‘Fanon’s Theory On Violence: Its verification in Liberating Mozambique’ by Yoweri T.

Museveni

March 6, 2013 at 8:19am

Museveni’s theory on violence whilst a university student – Part One

Posted on September 9,2011 by EditorialTeam

By Robert Asketill

Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni's essay at Dar es Salaam Universitymay explain what he did to get
into power.

Today we bring to our readers a rare essay written by Yoweri Museveni whilst a student in the
Department of Political Science at the University of Dar es Salam under the head of the department Dr
A.H.Rweyenamu during the last half of 1969. The name Museveni gave for his essay is: ‘Fanon’s Theory
On Violence: Its verification in Liberating Mozambique’. We reproduce the essay just as it was written
without any editing. This is Part One.

Rhodesia and the Portuguese puppet chiefs of Mozambique, are extremely hostile to the revolution. In
Nangadc, there ***was a chief who was hostile to FRELIMO. He was saying that FRELIMO’s programme
was a bad one because it talked about egalitarianism whichmeansthat he would have to be equal
with**his slaves. A number of such cases had to be got rid of inorder**toadvance the revolution,
because the broad-based revolution could not embrace them. Hence, the sublimatory nature of
revolution—the harmonization of social relations—is confined to the anti-imperialist classes during the
period of national liberation; itis confined to the national patriotic bourgeoisie, pettybourgeoisie,
peasants and***proletariat.

There*might be some patriotic elements among chiefly families who would throw in their lot with the
revolution. But in thecaseofSouthern Africa, especially the territories like Mozambiquewhichhave a large
number of white settlers, this is rather rare. This is because the chiefs in many cases arc-not the
traditional African chiefs but hand-picked collaborators of the settlers who were usually imposed on the
people after deposing the legitimate traditional chief’s. Therefore, during the revolution contradictions
between these puppet collaborators of imperialism on the one hand and the people on the other
sharpen irreconcilably. In the conditions of Mozambique, the chiefly stratum docs not generally
benefit***from the social harmonization that takes place.

Another aspect of the revolution, which I do not think could have come about except as a result of the
revolutionary armed struggle, is the liberation of the peasant from not only his previous inferiority
complexes; but also from his parochialism. One is bound to **** have a more mentally liberated
population in the liberated areas of Mozambique than, for instance, in any of the so-called independent
Republics of East Africa. This is because the peasants in Northern Mozambique have undergone the
cleansing effect of revolution while some of the EastAfrican peasant’s arc still as backward ideologically
as the peasants during the Middle Ages.

The peasant in Cabo Delgado has participated in killing the white man—the former ‘demi-god.’ He has
inflicted defeat on this ‘god’. The white ‘god’, the colonialist has been seen and known to wriggle
in*anagony of death from bullets fired by guns operated by peasants.The*pe
asants have **set mines which have blown to pieces white soldiers. The*erstwhile ‘gods’ have been
seen to fly like startled wart hogs before the automatic fire by peasant guerrillas. They have been
captured by peasants; they have put up their arms in supplication for mercy from their former slaves—
the natives. The ‘gods’ arc known to be weaklings when it comes to standing the rigours of bush life. The
Portuguese prisoners in FRELIMO hands fall sick more often than not. Some had to be supported to
enable me to taketheir**photographs—they were too sick from minor causes which would never cause
a peasant to fall sick. The white man, the invulnerable god, will be seen vomiting, shivering and
expressing anxiety about, what he considers imminent death. The peasant frightened captives to quick
recovery. Then the sinking frail Portuguese express the hope that FRELIMO will release them and send
them to Algeria to live in exile: in Algeria they might join the Portugues Liberation Front which is fighting
the Fascist regime of Marcello Caetano. * While in custody, Portuguese prisoners: get political education
from FRELIMO cadres. All this enables the. peasant—the ‘native’—to look at his former master at close
quarters. The Makonde peasant in the revolution-engulfed Cabo Delgado Province of Mozambique, has.
therefore, the rare opportunity.which his counterpart in central Nyanza has never had of assessing his,
own potentiality vis-à-vis the colonialist, or his local agents, the comprador**capitalists. The peasant in
Central Nyanza greatly under-rates himself. He feels himself inferior to the white settler or to the new
class of black exploiters.

