Return to the Source: Selected Speeches of Amilcar Cabral
Connecting the Struggles: an informal talk with Black Americans
(Pg 76)
I am bringing to you-our African brothers and sisters of the United States-the fraternal salutations of our people in assuring you we are very conscious that all in this life concerning you also concerns us. If we do not always pronounce words that clearly show this, it doesn't mean that we are not conscious of it. It is a reality and considering that the world is being made smaller each day all people are becoming conscious of this fact.To see if beyond this condition of brothers, we are also comrades
I prefer-if we are brothers it is not our fault or our responsibility. But if we are comrades, it is a political engagement. Naturally we like our brothers but in our conception it is better to be a brother and a comrade. We like our brothers very much, but we think that if we are brothers we have to realize the responsibility of this fact and take clear positions about our problems in order to see if beyond this condition of brothers, we are also comrades. This is very important for us.African people born in America become conscious of their responsibilities to the struggle in Africa.
We try to understand your situation in this country. You can be sure that we realize the difficulties you face, the problems you have and your feelings, your revolts, and also your hopes. We think that our fighting for Africa against colonialism and imperialism is a proof of understanding of your problem and also a contribution for the solution of your problems in this continent. Naturally the inverse is also true. All the achievements toward the solution of your problems here are real contributions to our own struggle. And we are very encouraged in our struggle by the fact that each day more of the African people born in America become conscious of their responsibilities to the struggle in Africa. It is also a contribution for you to never forget that you are Africans.
Does that mean you have to all leave here and go fight in Africa? We do not believe so. That is not being realistic in our opinion. History is a very strong chain. We have to accept the limits of history but not the limits imposed by the societies where we are living. There is a difference. We think that all you can do here to develop your own conditions in the sense of progress, in the sense of history and in the sense of the total realization of your aspirations as human beings is a contribution for us. It is also a contribution for you to never forget that you are Africans.Land is the basis of nation. There is no way to build a strong independent nation when most of the land is being controlled by foreigners
(Pg 77)
The fact that you follow our struggle and are interested in our achievements is good for us. We base our struggle on the concrete realities of our country. We appreciate the experiences and achievements of other peoples and we study them. But revolution or national liberation struggle is like a dress which must be fit to each individual's body. Naturally, there are certain general or universal laws, even scientific laws for any condition, but the liberation struggle has to be developed according to the specific conditions of each country. This is fundamental.The specific conditions to be considered include-economic,cultural, social, political and even geographic. The guerrilla manuals once told us that without mountains you can not make guerrilla war. But in my country there are no mountains, only the people. In the economic field we committed an error. We began training our people to commit sabotage on the railroads.When they returned from their training we remembered that there were no railroads in our country. The Portuguese built them in Mozambique and Angola but not in our country.There are other conditions to consider as well. You must consider the type of society in which you are fighting.We want in our country: to have no more exploitation of our people, not by white or black people
(Pg 85)
If Portugal had created in my country an Assembly, we would not create one ourselves. We don't accept any institution of the Portuguese colonialists. We are not interested in the preservation of any of the structures of the colonial state. It is our opinion that it is necessary to totally destroy, to break,to reduce to ash all aspects of the colonial state in our country in order to make everything possible for our people. The masses realize that this is true, in order to convince everyone we are really finished with colonial domination in our country. Some independent African states preserved the structures of the colonial state. In some countries they only replaced a white man with a black man, but for the people it is the same. You have to realize that it is very difficult for the people to make a distinction between on e Portuguese. or white, administrator and one black administrator. For the people it is the administrator that is fundamental. And the principle-if this administrator, a black one is living in the same house, with the same gestures, with the same car, or sometimes a better one, what is the difference? The nature of the state we have to create in our country is a very good question for it is a fundamental one.
(Pg 88) In the beginning we established in Conakry what you call a political school for militants. About one thousand people came from our country by groups. We first asked-who are we? Where are we? What do we want? How do we live? What is our enemy? Who is this enemy? What can he do against us? What is our country? Where is our country?-things like this, step by step, explaining our real conditions and explaining what we want, why we want it and why we had to fight against the Portuguese.
(Pg 88)
We want in our country this: to have no more exploitation of our people, not by white people or by black people. We don't want any more exploitation. It is in this way we educate our people-the masses, the cadres, the militants-in this way. For that we are taking step by step, all the measures necessary to avoid this exploitation. How? We give to our people the instrument to control, the people lead. And we give to our people all possibility to participate more actively each day in the direction of their own life.