PANJIM, April 3: In a touching tribute coming in the 50th year of the end of Portuguese colonial rule in Goa, the Consul-General of Portugal has praised freedom fighters whom, he said, helped Portuguese society itself understand their “wrongdoings” elsewhere in the globe.

Dr. António José Marques Sabido Costa, the new Consul-General of Portugal in Goa, was speaking in the context of the launch of a book on Aquino de Braganca, a Goan who played a prominent role in the liberation struggle of Mozambique and a string of other African countries.

Speaking in Panjim late Saturday evening, the Consul-General said “As a Portuguese, I’m also indebted to him in a different way. It was persons like Aquino Braganca, who helped the Portuguese society to understand better all the wrongdoings we were doing in certain countries, and he helped us realise that we needed to change our official policy and fight for a democracy ourselves.”

Portugal, of all European countries, was a dictatorship in for much of the 20th century, till 1974. It hung on to its colonies long after the British, French and Dutch gave up on theirs. Goa celebrates the 50th anniversary of the end of Portuguese rule this year, following an Indian army action in 1961.

Sabido Costa recalled that the anti-colonial fight brought democratisation to Portugal itself in 1974.

“In a way, Aquino de Braganca helped us Portuguese realise that we also need to change, and for that reason as a Portuguese, I’m very happy to be here,” he said at the a function which saw rich tributes paid to a Goan who fought for liberation in Africa, and was killed in a plane crash with President Samora Machel in 1986.

Goa NRI Commissioner and former federal minister Eduardo Faleiro praised the Consul General’s comments, saying: “This is the spirit. Let bygones by bygones, but let us recognise that something was wrong with the colonial system.”

Faleiro noted that power leads one to oppress those who are weaker. He added: “It happened yesterday in the West, it’s happening today in the
West. It may happen tomorrow in this part of the world. I greatly appreciate what you have said: truth and reconciliation, that is the spirit.”

He noted that colonial times were “difficult” both in the colonies and in the colonial centre. “Our entire political activity — including Tristao Braganca Cunha and Purshottam Kakodkar — had to function from places like Bombay. They were part of the diaspora, in a manner of speaking,” he said.

Faleiro announced a conference on the end of colonial role five decades ago, and the contribution of diasporic communities.

Noted literateur Dr Maria Aurora Couto praised Aquino Braganca as “a very important hero in my panetheon of heroes for many many years.” She said this was not only because of his role in the Mozambiquan struggle, but because “he combined a life of the mind, with political activism.”

She praised him for his extraordinary intellectual honesty, which is currently “lacking in all our politicians” and extremely humble, humane point of view.

Campaigner Miguel Braganza, a relative of Aquino, said his radical politics had at one time led him to be spoken of in “hushed tones” in the family, but he had subsequently proven to be an inspiration for all who believe they are working for the good of society.

Silvia Braganca, author of the book and widow of Aquino, offered her reminiscences of his life, and explained his involvement with the great figures of the African liberation struggle. Historian Prajal Sakhardande said the book fulfilled a long need and dream of the author.

The book is published by Goa,1556 priced at Rs 350 locally and available for sale via mail order at goa1556@gmail.com

Panaji, April 2 , 2011:  Commissioner for NRI Affairs, Shri Eduardo Faleiro today released a book “ Aquino de Braganca: Battles waged, lasting  reams” of Aquino de Braganca, an eminent Goan, an Advisor to the first President of Mozambique Samora Machel at a function held in the city today. The book has been written by his widow Silvia Braganca.

Speaking on the occasion, Commissioner for NRI Affairs, Shri Eduardo Faleiro said that his office will hold a Conference in the course of this year to celebrate the Golden Jubilee of Liberation and to highlight the role  of the Goan Diaspora in our Freedom Movement  as well as in the anti-colonial struggles across the world.

The leaders of Goa’s  Freedom Movement  were mostly based in Mumbai and elsewhere in  India since no political activity whatsoever was permitted in Goa during the Salazar regime.  Many Goans participated in the freedom struggles of colonies in Africa such as Pio de Gama Pinto and Fitz de
Souza in Kenya and Aquino de Bragança, Oscar Monteiro  and several others in Mozambique.

Aquino de Bragança and George Vaz represented the Party of the People of Goa at the Conference of Nationalist Organisations of Portuguese Colonies (CONCP)  in Casablanca in April 1961.

After the independence of Mozambique, Aquino De Bragança became advisor to the first President of Mozambique, Samora Machel and  died with him and several Mozambiqan Ministers in a plane crash 25 years ago in 1986.

