JI'm going to tell you quite simply and as briefly as possible about our position, our situation and, if you like, our options. A brief analysis that we would like to do in an objective way, without passion. Indeed, if we do not lose sight of the historical perspectives of the major events in the life of humanity, if while keeping the respect that we owe to all philosophies, we do not forget that the world is the creation of man himself, colonialism can be seen as paralysis or deviation, or even the stopping of the history of a people in favor of the acceleration of the historical development of other peoples. This is why in speaking of Portuguese colonialism we should not isolate it from all the other phenomena which characterized the life of humanity since the industrial revolution, from the advent of capitalism until the Second World War.
This is why when we speak of our struggle, we must not isolate it from all the phenomena which characterized the life of humanity, in particular of Africa after the Second World War. I remember that period very well. We are starting to get old.
I remember very well that, in Lisbon, still students, some of us gathered together, influenced by the currents which shook the world, and began to discuss one day or another about what we can today call the reafricanization of our minds. Yes, some of those are in this room. And that, dear friends, is a resounding victory against the backward forces of Portuguese colonialism.
You have here among you Agostinho Neto, Mario de Andrade, Marceline Dos Santos, you have among you Vasco Cabrai, you have among you Dr. Mondlane.
All of us in Lisbon, some permanently, others temporarily, have started this march, already a long march for the liberation of our peoples.
During World War II, millions of men, women and children, millions of soldiers gave their lives for an ideal, ideal of democracy, freedom, progress, a just life for all men.
Obviously we know. that World War II resulted from fundamental contradictions within the camp of imperialism itself.
But also, we know that one of the fundamental objectives of this war launched by Hitler and his horde was to destroy the nascent socialist camp.
We also know that in the hearts of every man who fought in this war, there was hope, hope for a better world. It is this hope that has touched us all, making us fighters, fighters for the freedom of our peoples.
But it must be said openly that it is also, or more strongly, the concrete conditions of the life of our peoples: misery, ignorance, suffering of all kinds, the complete alienation of our most elementary rights that have dictated
the firm stand against Portuguese colonialism and, consequently, against all injustices in the world.
We have met many times, we have created many organizations. I will simply remind you of one of these organizations: the Anti-Colonialist Movement, MAC.
One day we will publish the famous, for us very famous and historical manifesto of the MAC, in which you will surely find the preface of our struggle, the general line of the struggle that we are waging today victoriously against Portuguese colonialism. We are fighting against Portuguese colonialism. In any struggle it is fundamental to clearly define who we are, who is the enemy.
We, the peoples of the Portuguese colonies, we are the African peoples of this Africa flouted by imperialism and colonialism for decades and in some cases for centuries. We are that part of Africa that the imperialists called Black Africa.
Yes, we are blacks. But we are men like everyone else. Our countries are economically backward countries. Our peoples find themselves in a precise historical stage characterized by this backward condition of our economy.
We have to be aware of this. We are people of Africa, we did not invent many things, today we do not have the special weapons that others have, we do not have the big factories, we do not even have our children, the toys that other children have, but we have our hearts, our heads, our history.
It is this history that the colonialists took from us, the colonialists used to say that they made us go down in history.
Today we will demonstrate that it is not: they took us out of history, out of our own history, to follow them in their train, in the last place, in the train of their history.
Today by taking up arms to free ourselves, by following the example of other peoples who have taken up arms to free themselves, we want by our own feet, our own means and our own sacrifices to return to our history. We, the peoples of Africa, who are fighting against Portuguese colonialism, have suffered very special conditions, because over the past forty years we have been subjected to the domination of a fascist regime.
You know very well what that means. At home, from Cape Verde to Mozambique, from San Thomé to Angola, we have never had political, trade union or other freedom. This is what fundamentally characterizes our situation, differentiating it from that of other African peoples who fought against colonialism.
It is under these very conditions, despite all the prohibitions as reported by our comrade from the National Union of Workers of Guinea that we began our clandestine struggle, it is under these very conditions that we were able to fertilize our efforts, our sacrifices, to take up arms and to be here today to strengthen the coordination of our action for the last phase of our struggle against Portuguese colonialism.
Like all the peoples of the world, we want to live in peace, we want to work in peace, we want to build the progress of our people.
