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Interview With Guinea Bissau

By VVAW

Guinea Bissau is a small country on the west coast of Africa that has been fighting for its independence from Portuguese colonial rule for more than 500 years. PAIGC (African Party for the Independence of Guinea and the Cape Verde Islands) took the political and military lead in this struggle in 1959 when a peaceful workers strike was put down by Portuguese troops, killing 50 workers and wounding 100 others. Today, PAIGC controls more than two thirds of the land in Guinea Bissau and has made tremendous strides in the development of health, educational and other social institutions in the liberated zones. In April 1972, the people of Guinea Bissau, under PAIGC, elected their first National Assembly and last September, they declared full independence for their country. The following is an interview by Winter Soldier with John Silva, a field commander of the PAIGC forces, who recently visited Oakland, California.

WS: How much of the country is now under the control of the liberation forces?

Silva: In Guinea, we are in control of 72% of an area of 800,000 population We also control border regions near Senegal where there are 350,000 of our people, plus 150,000 refugees. In Cape Verde, there is no armed struggle yet, but we are organizing people politically, preparing them for another level of struggle.

WS: Are the Cape Verde Islands militarily strong for Portugal?

Silva: The Cape Verde Islands are located 400 miles from the coast and thus they are in a tactical position favoring Portugal. There is an air base on one of the islands and the Portuguese have a naval base at San Vincentete which is used to supply their forces in Guinea and Angola. Also, the air base is a stop for South African planes. Ever since the boycott of South African goods, many South African planes route through the Cape Verde Islands to get their goods to the U.S..

WS: What is the proportion of urban to rural lands still controlled by the Portuguese?

Silva: The Portuguese control the principle urban areas with 42,000 troops they have stationed there. In these urban areas, the people have been much more assimilated into the colonial ways and away from African culture. Thus, it is much more difficult to wage struggle in the urban areas. However there have been important victories. Sabotage and massive strikes have characterized the recent struggle in the urban areas.

WS: How would you characterize the political situation in the liberated zones?

Silva: In the liberated zones, we have direct elections of representatives to the National Assembly. Our National Assembly consists of 120 representatives: 80 from the liberated zones and 40 from labor unions and student organizations outside the liberated zones.

Our National Assembly has the supreme power to lead the state of Guinea. Within the National Assembly we have the Council of State with its president which makes up the executive of the state. The party is the political organ, and the armed forces are the defensive arm, the liberating arm of the party. The immediate goals of the party are to liberate the unliberated zones in Guinea and to bring about conditions necessary for the liberation of the Cape Verde Islands.

WS: What role are women playing in the struggle?

Silva: For us, women have the same rights to participate at all levels and to serve with men...We had to unite many tribes to wage the struggle in Guinea. In the Moslem tribes of our country, the women were treated as slaves; they did not even have the right to participate in conversations where men were present. But we have women who are conscious of their right now, and are participating in the important meetings, in the political aspects of our National Assembly,. We have to fight very hard against the attitudes of our men to make them understand the rights of women?that women have the same rights, the same duty to struggle as the men: and that a country cannot be free if its women are not free.

We must understand the nature of our struggle and that we cannot go against the ways of our people. We must base our struggle in the culture of our people profiting from the good sides of the culture so we can defeat its negative sides. There are programs within the party to free women from their oppression by the negative sides of our culture, and the women are in the vanguard of these struggles. Someday there will be an even greater number of women in our National Assembly than men because, in our country, for every three women there is one man. That is the proportion in our population.

WS: What is your view of the black struggle in the United States?

Silva: their struggle is our struggle. This country (the U.S.) was built on the blood and sweat of our common ancestors. They have the right to freedom in this country and their freedom will help our struggle in Guinea and Cape Verde because the U.S. is the biggest imperialist force we all must struggle against. Solidarity is our duty.

WS: What message would you like to give VVAW/WSO and the American people?

Silva: Revolution has no color. Political and moral support is what we want from the American people; to educate people in the fight against imperialism. We are also in need of medical supplies, books and transportation. We wish all the American people victory in the near future because your successes will be victories for all the people of the world.