Imani Na Umoja | African Party for the Independence of Guinea and Cape Verde (PAIGC)
INTRODUCTION
Revolutionary Greetings and salutes!
The African Party of Independence of Guinea and Cape Verde (PAIGC), the Mass Revolutionary Pan-Africanist socialist Party is honored to be together with you again during the year of the Centenary of the Birth of our Eternal Brother and Comrade Amilcar Cabral!
As we address the theme of our conference whose theme is
“The situation of World War 3, the New Cold War, and the tasks of communist and anti-imperialist forces”.
World War 3 is not an event, but rather a process. The wars in the Congo, Yemen, Sudan, Occupied Palestine, NATO’s expansion and its war against Russia, coupled with systematic sanctions against scores of countries and blockades against Cuba and provocations of “New Cold War” against PRC China, DPRK Korea have roots in capitalism manifested in the forms of zionism, hyper-imperialism and its last stage of neo-colonialism.
Hyper-imperialism is loosing in the areas of production, finances and checkmated militarily. In short, the mono-polarism of dollar is loosing to multi-polarism.
Logically, the struggle against imperialism is not an event, but rather a process.
The anti-imperialist forces are gaining strength.
The tasks of anti-imperialist forces in each country should be to have a road map that intensifies political-ideological and military coordination with emphasis on the Bases “grass roots” AMONG the People and beyond conference halls and internet activism.
While there are still more and more communists and anti-imperialist forces who are analyzing and acting correctly, unfortunately there are still some that are unable to scientifically analyze the nature of the current international situation.
Fortunately, thanks to universal culture there are forces who go beyond rhetoric, who live among the People, learn from the People and are working and learning to bring ourselves to higher levels of anti-imperialist production, and use science to develop more efficient military instruments, health and learning instruments while developing culture and economies in local currencies without dollarism.
Thanks to committed revolutionary forces, like some of you in this conference, NATO is not almighty. The military components that constitute NATO are clearly defeatable. The political military capabilities of the Global South are collectly stronger than NATO!
Even during the Glorious Armed Struggle for National Liberation in Guinea-Bissau in the 1960s and early 1980s, the PAIGC defeated NATO.
It is relevant to quote Amilcar Cabral presentation the Conference of Nationalist Organizations of Portuguese Colonies (CONCP―composed of FRELIMO, MPLA, PAIGC and MLSTP) Plenary Session October 1965.
“…Everybody knows today that Portugal, the Portuguese government, if it could not count on the assistance of its NATO allies, would not be able to carry on fighting against us..
“In any struggle it is of fundamental importance to define clearly who we are, and who is the enemy. We, the peoples of the Portuguese colonies, are African peoples, of this Africa ensnared by imperialism and colonialism for decades and even in some cases for centuries…
…Everybody knows today that Portugal, the Portuguese government, if it could not count on the assistance of its NATO allies, would not be able to carry on fighting against us. But we must state clearly what NATO means. Yes, we know: NATO is a military bloc which defends the interests of the West, etc. . . . That is not what we wish to discuss…
…NATO is concrete countries, concrete governments and states. NATO is the USA. We have captured in our country many US weapons. NATO is the Federal Republic of Germany. We have a lot of Mauser rifles taken from Portuguese soldiers. NATO, for the time being at least, is France. In our country there are Alouette helicopters. NATO is, too, to a certain extent, the government of that heroic people which has given so many examples of love of freedom, the Italian people. Yes, we have captured from the Portuguese machine-guns and grenades made in Italy..”
This was in 1965, two (2) years after the beginning of the armed phase of the Glorious Liberation Struggle. By 1973, the African People of Guinea-Bissau, Cape Verde with Allies via our politically organized cultural manifestation (PAIGC), had already defeated the Portuguese military and their NATO allies!
A little more than one year later, thanks to the contribution of the same PAIGC, a “Carnation Revolution” took place in Portugal in 1974 and overthrew the fascist regime liberating the Portuguese People (the former colonizer).
This is significant for our challenges today. The organized People of a small country defeated NATO. Guinea-Bissau doesn’t manufacture weapons such as war planes, missiles, submarines or any other types. Its main weapons are the culture of the masses of People organized politically.
The majority of the People in the Homeland of Amilcar Cabral, and all faithful Militants, Responsibles and leaders of his Party PAIGC continue to struggle against imperialism in all its rotten manifestations. Our Party is the politically organized manifestation of our People’s culture.