Like all peoples of the world, we have the right to rebel against foreign domination. Like all the peoples of the world today we have a legal basis for rebellion, to claim our rights, we have the Charter of the United Nations. And if the Charter of the United Nations is not enough, if the United Nations itself is not enough, our peoples are sufficient to drive out forever, by the sacrifices they make every day, Portuguese colonialism from the soil of our homeland.
Who is this enemy who dominates us, who insists on dominating us, in defiance of all laws, legality and international morality today?
This enemy is not the Portuguese people, it is not even Portugal itself: for us, freedom fighters of the Portuguese colonies, this enemy is Portuguese colonialism represented by the fascist colonial government of Portugal.
But, obviously, a government is also in a way the result of historical, geographic and economic conditions of the country it governs.
Portugal, dear friends, is an economically backward country, it is a country where about 50% of the population is illiterate, it is a country that in all statistics for Europe you will always find in the last place.
It is not the fault of the Portuguese people who, at a given moment in history, knew how to show their worth, their courage, their capacity and who, even today, have capable children, righteous children, children. who also want to regain the freedoms and happiness of their people.
Portugal is a country which has no conditions allowing it to dominate any other country. Portugal came to us proclaiming that it was coming to the service of God and to the service of civilization.
Today we answer him arms in hand: Whatever God is with the Portuguese colonialists, whatever civilization the Portuguese colonialists represent, we are going to destroy them because we will destroy at home any kind of foreign domination. . I will not dwell much on the characteristics of Portuguese colonialism. What fundamentally characterizes Portuguese colonialism today is a very simple fact: Portuguese colonialism, or if you prefer, Portuguese economic infrastructure, cannot afford the luxury of neocolonialism. It is from this point that we can understand all the attitude, all the stubbornness of Portuguese colonialism towards our peoples.
If Portugal had an advanced economic development, if Portugal could be classified as a developed country, we would surely not be at war with Portugal today!
But many people criticize Salazar, speak ill of Salazar. He's a man like any other. He has a lot of flaws, he is a fascist, we hate him, but we are not fighting against Salazar, we are fighting against the Portuguese colonial system. We do not entertain the dream that when Salazar disappears Portuguese colonialism will disappear.
So, on the basis of this fundamental characteristic the inability of Portugal to make neocolonialism, the Portuguese government has always refused to accept any call for understanding from us, the Portuguese government has insisted on triggering here, in so-called Guinea Portuguese, Angola, Mozambique, and he is ready to do it in other colonies, a new colonial war against Africa, against humanity.
We, peaceful peoples but proud of our love of freedom, proud of our attachment to the idea of progress in this twentieth century, we have taken up arms with determination, unswervingly, we have taken up arms to defend our rights, given that there was no law in the world that could do this for us. I simply wanted to draw your attention to the fact that we are peaceful peoples, we do not like war, but war, the armed struggle for national liberation was the only way out that Portuguese colonialism left us to regain our dignity of African people, our human dignity. And we want to say that we have to, in a way, thank the Portuguese government for that.
Yes, it involves a lot of sacrifice, but it also involves a lot of benefits for our people. We are not warmongers and I repeat, we do not like war, but we see today, and the example is general, that the armed struggle for national liberation creates concrete conditions for a free future. of certain obstacles, that it can contribute to the growing development of the political consciousness of men, women and even children.
Therefore, since Portugal has imposed a war to which we respond with our armed struggle for national liberation, we must know how to derive from this condition, from this constraint, all the advantages.
But our armed struggle for national liberation has profound significance for Africa as well as for the world.
We are in the process of proving, of administering the proof that peoples like ours, economically backward, sometimes living in the bush almost naked, not knowing how to read or write, not even knowing the basic data of modern technique, are capable , by means of their sacrifices and efforts, to defeat an enemy not only more technically advanced but supported by the mighty forces of the imperialists in the world.
On the other hand, in front of the world and in front of Africa, we ask: were the Portuguese right when they said that we are uncivilized peoples, peoples without culture?
We ask: what is the most brilliant manifestation of civilization and culture if not that given by a people who take up arms to defend their homeland, to defend their right to life, to progress, to work and to happiness?
