relevance in this region of the continent. In good neighborliness" accord by the leaders of Mozam­ the military sphere, Soviet assistance has enabled bique and South Africa. Under the terms of the neither Mozambique nor Angola to quell or even Nkomati Accord, Mozambique undertook to curb substantially diminish domestic guerrilla challenges drastically the activities of the African National Con­ that have blocked economic growth. There have also gress (ANC), while South Africa promised to end been growing doubts about the effectiveness in prac­ assistance to the dissident Resistencia Nacional tical terms of orthodox state-centered Marxist-Leninist Mo5jambicana (known as Renamo or the MNR). models of development-especially in agriculture, the Although there is no doubt that Nkomati was seen most important socioeconomic sector of African states. by the Soviets as a negative development, Moscow did Meanwhile, an increasing number of Soviet analysts not retaliate by cutting aid to the government of Presi­ and strategists are questioning how 'much emphasis dent Samora Machel or recalling advisors. On can or should be placed on ideology in cultivating rela­ December 26, 1983, with Nkomati already an in­ tionships with Africa.
    [Show full text]
  • Thesis Title Page with Pictures2
    The copyright of this thesis vests in the author. No quotation from it or information derived from it is to be published without full acknowledgementTown of the source. The thesis is to be used for private study or non- commercial research purposes only. Cape Published by the University ofof Cape Town (UCT) in terms of the non-exclusive license granted to UCT by the author. University GIRLS IN WAR, WOMEN IN PEACE: REINTEGRATION AND (IN)JUSTICE IN POST-WAR MOZAMBIQUE Town Cape of University A MINOR DISSERTATION SUBMITTED IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE AWARD OF THE DEGREE OF MASTER OF PHILOSOPHY IN JUSTICE AND TRANSFORMATION LILLIAN K. BUNKER BNKLIL001 FACULTY OF THE HUMANITIES UNIVERSITY OF CAPE TOWN 2011 COMPULSORY DECLARATION This work has not been previously submitted in whole, or in part, for the award of any degree. It is my own work. Each significant contribution to, and quotation in this dissertation from the work, or works, of other people has been attributed, and has been cited and referenced. Signature: Date: Town Cape of University i UNIVERSITY OF CAPE TOWN GRADUATE SCHOOL IN HUMANITIES DECLARATION BY CANDIDATE FOR THE DEGREE OF MASTER IN THE FACULTY OF HUMANITIES I, Lillian Bunker, of 101 B W. McKnight Way #27, Grass Valley, California 95949 U.S.A. do hereby declare that I empower the University of Cape Town to produceTown for the purpose of research either the whole or any portion of the contents of my dissertation entitled Girls in War, Women in Peace: Reintegration and (In)justice in Post-war Mozambique in any manner whatsoever.
    [Show full text]
  • Mozambique: JUSTICE for GENDER-BASED VIOLENCE SURVIVOR: Josina Machel
    First UA: 130/20 Index: AFR 41/2926/2020 Mozambique Date: 21 August 2020 URGENT ACTION JUSTICE FOR GENDER-BASED VIOLENCE SURVIVOR On 12 June, the 2nd Criminal Appeal Section of the Judicial Court of Maputo’s City overturned the decision that found the aggressor of Women Human Rights Defender, Josina Machel, guilty for the crimes of physical and psychological violence. On 5 August, Josina Machel’s appeal against the decision was filed. The Supreme Court is now due to rule on the appeal. TAKE ACTION: WRITE AN APPEAL IN YOUR OWN WORDS OR USE THIS MODEL LETTER Minister Helena Kida Minister of Justice Av. Julius Nyerere 33 Maputo, Mozambique Email: [email protected] Dear Minister Helena Kida, I am writing to you concerning the case of Josina Ziyaya Machel, a Women Human Rights Defender (WHRD) and founder of the Kuhluka Movement, a non-profit initiative working to end gender-based violence (GBV). On 17 October 2015, Josina Machel was brutally assaulted by her then partner, Rofino Licuco, which resulted in the loss of sight in her right eye. In February 2017, the Ka-Pfumu Municipal District Court convicted her attacker for the crimes of serious physical and psychological violence, under articles 246(b), 171 (e) and 247(i) of the Mozambican Penal Code. Rofino Licuco was sentenced to three years and four months of detention, which was suspended under the condition of damages amounting to 2,800,000 USD. On 12 June 2020 the 2nd Criminal Appeal Section of the Judicial Court of Maputo’s City overturned the guilty verdict on the grounds that there were no eyewitnesses to corroborate the incidents of physical and psychological aggression and that the medical evidence presented could not exclude the possibility of Josina Machel’s injury to be a result of a ‘simple fall’ or ‘blunt object’.
