Tribute to Amilcar Cabral by Poet Espirito Santo

‘If I should die tomorrow, nothing will change in the inevitable evolution of the struggle of our people and our victory’. Amílcar Cabral. [1]

We commemorate this year the forty-third anniversary of the death of the valiant founder and combatant of the PAIGC (Partido Africano da Independência da Guiné e Cabo Verde) who was callously assassinated on the night of 20 January 1973.

Forty-three years ago some treacherous African assassins, members of Cabral’s own party, PAIGC, led by Inocêncio Kani, former PAIGC navy commander, attacked Amilcar Cabral when he left, accompanied by his wife, Ana Maria, a reception given by the Polish ambassador in Conakry, Guinea. The role of the Portuguese, especially the State secret police, PIDE (Policia International e de Defesa do Estado) in this abominable crime has not been clearly established but it is common knowledge that this murderous organization had been involved in uncountable plots to assassinate the leader of the PAIGC that was fighting colonialist and imperialist Portugal. Given the criminal nature of the colonial enterprise, its violent and oppressive tactics and its general history, it is not surprising that many assumed that the Portuguese authorities had killed Amílcar Cabral, whether there was concrete evidence for this or not. The Central Committee of the Communist Party of the then Soviet Union declared with confidence that Cabral had been killed by agents of colonialism. [2]

Cabral did not live to witness the victory of his people against the Portuguese oppressors as he had predicted, and the Independence of Cape Verde and Guinea-Bissau which was proclaimed on 24 September 1973, eight months after his assassination.

We thought it useful on this day of remembrance to revisit a poem written as tribute to Cabral by a great poet, also of importance in the African liberation struggle and a leading personality in the culture and politics of Sao Tome and Principe, Esprito Santo. Alda Neves da Graça do Esprito Santo, a poet, a politician, a fighter for Independence as well as a fighter for women’s rights, was also President of National Assembly, founder of the National Association of Writers (União Nacional dos Escritores de Sao Tomé e Príncipe) and a member of the politburo of the liberation movement (Bureau Politico do Movimento de Libertação de São Tomé e Príncipe, MLSTP). Espirito Santo was also Minister of Culture and composed the lyrics of the national anthem of São Tomé and Príncipe, ‘Independência Total.’

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CAPTION: Alda do Espirito Santo, Poet, São Tomé and Príncipe, 1926-2010.

In the evening of the very day that Cabral was treacherously assassinated by some discontented members of his own party, Esparto Santo wrote a poem in the memory of Cabral entitled ‘Requiem for Amílcar Cabral’ (Requiem para Amílcar Cabral). [3] It is no surprise that there is convergence of views between Cabral and Espirito Santo. The two personalities who knew each other very well had generally similar experiences under the colonialist regime of Portugal, one in Cape Verde and the other in São Tomé and Príncipe. The one was exiled from Cape Verde; the other was arrested and imprisoned by the Portuguese secret police, PIDE in Portugal, and later on put under house arrest in São Tome. Cabral and Espirito Santo were both members of a group of Africans which met at the family house of Espirito Santo, at no.37 rua Actor Vale in Lisbon where they discussed many aspects of Marxism and plans to fight for Independence, even though they were constantly under the close observation by PIDE. Both of them were also members of a group of students from the Portuguese colonies who used to meet in the House of Students from the Empire (Casa dos Estudantes do Império) where they organized a Centre for African Studies also under observation by the PIDE. Among this group of students from the Portuguese colonies were, inter alia, Agostinho Neto, Mario Pinto de Andrade from Angola, Marcelino dos Santos from Mozambique, Esprito Santo from São Tomé and Príncipe, Amílcar Cabral from Cape Verde and Guinea-Bissau who became leaders of the liberation movements in the Portuguese colonies.

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CAPTION: Amílcar Cabral and Mário Pinto de Andrade, Angolan revolutionary, intellectual and writer (1928-1990).