We must be aware, we, the national liberation movements integrated into the CONCP, that our armed struggle is only one aspect of the general struggle of the oppressed peoples against imperialism, of the struggle of man for his dignity. , for freedom and for progress. It is within this framework that we must be able to integrate our struggle. We must see ourselves as soldiers, many times anonymous, but soldiers of humanity in this vast front of struggle that is Africa today.
We of the CONCP are fighting in Africa because Africa is our homeland but we would be ready, all of us, to go anywhere to fight for the dignity of man, for the progress of man , for the happiness of man.
It is in this very framework that we must have the courage, both during this conference and anywhere, to proclaim, and proclaim aloud, our fundamental options, our options in favor of humanity.
On the other hand, we must know how to clearly define our position in relation to our people, in relation to Africa, in relation to the world. We will do it, we will perhaps repeat ourselves in our Conference, but I can tell you here: we, from the CONCP, we are engaged with our peoples, we are fighting for the total liberation of our peoples but we are not fighting just to put a flag in our country and to have an anthem. We, of the CONCP, want that in our countries martyred for centuries, scorned, insulted, that in our countries never insult can reign, and that never again our peoples are exploited not only by the imperialists, not only by Europeans, not just by people from
white skin, because we do not confuse exploitation or exploitative factors with the color of men's skin; we do not want any more exploitation at home, not even by blacks.
We are fighting to build in our countries, in Angola, Mozambique, Guinea, Cape Verde, San Thomé, a life of happiness, a life where each man will have the respect of all men, where discipline will not be imposed, where no one will lack work, where wages will be fair, where everyone will have the right to everything that man has built, created for the happiness of men.
This is what we are fighting for. If we don't get there, we will have failed in our homework, in the goal of our struggle. We want to tell you that facing Africa, we of the CONCP, we are confident in the destiny of Africa. In Africa itself, we have examples to follow and we also have examples in Africa that we should not follow. Africa is therefore, today rich in examples and if we, tomorrow, we betray the interests of our peoples, it is not because we did not know it, it is because we want to betray and we will therefore have no excuse.
In Africa we are for the total liberation of the African continent from the colonial yoke because we know that colonialism is an instrument of imperialism. We therefore want to see all manifestations of imperialism swept completely from the soil of Africa, we are in the CONCP, fiercely against neocolonialism whatever form it takes.
Our struggle is not only the struggle against Portuguese colonialism, as part of our struggle we want to contribute in the most effective way to driving foreign domination out of our continent forever. We are in Africa for African unity but we are for African unity in favor of the African peoples. We see unity as a means and not a goal. Unity can strengthen, can accelerate the achievement of goals, but we must not betray the goal. That is why we are not in such a hurry to achieve African unity.
We know that it will come, step by step, as a result of the fruitful efforts of the African peoples. She will come to the service of Africa, to the service of humanity. We are convinced, absolutely convinced, in the CONCP, that the enhancement, as a whole, of the riches of our continent, of the human, moral and cultural capacities of our continent will help to create a rich human space, considerably rich, which for his part will help to enrich humanity even more. But we do not want the dream of this goal to betray in its achievements the interests of every African people. We, for example, in Guinea and the Cape Verde Islands, we openly declare in the program of our Party that we are ready to unite with any African people, and we will put only one condition: that the conquests, the achievements of our people in the national liberation struggle, the economic and social achievements, the achievements of justice that we are pursuing and we are already gradually realizing, that all this is not compromised by units with others peoples.
This is our only condition, for unity.
We are, in Africa, for an African policy which seeks first of all to defend the interests of the African peoples, of each African country, but also for a policy which at no time forgets the interests of the world, of all humanity. . We are for a policy of peace in Africa and of fraternal collaboration with all, the peoples of the world. Internationally, we defend in the CONCP, a policy of non-alignment. It is this policy that best suits the interests of our peoples at this stage in our history. We are convinced of this. But, for us, non-alignment does not mean turning our backs on the fundamental problems of humanity, on justice. Non-alignment fear us is not to engage with blocks, not to align with the decisions of others. We reserve the right to decide for ourselves and if by any chance our options, our decisions coincide with those of others, it is not our fault.
We are for the policy of non-alignment but we consider ourselves deeply committed to our people and committed to any cause in the world. We see ourselves as part of a vast front in the struggle for the good of humanity.
