Very well said, Cliff. This is an essential framing...
On Wed, 14 Jan 2026, 16:13 Cliff Pereira, <[email protected]> wrote: > Dear Nuno, your perspective is one of many, there are perspectives of > those colonised, those colonising and those who were dragged into the > colonising process. None of these perspectives is entirely valid and none > are entirely invalid. > Alberto mentions that Angola and Mozambique’s borders were not drawn up by > Africans, they were drawn up in Berlin and divided African peoples. The > Bakongo, Batshokwe, Ovambo, Makua and others were split - hardly a process > of unification. This is more a process of divide and (separate) rule. > > I have listened to the perspectives of Portuguese ex-military and the > colonised in Angola, Guinea-Bissau, and Cape Verde and São Tomé (as well as > Timor-Leste, Goa and Macau). What strikes me is that many of the military > people who were often at the front-line portray empathy with the people > they were sent to fight and the thousands of non-partisan people who were > caught up in the wars. But the wives of the military who lived in compounds > and nice suburbs with their "small army” of servants have nothing but hate > for the colonised. Even today one ex-military wife mentioned “we had such > lovely swimming pools, now look at Bissau?”. The fact that she had a pool > while most of the country had no safe running water reflects the inequality > that all European colonialism produced. Clearly colonialism was about > maintaining a certain status, or hierarchy of dominance. > > Our (includes Goans) passports divided us into “assimildo” or > “não-assimilado”. One offered benefits to employment and housing, etc. the > other did not. Social mobility was strictly controlled. But that > ex-military wife would have had little or no idea of this mechanism and > probably cared little. > > Meanwhile the cotton from the colonies supported the textile industry of > Portugal - not the cotton producers. > > You are right, that we should look forward, but we are not on the same > page when looking back and that is the stumbling block. > Clifford Pereira. > > Get Outlook for Mac <https://aka.ms/GetOutlookForMac> > *From: *'Nuno Cardoso da Silva' via Goa-Research-Net < > [email protected]> > *Date: *Tuesday, 13 January 2026 at 1:09 AM > *To: *[email protected] <[email protected] > > > *Subject: *Re: [GRN] Vasco da Gama > > Having served in the Portuguese army in Angola from 1966 to 1968 I might > be suspect of sympathizing with Portuguese colonialism, particularly as I > never witnessed Angolan people being abused or mistreated by either the > Portuguese administration or by any Portuguese settlers in Angola. But in > fact I - and most Portuguese people - consider that colonialism is on > principle a bad thing, and we should have never tried to occupy those > countries and try to impose our way of life on them. But having said that I > believe that most peoples colonized by us, in the end benefitted more from > our presence than were harmed by it. For instance, if we take Angola, what > we see there is a strong feeling of national identity, a lack of tribalism > or religious conflict, which is mostly due to their now having a common > language which unites them, and a common cultural matrix which has helped > them overcome any original differences among tribes, which would have > prevented them being a coese people. Without us there would now be at least > some four or five different countries on what is Angola, or some of the > local tribes would have been exploited and dominated by stronger tribes. > Yes, historically we have comitted some crimes, but which country - no > matter how sovereign - has not often comitted crimes against their own > people? Can we forget that most African slaves were delivered to slavers by > their own people? For money. And historically, weren't we all colonized? > The Celts and Iberian natives in Iberia were colonized by Fenicians and by > Romans, as well as by Muslim Berber tribes from North Africa. Without them > we woukldn't speak the languages we speak, and our values and judicial > system might have been very different. Did we lose anything with it? > Nothing essential, I'm sure, and we gained a lot from those dominant > powers. Time to look to the future, and not to the past. > > Cumprimentos > > Nuno Cardoso da Silva > > > *Sent:* Sunday, January 11, 2026 at 7:24 PM > *From:* [email protected] > *To:* [email protected] > *Subject:* Re: [GRN] Vasco da Gama > To conclude this debate about foreign invasions from distant lands, > whether by capitalists or communists, just a few lines: > The partition of Africa in Berlin, formalized at the Berlin Conference > (1884-1885), was the process by which European powers, without African > presence, drew arbitrary borders to colonize the continent, regulating the > division and territorial occupation, establishing principles such as > "effective occupation," and consolidating colonial exploitation with > lasting consequences for African nations. > > The communist Stalin colonized parts of Eastern Europe. Portuguese > communists never contested this. > > Those defeated and expelled from the colonies will always defend the > theses advocated by the dictator Salazar or Stalin. > > To understand better, it is good to read the book by the Angolan writer > Nito Alves Vandunas, *"The Prominence of Mercenaries in Mass Graves, ( > Proeminência dos mercenários nas valas comuns"* published in Luanda by > Elivulu house (1977) . It tells the story of foreign assassins who came > from Lisbon to kill Angolan leaders. > Alberto > Cumprimentos > > > > > > > > -- > You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups > "Goa-Research-Net" group. > To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an > email to [email protected]. > To view this discussion, visit > https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/goa-research-net/20260111192450.Horde.8FXE8GJ5xYyVdokuXHHll_a%40mail.sapo.pt > <https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/goa-research-net/20260111192450.Horde.8FXE8GJ5xYyVdokuXHHll_a%40mail.sapo.pt?utm_medium=email&utm_source=footer> > . > -- > You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups > "Goa-Research-Net" group. > To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an > email to [email protected]. > To view this discussion, visit > https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/goa-research-net/trinity-79df5166-bc35-4c55-8860-00199780d903-1768223867771%403c-app-mailcom-bs01 > <https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/goa-research-net/trinity-79df5166-bc35-4c55-8860-00199780d903-1768223867771%403c-app-mailcom-bs01?utm_medium=email&utm_source=footer> > . > > -- > You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups > "Goa-Research-Net" group. > To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an > email to [email protected]. > To view this discussion, visit > https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/goa-research-net/OS9PR01MB14141A7BB8C0AEC0C186E3BF1BB8FA%40OS9PR01MB14141.jpnprd01.prod.outlook.com > <https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/goa-research-net/OS9PR01MB14141A7BB8C0AEC0C186E3BF1BB8FA%40OS9PR01MB14141.jpnprd01.prod.outlook.com?utm_medium=email&utm_source=footer> > . > -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Goa-Research-Net" group. 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