In ‘Requiem para Amílcar Cabral’, which is full of praises and admiration for Cabral, Espirito Santo underlines the important position of the Guinean leader in Africa before the barbarous act of ambush and assassination and calls him the ‘Guevara of Africa’, an allusion to the great historic leader of the Cuban guerrilla warfare that overthrew the US- supported corrupt regime of Batista in 1959. Although Cabral did not exactly share the theories and tactics of the Cuban revolutionary, he would have accepted this comparison which honours the African leader [4] Guevara in any case had the highest respect for Cabral and his capacity as a revolutionary leader. After meeting Cabral, Guevara expressed the view that he was the most talented and impressive African leader he had met during his journey throughout the Continent. [5]

The whole of Africa mourned the death of the Cape Verdean leader who was much loved (bem amado) especially by the African youth. He had impressed many Africans by his general attitude to the liberation struggle, his leadership in Cape Verde and Guinea-Bissau and his overall directness and simplicity. The cowardly elimination of Cabral was only a physical death: his spirit of resistance and his ideas however would survive.

Many children were named after Cabral even in non-Lusophone countries where a revolutionary tradition or liberation theories were not prevalent. A luta continua, the struggle continues, the motto of the PAIGC was adopted by many. Schools, airports, streets, universities, bars and restaurants, and a football competition cup, are named after the valiant hero. We do not count the songs and other musical forms composed in his honour. [6]

According to Espirito Santo, in the history of Africa, the name of the incomparable Cabral, through his dignified life, reinforced by his blood and the sacrifice of his life, will indicate to the youth of Cape Verde, a future in a more auspicious land (carinhosa). Could this be an allusion to the less fruitful land of Cape Verde which Cabral knew well, the agronomist whom people simply referred to as the engineer? [7] The allusion to the land of Cape Verde states directly the fundamental contradiction of the country: small dry islands in the midst of the immense Atlantic Ocean that do not have enough water for agriculture. It is not by accident that the most beloved and most dedicated son of the land turned to agronomy as a possibility to reduce this contradiction which sends many thousands of the youth of the land to America and Europe.

Addressing herself to Cabral, Espirito Santo declares that future history books will narrate to the whole world, the strength of his dynamic personality, his intelligence which he put to the service of the rice fields of this small land, a small piece of land inserted in the continent where his mother Iva gave birth. With few words, Esprito Santo explains to us the geographical situation of Cape Verde, its small size which was the place of birth of the great dynamic African leader. Having been born herself in the island nation of São Tomé and Príncipe, poet Espirito Santo has full understanding and sympathy for Cabral’s Cape Verde and its problems.

The Saotomean poet implores the mother of Cabral, Dona Iva Pinhel Evora, not to weep at this tragedy which certainly affects many persons and demoralises every mother who loses a child. But Dona Iva should know that she was not alone with this fate. The whole of Africa was with her. [8]

The pains and loss of the afflicted mother are shared by all Africans: “The blood of your son, this gigantic figure, this great leader from West Africa will catalyse and dynamise Africans. This would be a transfusion.

It is no accident that the word terra, land, appears several times in the ‘Requiem for Amilcar Cabral’. The poet knows the importance of land for Cabral, the agronomist and his people.

The sentiments and opinion expressed by Alda do Espirito Santo are generally shared by the majority of Africans who are aware of the importance of the liberation struggle led by Cabral for the whole of Lusophone Africa and the entire Continent. Cabral’s statement at the funeral of Kwame Nkrumah in Conakry in 1972 that he was ‘one of the greatest men mankind has seen this century’ would also apply to the Guinean leader himself. [9]

However, it should be remembered that the conspiracy that led to Cabral’s assassination involved a large number of members of his own party. Some Guineans felt that the PAIGC was dominated by Cape-Verdeans of mixed race. The conspirators seem to have been very self-confident about the support they enjoyed and the general acceptance of their evil deed. Soon after their heinous atrocity, the traitors presented themselves as the new leadership of PAIGC to the host government in Conakry headed by Sekou Touré. To their surprise, Sekou Touré put them all under arrest and handed over to the remaining leadership of the PAIGC. Some hundred or more party members were executed after investigation and trial.

We leave aside the influence and effects of Cabral and PAIGC on the Portuguese soldiers that served in the colonies who later made the Carnation Revolution of 1974 which fundamentally changed the course of Portuguese history forever by liberating their country from decades of oppressive military dictatorship. [10]

Alda do Espirito Santo seems to have had an unfailing trust and confidence in Cabral whom she praises in ‘Requiem for Amílcar Cabral’. In another poem entitled, ‘For Amílcar Cabral’ (Para o Amílcar Cabral), she repeatedly declares she would always be by Cabral’s side: ‘Estarei sempre, sempre contigo.

‘I shall always, always be with you’. [11] Hers was an unflinching loyalty and trust based on years of knowledge and friendship with Cabral, a shining example of African leadership sadly missing in our days.

