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Viriato de BarrosDebate on Cabral's Concept of Communism
Amilcar Cabral’s concept and perception and definition of communism was
very different from what Marx, Mao or Castro. Cabral did not want to overthrow
capitalism and have a classless society, in the same way as Lenin. Dr. Amílcar
L. Cabral was more into what is communalism, with emphasis made to strong
allegiance to one’s own ethnic group rather than to a society as a whole. One
of the factors in the equation is that Cabral wanted community and public
sharing of property and the mode of production to be in the hands of the people
by which a true democracy is power invested in the people under free electoral
system characterized by equality of just rights and privileges. With respect and
dignity for peace and harmony with education for all, this would be our Morabeza. Manu-Salah From: Lumumba Shabaka The comment made by Salah is interesting, although I disagree with it. I think Cabral was a Marxist but I am interested in what you all might think. Cabral did want to create a classless society, that is, without exploitation. However, he meant to have had a different strategy than Marx, Mao, Castro or even Lenin, but the goal was the same. Cabral was sensitive to the issue of ethnic allegiances in Africa but saw this as a challenge in creating a classless society. The class struggle was very relevant in his thinking, especially in the post-colonial state. Cabral never called himself a Marxist because of the atmosphere of the Cold War; nevertheless, his conception of society was dialectical historical materialism, which Marx is given credit as the originator. However, it was not Marx who invented the idea of communism or primitive communism, which in Africa is called communalism. At any rate, this is what I think.
Lumumba From: Salah Mateus
From: Vasco Pires I have to agree with Nhu Salah, Cabral was concerned with returning to the
source of our humanity as defined by our own cultural history. The struggle he
waged was a historical struggle that was a continuation of the struggle that all
indigenous people have fought, throughout history, long before there was such a
concept as communism. In Cabral's own words: "We base our struggle on the
concrete realities of our country. We appreciate the experiences and
achievements of other peoples and we study them. But revolution or national
liberation struggle is like a dress which must fit to each individual's body."
-Return to the Source, Edited by A. I. S. To equate Cabral's and all peoples
struggle, to defend their dignity and right to claim their own identity and
freedom as human beings, with communism and totalitarianism does not make sense.
It is true he may have been aided by these regimes, but that does not make
Cabral a communist or prove that he agreed with such a inhuman philosophy.
Vasco
From: Herminio Furtado
Herminio Furtado From: Salah Mateus Again I will say that Africa was long before any of those who came with any of what they call communism and any one who does not understand what Africa was long before the Europeans came out of the cave state and started their climb to civilization that was taught to them and when in fact they took the knowledge of China to make bombs to kill and to steal the knowledge of the ancients by their trickery and deceit, then you don't know Abdel-Djhassi or Africa, and you will continue to give what you have read in the last century by the same European who carried your great-grandparent into slavery and dealt with the boxer rebellion etc, and what they turned around and what was done in order to change the course of history. And we must truly understand what Amílcar Abdel-Djhassi meant when he said “Return To The Source” - all I can say to those who prefer to take the philosophy of and theories of the system that has caused more evil then ever, since Adam & Eve or the big bang. Manu-Salah From: Ambrizeth Lima I wonder if the basis for communism or the ideals behind true communism were
inhuman to begin with. If we examine what communism in its truest form was meant
to be, we might not try to distance Cabral from it. From: Salah Mateus
Manu Salah From: Salah Mateus Similar or similitude is not the same but there are some resemblance or likeness or appearance of similarity there is a lot to be said about definition. It looks like the same it almost feels like the same but it is not the same. Cabral understood the play on words especially when it came to English words. What he meant when he said that the petite-bourgeoisie should commit suicide is that they needed to make a great sacrifice for the struggle to make the change for freedom and liberty and independence for the advancement for people and country; that would mean to give up the positions of status, those who are generally materialistic and in conflict with the proletariat class that is to say owning above and beyond what the poor working class or the average labor. To downsize their life style. The word proletariat was used back in the day of the Roman ancient empire far back as the day of Moses. Its definition was used by Marx in his theory of class but it was borrowed. That went back into the ancient Africa building the pyramids. Manu-Salah From: Lumumba Shabaka Salah, I don't know what you mean when you say "those who prefer to take the philosophy and the theories of the system...." If you mean communism than, I disagree. Of course, China and Russia or rather Soviet Union or even Cuba have their own agenda. Nevertheless, it was not communism that enslaved us, it was capitalism. I do agree that we must study our own realities. I never take Marx or anyone if Cabral wholeheartedly but try to take the best of them and try to over-stand our realities. Remember that we must not be like the New Black Panther Party that only emphasizes color or race but I know that race and color are big part of the factor. Even in Cuba, racism has not ended because of the so-called socialist revolution. Brother, I am trying to question everything in order to prepare myself. I feel restless to say the least but I have not done anything about. We , from Africa, need more mass movements. The new democracy is just a farce because we don't own the mode of production. We continue to capitulate with the white man and his free market. Our struggle should have a clear vision. So I am trying to understand Cabral, Marx, Mao, Castro, Gramsci, Black Conscious movement in South Africa. Oh, you should checkout their website at www.wewrite.org at any rate. I am sorry that I did not call you back. I hope you don't mind. Well, let's struggle comrade!
