Mozambique Prepares for Independence

...As Prime Minister Joaquim Chissano reached the open platform it started to pour, but no one moved...

...It means more than black faces in government...

...And it will take more than songs and poems and slogans...

...True, agriculture already makes up 80 per cent of Mozambique's exports, but it is drastically underdeveloped...

...People are starving in the north...

...The 11,000 people had come to hear how Frelimo was giving them independence and equality now that the battle against 500 years of Portuguese colonialism is over...

...Frelimo is determined to break this pattern, largely by expanding the agricultural sector...

...he asked again, also smiling...

...The biggest flight came after September 1974, when white extremists seized a Lourenco Marques radio station in an abortive bid to prevent Frelimo from coming to power...

...Talk about democracy can compromise our policy...

...I've waited all my life for this," explained an old man whose withered frame was built up by the shoulder pads of his second-hand suit-jacket...

...What about unequal distribution...

...Promoting participation in the new government-"spreading the revolution"-has been one of the primary purposes of the huge meetings conducted by Frelimo spokesmen...

...A mother standing next to him, baby tied to her back, added: "This is my future...

...You control the future, because you control the pace at which we organize and unite to begin this work...

...And before giving them a chance to answer he continued: '"Having freedom does not mean the struggle is over, that the people really have the power...

...The first, "Dynamization," a political "consciousness-raising" program, is the chief concern, for it is the vehicle through which Frelimo hopes to explain its policies and prepare people for their new responsibilities...

...Mozambicans are learning from Frelimo officials throughout the country that it is not promising to do anything for individuals...

...Only 17 per cent of the territory's fertile land is under cultivation, most for subsistence farming...

...Frelimo is now attempting to install a system throughout the country intended to provide a means for participation...

...To do that people must be organized...

...AFTER 500 YEARS OF COLONIALISM Mozambique Prepares for Independence BY ROBIN WRIGHT Xai Xai The crowd of 11,000 had been standing and waiting for almost three hours, many having walked over 20 miles to hear what the new leaders of Mozambique had to say...

...Previously both production and administration-except in the few urban areas-have been tied to the country's nine main tribes, all easily controlled by the colonial government...

...Who...

...I want to hear about it...

...He smiled broadly...

...The Prime Minister repeatedly told the crowd here at Xai Xai (formerly Joao Belo): "Freedom by itself does not produce, does not solve our problems...

...Although no one ever mentioned them specifically, out of this exchange answers emerged to the real questions that had drawn most of the crowd: What is a peacetime Frelimo...

...We are trying to make people understand that everything that is done or undertaken depends upon each man himself...

...But as the crowd learned, the struggle is just beginning-and Mozambique will move only as fast as the people are willing to follow the path Frelimo has outlined for them...

...So it is not difficult to understand the motivation of those who set out at noon to make the 4 p.m...

...We talk of democratic centralism...

...Its core is the circle or cell, a small group of people gathered from either commercial or residential sections...

...It was a popular message and the crowd cheered...

...Releasing the masses' sense of creative initiative is one of the chief purposes of our struggle," wrote President Machel in his book, Mozambique: Sowing the Seeds of Revolution...

...A secretariat elected by the members will administer each unit...

...It is not color that exploits and oppresses people, it is a system," Chissano declared in a firm tone...

...He paused only to listen to the problems raised by those standing in the cool, damp night air...

...The most important steps to real freedom are organization and unity, so we can produce for the future and fight any remnants of the past...

...Equal distribution means detribalization, unity, awareness of the needs of the entire country...

...Three hours, ppsscht, it is nothing...

...Fearing a backlash, more than 52,000 whites left, and most had skills that are irreplaceable...

...The solutions must come from the people, those who are the most familiar with the area and its needs...

...It would be a mistake to assume, though, that the advent of "people's democracy" will be accompanied by a corresponding reduction in centralized administration...

...The people," the crowd called back, smiles breaking across a large number of faces...

...When putting that idea into practice we must pay attention that democracy for us is the fulfillment of national objectives...

...If you want the power you must participate and help with answers and programs to solve this water problem...

...We have a whole system to change and it will take the people, all the people, both black and white people, to do all the work we have ahead of us...

...Besides, we cannot do everything...

...Others have been flooded out of their homes and lost their crops...

...The new system is considered the key to promoting a "collective spirit" in the country and replacing the tribal unit as the source of local authority...

...It was also as practical as it was ideological: Frelimo has neither the manpower nor the desire to follow the Lisbon regime's pattern of sending in groups of outsiders to run each village and city...

...Quite the contrary...

...In practice, the most immediate purpose of the cells is to implement two schemes for politicizing and educating the populace...

...Before there is equal distribution there must be production," the Prime Minister responded (alluding to the current shortage of both food and foreign exchange in Mozambique...

...It is merely promising to allow them to do something for themselves...

...I want to know what Frelimo is going to do for us...

...Equal distribution also means there must be concern about more than the immediate locale of one tribe...

...As each issue was put forward, the 35-year-old Chissano easily wove it back into the message he had been relaying from the start...

...He continued: "We will have to work hard to achieve real independence...

...We must not just sing unity, we must apply it through organization...

