Portuguese Africa and the West http://www.aluka.org/action/showMetadata?doi=10.5555/AL.SFF.DOCUMENT.crp20004 Use of the Aluka digital library is subject to Aluka’s Terms and Conditions, available at http://www.aluka.org/page/about/termsConditions.jsp. By using Aluka, you agree that you have read and will abide by the Terms and Conditions. Among other things, the Terms and Conditions provide that the content in the Aluka digital library is only for personal, non-commercial use by authorized users of Aluka in connection with research, scholarship, and education. The content in the Aluka digital library is subject to copyright, with the exception of certain governmental works and very old materials that may be in the public domain under applicable law. Permission must be sought from Aluka and/or the applicable copyright holder in connection with any duplication or distribution of these materials where required by applicable law. Aluka is a not-for-profit initiative dedicated to creating and preserving a digital archive of materials about and from the developing world. For more information about Aluka, please see http://www.aluka.org Portuguese Africa and the West Author/Creator Minter, William Publisher Monthly Review Press, Penguin Books Date 1972-00-00 Resource type Books Language English Subject Coverage (spatial) Portugal, Lusophone Africa (region), Western Europe (region), North America (region), United States Coverage (temporal) 1941 - 1971 Rights By kind permission of William Minter. Description This book provides general background on Portuguse colonialism and anti-colonial struggles, with a particular focus on the role of Western powers, including the United States and Western Europe. Format extent 212 page(s) (length/size) http://www.aluka.org/action/showMetadata?doi=10.5555/AL.SFF.DOCUMENT.crp20004 http://www.aluka.org Portuguese Africa and the West Portuguese Africa and the West William Minter Portuguese Africa and the West WILLIAM MINTER Portuguese Africa and the West Monthly Review Press New York and London The photo on the jacket is of an MPLA detachment on the Benguela Railroad. Copyright©1972 by William Minter All Rights Reserved Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data Minter, William, 1942Portuguese Africa and the West. Bibliography: p. 1. Portugal-Colonies-Africa. 2. Portugal-Relations (general) with the United States. 3. United States-Relations (general) with Portugal. 4. Portugal-Relations (general) with foreign countries. I. Title. DT36.M56 1973 325'.3469'096 73- 8054 ISBN 0-85345-295-4 Monthly Review Press 116 West 14th Street, New York, N.Y. 10011 33/37 Moreland Street, E.C. 1 First Printing Manufactured in the United States of America Contents List of Maps 9 Preface ii Preface to the American Edition 12 x. The Shape of Portuguese ' Ultracolonialism' 13 The Myth and Reality of Assimilation 18 Forced Labour: A Modem Slavery 21 Assimilation Strategies? 27 Portuguese Intransigence: Is There a Reason? 30 2. American Policy Under Truman and Eisenhower: The Irrelevance of Self-determination 37 The Second World War, Portugal, and George Kennan 37 Independence for Africa? 40 Portugal's Inclusion in N A T 0 42 Portugal as Seen by American Policy-Makers 48 The United Nations Takes Up the Issue 50 3. The Emergence of Armed Struggle against Portuguese Colonialism 53 Angola: Initial Explosion and Protracted Warfare 58 Guinea-Bissau: Successful Revolution in a Small Country 62 Mozambique: The Beginnings of a Long Struggle 66 Portugal's 'Civilizing Mission' and CounterInsurgency 70 Contents 4. American Policy Under Kennedy and Johnson: Image and Contradiction 74 The Santa Maria, Angola, and the United Nations 75 Standing Still and Moving Backwards 79 Pressures for the Standstill Policy 83 Basic Factors Limiting Change in Policy 89 Persuading Portugal to Reform 95 5. Military Support for Portugal oo Portugal's Military: Organized for Colonial Repression ioo American Military Aid to Portugal 1o2 The N AT O Alliance and Portugal io6 The Azores IO8 Covert and Indirect Military Support n1o 'Good Working Relationships' I 12 6. The Growing Stake of American Business in Portuguese Africa 114 Portugal's Economy and Finances 114 Oil and Other Mineral Resources 117 American Supplies for the Portuguese Army i22 Agricultural Exports to the United States 123 The Significance of American Economic Involvement 124 7. Portugal's Other Allies: The 'Free World' Defends Colonialism z28 South Africa: Keystone of White Rule in Southern Africa 128 Great Britain: The Ancient Alliance Continued 132 Help from the Federal Republic of Germany 134 France: Support without Scruples 137 Brazil: A New Afro-Asian Policy Reversed 139 Cooperative Support for Colonial Repression 143 Contents 8. What Future for American Policy? 