In the present period in Africa where less capable and corrupt leaders that have elected themselves life-presidents and consider themselves as heaven’s gift to our betrayed Continent, we need to remember committed leaders such as Kwame Nkrumah, Amílcar Cabral, Agostinho Neto, Samora Machel, Nelson Mandela and all the valiant leaders that the national liberation movements gave us. We should derive inspiration from the lives of these heroes, even in those States where our histories are not taught.

The liberation struggle in Cape Verde and Guinea-Bissau, the exemplary leadership and the cowardly assassination of Cabral should always be remembered. Alda do Espirito Santo, poet and freedom fighter has made an invaluable contribution.

“...one of the most lucid and brilliant leaders in Africa, Comrade Amílcar Cabral, who instilled in us tremendous confidence in the future and the success of his struggle for liberation.” - Fidel Castro (12)

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CAPTION Amílcar Cabral and Fidel Castro

NOTES

1. António Tomás, describes the last moments of the great leader of PAIGC when the car he was driving was stopped by treacherous members of his party who asked him to get out of his car, pointing a pistol at him and on his refusal, shot him point blank in the presence of his wife, Ana Maria. O fazedor de utopias-Uma biografia de Amílcar Cabral,
Edições tinta-da-china, Lisboa, 2006, p.266

See also José Pedro Castanheira, Qui a fait tuer Amílcar Cabral? L’Harmattan, Paris, 2003; Julião Soares Sousa, Amílcar Cabral (1924-1973) – Vida e morte de um revolucionário africano, Spleen Edições, Praia, 2013; Oscar Oramis Olivia, Amilcar Cabral, Un précurseur de l’indépendance africaine, INDIGO, Paris, 2012.

2. Anatoli Nikanorov, Amílcar Cabral, Edições Socias, Lisboa, 1975 p.5.
O assassinato de Amílcar Cabral por agentes dos colonialistas visa desmobilizar o PAIGC e destruir o movimento de libertação nacional na África.’
3. Alda do Espirito Santo, Requiem Para Amílcar Cabral, see Annex I below.

4. Chora terra bem-amada
Oteu filho bem-amado
Morto fisicamente
Por balas assassinas
Guevara de Africa
Te baptizaram
Dias antes
Da cilada trágica

5. Oscar Oramas Oliva, op. cit. p. 82. ‘Apres cette rencontre Guevara raconte à ses camarades qu’Amilcar est le dirigeant africain le plus talentueux et le plus impressionnant qu’il ait rencontre au cours de son voyage dans ce continent.’

6. In addition to the poem of Cabral, O Regresso which was sung by the unforgettable Cesária Evora in Sao Vincenti di longe, there have been many songs composed in the honour of the Cape Verdean and Guinean leader. https://itun.es/at/mVZkr?i=288046080 https://itun.es/at/mVZkr Listen also to Regresso in No Foclore Cabo Verdiano.
I found it difficult to listen to the electronic music composed by Jorge Peixinho, Portuguese composer, Elegia a Amilcar Cabral, (Elegy for Amílcar Cabral, 1978,) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kQpZ_wRDMaM
Musica di Capo Verde – La Mc Malcriado – Viva Amílcar Cabral https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BUVFx4kxFXg Very good introduction.
Amílcar Cabral (Bu Morri Cedo) - Tony Lima [Tema Famoso ...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s40xBZkRJRw

Amílcar Cabral: No Folclore Cabo Verdiano (Cape Verde ...
https://play.google.com/.../music/.../Amilcar_Cabral. Excellent.

David Zé _ Quem matou Cabral - YouTube
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Documentary_film

Amilcar Cabral, O Regresso de - YouTube- Sana Na N’Hada

Grada Kilomba in "CONAKRY" a film on Amílcar Cabral - …
https://www.fandor.com/films/amilcar_cabral

Ana Ramos Lisboa, Amilcar Cabral, 2000
Ana Ramos Lisboa – trigon-film
https://www.trigon-film.org/en/directors/Ana_Ramos_Lisboa

Gueny Pires, The Heart of Amilcar Cabral, 2016.
Realizador cabo-verdiano, Gueny Pires lança filme intitulado
www.imdb.com/title/tt5057414/

7. Na história da terra Africana
Teu nome ímpar
Apontara aos tilhos
Do pais natal
A dignidade da tua vida
Cimentada com teu sangue
Cimentada com o sacrifício da existência inteira
A esperança do futuro
Duma terra sem madrasta

8. Não chores Mãe Iva
A terra de Africa inteira
De pé
A teu lado
Saúda a figura gigante
Do grande líder
Da Africa ocidental
Terra Bem- Amada
O sangue do herói
Será transfusão
Nos anais da tua história.