You understand that 'we are fighting first and foremost for our peoples. This is our task in this front of struggle. This involves a whole problem of solidarity. We of the CONCP are fiercely in solidarity with any just cause. This is why we, FRELIMO, MPLA, PAIGC, CLSTP, any mass organization affiliated with the CONCP, our hearts beat in unison with the hearts of the brothers in Vietnam who give a singular example facing the most shameful, the most unjustifiable aggression of the imperialists of the United States of America against the peaceful people of Vietnam. Our hearts also beat with those of our brothers from the Congo who in the. bush of this vast and rich African country seek to solve their own problems in the face of the aggression of the imperialists and the maneuvers of the imperialists through their toys. This is why we, the CONCP, cry out loud and clear that we are against Tshombe, against all the Tshombe in Africa.
Our hearts also beat with our brothers in Cuba who have also shown that a people, even when surrounded by the sea, is capable of defending, arms in hand, and victoriously, its fundamental interests and of deciding for itself. of his destiny.
We are with the blacks of the United States of America, we are with them in the streets of Los Angeles, and when they are cut off from all possibility of life, we suffer with them. We are with the refugees, the martyred refugees from Palestine, who have been scorned, expelled from their homeland by the maneuvers of imperialism. We stand beside the refugees from Palestine and we support with all the strength of our hearts all that the sons of Palestine do to liberate their country and we support with all our strength the Arab countries and the African countries in general to help the Palestinian people to recover their dignity, independence and right to life.
We are also with the peoples of South Arabia, of so-called French Somalia (Somali Coast), of so-called Spanish Guinea, and we are, in a very reasonable and very painful way, with our brothers from Africa. of the South who face the most barbaric racial discrimination. We are absolutely sure that the development of the struggle in the Portuguese colonies, and the victory we are winning every day against Portuguese colonialism is an effective contribution to the liquidation of the shameful, the vile regime of racial discrimination, the apartheid in South Africa. And we are also sure that peoples like that of Angola and Mozambique, and ourselves in Guinea and Cape Verde, far from South Africa, will be able to play, tomorrow, a tomorrow: who, we hope , will not be removed, a very important role for the final liquidation of the last bastion of colonialism, imperialism and racism in Africa which is in South Africa.
We are in solidarity with every just cause in the world, but we are also strengthened by the solidarity of others. We have the concrete help of many people, many friends, many brothers.
I just wanted to tell you that we, in the CONCP, have a fundamental principle which is to count, first of all on our own efforts, on our own sacrifices. But, in the concrete framework of Portuguese colonization, dear friends, and in the current stage of human history, we are also aware that our struggle is not only ours. It is that of all Africa, it is that of all progressive humanity.
This is why we of the CONCP, faced with the particular difficulties of our struggle, and faced with the context of current history, we were aware of the need for concrete help from the. part of Africa in our struggle, of concrete help from all the progressive forces of the world. We accept any kind of help wherever it comes from, but we never ask anyone for the help we need. We are only waiting for the help that everyone can bring to our struggle. This is our ethic of aid. We want to tell you that it is our duty to say here loud and clear that we have secure allies in the socialist countries. We all know that the African people are our brothers. Our struggle is theirs. These African peoples, every drop of blood that falls among us, also falls from the body and heart of our African brothers. But we also know that since the socialist revolution and after the events of the Second World War, the world has changed its face for good. A socialist camp has arisen in the world. This completely changed the balance of power and this socialist camp today shows itself to be very aware of its international duties, historical, not moral, duties, because the peoples of the socialist countries have never exploited the colonial peoples.
They show themselves to be aware of their duty and that is why I have the honor here to tell you openly that we receive substantial, effective aid from these countries which come to reinforce the aid that we receive from our African brothers. If there are people who do not like to hear this, let them also come and help us in our struggle. But they can be sure that we are proud of our sovereignty. We will maintain our position: we receive help from everyone.
And we will receive the help of the socialist countries with pride because they indicate today the way which can serve the man, the way of justice. In this room we have representatives of the socialist countries who have come here as friends. I will not lose the opportunity to tell the representatives of the Soviet Union and China, the representatives of Yugoslavia and the German Democratic Republic who are here the representatives of the socialist countries, I wanted to tell them to kindly pass on to the the working peoples they represent, the expression of our gratitude for the concrete help they bring to our struggle. And what do those who do not like to hear us say that the socialist countries are helping us?