    [Show full text]
  • Organisation Profile Founder's Biography
    Founder’s Biography Organisation Profile Ms. Josina Z. Machel holds an MSc number of presentations at national and degree in Sociology (Gender) from the international conferences on issues relating to London School of Economics and Political youth, gender, culture and HIV/AIDS. She also Science and a Bachelor of Social Science, has published works on the same topics. Sociology and Political Science from the University of Cape Town, South Africa. Recently Ms. Machel established the Kuhluka Movement, an initiative set up to empower Ms. Machel’s entrance into the business women survivors of abuse. Founded on the world was in response to the challenges principals Advocacy and Mitigation, Kuhluka of HIV/Aids and gender disparities in the bridges the gap between giving a voice to workplace. After providing strategic women survivors, whilst providing them with a insight as into these issues as a Human safe haven in their time of need. Through Resources Officer at Anglo-American, this initiative she seeks to find a platform that Josina started Pfukani (Ltd) in 2007. It prevents abuse of women by bringing was the first company in Mozambique to custodians of culture together to find ways design, coordinate and manage wellness that interrogate practices and traditions, and and communication tools for HIV/Aids questions the behaviours that foster an programmes in the workplace. She later environment that tolerates violence towards joined the Institute for Democracy in women. Not content with becoming an South Africa (IDASA), where she worked outspoken advocate, Josina will also use to enhance the Governance and AIDS Kuhluka to establish shelters for women programme, by providing research and that offer comprehensive services to analyses.
    [Show full text]
  • PARTY INSTITUTIONALISATION in MOZAMBIQUE ‘The Party of the State’ Vs the Opposition
    VOLUME 12 NO 1 109 PARTY INSTITUTIONALISATION IN MOZAMBIQUE ‘The Party of the state’ vs the Opposition Adriano Nuvunga and Eduardo Sitoe Adriano Nuvunga is a PhD student in the International Institute of Social Studies, Erasmus University, Rotterdam, and lecturer in the Department of Political Science and Public Administration, Eduardo Mondlane University, Mozambique e-mail: [email protected] Eduardo Sitoe is Professor of Politics and Governance in the Department of Political Science and Public Administration, Eduardo Mondlane University, Mozambique e-mail: [email protected] ABSTRACT The article probes party institutionalisation in Mozambique and argues that only three of the more than 50 registered political parties there are ‘effective’, namely Frelimo, which is highly institutionalised; Renamo, which is collapsing organisationally yet has a high level of social rootedness; and an institutionalising MDM. The article concludes that although the opposition parties are partly to blame for their misfortunes, the nature of Frelimo’s relationship with society bears the main responsibility for the impoverishment of the opposition parties because it makes it difficult for opposition parties to break in and challenge its control over the state. INTRODUCTION There are few published studies on Mozambican political parties and those there are focus on elections. Studies of political parties have covered the following: the Frelimo party ideology (Brito 1988); building opposition (Manning 1998); strengths and weaknesses of multiparty democracy (Nuvunga 2005); the Frelimo-Renamo two-party system (Carbone 2005); the Renamo-UE coalition (Kadima & Matsimbe 2006); The Movimento Democrático de Moçambique (Mozambique Democratic Movement – MDM) as a new force (Chichava 2010a) and the MDM as a new 109 110 JOURNAL OF AFRICAN ELECTIONS opposition party (Nuvunga & Adalima 2011).