Anti-imperialist struggle and Culture
“…The liberation movement, as representative and defender of the culture of the people, must be conscious of the fact that, whatever may be the material conditions of the society it represents, the society is the bearer and creator of culture. The liberation movement must furthermore embody the mass character, the popular character of the culture—which is not and never could be the privilege of one or of some sectors of the society…
…In the thorough analysis of social structure which every liberation movement should be capable of making in relation to the imperatives of the struggle, the cultural characteristics of each group in society have a place of prime importance. For, while the culture has a mass character, it is not uniform, it is not equally developed in all sectors of society. The attitude of each social group toward the liberation struggle is dictated by its economic interests, but it is also influenced profoundly by its culture. It may even be admitted that these differences in cultural levels explain differences in behaviour toward the liberation movement on the part of individuals who belong to the same socio-economic group. It is at this point that culture reaches its full significance for each individual: understanding and integration into their environment, identification with fundamental problems and aspirations of the society, acceptance of the possibility of change in the direction of progress…
…In the specific conditions of our country—and we would say, of Africa—the horizontal and vertical distribution of levels of culture is somewhat complex. In fact, from villages to towns, from one ethnic group to another, from one age group to another, from the peasant to the workman or to the indigenous intellectual who is more or less assimilated, and, as we have said, even from individual to individual within the same social group, the quantitative and qualitative level of culture varies significantly. It is of prime importance for the liberation movement to take these facts into consideration…
…Whatever may be the ideological or idealistic characteristics of cultural expression, culture is an essential element of the history of a people. Culture is, perhaps, the product of this history just as the flower is the product of a plant. Like history, or because it is history, culture has as its material base the level of the productive forces and the mode of production. Culture plunges its roots into the physical reality of the environmental humus in which it develops, and it reflects the organic nature of the society, which may be more or less influenced by external factors. History allows us to know the nature and extent of the imbalances and conflicts (economic, political and social) which characterize the evolution of a society; culture allows us to know the dynamic synthesis which have been developed and established by social conscience to resolve these conflicts at each stage of its evolution, in the search for survival and progress…”
Current Anti-imperialist Struggles in Guinea-Bissau
There aren’t any foreign military bases in Guinea-Bissau and there have never been. The revolutionary Constitution that was approved by the National People’s Assembly on 23 September 1973 , the day before it unilaterally Proclaimed Independence on 24 September 1973, prohibits foreign military bases. But since 2022 we do have an imposed armed contingent of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS). Their presence wasn’t approved by the National People’s Assembly.
As we speak, the neo-colonialists puppets in the person of Umaro Sissoco Embalo, better known as Si-coco (his poop), has unconstitutionally blocked the National People’s Assembly, violently invaded the Supreme Court of Justice and forced its president to resign under duress; maintained an expired incomplete National Electoral Council, an illegal unconstitutional so-called “government of presidential initiative”, with a corrupted Attorney General and is attempting to unconstitutionally extend the presidential mandate from five (5) to six (6) years.
The democratic forces who oppose these measures are attacked by armed mercenaries sent like attack dogs from the Presidential Palace. These same attack dogs abuse democratic patriotic peaceful manifestations, arrest and torture unarmed protestors.
The National Union of Guinean Workers headquarters has been seized.
Guinea-Bissau is an integral part of West Africa, Africa and Humanity. The culture of our People is rising as is the revolutionary consciousness. We still lack the coordination with worldwide anti-imperiaist forces and integration of our revolutionary and progressive forces to bring our inevitable defeat of imperialism in all its ugly forms.
We shall defeat them, via our culture, just like we defeated Portuguese colonialism supported by NATO!
The PAIGC has been involved with various international and regional coordinating organizations and serves as a co-founder of the Organization of Solidarity with the People of Africa, Asia and Latin America (OSPAAAL) that emanated from the First Tricontinental Conference of 1966 in Cuba. Through political military coordination of OSPAAAL, many victories have been won against imperialism. Likewise, we remain enthusiastic to intimately coordinate with all serious anti-imperialist platforms.
We invite comrades to participate in the PAIGC Commemoration of the Amilcar Cabral Centenary in September this year.
Comrades, let us go forward onward to victory as complete human beings!
Everywhere there is an agent of imperialism, zionism or neo-colonialism, let us go forward with tidal waves to crush them!
Death to imperialism!
Death to capitalism!
Death to NATO!
A luta..continua!
Victoria é Certa
Onward to Final Victory!
READY FOR THE REVOLUTION1
