Oliver Tambo: Solidarity in Deeds and Actions

Oliver Tambo: Solidarity in Deeds and Actions

(Extracts from Address by O.R. Tambo, Acting President-General of the African National Congress of South Africa, to the Oslo Conference on behalf of the Liberation Movements of Angola, Guinea-Bissau, Mozambique, Namibia, Zimbabwe and South Africa, 09 April 1973)

“Mobilise world support for African Liberation struggle.”

“The key word in the declared purpose of this Conference is ‘support’. Seldom since the UN’s (United Nations’) famous declaration on decolonisation, or the 1963 OAU (Organisation of African Unity) declaration on decolonisation, has a conference of experts been assembled for the sole purpose of redefining the word ‘support’, in terms that have a real, practical, immediate and decisive meaning for the future of colonialism and apartheid in Africa, and a corresponding impact on imperialist designs against the freedom loving peoples of the world.”

“That is why we see this Conference as a development of the struggle against colonialism and apartheid, a product of the nature, scope, and progress of that struggle, a crucial moment in the growing offensive against the reactionary forces of the unholy alliance of Portugal, Rhodesia and racist South Africa. This offensive, led by the national liberation movement, by the masses of the people in the territories under white minority rule, has assumed dimensions of overall armed struggle at various stages of progress towards total victory.”

“A startling, if shocking, revelation of the crisis facing Portugues colonialism was the cowardly assassination of the leading armed crusader against colonialism and apartheid – the late Dr Amilcar Cabral – in the opening weeks of this year, and significantly only a few days before his coming to Oslo to take part in the preparation for this Conference, as representative of the national liberation movement. Our contempt for this criminal act is second only to our unwavering resolve to do justice to the cause for which he gave his life.”

“His brutal murder, is eloquent evidence of the imperialistic panic and the desperation arising not only from the succession of victories by the PAIGC (African Party for the Independence of Guinea and Cape Verde), but also from the fact that those victories are not isolated localised events. They reflect a general pattern in Angola, Mozambique, Zimbabwe, Namibia, and South Africa. They are victories of all oppressed and colonised peoples, of all Africa, of all progressive mankind. What is more, they are victories in the armed struggle which is an historic necessity, flowing from the intransigence of Portuguese colonialism and white minority rule in southern Africa.”

“If I have given the impression that we are winning, it is because we are winning. But victory is not immediate. Imperialism is defending its positions with increased vigour and is determined to outlast the people’s struggles. The need for support, for assistance, for solidarity in deeds and actions, is a real need. Portugal, Rhodesia and South Africa, united under the umbrella of world imperialism, and as its agents, are being strengthened and the suffering of the victims of colonialism and apartheid are being prolonged.”

“In conclusion we wish to express our hope that the deliberations and conclusions drawn from this Conference, representing a wide range of experiences in the struggle against colonialism and racism, will be an important landmark in the worldwide mobilisation of all freedom-loving and humanitarian forces for the complete liquidation of colonialism and racism.”

– Oliver Tambo (09 April 1973) –

Amilcar Cabral, leader of PAIGC, the national liberation movement of Guinea-Bissau and Cape Verde, and a member of the preparatory committee of the Conference, was assassinated in Conakry on 20 January 1973.

Source:
Oliver Tambo, “Solidarity in Deeds and Actions”, Sechaba, Vol. 7, No. 8, August 1973, pp. 6 – 7.

Castro Khwela
Good morning fellow Compatriots!🙏🏾✊🏾👊🏾