"Claim No Easy Victories": PAIGC and Cabral

“Always bear in mind that the people are not fighting for ideas, for the things in anyone’s head. They are fighting to win material benefits, to live better and in peace, to see their lives go forward, to guarantee the future of their children…” – Amilcar Cabral, Revolution in Guinea, written in 1965. Amilcar Cabral was a freedom fighter, writer, and leader of The African Party for the Independence of Guinea-Bissau and Cape Verde(PAIGC) who fought bravely for independence from the Portuguese colonizers from 1956-1975. Cabral was assassinated before independence was claimed by his home countries but his legacy, words, and fighting spirit lives on. PAIGC was built to not only organize and fight colonial powers but to also build infrastructure for education and health during the long battle years and after. Throughout the guerilla fighter years, over 100 schools, clinics, and cultural centers were built by PAIGC. In this episode, Revolutionary Baddies provides a deeper dive into the liberation of Cape Verde and Guinea-Bissau and the African freedom fighters that made it possible. In times like these, it is dire for our communities to understand the battles we’ve waged before and what is most applicable to our current struggle. 

Question for our listeners-

What needs to be built as we are destroying the systems that are no longer contributing to our sustainability?

Links for the show: Season 2. Episode 8

Elite Capture: How The Powerful Took Over Identity Politics by Olúfemi O. Taiwo

No Fist Is Big Enough to Hide the Sky: The Liberation of Guinea-Bissau and Cape Verde, 1963-1964 by Basil Davidson

Amílcar Cabral: A Political Life in Motion by Mario de Andrade

Return to the Source: Selected Speeches by Amilcar Cabral

Beneath the Lion’s Gaze by Maaza Mengiste

Black Power: Three Books From Exile: The Color Curtain/Black Power/White Man, Listen! by Richard Wright