The peasant, who is by now filled with great hatred for the colonialists and knows that freedom is
possible, will be curious to know more about neighboring countries because they affect his life in a very
immediate way. Failure to get arms on time might mean serious reverses for the guerrillas. Anybody
connected with the process of supplying these arms will be known to the peasants. Having unpacked the
arms, the peasant will see that they come from the Soviet Union. China. Czechoslovakia or East
Germany; He will learn that these countries are friendly to the national liberation movement of which
he is part, because they belong tothe socialist system. On the other hand he will be daily bombed with
napalm from Britain, attacked with French planes, West German machineguns, Belgian rifles. American
TNT explosives and hand grenades. Even the dullest mind would not fail to discover that the capitalist
countries of Western Europe are his enemies after he, or his young child, has been burnt by napalm.

Even a fool would not miss the point. A high ranking military cadre will augment the peasant’s
awakening by******political lectures to the soldiers. The military cadre might have been trained in
Algeria. North Korea. Cuba. China or the Soviet Union. The peasants themselves might be sent to
Tanzania for military training or on various missions. All this will be known to the peasant. The
sharpening of the contradictions between imperialism on the one hand and the colonised masses on the
other will enable the peasants to know who their enemies are and for what reasons.

Do not miss Part Two tomorrow.

The Might of Museveni – Part Two

The man who would be Presi9dent. Yoweri Museveni straddles an AK-47during a lull in fighting in his
bush days (1981-1985).

For the second day runningRobert Asketill recollects an essaywritten by Yoweri Kaguta Museveni when
he was reading politics at theUniversity of Dar es Salaam. His thoughts clearly show the lines hefollowed
in fighting his way to power. We have left the essay in thesame manner and style that Museveni wrote it
including the spellingmistakes and grammatical errors. The only thing we have edited is thespacing so
that the reader can tell where a paragraph starts or ends.Read on.

The sharpening of the contradictions between imperialism on the one handand the colonised masses on
the other will enable the peasants to knowwho their enemies are and for what reasons and the
colonised masses onthe other will enable the peasants to know who their enemies are and forwhat
reasons. The help from socialist countries in the time of need willshow him that communism is not the
monster he had been told it was bythe missionary. All this will lift the peasant from just being
concernedwith the village gossip of whose daughter has done what—and it willbroaden his outlook.

The peasants in North Mozambique have already grasped the meaning of anation as opposed to a tribe.
In Uganda, on the other hand, peasants andindeed the intelligentsia*at Makerere,have failed
notonlytoget beyond the tribe but have not even conqueredthecla

n.The peasants inthe Western region of Uganda, for instance,willrefer to peoplefrom the Northern
region of the countryas‘Ahanyamahanga’ (foreigners) or as ‘Abadokori’(somebodywhoselanguage isnot
intelligible). Youfindstudent tribalorganisations at Makerere University suchas Masaba**StudentsUnions
(Bugisu). Lango Students. Abaana ba Buganda etc.Bycontrast, the struggle in Mozambique has taught
the peasantstheconcept of nationhood. Apeasant in Makonde land will have ashisplatoon leader a cadre
from Sofala Manica or Zambczia *(sic).Ntakonde

*cadres willbe taken to Niassa or **toTete provinces toparticipate in thestruggle there. Everyone’s
security depends oncohesion and*cooperation.

In time this necessity for cooperation, arising out of*a commonstruggle against a common enemy, living
together, sharinghazards andmisfortunes, crystallizes **intoa revolutionaryway of life andinto a
revolutionary national culture. The formertribal prejudicesthat existed will *be erased by contact. The
lies*thatsometribes are cannibals will be exposed if somebody from another*tribelives with the
supposed cannibals in their home area without beingeaten. **Ayoung**Makua will know that **itis not
theMakonde*that are his enemies, as he had been told bythePortuguese, but that as a matter of fact, it
is the Portuguesethat are his irreconcilable**enemies. By bombing both the Makua andthe
Makonde.The**Portuguese Air Force will help FRELIMO agitatorsin the big taskofeducating the masses
in**the effort to createnational consciousness. Teresinha Mblale—a womanmilitant—has**this to say:
‘In our unit,therewere peoplefighting drawn from all over the country, just asin my detachmentnow
there are Makonde girls like myself, and*girls from Makua,Niassa, Beira, Quclimane (*sic)*and further
South.This shows that weare one people; it is good as we are all workingfor the liberationof our people.
We have a common goal: theliberation of our country.”This comrade never went to school at all.As
1**have alreadyindicated, she was a house-girl at the Administrator’s house.

