Aquino de Bragança was a close advisor to Samora Machel, former president of Mozambique. Both lost their lives when their plane crashed at Mbuzini in October 1986.
Born in Goa, fluent in French as well as Portuguese, and trained as a scientist, Aquino dedicated his life to the liberation struggles of southern Africa. He was a militant journalist, an academic, a diplomat, and a public intellectual. His skill in sensitive and discreet political negotiation earned him the nickname ‘the submarine’ and he played a key role in Frelimo’s early contacts with the Portuguese, leading eventually to independence in 1975.
Illustrated with contemporary photographs, Aquino de Braganca: Independence and Revolution in Portuguese-speaking Africa brings together a selection of his post-independence writings and interviews, many published in English for the first time. The editors – both specialists on Lusophone Africa – provide a general introduction to Aquino’s life and thought, as well as short contextual preambles to each of the twelve texts.
‘What a treasure! This collection provides a vast amount of information about the character of the Mozambican Revolution and the debates that surrounded it. Aquino’s words evoke the spirit of the times, the hopes, fears, disappointments, joys and speculations of a generation of activist scholars willing to devote all their energies, and give their lives if necessary, to the emancipation of humankind.’–Albie Sachs
Product information
Introduction – Marco Mondaini and Colin Darch
Acronyms and Abbreviations
Persons, Events and Other Terms
Part 1 – Articles and Interviews
- Underdevelopment and Migrant Labour – with Ruth First (1980)
- Samora’s Marxism (1980)
- Savimbi: The Career of a Counter-Revolutionary (1981)
- There Was Never a Decolonisation Process in Mozambique (1982)
- Reflections on the Value of a Journey – with António Souto (1982)
- Cabral and Machel are the True Heirs of Marx (1983)
- The Work of Ruth First in the Centre of African Studies: The Development Course – with Bridget O’Laughlin (1984)
- The Portuguese Army Must Defend Cahora Bassa (1985)
- Independence without Decolonisation: The Transfer of Power in Mozambique, 1974-1975. Some Background Notes (1985)
- The Defence of our Sovereignty is More Important than Ideology (1985)
- From the Idealisation of Frelimo to the Understanding of the Recent History of Mozambique – with Jacques Depelchin (1986)
- Mozambique: Facing a War without End (1986)
Part 2 – His Comrades Remember
- Aquino, Our Comrade, Our Brother – Simon Malley (1986)
- Aquino – Immanuel Wallerstein (1986)
- Homage to Aquino de Bragança – Carlos Lopes (1986)
- Aquino de Bragança – Gary Littlejohn (1986)