Lumumba Hamilcar Shabakat. From: Salah Mateus Manu Salah
PS. Let me show a place that communism really lives. Check out the American
Congress and the Senate. They get it all what should belong to the people. Smile. From: Ambrizeth Lima If the Congress is a good example of communism, (I get the humor) then we
should be tearing democracy apart, not communism: We have certainly made a mess
of it as well. However, the principles of democracy remain "noble" in
the same sense that the philosophy behind communism also is noble. Should we
then not connote Cabral with democracy? 09.02.05Vasco Pires wrote: Why equate Cabral with anything but himself and his
concrete actions to empower others to be happy? Vasco
10.02.05From: Ambrizeth Lima If we were able to do so, we would have reached utopia. Cabral did not operate in a vacuum. He built a theory before he began the armed struggle (please see “The Weapon of Theory”). He borrowed from many thoughts and ideas and added his own. We see in his framework remnants of ideas from his own time. It is no surprise that he stated: I'm simply an African man who wanted to pay his debt to his people and live within the CONTEXT of his time. Peace, Ambrizeth
From: captvrap@cape.com Ambrizeth, Vasco Vasco R. A. Pires, Visual Artist/Poet/Video Producer, Author of
A
Fraction of Me: Prose and Poetry for the New Century From: Salah Mateus In a message dated 2/10/05 8:48:24 AM Eastern Standard Time, Ambrizeth Lima writes: To: Vasco Pires (Vasco R. A. Pires) If we were… Very interesting dialogue, this is what Cabral wanted us to do, so that we would be more enlightened. Yes, Amílcar was a very simple African man who did all that was possible to take us out of suffering and to bring us into joy and happiness, peace, freedom, justice and equality for all and into unity for the advancement and progress with dignity. Well it is nice to think about Utopia as described by Sir Thomas More Utopia (1516) or Social Perfection. I think Morabeza is the best we can do at this moment and time, for perfection is still out of the grasp of humanity unless we all start to behave as a Buddhist but then of course that is another subject matter which teaches that life is full of suffering and the way to end this suffering is through enlightenment that enables one to halt the endless sequence of birth and death to which one is otherwise subject. Perhaps we can say that Amílcar might have been on a budding stage of such development. Morabeza is that state pu nu sta Morabe e na pas e na caminyu dreighto. Oh! My have I opened a Pandora box. Hmmm last thought. D.E.U.S. Dialectic-Eclectic-Universal-Science. ”S” is also for salvation; and salvation only means to protect from harm and I think this is what Amílcar wanted to accomplish. After all he was a scientist, an Agrobiologist Geologist and Geometer. He was called by many Mr. Engineer. Manu-Salah From: Salah Mateus Camarada Amílcar Lopes Cabral aka Abdel Djhassi, and the Abdel Djhassi is
very important in the context of its definition and meaning of what he meant to
many African Muslims not necessarily those of the so-called Sunni Muslims or the
Wahhabi or those from the Middle East who corrupted the teachings of Islam as
taught by Muhammad. Abdel Djhassi was more of a Sufism type which the meaning
would be esoteric in the ultimate definition of belonging to the selected few
who have special knowledge which was giving in private in that sense we can say;
he was a Muslim but not of the same practice of those he said was Islamized by
the so-called Arabs. The same is to be said about the reality of the teachings
of Christ or that of the Buddha. Cabral was also a Master of what is called
Christian Rationalism. In the teachings of Christian Rationalism: On
evolution." Evolution is the fundamental principle of life in the Universe.
In evolution lies the basis for the understanding of everything that comes to
pass within and outside the reach of human perception. Whenever evolution is
disregarded, there is no logical or rational explanation for existence."
You can find that in their book Chapter XI. We can also say that he was of the
science of the teachings of the Buddha in its reality of consciousness and the
transformation of all; Cabral was free from ignorance. He understood the
inter-being of self he was aware of the impermanence and that of nirvana. He
understood the enlightenment according to the Lotus Sutra. To live in the
historical and ultimate dimension of reality at the same time. I go so far as to
say that Amílcar Cabral reminds me of several or more characters, but two of
them that served him directly in his involvement with Guinea Bissau & Cabo
Verde comes from what I make reference to and that is the order of Melchizedek
and Zul-qarnain which is to be found both in the Bible and the Qur'an. He is
exemplary of the one that is known in the Qur'an as Khidhr. Literally meaning
Green. For more then 500 years we have been under the dictates of the Roman
Catholic Church and we have been duped by their influence and that of
colonialism and the assimilation miseducation. This is what Cabral meant when he
said they took us out of history. This is the reason he was killed, but he is
not dead in the spiritual sense. The thinking was if you chopped off the head
the body would soon die, but that us not the case. We know who pulled the
trigger but who was involved in the conspiracy? We have passed that stage and we
are moving on to bigger and better things because we have come complete circle
and we are very vigilant for our future and we know how to play the game.
Education & Enlightenment. Salvation! To protect from Harm. To harness the
energy for unity & progress. The ultimate price of freedom is vigilance.
Long Live The memory of Dr. Amilcar L.Cabral. Viva Povo Cabo Verde Viva Povo
Guinea Bissau.
Thank you. Manu-Salaha From: MIT / GMIT / Dir.Gab - Jose Figueiredo Ramos My Dear Salah, I have been following your exchange of mails regarding the ideology and
philosophy of Cabral. The many points of view of whether he was a Marxist or not
and other aspects of the nature of his thoughts may be acceptable, since many
are still trying to define the brilliancy of the same and the objectives he
wanted to impart. However, as far as his religious believe, one should not paint
him into what he was not. He was not a Muslim, and I am certainly not clear
whether he projected His religious beliefs. He certainly had his misgivings
regarding blind following of religions, tends to enslave rather than liberate,
but his pragmatism would not allow him to be frontally against the Catholic
Church. He recognized all too well that the African people are deeply spiritual.
Most importantly Be not deceived. One cannot be Christ centered and practice
spiritism (cult of dead people) which is what Christian Rationalism is. Christ
did not mention evolution as what we understand the word to be. By the way, I am
not sure Cabral would be happy to know that he is a patron of one of these
centres. Take care, old brother. J Figueiredo Ramos
Amazon.com
: Interview with Sam Harris: The Mortal Dangers of Religious Faith |
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