    [Show full text]
  • You Are No T Dead Because We Have Assumed Your Responsibilities And
    Number Four 1\N Call The newsletter of the STATE-WIDE ANTI-APARTHEID NETWORKS of Washington, Idaho, Montana, and Colorado " ... you are no t dead because we have assumed your responsibilities and they live 1.,n us ... The blood you shed 1.,S bu t a sma II drop 1.,n the flood we have already given and still have to give." -from a poem by Samora Machel to his wife Josina Machel, after her death in 1971 Machel's Death Hits Mozambique [AN] When Mozambican President Samora contracts expire. The Mozambican news agency Machel and other key members of his govern­ AI M reports that 61,500 Mozambicans were em­ ment died in an Oct. 19 plane crash over South ployed in 51 South African mines as of July 31. Africa, Mozambique's troubles had already Their remittances of about $90 million annually reached alarming proportions. With his leader­ make up one third of Mozambique's foreign ex­ shi p lost, the country faces an even more uncertain change income. future. - South Africa also retaliated, according to Mo­ The crash occurred about three miles from the zambique's charges, by massing troops along the town of Namaacha, just inside South African ter­ border. Pretoria dismissed that accusation as ritory near the border with both Mozambique and "nonsense." Swaziland. According to a list released last week - Many of the recent RENAMO attacks have by the Mozambican government (see box), ap­ been concentrated in the northwestern region of proximately 35 people were killed and 10 survived. the country, near the Malawian border.
    [Show full text]
  • Socialist Federalism As an Alternative to Nationalism: the Leninist Solution to the National Question in Africa and Its Diaspora
    humanities Article Socialist Federalism as an Alternative to Nationalism: The Leninist Solution to the National Question in Africa and Its Diaspora Constantin Katsakioris German Orient Institute, Beirut 11-2988, Lebanon; [email protected] Received: 6 August 2019; Accepted: 17 September 2019; Published: 19 September 2019 Abstract: Scholarship on the impact of Lenin’s thinking and on the Soviet Union’s relationships with Africa has emphasized two dimensions: on the one hand, the ideological imprint on and support provided to nationalist and anti-imperialist movements and, on the other, the emulation of communist techniques of authoritarian rule by many postcolonial governments. This paper highlights the neglected receptions of another major communist idea, namely, the ‘Leninist solution to the national question’, as embodied by the federal political model of the Soviet Union. The paper argues that many actors in different contexts, where the nationalities question had to be tackled with, showed a keen interest in the Leninist solution and in the sui generis federal model of the USSR. These contexts included the post-1945 French Union, as well as postcolonial countries such as Sudan, Nigeria, and Ethiopia. The Leninist alternative to the nation-state and to assimilation assumed a great deal of significance to minority groups. Nevertheless, it was rejected even by Marxist-inspired movements and elites which sought to create a nation-state. The paper uses the approach of cultural transfers to investigate and assess both the appeal and the limits in the reception of the Leninist federalist alternative. Keywords: Africa; national question; Leninism; Soviet Union; socialism; federalism 1.
