DEMAND While strikes are breaking out in Mozambique and Angola, and while mass movements in favor of the PAIGC are unfolding in Guinea-Bissau, two declarations sum up the current state of the relations between the liberation movements and the Portuguese goverment. On June 11, on the occasion of the inauguration of the new governors of Mozambique ond Angola, Spinola reaffirmed the strict positions of his regime (Mario Soares, shape up!): cease-fire, reconstruction and development, establishment of democratic structures of participation (?), reconversion of political and economic structures, referendum. Thus, Spinala recalled his refusal to abandon the
Cape Verde Islands to the PAIG and his plan to construct a third force to use against the liberation movements. A few days later in Algiers, negotiations with the PAIC were suspended indefinitely. On June 10 Marcelino Dos Santos explained on British television that FRELIMO would halt the sale of energy produced by the Cabora Bassa dam to South
Africa and Rhodesia, would strictly apply a blockade and would totally support the cause of the Africon nationalists of these countries.
The present hardening of the situation is not surprising, given the function of the Spinola regime. The reformists in the govemment of National Union have played their first card: an attempted seduction of the liberation movements. Cunhal, the general secretary of the Communist party, has just repeated the nub of the matter in an interview with Agence
France-Presse: "the recognition by the Armed Forces Movement that the solution is political, not military. There is also the recognition of the right of peoples to self-determination and independence. And that is important. " As for Mario
Soares, he simply went to the NATO meeting in Ottowa. He has swam up and down that he is not seeking a neocolonial solution. But everyone knows that this is the sole objective of the NATO countries. So what does Soares say about that?
"For a long time I have criticized NATO publicly and susaction without sectarianism against repression and in defense of militants. The foscists and murderers will retreat only if they find us blocking their way, united and organized and ready to crush them.
AGAINST REPRESSION AND MURDER:
- FORM A COMMISSION OF INQUIRY AND SOLIDARITY
UNITING ALL THE WORKERS AND PEOPLES ORGANIZA-
TIONS AND PARTIES!
-- ORGANIZE WORKERS SELF-DEFENSE IN ALL STRUG-
GLES AND MOBILIZATIONS IN THE WORK PLACES AND
SCHOOLS!
- DON'T DISCUSS WITH THE FASCISTS AND MURDERERS!
CRUSH THEM!
from the
CUL omers
School in liberated territory, Mozambique.
31
pected that it had given much aid to the old government. • .. Nevertheless, there must be a system of Western security, just as the East has military alliances. We are part of the West. We are therefore faithful to this alliance, we would only want to give it a more political content, to axis it around defense of democracy and the rights of man. " A good trick! The nomination of General Silvino Silveiro Marques as governor of Angola and of Alfonso Mendes as secretary of labor clearly indicate the regime's desire to gain control of the political and social situation. Important personalities in the old colonial administration, they were appointed to satisfy the colons and stop the development of workers struggles. In Guinea the general staff is deliberately provoking a shortage of food products. In Mozambique the army has announced a new offensive, and South Africa has declared that its army is blocking 1,500 miles of the border and reserves the right of pursuit if Angola or Mozambique serve as sanctuaries for the armed nationalist movements in South Africa. Simultaneously, it was announced that Mario Soares had arrived in Pretoria. Nevertheless, the Portuguese colonial army is suffering from an advanced state of decomposition. In Guinea-Bissau there are more and more cases of fraterization between the ranks of the army and the liberation movements, and the PAIGC is seeking to definitively detach the African regiment from the tutelage of the general staff. In Mozambique an entire regiment in the combat zone has published a communiqué supporting FRELIMO and affirming its desire to lay down its arms. Editeur responsable: René Groslambert, 34 rue Nothomb, 1040 - Bruxelles Imprimerie spéciale de l'editeur 32
As for the liberation movements, the PAIGC has just affirmed the principled basis for all future negotiations: recognition of the state of Guinea-Bissau and independence for Guinea and the Cape Verde Islands. In an interview with the French weekly l'Express Samora Machel of FRELIMO reaffirmed: "The only thing we will agree to negotiate is mechanisms of the transfer of the goverment to FRELIMO. .. . As for the war, it will last as long as colonialism and neocolonialism last." Finally, in Angola UNITA has just signed a cease-fire accord with Lisbon, allowing Lisbon the chance to demonstrate its "good will. " In addition, the formation (in Zaire l) of a Liberation Front of Cabinda that is prepared to negotiate has been announced. But it is still the Angola National Liberation Front, the puppet of Mobutu and the ClA which has just acquired the support of Peking, that represents the main danger to the liberation struggle. The crisis in the MPLA, in which three factions are competing, can only favor Holden's reactionary right-wing movement. For its part, the Portuguese government sees in Holden the silent partner of American policy in a future neocolonial Angola. Recalling the fate of the hapless Belgian bourgeoisie in the Congo, Holden is still refusing to play that card, hoping to profit from the crisis in the MPLA. That is the decisive factor in the immediate future of Angola. Will there be a break or a compromise among the three factions? A clarification and the independent emergence of an anticapitalist left tendency or a patchwork that will favor the right? The coming congress of the MPLA will be decisive.