Shri Faleiro said that he had met President Samora Machel as a Special Envoy of Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi  a few days earlier and had discussed with him assistance from India to enable Mozambique to withstand the military and economic aggression from apartheid  South Africa.  On this  occasion, President Machel  had introduced to him Aquino De Bragança.  Shri  Faleiro noticed that the President and his Ministers held Aquino De Bragança in high esteem as a comrade, a scholar and a diplomat.

Shri Faleiro said though Goa is small it has produced galaxy of personalities who contributed in various fields to the world. He said there are about 20 thousand people of Indian origin including about 2000  Goans in Mozambique.

Padmashri and writer Smt. Maria Aurora Couto, Consul General of Portugal in Goa Shri Antonio Jose Sabido da Costa, Author Smt. Silvia Braganca, Prof. Prajal Sakhardande, and Shri Minguel Braganca also spoke on the occasion. Kum. Munira Ursula de Souza compered the function.

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Tags: aquino, press coverage, goa, india, april 2 2011, the times of india, alexandre moniz barbosa

Aquino de Bragança, 1924-1986

«Tinha consciência perfeita da importância da informação».
Paulo Jorge, quoted by Sílvia Bragança in her book Aquino de Bragança.

Aquino de Bragança was an important intellectual and political figure in the years leading up to and immediately following Mozambican independence. As a journalist, an academic and a public intellectual he engaged passionately with the issues of his time, and as a confidante of President Samora Machel and a frequent envoy of the Mozambican government, he translated his convictions into action, eventually losing his life alongside Samora in the service of the liberation of southern Africa.

He was born Tomaz Aquino Messias de Bragança in 1924 in Bardez in northern Goa in India. At that time Goa, Damão and Diu made up the Portuguese-controlled Estado da Índia, but in December 1961 the independent Indian government occupied the three enclaves by force and expelled the Portuguese. Aquino‘s father was João Paulo Proença Bragança and his mother Ana Carlota Praxetes Antónia do Rosário Sousa. He left Goa as a young man and stayed briefly in Mozambique, where he was shocked by the racism that he found there. In 1948, at the age of 20, he left for Portugal and then France, where he studied physics in Grenoble and in Paris. It was at this time, apparently, that he became a Marxist. Convinced that Goan independence was achievable, he soon made contact with nationalists from other Portuguese colonies. In 1957 he moved to Morocco to teach science, and when the PAIGC and the MPLA set up the CONCP in 1961 in Rabat to coordinate the struggle, Aquino represented the Goan People’s Party in the new organisation. He soon became an indispensable member of the CONCP secretariat.

He was an active journalist, writing for such publications as the progressive Afrique-Asie [Paris] and Révolution Africaine [Algiers].

When the MFA overthrew the Caetano regime in Portugal on 25 April 1974, as Aquino relates in the article “Independência sem descolonização: a transferência do poder em Moçambique, 1974-1975″ [see below], he was the person that Frelimo turned to, sending him to Lisbon to evaluate the volatile situation.

After Mozambican independence, Aquino was appointed Director of the Centro de Estudos Africanos at the Universidade Eduardo Mondlane in 1976, and in 1978 was joined by the South African activist Ruth First, who became Director of Research. In late 1978 and early 1979, Ruth and Aquino set about recruiting a group of committed radical scholars from Mozambique, South Africa, and Western Europe, and forming them into a research collective that focussed on current issues of social and political transformation.

After Ruth’s murder by the South African regime in August 1982, Aquino began to reorganise the CEA into several «núcleos de investigação» – the Núcleo de África Austral, the Núcleo de Documentação, and so on.

Aquino de Bragança was a trusted confidante of Samora Machel, and undertook numerous delicate diplomatic missions on behalf of the Frelimo government. Allegedly he was nicknamed “the submarine” in party and government circles because of his ability to keep an exceedingly low profile. He was killed on board the Tupolev Tu-134 with Samora Machel when it crashed at Mbuzini on 19 October 1986, in circumstances that have yet to be fully clarified.

His best-known publication for English-speaking readers is probablyThe African liberation reader (London: Zed Press, 1982; 3 volumes), edited with Immanuel Wallerstein and originally published in Lisbon in Portuguese under the more interesting title Quem é o inimigo?.

In 2009 his widow, the artist Sílvia Bragança published Aquino de Bragança: batalhas ganhas, sonhos a continuar [Maputo: Ndjira, 2009; 482 pages] in his memory. The book consists of memoirs, interviews, photographs and facsimiles about Aquino‘s rich and complex life. In March 2011, the publishing house Goa 1556 announced plans to publish in April an English version of the book under the title Battles waged, lasting dreams.    

SOURCE: http://www.mozambiquehistory.net/aquino.html

FOOTNOTE: A correction in the date of birth has been made above. It should be 1924 (not 1928).