At this stage, it might be illustrative to quote from The Black Man inSearch of Powerwhere it
is***declared: ‘The Makonde,however, arenot anunmixed blessing to F R E L I M O . chiefly because
they aredisliked by other tribes. Their principal adversaries area tribecalled the Makua, about two
million strong, and the Portuguese havecapitalized on this historical enmity by constructing a
great**belt ofhamlets to the South of the Mcssalu (*sic) River which lies below theMakonde plateau.’
This shows the main hope of the enemy, resorting totheir traditional strategy of divide and rule. But the
words of comradeMblale, to whose validity I can testify, undercut their main hopes attheir very base.
Once the people’s revolution has
effectively begun to hammer at the enemy, even the waverers. Or thosepreviously sympathetic to the
enemy, will have to seek the correctalignment. In the last analysis, there is not a single tribe which, as
awhole, benefits from colonialism, because, essentially, colonialism isfor the benefit of the colonisers at
the expense of the colonised. Withpatient political work the peasants can always be rallied to the
bannerof the revolution since, objectively, they are oppressed. But patient,persistent political work by
the most conscious, self-sacrificing andprincipled cadres, is an indispensable pre-requisite before
peasants aremobilized.

Therefore, in every Mozambican military base, in Cabo Delgado. one comesacross a huge heap of earth
shaped in the form of Mozambique with theprovinces and any other prominent features marked. The
militants areconstantly given lectures by the commanders using these earthen mapsas|,visual aids so
that the militant realizes that he is fighting forthe liberation of the whole of Mozambique up to the
Limpopo and not justfor Cabo Delcado. It might be s;iid (sic) that one can conduct suchpolitical
education without fighting so that Fanon’s theory on violencebecomes a superfluity or mere
romanticism. I do not share that view.Without a revolution, a revolutionary social convulsion, one
cannot getthe necessary discipline to mobilise the population.

One cannot create a new order unlcss (sic) one shakes the old one,that is why the Chinese bourgeois
revolutionaries, like Dr Sun Yat-Scn,and the communists were opposed to the old Chinese socicty, (sic)
to Confucianism—which acted as a stabilizing agent of the Chinese empire byproviding it with an ethical
basis. It is necessary to create socialconvulsions so that the social institutions, the custodians of
thestatus quo,*which in a colonial situation means slavery, arc (*sic)not only brought into question but
arc (sic) actually shaken and mademalleable, a pre-condition for successful recasting. To say that one
canintroduce fundamental changes without a violent shake-up is to say thatone can turn ore into iron
without melting it. Not only must you meltore first but the fire must be of very high temperature to
enable you tomelt it.

Do not miss tomorrow’s Part Three

The might of Museveni Part Three – a look into his mind as a politics student

Collected and researched by Robert Asketill

Yoweri Museveni holds the Bible of a religion he clearly has no muchrespect for (as shown in his
university essays) as he was being sworn inearly this year for a fourth time of office.

Besides, lectures by themselves can never be a substitute for actualinvolvement in creating

consciousness. Revolutionary practice,supplemented by theory, is the only instrument that
createsconsciou

sness in a population. A revolution forces imperialism to comeout and lay bare its most hideous features
so that it is forced to losethe advantage of its parasitic quality—its ability to subtly andremotely suck
people like a bed bug without the victims feeling the paindirectly; it is forced to come out and confront
the people without theuse of the go-betweens so often involved in indirect-rule andneo-colonialism. To
force imperialism to come out in full view of thepeople is of paramount importance.

People will know all its ugly features and fight for its completeelimination. But there are quite a few
who**would be petty-bourgeois,but who, instead, have merged with the people’s struggle and are
doing alot to give the people a better vision concerning **thestruggle.Commander Notre, for instance
was leading his men in**an exemplaryway. We stayed in the camp he was commanding for more than
three weeks.He never missed any opportunity **topoliticize the masses. A powerfulorator, he would
daily explain any phenomenon so that it linked up withthe essence of liberation.

It is*Christmas Day, for instance, I965. There is no church serviceand we are glad to be spared the agony
of listening to the hypocriticalmessengers of God. Instead we have a military parade and a flag-raisingcer

emony. Notre, a short and sharply intelligent man starts talking. Hepoints out that in many countries
ChristmasDay **iscelebratedbecause it commemorates the day on which Christ, the redeemer of
theJewish people, was born. Without going into the merits of Jesus claim tobeing a redeemer, he points
out that scarifying **one’s* self for theliberation of one’s people is a service of a*unique nature as
wasshown by the fact that Jesus’ name had becomeimmortal.

