Those three groups were known by their acronyms: MPLA, UNITA, FNLA.
Eventually, the MPLA would succeed not only in persuading the Portugese to grant independence to Angola, but in largely eradicating its two competitors. When Angola finally received its independence, instead of peacefully rejoicing, the MPLA carried out a bloody purge, exterminating its domestic enemies. As report from Mercury Radio Arts notes:
In 1977, socialist Popular Movement for the Liberation of Angola (MPLA) reportedly murdered “tens of thousands” of people when it seized power.
Angola had become, in the words of Lara Pawson, “a socialist project on the continent.” In the years leading up to the 1975 independence, the MPLA had received massive support from the Soviet Socialists. Weapons, money, and military advisors came from the USSR to lead the MPLA against the Portugese, and against the other two independence-seeking groups. As Lara Pawson writes,
at its core, the ruling Popular Movement for the Liberation of Angola (MPLA) was a radical socialist movement.
In addition receiving aid from the Soviets, the MPLA developed ties to communist China and Cuba.
Having finally obtained independence from Portugal, Angola was now in danger of becoming a vassal of the Warsaw Pact and the larger communist bloc.
the MPLA had long been – and still is – a member of the Socialist International, an organisation that claims to pursue “progressive politics for a fairer world.”
Lara Pawson describes the propaganda circulating in Angola in 1998, propaganda which described the MPLA victories in the mid-1970s as the introduction of a liberating and utopian energy.
In late 1998 and early 1999, the MPLA government of Angola again conducted a bloody purge, targeting those who may have been associated with UNITA or NFLA, as well as forcing out United Nations observers. The rosy propaganda which the MPLA presented about itself in the late 1990s was as dishonest as its claim to have sought justice in the 1970s.
I began to discover that the idea of a 1970s MPLA heyday was just as misguided. An Angolan colleague told me about 27 May 1977, the day an MPLA faction rose up against the leadership, and the honeymoon of revolution crashed to a halt. Some called it an attempted coup, but my colleague insisted it was a demonstration that was met with a brutal overreaction.
People who expressed doubts or questions about the MPLA in the mid-1970s were targets for communist guerilla violence.
The MPLA had plenty of muscle to carry out revenge attacks against those who expressed opinions. The MPLA forces were provided by the Soviet Socialists, the communist Chinese, and Cuba.
Whichever story you believe, six senior members of the MPLA were killed that day by supporters of the uprising. In response, President Neto, the politburo and the state media made many highly inflammatory statements that incited extraordinary revenge. In the weeks and months that followed, thousands of people – possibly tens of thousands – were killed. Some of the executions were overseen by Cuban troops sent to Angola by Fidel Castro.
Outside of Angola, journalists in other countries reported about the MPLA purges — or didn’t report about them — in ways that fit their ideologies. Lara Pawson recalls that, “what rattled me was that Angola-watchers” many of whom were “intellectuals whom I admired – all seemed to have turned a blind eye to the thousands of killings.”
Many reporters and news media had indirect ties to, or affections for, the MPLA.
It was as if their commitment to the party was so deep that, in the end, they heard only the voices of its leaders and fell deaf to the calls from below.
A report from the United Nations in 2007 produced conclusive evidence that the MPLA was guilty of torture, and had failed to provide any form of legal due process for those who were arbitarily arrested. More recent reports show a continuation of these practices.
A report from Amnesty International shows that the MPLA executed individuals who’d publicly voiced opinions, and had used other measures as well to stifle freedom of the press, including the 2014 arrest of a journalist for asking questions.
In May 2019, according to Human Rights Watch, the MPLA closed approximately 2,000 churches, denying Angolians the right to freely choose how they want to worship. In August 2019, the same report notes, police used tear gas and dogs to disperse a group gathered in front of the parliament building asking for elections.
The MPLA, the Mercury Radio Arts report notes, is “a truly Marxist organization,” and presents itself as much:
In fact, in the same year of the MPLA atrocities mentioned above, it went out of its way to brand itself as a Marxst-Leninist organization at a meeting of its national congress.
Using socialist rhetorical to thinly disguise threats against anyone who might voice dissent, an MPLA publication states:
We will apply the Democratic Revolutionary Dictatorship to finally finish with saboteurs, with parasites, and with opportunists.
After the fall of the Soviet Union, the MPLA has become more reliant on China and Cuba as sources of aid. Both countries send weapons, soldiers, and political advisors to Angola to help the MPLA keep the people under control.
China has recently lent huge sums of money to Angola as part of its “Belt and Road” initiative. In this scheme, the Chinese lend large amounts of money to smaller third-world nations.
The Chinese lend sums of money which are so big that China can be confident that the smaller nation will not be able to repay. The money is often used for infrastructure projects like roads and bridges, or hospitals and schools. This can allow China to claim that it is acting out of a humanitarian impulse.
Once the smaller nation has declared its inability to repay the loans, China can appear magnanimous by forgiving the debt, but the cancellation of the debt comes at a price: the smaller nation is forced to give China a ‘most favored nation’ status.
The smaller nation gives China the rights to travel through and into the nation, and that right is exclusive — other nations are not allowed to travel. China also obtains the right to set up military bases in the country, and the exclusive right to export minerals from that country back to China.
In this way, the “Belt and Road” initiative allows China to create an empire by colonizing small nations in Africa, Asia, and South America. Angola has become one of those nations.
