National Liberation Struggle

In Guinea-Bissau Portugal has already found its Vietnam. The colonial definition of &s;civilized&s; required knowing how to speak, read and write Portuguese correctly; owning property that provided maintenance or exercising a profession, skill or occupation that supported an individual and his or her family; being of good behaviour and not practising the usages and customs common to one&s;s race; and having done military service. When Amilcar Cabral returned to Bissau, after the brilliant conclusion to his studies at the Institute Superior de Agronomia, he was determined to wage the tough political battles about which people know. Portugal made an early decision to use Cape Verde as the platform for its assaults on West Africa. Subsequently it tried to endow Cape Verde with a more emollient set of laws than those of its other possessions. The path of armed struggle, however, demands strong organization and political preparation since, despite appearances, this path is not always victorious.