He***therefore, concludes that every Mozambican must determine to diefor the liberation of his
people, just as Jesus died for theemancipation of the Jews.

Anybody who sacrificed himself in that way would be immortalised by theglorious annals recording the
struggle of the African people. Nor didNotre confine himself to lecturing to the troops. He actually’ went
intocombat with them, marched long distances with them. Such an interactionisbound toevolve a
perfectly harmonious relationship betweenthe*leadershipand the people.Concerning national culture in
arevolution, Fanon writes:‘It is*around the peoples’ strugglesthat African—Negro culture takes on
substance and not around songs,poems or folklore.’- **Inother words, culture cannot be takentomean
atavism or nostalgia towards our epic past which is whatnegritude is.

Eulogizing Negro cultures of the past and primitive social formations isnot what we need. We need to
grasp the fact that culture is a reflectionof the people’s struggles or the activities of a particular society
at aparticular time. This means culture is dynamic and, therefore, isneither static nor retrospective. The
culture of a particular societytoday will inevitably have changed by tomorrow; and it is useless to
tryto*excavate the past culture. Pastcultural manifestations shouldbe***looked at as history and not as
something to be revived.

Culture is,and ought tobe, contemporaneous—reflectingthe*growth of societyas determined by the

development of science.TheMozambican culture—in the liberated areas—docs exactly that. Itreflectsthe
people‘sstruggle through art, music and drama. Thereare songs about thewar; the war is depicted in
acrobatics and theannihilation of theenemy, ambushes and mine traps against the enemyare shown
in*drama. The old, outmoded customs of the Makonde: thetattooing **ofthe body, sharpening of teeth
and piercing of the liphave**disappeared in the young generations. I hope the **advocatesof
negritude*do not mourn the discarding of these practices. Thesehave been*replaced by the military
culture of the revolution.

robert.asketill@thelondoneveningpost.com

Drew Ddembe published a note.

‘Fanon’s Theory On Violence: Its verification in Liberating Mozambique’ by Yoweri T. Museveni

<title>
Museveni’s theory on violence whilst a university student – Part One

</title>

Posted on September 9,2011 by EditorialTeam

By Robert Asketill

Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni's essay at Dar es Salaam Universitymay explain what he did to get
into power.

Today we bring to our readers a rare essay written by Yoweri Museveniwhilst a student in the
Department of Political Science at theUniversity of Dar es Salam under the head of the department Dr
A.H.Rweyenamu during the last half of 1969. The name Museveni gave for hisessay is: ‘Fanon’s Theory
On Violence: Its verification in LiberatingMozambique’. We reproduce the essay just as it was written
without anyediting. This is Part One.

Rhodesia and the Portuguese puppet chiefs of Mozambique, are extremelyhostile to the revolution. In
Nangadc, there* **was a chiefwhowashostile to FRELIMO. He was saying that FRELIMO’s programme
was a bad one because it talked about egalitarianism which means that he would have to be equal
with**his slaves.A numberofsuch cases had to be got rid of inorder**toadvance the revolution,because
the broad-based revolutioncould not embrace them. Hence, the sublimatory nature ofrevolution—the
harmonization of social relations—is confined to theanti-imperialist classes during the period of national
liberation; itis confined to the national patriotic bourgeoisie, pettybourgeoisie, peasants
and***proletariat.

There* might be some patriotic elements among chiefly families whowould throw in their lot with the
revolution. But in the caseof Southern Africa, especially the territories like Mozambiquewhich have a
large number of white settlers , this is rather rare.This is because the chiefs in many cases arc-not the
traditional Africanchiefs but hand-picked collaborators of the settlers who were usuallyimposed on the
people after deposing the legitimate traditional chief’s.Therefore, during the revolution contradictions
between these puppetcollaborators of imperialism on the one hand and the people on the
othersharpen irreconcilably. In the conditions of Mozambique, the chieflystratum docs not generally
benefit ***from the social harmonizationthat takes place.