...From its founding on June 25, 1962, Frelimo has operated out of bases in neighboring Tanzania, and at its peak during the struggle for independence held about one-third of the land...

...For one thing, the nation faces a severe shortage of skilled labor and professional personnel, mainly due to the mass exodus of the Portuguese, who dominated the educational system...

...To illustrate the point he turned to specific difficulties of the region, including the flooding from the Limpopo River that in March wiped out the season's crops and forced 350,000 to flee...

...This was the only area where it worked in a nonmilitary capacity, setting up schools, health facilities and farm cooperatives, and establishing new administrative and judicial systems...

...It is ideas, not color, that counts, and anyone who has the right ideas, who wants to work, is welcome to stay...

...Discrimination," a nearby woman shouted out next...

...Our life and our discipline can be based only on conscious and voluntary involvement...

...His call to organize was not merely abstract talk...

...We had no voice in what we grew, how much we grew, or what happened to our produce...

...The Number Three man of the Front for the Liberation of Mozambique (Frelimo) after President Samor Moises Machel and Vice President Marcelino Dos Santos, he has been its chief representative in the transitional government set up last September 20, and has been paving the way for full independence from Portugal on June 25...

...For two-and-a-half hours the softspoken yet charismatic figure held everyone's attention while he outlined the prospects for this massive Southeast African country...

...Frelimo fought to establish equality, so we will not refuse equality to those who refused it to us...

...Robin Wright, an Alicia Patterson Foundation award winner, is on leave from her post as an editor at the Christian Science Monitor...

...The elimination of tribalism and the switch to a "people's democracy" is a radical one, and the Frelimo leadership is trying hard to make it a smooth and fast one-again, for both ideological and practical reasons...

...Indeed, South Africa provides about 75 per cent of the country's foreign exchange...

...Do you say that just because you now have a black Prime Minister...

...Therefore we must be very careful when talking about democracy...

...an older man shouted from the back...

...Mozambique's white population of just over 200,000 has been halved since January 1973...

...Moreover, communication since then has been difficult because 80 per cent of the population cannot read the newspapers or side-walk billboards that today advertise Frelimo's Socialist platform...

...We need everyone for the work ahead of us...

...In explaining the current stage of "the struggle" to the Xai Xai audience, the Prime Minister said Frelimo is "consolidating freedom and independence through organization...

...rally, stood patiently right through the dinner hour in the packed field when the Prime Minister was delayed for three hours, and listened to him spellbound amid spurting showers despite the long trek home still ahead of them...

...Some people have no water...

...Who has the power...

...In the name of democracy, individuals without our objective of establishing People's Power can make their ideas prevail...

...But more fundamentally, Frelimo has always advocated in principle that the people should be involved in the government...

...We wanted to change the inequality and exploitation and rebuild the nation...

...the energetic figure called out, ignoring the rain...

...Even if Frelimo wanted to simply plug Mozambicans into the Portuguese system, therefore, it could not find enough trained people to take over...

...Because the liberated zones were also the most sparsely populated, however, no more than 10 per cent of Mozambique's population was affected...

...Now village administration is to be reorganized into elected people's committees, and agriculture is to be restructured so that producers work in cooperatives under local party direction...

...We in Lourenco Marques do not know the area as well as you do...

...We must think of ways to use this water for times when there is none, or ways to channel it to areas where there is a shortage of water...

...Although Mozambicans are well acquainted with the movement's reputation and the names of its assassinated founder, Eduardo Mondlane, and President Machel, they have until recently known little about the specific structure of the Front, its programs, or its plans for the future...

...We knew we would find Mozambique in the mess it is in...

...Gently but candidly Chissano appraised the future: "We have many problems...

...And how will it change my life...

...That is why we began the fight for independence 11 years ago...

...In theory, these cells are "to set in motion the masses' creative ability...

...As matters now stand, Mozambique is economically dependent on South African and Rhodesian use of its ports and railways, and upon South Africa's employment of Mozambican mineworkers...

...Then, in a suddenly serious tone, the speaker startled his listeners with his next question...

...The people," they roared back louder...

...Throughout the war the movement promised to alter things in a manner that would allow greater self-reliance once it took over...

...The Prime Minister explained to the crowd: "The colonialists took initiative away from the people...

...Through the encouragement of new cooperatives and the "collective spirit," Frelimo hopes to spur production sufficiently to pay off the country's exorbitant $950 million external debt and achieve economic self-reliance...

...The transfer of "power to the people," in other words, will not happen overnight on June 25...

...I would wait many more...

...But freedom means more than a new flag...

...The other 90 per cent knew Frelimo mainly as a military unit when the transitional government took over...

...In a speech the Prime Minister gave in Mocuba in February, he clearly defined the concept of "democracy" being introduced in Mozambique: "It is important to take into account that, when we say democracy, we mean a people's democracy under the discipline of Frelimo, as opposed to anarchy and ideological liberalism...

...Color alone does not divide...

...The hardest part of the struggle begins now...

...The second, "Alphabetization," is a dual education and work program designed to eradicate illiteracy and organize the nation's farming...

...We want to give the initiative back to the people...

...The old man and the young mother may have been somewhat surprised by what they subsequently heard...