Nationalism and Internationalism in the Liberation Struggle in Mozambique: The Role of the FRELIMO’s Solidarity Network in Italy

The leadership that rose to power in FRELIMO in the early 1970s derived great strength from their international status. It was in the international context that they found crucial resources to put into effect their modernist nationalist vision, and the political networks they developed within the context of the Cold War played a major role in securing FRELIMO the status of the legitimate national liberation movement in Mozambique during the liberation struggle. This article specifically focuses on the Italian solidarity network supporting FRELIMO in Mozambique: this network was rooted in personal contacts developed from the early 1960s, and it gained a major role in Europe after the ‘International Conference of Solidarity with the Peoples of the Portuguese Colonies’, held in Rome in 1970. This article examines the exceptional ability of FRELIMO leaders such as Marcelino dos Santos to ‘internationalise’ their nationalist project, the brilliant diplomacy of these leaders in exploiting the features of the Italian political system and society, and the unusual amalgam of political and civil society groups across the Cold War divide that came together in support of FRELIMO’s cause in Italy. It argues that these factors were part of the vicissitudes of the anti-colonial struggle in Mozambique and are key to understanding how FRELIMO was able to consolidate its power at the time of independence.