Another aspect of the revolution, which I do not think could have comeabout except as a result of the
revolutionary armed struggle, is theliberation of the peasant from not only his previous
inferioritycomplexes; but also from his parochialism. One is bound to****have amore mentally liberated
population in the liberated areas of Mozambiquethan, for instance, in any of the so-called independent
Republics ofEast Africa. This is because the peasants in Northern Mozambique haveundergone the
cleansing effect of revolution while some of the EastAfrican peasant’s arc still as backward ideologically
as the peasantsduring the Middle Ages.

The peasant in Cabo Delgado has participated in killing the whiteman—the former ‘demi-god.’ He has
inflicted defeat on this ‘god’. Thewhite ‘god’, the colonialist has been seen and known to wriggle in*
anagony of death from bullets fired by guns operated by peasants.The *peasants have **set mines
which have blown to pieces whitesoldiers. The* erstwhile ‘gods’ have been seen to fly like
startledwarthogs before the automatic fire by peasant guerrillas. They havebeen captured by peasants;
they have put up their arms insupplication for mercy from their former slaves—the natives. The
‘gods’arc known to be weaklings when it comes to standing the rigours ofbush life. The Portuguese
prisoners in FRELIMO hands fall sickmore often than not. Some had to be supported to enable me to
taketheir**photographs—they were too sick from minor causes which wouldnever cause a peasant to
fall sick. The white man, the invulnerable god,will be seen vomiting, shivering and expressing anxiety
about, what heconsiders imminent death. The peasant frightened captives to quickrecovery. Then the
sinking frail Portuguese express the hope thatFRELIMO will release them and sendthem to Algeria to live
in exile: inAlgeria they might join the Portugues Liberation Front which is fightingthe Fascist regime of
Marcello Caetano. * While in custody,Portuguese prisoners: get political education from FRELIMO
cadres. Allthis enables the. peasant—the ‘native’—to look at his former master atclose quarters. The
Makonde peasant in the revolution-engulfed CaboDelgado Province of Mozambique, has. therefore, the
rare opportunity.which his counterpart in central Nyanza has never had of assessinghis,own potentiality
vis-à-vis the colonialist, or his local agents, thecomprador **capitalists. The peasant in Central Nyanza
greatlyunder-rates himself. He feels himself inferior to the white settler orto the new class of black
exploiters.

The peasant, who is by now filled with great hatred for the colonialistsand knows that freedom is
possible, will be curious to know more aboutneighbouring countries because they affect his life in a very
immediateway. Failure to get arms on time might mean serious reverses for theguerrillas. Anybody
connected with the process of supplying these armswill be known to the peasants. Having unpacked the
arms, the peasantwill see that they come from the Soviet Union. China. Czechoslovakia orEast Germany;
He will learn that these countries are friendly to thenational liberation movement of which he is part,
because they belong tothe socialist system. On the other hand he will be daily bombed withmapalm
from Britain, attacked with French planes, West German machineguns, Belgian rifles. American TNT
explosives and hand grenades. Eventhe dullest mind would not fail to discover that the
capitalistcountries of Western Europe are his enemies after he, or his youngchild, has been burnt by
napalm.

Even a fool would not miss the point. A high ranking military cadre willaugment the peasant’s awakening
by******political lectures to thesoldiers. The military cadre might have been trained in
Algeria.NorthKorea. Cuba. China or the Soviet Union. The peasants themselves might besent to Tanzania
for military training or on various missions. All thiswill be known to the peasant. The sharpening of the
contradictionsbetween imperialism on the one hand and the colonised masses on theother will enable
the peasants to know who their enemies are and forwhat reasons.

Do not miss Part Two tomorrow.

The Might of Museveni – Part Two

The man who would be Presi9dent. Yoweri Museveni straddles an AK-47during a lull in fighting in his
bush days (1981-1985).

For the second day runningRobert Asketill recollects an essaywritten by Yoweri Kaguta Museveni when
he was reading politics at theUniversity of Dar es Salaam. His thoughts clearly show the lines hefollowed
in fighting his way to power. We have left the essay in thesame manner and style that Museveni wrote it
including the spellingmistakes and grammatical errors. The only thing we have edited is thespacing so
that the reader can tell where a paragraph starts or ends.Read on.
The sharpening of the contradictions between imperialism on the one handand the colonised masses on
the other will enable the peasants to knowwho their enemies are and for what reasons and the
colonised masses onthe other will enable the peasants to know who their enemies are and forwhat
reasons. The help from socialist countries in the time of need willshow him that communism is not the
monster he had been told it was bythe missionary. All this will lift the peasant from just being
concernedwith the village gossip of whose daughter has done what—and it willbroaden his outlook.