9. Amílcar Cabral, The Cancer of Betrayal
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rLo3Y2IG-iY

Amilcar Cabral’s Glowing Tribute To Kwame Nkrumah
https://libya360.wordpress.com/2014/10/03/amilcar-cabral.
See Annex II for the full text of the statement by Cabral in English.

See also, Amilcar Cabral, ’Allocution prononcee a l’occasion de la journee Kwame Nkrumah’, Presence Africaine,No.85,Hommage a Kwame Nkrumah,1973p.5.

10. Abou Haydara, L’influence des guerres de libération sur la révolution des œillets, L’Harmattan, Paris, 2012.

Manuel Alegre, Portuguese poet and politician has written :
‘Ce n’est pas un secret pour personne que de nombreux officiers qui commandaient l’armée portugaise ont fini par être conquis par la pensée d’Amilcar Cabral. C’est dans la lutte contre le PAIGC et grâce à la dimension culturelle qu’Amilcar Cabral lui a imprimé, que beaucoup de militaires portugais se sont éveillés à la nécessité de faire ce qui allait être le 25Avril 1974 : la fin d’un régime e d’une guerre, le début d’une ère nouvelle de relations entre nos peules, dont les bases, culturelles et politiques, avaient depuis longtemps été jetées par Amilcar Cabral’. Manuel Alegre, Le double sens culturel de l’œuvre d’Amilcar Cabral, in Pour Cabral, Symposium International Amilcar Cabral, Praia, Cap-Vert, 17-20 janvier 1983, Présence Africaine, pp. 159-165.

11. Carlos Espirito Santo, Alda Espirito Santo-Escritos, Edições Colibri, Lisboa, 2012, p. 82.

12. Fidel Castro, 1966 Tricontinental Conference in Havana, Cuba

ANNEX I

REQUIEM PARA AMILCAR CABRAL
ALDA DO ESPIRITO SANTO.

This text is available only in Portuguese and can be found in, Mário de Andrade, Antologia Temática de Poesia Africana- o Canto Armado, Sá da Costa, Lisboa, 1978, p.163; Manuel Ferreira, 50 Poetas Africanos, Platano Editora, Lisboa, 1989, p. 462; Inocência Mata and Laura Padilha, A poesia e a vida-Homenagem a Alda Espirito Santo, Edições Colibri, Lisboa, 2006, p.65.

Réquiem para Amílcar Cabral

Chora terra bem amada
O teu filho bem amado
Morto fisicamente
Por balas assassinas.
Guevara de África
te baptizaram
Dias antes
Da cilada trágica.
Na historia da terra africana.
Teu nome ímpar
apontará aos filhos
do país natal
a dignidade da tua vida
Cimentada com teu sangue
Cimentada com
o sacrifício da existência inteira
a esperança do futuro
Duma terra sem madrasta.
As páginas do porvir
Contarão ao mundo
a força da tua personalidade dinâmica
ao serviço da tua inteligência
Canalizada
Para os arrozais
da parcela
do golfo enquistado
onde mãe Iva
te doou á terra

Não chores mãe Ivã.
A terra de África inteira
De pé
A teu lado
Saúda a figura gigante
Do Grande Líder
Da África Ocidental
Terra bem amada
O sangue do herói
Será transfusão
Nos anais da tua história.

ANNEX II
LE CANCER DE TRAHISON
THE CANCER OF BETRAYAL
Amilcar Cabral’s Speech at the Funeral of Kwame Nkrumah

English Transcript:
Homage to Kwame Nkrumah
Amilcar Cabral – Conakry Guinea 1972

After the speeches we have heard today and, most of all, after the statement, as militant as it was moving, by our elder brother and companion in struggle, President Ahmed Sekou Touré, what more is there to say? But we must speak, for at this moment if we did not speak, our heart might break.

Here, beside the mortal remains of President Kwame Nkrumah — one of the greatest men mankind has seen this century — we are living an epoch- making moment in the history of the struggle for liberation and progress in Africa: we might say simply, in history.