They are helping Portugal, the colonialist fascist government of Salazar.
Today it is no secret that Portugal, the Portuguese government, if it did not have, if it could not have the help it receives from its NATO allies, would not not able to fight against us. But, we need to be clear about what NATO means.
Yes, we know. NATO is a military bloc which defends the interests of the West, of Western civilization, etc. This is not what we want to talk about. NATO is concrete countries, governments, concrete states.
NATO is the United States of America. We took home a lot of weapons from the United States of America. NATO is the Federal Republic of Germany. We have a lot of Mausers rifles taken from Portuguese soldiers. NATO is, at least for the moment, France. At home there are "Alouettes", helicopters. But we started shooting "Alouettes". NATO is still in a way, the government of this heroic people who have given such examples of love for freedom, the Italian people.
Yes, we took submachine guns and grenades made in Italian factories from the Portuguese.
But it is for us so pleasant, so encouraging to hear a friend from Italy, a brother from Italy, say to us such beautiful, so sentimental and so sincere words like those we heard yesterday from our brother who spoke to us on behalf of Italy. I wanted to say to our brother who spoke here yesterday that we do not confuse the Italian people with the Italian state which is part of NATO. Portugal still has other allies: it's South Africa, it's Mr. Smith, from Southern Rhodesia, it's Franco's government, it's other obscure allies hiding their faces in front of the shame that this represents. But, all this help that the government of Salazar receives to kill our populations, to burn our villages in Angola, Mozambique, Guinea, Cape Verde, San Thomé, to massacre our populations, has not been able to stop our national liberation struggle. On the contrary, every day our forces are more powerful.
Why, dear friends? Because we, because our strength is the strength of justice, the strength of progress, the strength of history. And justice, progress, history are the prerogative of the people. Because our fundamental strengths are our people. It is our peoples who support our organizations, it is our peoples who sacrifice themselves every day by nourishing all the needs of our struggle, all the basic needs of our struggle. It is our peoples who guarantee the future and the certainty of our victory. Another strength lies with us: it is the strength of our unity.
Unit in Angola.
It is a lie that there is no unity in Angola.
Personally, I am a witness. I campaigned alongside nationalists from Angola. Inside Angola, in Luanda, in the North, in the South, in the East, in the West, I have never seen people divided in the face of Portuguese colonialism.
And inside this country, I bear witness to it: I have never known any other organization than the MPLA. Yes, dear friends. There may be a division of Angolan nationalists but that does not exist for our Party, for us of the CONCP, it only exists outside Angola. This is what made the strength of the MPLA representatives abroad, which made the fundamental strength of our brother Dr. Agostinho Neto. If the MPLA was not sure that the Angolan people are united around it, how could the leadership of the MPLA perform the miracle of achieving all these transformations that we have seen in Africa very recently? How could the MPLA have led an organization like the OAU itself to reconsider its position and today to grant concrete assistance to the MPLA for the liberation struggle in Angola?
We tell you that our strength is unity: unity in Mozambique, unity created inside the country, unity translated outside the country by a common front that reflects everything that is happening inside Mozambique and which has its external seat here FRELIMO. FRELIMO, based on the solid and stronger unity of the Mozambican people with each passing day, was very fortunate not to face problems of unity at the beginning of its struggle.
But the enemy does not despair. The enemy is always vigilant. And at the very moment when Mozambique's struggle begins to gain momentum, to impose itself on Africa and the world, we are seeing the birth, here and there, of small Mozambican movements. We can guarantee you here, on behalf of the CONCP, and particularly also on behalf of our Party that these maneuvers will not triumph, will not pass. We understand very well the maneuvers of imperialism. We understand very well all the sly maneuvers of Portuguese colonialism. But we are willing, fiercely determined never to understand that, whatever state it is that claims to love Africa, love humanity, progress, justice, freedom , can support, nourish, maintain the maneuvers of the Portuguese colonialists in the creation of small movements of division. Yes, the unit also in San Thomé.
The people of San Thomé were among the first to suffer massacres at the hands of Portuguese colonialism.