144 9. New Developments 1970-71 151 The War Continues 151 Imperial Contradictions 153 io. The Nixon Doctrine: What Role for Portugal? I6i Trends in U S Policy i61 Portugal's Neo-Colonial Option 168 The Liberation Struggle Continues to Advance i74 Appendix: Membership of Council on Foreign Relations Study Groups on Africa, 1966-8 i8i Appendix: Advertisements 183 Suggested Readings and Other Sources 186 Index 192 List of Maps 1. Portugal's African Empire 17 2. Angola 59 3. Guinea-Bissau 63 4. Mozambique 67 Preface The research for this book began in 1969. The aim was to spell out American complicity in Portugal's colonial wars, to let people know what was going on, and help to make possible mobilization to stop that complicity. It would be pleasant to report that in the time it took in writing and in publication such a book has become unnecessary. It has not. Instead, the December 1971 Azores agreement arranged by the Nixon administration has dramatically increased American support for Portugal. But the struggle of the African liberation movements goes on. And awareness of that struggle is slowly increasing in the West, including the United States. It is in this context that I would like to dedicate this book, above all to the liberation fighters and the peoples of Angola, Mozambique, and Guinea-Bissau, and then also to those others, many of whom have helped directly or indirectly with this book, who are working within the western countries for solidarity with the oppressed peoples of Southern Africa. It is my hope that this book may make some contribution to that effort. W.M. Preface to the American Edition This book is the same as the British edition with the exception of Chapter io, which was written in June 1973 to update the earlier chapters and to provide a more detailed analysis of the Nixon policies than was possible before. In its essence, the picture of United States support for Portuguese colonialism rem.-ins unchanged; the task of countering that support is no less necessary than before. But, as is shown in Chapter io, the trend of Nixon policy 'is not just to continue the previous support, but to increase it. In the black community and among progressive forces in different sectors of American society, the awareness and willingness to act on Southern Africa is growing. That growth must continue if any serious impact is to be made in removing the weight being thrown by United States government and business against African struggles for liberation. W.M. Note: Since the British edition of this book was written the name of Congo (Kinshasa) has been changed to Zaire. In the text, the name used is that current at the time of the events being discussed. The Shape of Portuguese 'Ultracolonialism' Portugal's role in Africa is a study in contradiction. A small and underdeveloped European country, Portugal maintains possession of African territories which dwarf it in size and natural resources, some ten years after the wave of independence that swept over British, French, and Belgian colonies. Portugal was the first of the colonial powers to reach Africa, over four hundred years ago. But its control over Angola and Mozambique was only solidified in the early twentieth century, after others had initiated the 'scramble for Africa'. Portuguese propaganda proclaims a policy of non-racialism, and even exalts miscegenation. But the oppression suffered by Africans in Portuguese Africa is comparable to that under South Africa's rigid and explicitly racist apartheid. The uniqueness of Portuguese capacities for colonization is trumpeted to the world. But the economies of the 'overseas provinces', and even of Portugal itself, depend heavily on foreign capital and enterprise. Perry Anderson sums up Portugal's rule with the term 'ultracolonialism': 'at once the most primitive and the most extreme form of colonialism'. The roots of this unique system go back to that 'marvellous century' when Portuguese navigators ventured farther and farther down the coast of Africa until finally, in 1498, Vasco da Gama rounded the Cape of Good Hope and crossed the Indian Ocean to India. And it was also a Portuguese captain, FernAo de Magalhes, who, a few years later, reached Asia from the other direction, around America. Such a beginning excited vast expectations, and on it a mythology was soon built. The epic poem by Camdes, Os Lusiadas, celebrated the deeds of the heroes who discovered and conquered for Portugal an empire in the east. Portuguese Africa and the West Little known outside Portugal (except among scholars of literature), Os Lusiadas is in Portugal the classic. Schoolteachers in their classes compare it to Homer's Odyssey and Virgil's Aeneid. And its theme is empire. That first empire consisted of little more than a string of fortified trading posts on the African and Asian coasts. From there Portuguese naval power dominated the trade of the Indian Ocean. The focus was the rich spice trade from the East; West Africa and Brazil (discovered in 1500) were as yet of only peripheral interest. The centre of the empire was Goa, on the western coast of India.