We must, therefore, meditate deeply on this moment, and draw all the lessons from events; as President Kwame Nkrumah would say, the positive lessons and the negative lessons. Before saying a very little of what I have in my heart and my head, I should like to greet all the delegates here and, on behalf of the African liberation movements, to recall that the fact that we should all be here together, beside the mortal remains of President Kwame Nkrumah, is not only evidence of respect and consideration for his person and his achievement, but likewise a pledge to the total liberation of Africa and the progress of African peoples.

On behalf of the combatants of our Party, who are the legitimate representatives of our people in Guine and Cape Verde, we should like to offer our fraternal condolences to his widow, Madame Nkrumah, to the whole Nkrumah family, to the President and our companion in struggle Ahmed Sekou Touré, who was always a faithful comrade of President Nkrumah, to the Ghanaian people and to the whole of Africa!

However, our tears should not drown the truth. We, as freedom fighters, are not weeping for the death of a man, even of a man who was a companion in struggle and an exemplary revolutionary. For, as President Ahmed Sekou Touré often says: `What is man before the infinite and transcendent becoming of peoples and mankind? Nor are we weeping for the Ghanaian people, whose finest accomplishments, whose most legitimate aspirations are smothered. Nor are we weeping for Africa’s betrayal. But we are weeping with hatred for those who were capable of betraying Nkrumah in the ignoble service of imperialism!

But treason, like fidelity, is characteristic of man. Treason to Ghana, as to the Congo and elsewhere in Africa, has a positive aspect: it shows the true human dimension of African man. And, in this specific case, it allows one better to grasp the true stature of Nkrumah as a political giant, and contributes to immortalizing him further.

We have heard talk of rehabilitation for Nkrumah. We understand this expression only in the sphere of the language of diplomacy, or of tactics, because for us, as freedom fighters, those who must truly be rehabilitated are those who in betraying the Ghanaian people and Africa betrayed Nkrumah.

Africa, by demanding through the voice of the people of the Republic of Guinea, interpreted faithfully, as always, by President Ahmed Sekou Touré, that Nkrumah be restored to his rightful place—on the highest peak of the Kilimanjaro of the African revolution — Africa is rehabilitated before itself and before history.

We have heard much said today about the action and gigantic achievement accomplished by Nkrumah in a relatively short time.

President Nkrumah, to whom we pay homage, is primarily the strategist of genius in the struggle against classic colonialism. He is the man who created what we might call `African positivism’, to which he himself gave the name positive action. Positive action has been the best, the most appropriate solution found for the struggle, in the context of British colonial domination.

We pay homage to the pioneer of Panafricanism, to the tireless, constantly inspired combatant for African unity. We pay homage to the avowed enemy of neocolonialism in Africa and elsewhere, to the strategist of the economic development of his country.

As far as neocolonialism is concerned, everyone now knows that Nkrumah’s book Neocolonialism: the Last Stage of Imperialism is a profound, materialist analysis of reality, the terrible reality which neocolonialism is in Africa. As far as his country’s development is concerned, we reject the slanderous criticisms by Africa’s enemies — and some of the Western press — even some cesspits which pass themselves off as being the African press — criticisms which purport to show Nkrumah’s economic bankruptcy. Everyone knows very well that from 1970, on the basis of all the economic measures taken by Nkrumah and his government. Ghana was to become a fully developing country which would show the world that Africa was not only able to win political independence but also to build its economic independence.

We hail in Nkrumah the freedom lighter for the African peoples, who was always able to grant unconditional support to the national liberation movements. And we wish to say to you here that for us in Guiné and Cape Verde, while it is true that the primordial external factor in the development of our struggle was the independence of the Republic of Guinea — the heroic `No’ of the Guinean people on 28 September 1958— it is also true that we embarked on the struggle with the strong encouragement of the practical support of Ghana, and particularly of President Nkrumah.

We hail finally Nkrumah, the philosopher and thinker. As President Sekou Touré said, philosopher and thinker because he could apply himself to the consequent practice.

We hail likewise and pay homage to the personal friend, to the comrade who could always encourage us in the difficult hut exciting struggle we are waging against the most retrograde of all colonialisms, Portuguese colonialism.

We must remember at this moment that every coin has two sides. All of life’s realities have two aspects: positive and negative. Positive action always opposes and is opposed by a negative action and vice versa. If President Nkrumah lives on in the history of Africa and the world, it is because the balance of his positive action is not only positive, but also shows an epoch-making achievement, fruitful creative activity in the service of the African people and of mankind.

