Blog 3- Sukarno and Cabral on Culture

Cabral explains how colonialism had not only physically restrained the colonized people and its land but most importantly, indefinitely repressed, neutralized, negated and paralyzed the African people’s culture. He mentions that the colonized people have internalized foreign influences, structures and processes into not only the ways of their daily life but their past, present and future. He also states that culture is the most important part of their history. Cabral maintains that the colonizers succeeded because they alienated the indigenous people from their culture, creating a deep divide in the nation. Cabral talks about and describes the African people as rich in spirit, intelligent, capable of understanding abstract concepts to challenge the notion colonialism left of Africa- that they were lesser beings- that they were less intelligent, less civilized, less human than the Europeans/rest of the world. He expresses that they are complex beings, each capable of making their own decisions like choosing which religion they wished to follow. And this for him is the culture of Africa the colonizers destroyed. They destroyed the complexity of their culture by giving them mundane tasks and forcing them to engage in foreign structural procedures that they did not identify with. This alienation could not have been possible without the colonizers successfully assimilating the local elites and making the culture of the colonizers seem as the one and only most advanced. This way, the working class of Africa was seen and made to believe that their culture, their way of doing things was an old way of doing things, that the world had moved on from their culture and they should too- except that they can’t. Their resources have been taken away from them, new unfamiliar structures introduced which prevented them from complete assimilation and economic benefit but also left them stuck in those aspirations and ideals- which Cabral argues still exist even though the physical occupation has ended, imperialism had replaced colonialism and they are not free yet. Through these identifications, Cabral makes the point that an excellent African culture existed before colonialism. Africa was complete in its own, it had its own history, religions, political and economic systems that worked well- in other words, they were a great people before colonialism and can be great after. His view on culture and national liberation aligns with Sukarno. Sukarno makes a similar point. He talks about how Asia and Africa were the birthplace of world religions and is home to various global and local political and economic systems. They both talk about diversity in their own lands to break out of the box colonialism placed them into. Sukarno says “Yes, there is diversity among us. Who denies it?” Though Sukarno does not explicitly talk about culture, but his concepts of their being diversity in his land and a need for unity signals to a sense of togetherness and belonging. He takes care to point out “our countries were the birthplace of these religions,” giving legitimacy to their origins and their nationalism. Sukarno and Cabral are of the view that Africa is still under imperial rule through foreign influence and an infiltration of culture. They both hope and believe that Africa can overcome this domination through a revival of a long lost culture and sense of identity that has been stolen from their people and left them in a state of less.