Happy Birthday to anti-colonial freedom fighter Amílcar Cabral, who led the fight to overthrow Portuguese colonialism in Guinea-Bissau and Cape Verde, contributing to the end of Portugal’s fascist dictatorship. Born today in 1924, Amílcar Cabral Cabral became one of Africa’s most influential communist pan-African revolutionaries.
The colonies of Guinea-Bissau and Cape Verde were governed by a fascist dictatorship in Lisbon long after other colonial powers like Britain and France had been formally thrown out of Africa by anti-colonial movements. Cabral led the fight for independence against the Estado Novo (New State) dictatorship led by António Salazar and his successor, Marcelo Caetano. Through helping the anti-Portguese resistance in Angola, he aimed to achieve freedom for all of Portugal’s African colonies.
As a committed pan-Africanist and socialist, he focused on creating a socialist bloc by unifying Guinea-Bissau and Cape Verde. As they liberated areas of Guinea-Bissau and Cape Verde, Cabral and his forces tried to build a socialist economy with central planning and cooperatives.
Cabral, a trained agronomist, pioneered social and agricultural programs to ensure food supply to the liberation army and the local population. Just eight months before Guinea-Bissau achieved independence, Cabral was assassinated by members of his movement, who it is believed were linked to the Portuguese intelligence services.
https://void.cat/d/H3VYcxWEjqStVC7NeWhHcC.webp
#PanAfrican #BlackHistory #AfricanHistory