We must however draw the lesson from all events. Even at this moment of grief, we must ask ourselves some questions the better to understand the past, live the present and prepare for the future.

For example, what economic and political factors made the success of the betrayal of Ghana possible, despite Nkrumah’s personality, courage and positive action?

True, imperialism is cruel and unscrupulous, but we must not lay all the blame on its broad back. For, as the African people say: `Rice only cooks inside the pot’.

Just how far would the success of the betrayal of Ghana have been linked or not to the questions of class struggle, contradictions in the social structure, the role of the Party and other institutions, including the armed forces, in the framework of a newly independent state’. Just how far, we wonder, would the success of the betrayal of Ghana have been linked or not linked to the question of a correct definition of that historical entity, that craftsman of history, the people, and to their daily action in defense of their own conquests in independence? Or then, just how far might not the success of the betrayal be linked to the key question of choice of men in the revolution?

Pondering on these questions might perhaps enable us to understand better the greatness of Nkrumah’s achievement, likewise the complexity of the problems that he had to face, so often alone. Such problems will surely bring us to the conclusion that, so long as imperialism is in existence, an independent African state must be a liberation movement in power, or it will not be independent.

President Nkrumah understood this truth very well and never tired of pointing it out to us during the long, friendly conversations that we had whether in Accra or here in Conakry. It is enough to read his works again to see that they are studded with preoccupations over these questions.

There are truths that we must utter to each other at this moment, but we must above all tell those who would like to shed crocodile tears over the mortal remains of Kwame Nkrumah.

The African peoples and particularly the freedom fighters cannot be fooled. Let no one come and tell us that Nkrumah died from cancer of the throat or any other sickness, No, Nkrumah was killed by the cancer of betrayal, which we must tear out by the roots in Africa, if we really want to liquidate imperialist domination definitively on this continent.

But we, Africans, strongly believe that the dead remain living at our side, We are societies of the living and the dead. Nkrumah will rise again each dawn in the heart and determination of freedom fighters, in the action of all true African patriots. Nkrumah’s immortal spirit presides and will preside at the judgment of history on this decisive phase in our peoples’ lives, in lifelong struggle against imperialist domination and for the genuine progress of our continent.

We, the liberation movements, will not forgive those who betrayed Nkrumah. The Ghanaian people will not forgive. Progressive mankind will not forgive. Let those who are due for rehabilitation make haste to rehabilitate themselves. It is not yet too late.

As an African proverb says: `Those who spit at the sky will soil their face’. Those who have tried to soil the brilliant personality of Kwame Nkrumah should now understand very well that the African people are right. Another African proverb says: `A hand, however big, can never cover the sky’. There it is: those who have tried to disparage the magnificent achievement of Kwame Nkrumah must today admit that this African proverb is right as well.

Before closing — although we know that we should not do this — allow me, on behalf of all the African freedom fighters, to offer fraternal and militant thanks to the people of the Republic of Guinea, to the Democratic Party of Guinea, and to their beloved leader. President Ahmed Sekou Touré, for this further evidence of unlimited courage they have shown us. First, in welcoming Kwame Nkrumah, and giving him his due position as Co-president of this Republic. Then, in insisting and by fighting for the national funeral to be held here in Guinea, African soil and symbol of African liberation and dignity.

If at this moment of grief in our life, a new understanding could be born between Guinea and Ghana, we should all be deeply content and it would be another significant achievement of Kwame Nkrumah.

For us, as Africans, the best homage we can pay to Kwame Nkrumah and his immortal memory, is reinforced vigilance in all fields of the struggle, more strongly developed and intensified struggle, the total liberation of Africa, success in development and economic, social and cultural progress for our peoples, and in the building of African unity. That was the fundamental aim of Kwame Nkrumah’s action and thought. This is the oath we should all take before history in respect of the African continent.

For us, freedom fighters, the finest flowers with which we can garland Kwame Nkrumah’s memory, are the bullets, the shells, the missiles of every kind that we fire against the colonialist and racist forces in Africa.

We are certain, absolutely certain that framed by the eternal green of the African forests, flowers of crimson like the blood of martyrs and of gold like the harvests of plenty will bloom over the grave of Kwame Nkrumah; for Africa will triumph.

https://libya360.wordpress.com/2014/10/03/amilcar-cabral-imperialism-betrayal-and-the-african-liberation-struggle/