The peasants in North Mozambique have already grasped the meaning of anation as opposed to a tribe.
In Uganda, on the other hand, peasants andindeed the intelligentsia* at Makerere, have failed not
onlyto get beyond the tribe but have not even conquered the clan.The peasants in the Western region
of Uganda, for instance,will refer to people from the Northern region of the countryas ‘Ahanyamahanga’
(foreigners) or as ‘Abadokori’(somebody whose language is not intelligible). You findstudent tribal
organisations at Makerere University such as Masaba**StudentsUnions (Bugisu). Lango Students.
Abaana ba Buganda etc.By contrast, the struggle in Mozambique has taught the peasantsthe concept of
nationhood. A peasant in Makonde land will have ashis platoon leader a cadre from Sofala Manica or
Zambczia *(sic). Ntakonde* cadres will be taken to Niassa or **toTete provinces toparticipate in the
struggle there. Everyone’s security depends oncohesion and *cooperation.

In time this necessity for cooperation, arising out of* a commonstruggle against a common enemy, living
together, sharinghazards andmisfortunes, crystallizes **intoa revolutionary way of life andinto a
revolutionary national culture. The former tribal prejudicesthat existed will *be erased by contact. The
lies* that sometribes are cannibals will be exposed if somebody from another *tribelives with the
supposed cannibals in their home area without beingeaten. **A young* *Makua will know that **it is
not theMakonde* that are his enemies, as he had been told bythe Portuguese, but that as a matter of
fact, it is the Portuguesethat are his irreconcilable**enemies. By bombing both the Makua andthe
Makonde.The**Portuguese Air Force will help FRELIMO agitatorsin the big taskofeducating the masses
in**the effort to createnational consciousness. Teresinha Mblale—a womanmilitant—has**this to say:
‘In our unit,there were peoplefighting drawn from all over the country, just as in my detachmentnow
there are Makonde girls like myself, and*girls from Makua,Niassa, Beira, Quclimane (*sic)*and further
South.This shows that weare one people; it is good as we are all workingfor the liberationof our people.
We have a common goal: theliberation of our country.”This comrade never went to school at all . As 1
**have alreadyindicated, she was a house-girl at the Administrator’s house.

At this stage, it might be illustrative to quote from The Black Man inSearch of Power where it is*
**declared: ‘The Makonde,however, arenot an unmixed blessing to F R E L I M O . chiefly because they
aredisliked by other tribes. Their principal adversaries are a tribecalled the Makua, about two million
strong, and the Portuguese havecapitalized on this historical enmity by constructing a great ** belt
ofhamlets to the South of the Mcssalu (*sic) River which lies below theMakonde plateau.’ This shows
the main hope of the enemy, resorting totheir traditional strategy of divide and rule. But the words of
comradeMblale, to whose validity I can testify, undercut their main hopes attheir very base. Once the
people’s revolution has

effectively begun to hammer at the enemy, even the waverers. Or thosepreviously sympathetic to the
enemy, will have to seek the correctalignment. In the last analysis, there is not a single tribe which, as
awhole, benefits from colonialism, because, essentially, colonialism isfor the benefit of the colonisers at
the expense of the colonised. Withpatient political work the peasants can always be rallied to the
bannerof the revolution since, objectively, they are oppressed. But patient,persistent political work by
the most conscious, self-sacrificing andprincipled cadres, is an indispensable pre-requisite before
peasants aremobilized.

Therefore, in every Mozambican military base, in Cabo Delgado. one comesacross a huge heap of earth
shaped in the form of Mozambique with theprovinces and any other prominent features marked. The
militants areconstantly given lectures by the commanders using these earthen mapsas|,visual aids so
that the militant realizes that he is fighting forthe liberation of the whole of Mozambique up to the
Limpopo and not justfor Cabo Delcado. It might be s;iid ( sic) that one can conduct suchpolitical
education without fighting so that Fanon’s theory on violencebecomes a superfluity or mere
romanticism. I do not share that view.Without a revolution, a revolutionary social convulsion, one
cannot getthe necessary discipline to mobilise the population.

