72.
Lobban's dictionary also includes three valuable appendices, the
PAIGC Programme, the Councils of State Commissioners in each country and the Peoples of Guinea-Bissau. Although the information in the first two appendices is no longer accurate, the material will be useful for those people interested in the PAIGC and the pre-1980 government.
Richard Lobban's book is a valuable contribution to the literature on these two West African countries. He presents a readable summary of the major issues in the historical development of Guinea-Bissau and Cape Verde in English, which can be used by students of Africa and non-specialists alike.
Revolution in Guinea: Selected Texts by Amilcar Cabral. By Richard Handyside (ed. and trans.). New York: Monthly Review Press, 1969. Review by Mario Azevedo, Jackson State University.
As the title reveals, this is a compilation of some of Cabral's addresses from 1961 to 1969 by Handyside. If readers expect an analysis of Cabral's ideology by the author, they will be disappointed.. A four-page introduction clarifies Handyside's simple objective, namely ... to present the writings of an outstanding revolutionary thinker" (9).
Yet, the selection of the speeches was skillfully done, for they do not simply contain revolutionary rhetoric but they revealvividly Cabral's analytical ability and commitment to his cause. The passages reflect the progress of the freedom fighters against Portuguese colonialism in GuinBissau and Cape Verde as well. Readers unfamiliar with Portuguese colonialism and the peculiar political, social, and economic conditions in Guin6-Bissau will find the collection helpful (31,156).
Above all, however, this volume should prove an invaluable source to teachers of African revolutions in general and to those interested in the thinking of Amilcar Cabral in particular. His philosophy and ideology are quite apparent in the speeches, as the following brief analysis reveals.
First, Cabral believes essentially that every type of domination has an economic basis (16) and that all other types (political and social) are subsidary. It is in that light that he interprets Portuguese colonialism in Guing-Bissau, which he labels as a "commercial colony." Second, Cabral deemphasizes the ethnic origin of conflicts in Africa, particularly in Guin6, where he thinks that the "contradictions" are based on class divisions. This leads him to analyze the social structure of the former colony, offering a rare picture of two ethnic groups--the Fula and the Balantes.
Cabral disagrees with the Marxist interpretation of history as a class struggle, affirming that such interpretation would deny history to most of Africa. He, like Walter Rodney, believes that every society goes through