In 1953, in one day the Portuguese colonialists killed, on February 4 also as in the case of the insurrection in Angola, on February 4, 1953 in San Thomé, the Portuguese colonialists killed 1.000 people, 1.000 Africans, out of a population of 60.000 people.
Why?
Because they did not want to submit, to submit to forced labor. The people of San Thome deserve our great respect in this struggle. It is a very small island in the Gulf of Guinea but the people of San Thomé gave us the first example of rebellion against Portuguese colonial rule. Well, yes, I also know San Thomé, the people of San Thomé are united, all social layers are united against Portuguese colonialism.
They were perhaps even, at some point in the development of our struggle, the most politically conscious people. And we are determined in the CONCP not to admit that individuals on the outside live their lives as they want, walking, spending vacations where they want, claiming to be leaders of the people of San Thomé, continue to destroy, to sabotage, to delay the advancement, the progress of the struggle of the people of San Thome. The CONCP was able at a certain time to take a clear position in relation to the Mozambican case. There were maneuvers, attempts to sabotage the struggle of the Mozambican people through individuals.
The CONCP courageously knew, as our brother Mondlane said, denounce these individuals and exclude them from the struggle of the Mozambican people. We can do it also with any other people and I tell you here, if we, of the PA1GC, if myself as leader of the PAIGC, tomorrow you see me, within the CONCP, betraying the interests of our people , do everything to expel me because I must not stay with you.
Yes. Unity also in so-called Portuguese Guinea and the Cape Verde Islands. We won't talk much about it. How could it be that a small people of 800.000 inhabitants and 200.000 inhabitants in the islands, separated by about five hundred kilometers, how could it be that a small country of 40.000 km2, an underdeveloped country, a country occupied by 20.000 Portuguese soldiers, how would it be possible that a country that never had experience of modern warfare, which on the other hand was divided into tribes, how would it be possible to beat the colonialists Portuguese as we beat them, to liberate about half of our country in a year and a half of armed struggle? How would it be possible to do all of this if we were not united? No, let's not waste time talking about our unity because the most concrete proof of the unity of our people in Guinea and in the Cape Verde Islands are the flagrant, resounding victories of our national liberation struggle.
At home, too, there have been attempts at division. People who were not interested in our armed struggle for national liberation made enemies of our Party and tried to create small national liberation movements outside our country. We even created fronts but very far from our country. We did not discuss, we did not at all publish documents to combat these small movements from outside.
We have worked inside our country, we have mobilized the popular masses of our people, we have formed political cadres in the bush, we have taken advantage of every valuable element of our people, we have taken up arms, we have organized the villages, the towns and we waited at home, not only for the military or political maneuvers of the Portuguese colonialists but also for the arrival of the so-called movements from outside. Fortunately these people do not have time to fight, to fight against anyone and today all these movements are completely disintegrated. Not because of the words but because of the concrete reality of our country. That is why here, as a member of the CONCP, our Party has the duty to tell all our brothers who are fighting in the other colonies: that they do not waste their time fighting the movements of the outside.
We must always save time, by mobilizing the people more and more every day, the popular masses, by living among the popular masses, by fighting alongside the popular masses, by organizing everywhere and showing the people, at every step, every step. day, every moment that is worth fighting because he is the first, the only one to win the fight. Yes, we must also speak, on behalf of the CONCP and our party, about the perspectives of our struggle. Our friends want to know because they want to help us, to strengthen aid. Our enemies also want to know because they want to correct their plans. We tell you that in Angola, as in Mozambique and Guinea, the perspective of the struggle is to develop the political consciousness of our peoples every day.
It is also to strengthen our unity every day and to develop at every step an armed struggle for national liberation. But there are the people of the Cape Verde Islands who are also organized and led by our Party because we in Guinea and the Cape Verde Islands are the same people. The Cape Verde Islands were populated by slaves taken from Guinea, basically, and we have the same destiny, we have the same language and we have one Party, In the Cape Verde Islands the prospect of the struggle is also, to develop every day the political consciousness of the masses which has already reached a level high enough to move on to a new phase of the struggle.
We declare here before you, and this is now a sacred goal within the CONCP, which we are preparing, our people in the Cape Verde Islands are actively preparing to unleash the armed struggle against Portuguese colonialism.
