Amílcar Cabral, The Father of Cape-verdean independence

Today, while taking a break from studies, I start reading some quotes. Among the quotes, I found some that belong to a Great Man, Amílcar Cabral. This guy is considered by many the father of the Cape-verdean independence, nationality and spirit. I believe he was one of the greatest man ever. Therefore I would like to share with you this small article about his life. Please don't miss the chance to get to know and learn from this great leader. 

From http://www.irr.org.uk/faces/cabral.html

Amílcar Cabral

Amilcar Cabral was born in Portuguese Guinea to Cape Verdean parents on 12 September 1924. In 1945 he gained a scholarship to study in Lisbon. His time in Portugal, from 1945 to 1952, was very important for a number of reasons. Firstly, the Second World War and its after effects had exposed the deep injustices at the heart of Portuguese society for black and white people. Secondly, whilst most colonial powers were considering dismantling their empires, Portugal wanted to tie its colonies ever closer. Thirdly, there was a great revival of African nationalism throughout the continent. These factors encouraged Cabral and like-minded relatively privileged Africans to struggle together to destroy the whole system which dominated their people.

This group included a number of key figures in the wars against Portuguese colonialism, such as founding members of the Mozambique Liberation Front - FRELIMO (Eduardo Mondlane and Marcelino dos Santos) and the Popular Movement for the Liberation of Angola-MPLA (Mario de Andrade and Agostinho Neto). They organised themselves to develop their political thinking and action, as well as what Cabral called the 're-Africanization' of their minds. By working and thinking together in this way they hoped to create a common African identity which would unite the people who had been divided under Portuguese rule.

On his return to Guinea, Cabral and a handful of others set up a political party, the PAIGC. They aimed to turn the colonial system upside down by working with the people of Guinea to improve the conditions of their own lives practically. For Cabral the big ideas of national liberation, anti-colonialism and independence could only mean something if they were being worked out in the day to day lives and culture of the people. As Cabral reminded PAIGC workers, 'Always bear in mind that people are not fighting for ideas, for the things in anyone's head. They are fighting to win material benefits, to live better and in peace, to see their lives go forward, to guarantee the future for their children.' In the process of working for concrete and local improvements for themselves, the various elements of Guinean society would both liberate themselves and their country from Portuguese colonialism and their own weaknesses. The war, Cabral argued, was not against the Portuguese or white people, but the system which oppressed and exploited them all. Even so, in 1973, on the eve of Portuguese withdrawal, Cabral was assassinated and the world lost one of its clearest political thinkers and fighters.

Live to Lead Workshop :)

Being able to share my life at Honours College (HC) and what I’ve been learning there as well as work/ cooperate with my talented fellow classmates has always been on my mind. When our professor of Development of Leadership Skills, Dr. Zen, suggested us to organize a workshop aiming at sharing our experience at the HC to other students and a show aiming at screening the talents of the HC family, I didn’t thing twice to embrace both projects.  On the next paragraphs I will try to make a self-reflection about how we dealt with the workshop project and what I gained from it.

After Dr. Zen suggested us the two projects, we, the Honours College Student Association (HCSA), urged on arranging a meeting to divide the class in two groups: one responsible for the workshop and another responsible for the show. After a meeting with the students of the HCSA, we decided that each group should have an organizing committee; however, we the students of the HCSA, we wouldn’t take part on the organizing committees to allow the other HC students to enhance their leadership skills. Each student chose the project they wished to participate on and we were done.

The workshop was going to be hold in few weeks, therefore, we had call for a meeting on the same week of the organization of the groups to structure the guidelines of the workshop, it was a race against the clock. In the meeting, with David Wang and Anne U as heads of the committee, we start giving some suggestions about what we wanted for the show. It was suggested that the workshop should be fun and with a core idea of the teaching some basic concepts of leadership. In the meeting it was suggested that Tomas and me should give a small lecture about Team Building. I confess that it was a pleasure to know that I was going to work with Tomas in this task because I always admired his intelligence, ideas and creativity. To tell you the truth after the first meetings I didn’t participate in all the following meetings, either because of time conflict with classes or other meetings. However, I always kept contact with the organizing committee to know what was going on and give my suggestions and feedbacks.

Working with Tomas was great. First, I could confirm that he was such a smart and creative guy, something that helped boasting with creativity up. I remember that started with the ideas of playing with words to keep people interested in the topic without forgetting what we were talking about. We met few times, due to our incompatible schedules. However, we kept contact through emails and phone calls to arrange our ideas and put everything together.

The day before the workshop we held a kind of a rehearsal meeting with Dr. Zen, at the East Asia Hall. It was almost like blade cutting my flesh, and I believe it was the same feeling for the others as well, when we hand out the plan of activities for the next day workshop and start asking questions about things that we didn’t think about or a plan B or such or such… As we told him we put a lot of effort to make the workshop come true and all of us had worked a lot on it. I understood that he just want to push us to the limit to give our best and make something at the level of HC. After the meeting we stayed there and worked on improving the workshop, because we were not going to let Dr. Zen down neither the 60 year one students that were attending the workshop. I worked with Tomas until late on the slides that were going to present and the presentation until late. As suggested by Dr. Zen, I invited two singers for the show. Although it was late for them to prepare, they are good friends of the HC group they accepted to perform on the other day.

On the day of the workshop, I had an exam, thus I had to arrive some minutes late. When I get in the room everyone was there, a group of about sixty year one students my fellow classmates of the HC and our professor Zen Udani. I felt like one year ago, when I was one of the year one students attending the  “Can workshop” organized and conduced by James, Steve, Vicky and company. In my mind it was a way of experiencing the HC and see what it was all about. That day was just like entering a time machine and go back to the past. Therefore, I knew exactly what the students were thinking and expecting and I knew we could not let them down. It wasn’t my “show” time, therefore I took out my camera and I went around the room taking pictures and talking with the students to make them more comfortable.  After that, Eunice called my name and I knew it was the time for the presentation. It was a good presentation about Team Building, we make the students laugh, pay attention and I believe we passed on the message, which was the most important. 

After that, it was break time. The students moved to East Asia Hall and I stayed more at the classroom to do the cleaning and to reorganize the chairs and tables. After done that, I rushed to East Asia Hall, to meet the others. There I basically, enjoyed the atmosphere, have some conversation with some students that were willing to know more information about the HC and I took some pictures.

All in all, it was a once in a lifetime experience. I believe we made a difference in some of those students life. Whether they can succeed or not in their application to the HC, we showed them that HC is not place only for high achieving students but also a place a place for people committed to people and leaders of the future are create today. Furthermore, I believe we passed on things that will make them capable of dealing better in the groups were they are insert. This experience only makes me even more eager for the next project. Let’s make the show…