    [Show full text]
  • Comrades-In-Arms: the Chinese Communist Party's Relations With
    Cold War History ISSN: 1468-2745 (Print) 1743-7962 (Online) Journal homepage: http://www.tandfonline.com/loi/fcwh20 Comrades-in-arms: the Chinese Communist Party’s relations with African political organisations in the Mao era, 1949–76 Joshua Eisenman To cite this article: Joshua Eisenman (2018): Comrades-in-arms: the Chinese Communist Party’s relations with African political organisations in the Mao era, 1949–76, Cold War History To link to this article: https://doi.org/10.1080/14682745.2018.1440549 Published online: 20 Mar 2018. Submit your article to this journal View related articles View Crossmark data Full Terms & Conditions of access and use can be found at http://www.tandfonline.com/action/journalInformation?journalCode=fcwh20 COLD WAR HISTORY, 2018 https://doi.org/10.1080/14682745.2018.1440549 Comrades-in-arms: the Chinese Communist Party’s relations with African political organisations in the Mao era, 1949–76 Joshua Eisenman LBJ School of Public Affairs, the University of Texas at Austin, Austin, United States ABSTRACT KEYWORDS This study examines the evolution of the Chinese Communist China; Africa; Communism; Party’s (CCP) motives, objectives, and methods vis-à-vis its African Mao; Soviet Union counterparts during the Mao era, 1949–76. Beginning in the mid- 1950s, to oppose colonialism and US imperialism, the CCP created front groups to administer its political outreach in Africa. In the 1960s and 1970s, this strategy evolved to combat Soviet hegemony. Although these policy shifts are distinguished by changes in CCP methods and objectives towards Africa, they were motivated primarily by life-or- death intraparty struggles among rival political factions in Beijing and the party’s pursuit of external sources of regime legitimacy.
    [Show full text]
  • Mozambique Has Now Enjoyed Nearly Two Decades of Peace Following A
    COUNTRIES AT THE CROSSROADS COUNTRIES AT THE CROSSROADS 2011: MOZAMBIQUE 1 ROBERT LLOYD INTRODUCTION Mozambique has now enjoyed nearly two decades of peace following a bloody 16-year civil war between the ruling party, the Front for the Liberation of Mozambique (FRELIMO), and the Mozambique Resistance Movement (RENAMO). The government jettisoned its Marxist political system and transitioned in the 1990s to capitalism. Over two decades, the country introduced a democratic constitution, permitted competitive elections with its erstwhile enemies, rebuilt from the war, reintegrated Mozambicans displaced by the war, sought closer ties in Africa and the West, and instituted far-reaching economic reforms. These policies set Mozambique on a trajectory of rapid economic growth, averaging about 7 percent per year—although that growth has done little to improve the country‘s overall level of development. Within this context, the presidential, legislative, and provincial elections on October 28, 2009, represented less change and more continuity in Mozambique‘s political life. President Armando Guebuza, a wealthy businessman with a hardline Marxist past, was reelected overwhelmingly to a second term, defeating RENAMO candidate and leader Afonso Dhlakama. A guerilla fighter for Mozambique‘s independence from Portugal, Guebuza was the government‘s chief negotiator with the RENAMO rebel movement, and oversaw the negotiations that eventually led to the 1992 peace accord that ended the civil war. Guebuza‘s reelection cemented FRELIMO‘s overwhelming control of the country. Mozambique has become a single party state as the influence of RENAMO, which transformed after the war from a rebel group into an opposition political party, has waned in each of the four national elections since 1994, especially as a new opposition group has splintered RENAMO into two groups, with many progressives joining the new party.
    [Show full text]
  • Mozambique (1975 - 1992)
    MODERN CONFLICTS: CONFLICT PROFILE Mozambique (1975 - 1992) Mozambique’s long war ended in 1992, when the Frelimo government and the Renamo rebel force signed a peace agreement in Rome. Approximately one million people died in the years of fighting, and six million more were displaced. The war took place in the context of regional power struggles of southern Africa and the cold war. With the end of apartheid in South Africa and the end of the cold war, the conflict in Mozambique became ripe for a negotiated solution in the early 1990s. Although the country has made a successful transition to democracy, the impoverished Mozambican people continue to fall victim to landmines hunger remains widespread. >> MODERN CONFLICTS Frelimo (the Mozambique Liberation Front) was founded in 1962 to fight Portuguese HOME PAGE colonial rule. The anti-colonial struggle came to an abrupt end in 1974, when a coup in Portugal brought to power a government determined to free its colonies. Portugal >> CONFLICTS MAP handed over the reigns of government to Frelimo in 1975. Frelimo nationalized >> CONFLICTS TABLE businesses, banned other political parties, undermined religious and traditional >> PERI HOME PAGE authorities, and actively supported the liberation struggle in Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe) and the anti-apartheid movement in South Africa. In response to Frelimo’s support for the Zimbabwean guerrillas, Rhodesia organized disaffected Mozambicans into a fighting force to destabilize the Frelimo government. This group was called the Mozambique National Resistance, or Renamo. Renamo fought against Frelimo from bases within Rhodesia until Zimbabwe became independent in 1980. Support for Renamo then fell to the South African apartheid regime, which supplied arms and training.
