Amilcar cabral e fidel castro biography
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The Angolan musician and activist David Zé immortalized him in the powerful anthem Quem Matou Cabral, performed during the independence celebrations of Mozambique, São Tomé and Príncipe, and Guinea-Bissau. In 1970 he wrote, “Whether Marxist or not, Leninist or not, it is difficult for anyone not to recognize the validity, even the genius of Lenin’s analysis and conclusions, which prove to be of immense historical scope, illuminating with fruitful clarity the often thorny and even somber path of the peoples who are fighting for their total liberation from imperialist domination.”
In his writings, Cabral talked explicitly about applying a dialectical and a materialist method, and the need for class analysis and class struggle.
While his father originated from a wealthy and influential family, Amilcar’s mother came from a poor one. While conducting an agricultural census, he traveled more than 60,000 kilometres across the country, gathering data from over 2,400 Guinea-Bissauans daily. His writings on culture, liberation, and national identity remain foundational texts in postcolonial and revolutionary thought.
Born on September 12, 1924, in Bafata, Guinea (Portuguese colony), Cabral grew up possessing the freedom of Africa at heart. Around one hundred officers and guerrilla fighters were accused of involvement in the plot and were summarily executed. You can be sure that we realize the difficulties you face, the problems you have and your feelings, your revolts, and also your hopes.
In a 2020 BBC World History Magazine poll, he was voted the second greatest leader in world history, a testament to the global resonance of his ideals.
Amílcar Cabral may not have lived to witness the full liberation of his homelands, but the world has not forgotten his voice, his vision, or the revolutionary fire he lit across Africa and beyond.
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He studied agronomy, and while he was there, he participated in the student movement opposing Portugal’s right-wing dictatorship and supporting independence for Portugal’s colonies in Africa.When he returned home, he carried out a country-wide agricultural census, traveling extensively and learning in great detail about the people, the land and the problems of his country.
He was named Amilcar Lopes de Costa Cabral. It was during his time at Lisbon that Amilcar founded student movements that opposed the unwelcome governance of Portugal in Guinea-Bissau, Cape Verde and in Africa at large, namely the Anti-Colonial Movement (Movimento Anti-Colonialista — MAC), and the Committee for the Liberation of Territories Under Portuguese Domination (Comité de Liberação dos Territórios Africanos Sob o Domíno Português — CLTASDP).
After his studies in Portugal, Amilcar tried to get a civil service job without success.
In response, the political movements took up arms against the Portuguese, officially declaring an armed struggle in March 1962. The killing was carried out by Inocêncio Kani, a former PAIGC comrade turned rival, and was allegedly backed by Portugal’s secret police, PIDE. Cabral understood that anti-imperialist struggles in colonized countries and the struggle inside the imperialist countries share a common enemy, and that any blow against imperialism from within or without is mutually beneficial.
In a meeting with around 120 Black revolutionaries in the U.S.
in 1972, Cabral said, “We try to understand your situation in this country. But despite Cabral’s assassination, the movement still won independence.
Cabral: Anti-imperialist and internationalist
“Either we admit that there really is a struggle against imperialism which interests everybody, or we deny it.
He firmly believed that power belonged to the people and fought for it to be so. In one of his famous addresses, he is remembered for calling the African people mountains upon which the foundation of the struggle for independence ultimately rested, “There are no mountains at all. His exceptional acumen for leadership had created a system that thrived with or without his presence.
We think that our fighting for Africa against colonialism and imperialism is a proof of understanding of your problems in this continent. That event proved how the struggles in the colonies can impact the internal political situations of colonizing countries especially if they are plagued with overwhelming internal contradictions.
Cabral’s dream of an independent Guinea-Bassau and Cape Verde appeared eminently certain.
There is an echo here of Chinese revolutionary leader Mao Zedong’s deep investigation into the material realities of the oppressed peasant majority in China in the 1920s that led to strategic breakthroughs in the Chinese revolution’s path to victory.
In 1956, Amilcar Cabral co-founded the African Party for the Independence of Guinea and Cape Verde (PAIGC), the organization that led the national liberation struggle in Guinea Bissau and Cape Verde.
Fearing that such a move could trigger a chain reaction across its other colonial territories, Portuguese authorities were determined to neutralise Amilcar who was seen as the architect of the unfolding revolution.
Some theories suggest that PIDE’s original intent was not to kill Cabral but to influence internal dissent within PAIGC and ultimately capture him alive, placing him under Portuguese custody.
Eight months later, specifically on the 24th of September 1973, PAIGC proceeded with their plan to declare the independence of Guinea-Bissau.