Let the Portuguese colonialists know: we are going to start an armed struggle in the Cape Verde Islands.
Obviously we will not say the day and the hour. But we will do it. And let them know and prepare themselves because we are sure of it, as well as a Batista and all the agents, the servants of imperialism, and imperialism itself, have not been able to avoid victory in Cuba, the victory of progressive forces in Cuba.
We, also in the Cape Verde Islands, will know, on the basis of the efforts of our people, who have already suffered so much in history, we will know how to defeat the Portuguese colonialists and drive them definitively from the soil of our homeland.
In the perspective of our struggle, this conference takes place in a very appropriate way. You understand the interest of our conference.
We must strengthen our unity, not only in each country but among us, the peoples of the Portuguese colonies. The CONCP has a very special meaning for us. We have the same colonial past, we all learned to speak and write Portuguese, but we have an even stronger force, perhaps even more historical: It is the fact that we began to fight together. It is the struggle which makes the comrades, which makes the companions, of the present and the future. The CONCP is for us a fundamental force of struggle.
CONCP is in the heart of every fighter in our country, Angola, Mozambique.
The CONCP must also represent, we are proud of it, an example for the peoples of Africa.
Because we are in this glorious struggle against imperialism and colonialism in Africa, the first colonies that come together to discuss together, to plan together, to study together the problems concerning the development of their struggle. It is all the same, a very interesting contribution to the history of Africa and to the history of our peoples. We cannot lose all that we have already done within the framework of the CONCP and we assure you here that we are determined to come out of this conference with concrete results. We are determined to get out of here and step up our struggle in a coordinated fashion. So to significantly accelerate the total fall, the total defeat of Portuguese colonialism in our countries.
Today we find ourselves in a new phase of our struggle. On three fronts, there is the armed struggle for national liberation. This implies greater responsibilities either for ourselves, or for each of our parties, or for the CONCP as a whole. But it also implies greater responsibilities for our friends and for our brothers. Africa must take care of the problem. Africa is helping us, yes.
There are African countries that help us as much as they can, directly, bilaterally.
But we are of the opinion that Africa is not helping us enough. We are of the opinion that Africa can help us much more, if Africa manages to understand exactly the value and importance of our struggle against Portuguese colonialism we hope therefore, that on the basis of the experience of two years since Addis Ababa, the next summit conference of African Heads of State will take concrete measures to effectively strengthen Africa's aid to combatants in Guinea, Cape Verde, the islands of San Thorné, Mozambique and Angola. On the other hand, our friends all over the world, and in particular our friends in the socialist countries, are surely aware that the development of our struggle implies the development of their fraternal aid.
We are convinced that, every day, the forces of the socialist countries and the progressive forces of the West will know how to develop their aid, their political, moral and material support, for our struggle, its agreement with its development. I will simply end with these words: at home, in so-called Portuguese Guinea and the Cape Verde Islands, colonialist troops are shrinking every day. Today if we want to fight against the colonial troops, we must go to their homes and fight, in the barracks. But we have to go because we have to put an end to Portuguese colonialism at home. We are sure, dear comrades and friends, that soon in Mozambique it will be the same. And this is already starting to happen in some areas. In Angola it will be the same. And this is already starting to happen in Cabinda. The Portuguese colonialists are starting to fear us. They now feel that they are lost but I guarantee you that if they were present here it is a pity that they did not have agents here because if they were present here, seeing us, hearing all about the delegations, seeing this assistance, seeing the fraternal welcome extended to us by the government of Tanzania, the fear of the Portuguese colonialists would be even greater. But, comrades and brothers, let us move forward, arms in hand, wherever there is a Portuguese colonialist. Let us go forward, destroy it and quickly free our countries from the retrograde forces of Portuguese colonialism. But let us also prepare ourselves every day, in vigilance, not to allow a new form of colonialism to settle in our country, not to allow any form of imperialism in our country, not to allow neocolonialism, which is already starting to become cancer in parts of the world and in Africa, that this cancer does not reach our own country.
Long live our national liberation struggle!
Long live the efforts of our peoples for the national liberation of our countries!
Long live the active solidarity of the peoples of Africa and of the socialist countries and of all the progressive forces of the world in our struggle!
Down with imperialism, colonialism and neocolonialism.