One cannot create a new order unlcss ( sic) one shakes the old one,that is why the Chinese bourgeois
revolutionaries, like Dr Sun Yat-Scn,and the communists were opposed to the old Chinese socicty, ( sic)
to Confucianism—which acted as a stabilizing agent of the Chinese empire byproviding it with an ethical
basis. It is necessary to create socialconvulsions so that the social institutions, the custodians of
thestatus quo ,*which in a colonial situation means slavery, arc (*sic )not only brought into question but
arc ( sic) actually shaken and mademalleable, a pre-condition for successful recasting. To say that one
canintroduce fundamental changes without a violent shake-up is to say thatone can turn ore into iron
without melting it. Not only must you meltore first but the fire must be of very high temperature to
enable you tomelt it.

Do not miss tomorrow’s Part Three

The might of Museveni Part Three – a look into his mind as a politics student

Collected and researched by Robert Asketill

Yoweri Museveni holds the Bible of a religion he clearly has no muchrespect for (as shown in his
university essays) as he was being sworn inearly this year for a fourth time of office.

Besides, lectures by themselves can never be a substitute for actualinvolvement in creating

consciousness. Revolutionary practice,supplemented by theory, is the only instrument that
createsconsciousness in a population. A revolution forces imperialism to comeout and lay bare its most
hideous features so that it is forced to losethe advantage of its parasitic quality—its ability to subtly
andremotely suck people like a bed bug without the victims feeling the paindirectly; it is forced to come
out and confront the people without theuse of the go-betweens so often involved in indirect-rule
andneo-colonialism. To force imperialism to come out in full view of thepeople is of paramount
importance.

People will know all its ugly features and fight for its completeelimination. But there are quite a few
who* *would be petty-bourgeois,but who, instead, have merged with the people’s struggle and are
doing alot to give the people a better vision concerning **the struggle.Commander Notre, for instance
was leading his men in* *an exemplaryway. We stayed in the camp he was commanding for more than
three weeks.He never missed any opportunity **to politicize the masses. A powerfulorator, he would
daily explain any phenomenon so that it linked up withthe essence of liberation.
It is* Christmas Day, for instance, I965. There is no church serviceand we are glad to be spared the
agony of listening to the hypocriticalmessengers of God. Instead we have a military parade and a flag-
raisingceremony. Notre, a short and sharply intelligent man starts talking. Hepoints out that in many
countries Christmas Day **iscelebratedbecause it commemorates the day on which Christ, the
redeemer of theJewish people, was born. Without going into the merits of Jesus claim tobeing a
redeemer, he points out that scarifying **one’s * self for theliberation of one’s people is a service of a*
unique nature as wasshown by the fact that Jesus’ name had becomeimmortal.He ***therefore,
concludes that every Mozambican must determine to diefor the liberation of his people, just as Jesus
died for theemancipation of the Jews.

Anybody who sacrificed himself in that way would be immortalised by theglorious annals recording the
struggle of the African people. Nor didNotre confine himself to lecturing to the troops. He actually’ went
intocombat with them, marched long distances with them. Such an interaction isbound to evolve a
perfectly harmonious relationship betweenthe* leadership and the people. Concerning national culture
in arevolution, Fanon writes: ‘It is *around the peoples’ strugglesthat African—Negro culture takes on
substance and not around songs,poems or folklore.’- **In other words, culture cannot be taken to mean
atavism or nostalgia towards our epic past which is whatnegritude is.

Eulogizing Negro cultures of the past and primitive social formations isnot what we need. We need to
grasp the fact that culture is a reflectionof the people’s struggles or the activities of a particular society
at aparticular time. This means culture is dynamic and, therefore, isneither static nor retrospective. The
culture of a particular societytoday will inevitably have changed by tomorrow; and it is useless to tryto*
excavate the past culture. Past cultural manifestations shouldbe ***looked at as history and not as
something to be revived.

Culture is , and ought to be, contemporaneous—reflectingthe* growth of society as determined by the

development of science.The Mozambican culture—in the liberated areas—docs exactly that. Itreflects
the people‘sstruggle through art, music and drama. Thereare songs about the war; the war is depicted in
acrobatics and theannihilation of the enemy, ambushes and mine traps against the enemyare shown in
*drama. The old, outmoded customs of the Makonde: thetattooing **of the body, sharpening of teeth
and piercing of the liphave* *disappeared in the young generations. I hope the **advocates of
negritude* do not mourn the discarding of these practices. Thesehave been*replaced by the military
culture of the revolution.

ro