    [Show full text]
  • Students from Portuguese Africa in the Soviet Union
    Article Journal of Contemporary History 0(0) 1–24 Students from ! The Author(s) 2020 Portuguese Africa in the Article reuse guidelines: sagepub.com/journals-permissions Soviet Union, 1960–74: DOI: 10.1177/0022009419893739 Anti-colonialism, journals.sagepub.com/home/jch Education, and the Socialist Alliance Constantin Katsakioris Bayreuth Academy of Advanced African Studies, Germany Abstract A major ally of the Marxist-inspired liberation movements, which fought against Portuguese colonialism in Angola, Guinea-Bissau, Cape Verde, and Mozambique, the Soviet Union provided them with not only military, but also civil aid in the form of scholarships. This paper focuses on the training of students from Portuguese Africa in the USSR. While it provides data and analyzes the importance and the complexities of educational assistance in the context of anti-colonial revolutions, it also sheds light on the tensions and serious conflicts that cast a shadow over the relationships between students and leaders. Students who created opposition groups and were accused of plotting against the leaders, criticizing the USSR, or trying to postpone their return to the motherland were repatriated and punished. Others managed to migrate and pur- sued their opposition from the West. Confronted with these phenomena, the party leaders grew disillusioned and reduced the number of students studying in the Soviet Union. Keywords Cold War, decolonization, education, Portuguese Africa, Soviet Union, students Recent years have witnessed an increasing interest in the history of the training of Third World students in the Eastern Bloc. There are very good reasons for delving into this topic. Tens of thousands of African, Asian, and Latin American students studied in the socialist countries during the Corresponding author: Constantin Katsakioris, Bayreuth Academy of Advanced African Studies, Hugo-Ru¨del-Str.
    [Show full text]
  • MOZAMBIQUE: a FADING U.N. SUCCESS STORY Jeremy M
    MOZAMBIQUE: A FADING U.N. SUCCESS STORY Jeremy M. Weinstein Jeremy M. Weinstein is a doctoral candidate in political economy and government at Harvard University and a graduate student fellow of the Center for International Development. This article is based in part on research he conducted in formerly Renamo-controlled areas in central and northern Mozambique. As Mozambique enters its tenth year of peace following a brutal and destructive civil war, the signs of continued democratic transformation and pro-market economic reform appear rosy, at least at first glance. Donors and the international community have quietly lauded Joaquim Chissano’s recent announcement that he is “not disposed” to seek a third term as president of this former Portuguese colony of 17 million on the southeast coast of Africa. Together with President Frederick Chiluba’s similar announcement in Zambia a few months ago, it looks to many like an indication that these two African democracies are maturing and consolidating the gains that they have made in recent years. Mozambique’s continued place atop the list of the world’s fastest- growing economies has been seen as another signal that commitment to the “Washington Consensus” will provide the funds required to bring infrastructure, schools, and health care to the rural majority. It is no wonder, then, that Mozambique finds itself highlighted as a success story for the United Nations in conflict-ridden Africa. Many credit Mozambique’s remarkable transformation to the UN’s efforts to sus- tain the drawn-out peace negotiations, demobilize more than 90,000 soldiers, rebuild a unified national army, and foster the rise of a legiti- mate, peaceful opposition.
    [Show full text]