Week 3: Sukarno and Cabral

The speeches by Cabral and Sukarno may be separated by time and space, but both envisage a future for Asia and Africa that is free from foreign domination. Both men adopt a similar pragmatic approach to address the problems faced by newly liberated countries who are grappling with questions related to their identity, liberation, and development. For Sukarno, the third world's liberation rested in its acceptance of diversity, cooperation, and shared experience of colonialism. He called upon the leaders of the newly-independent nations and urged them to take “collective action” against their common issues. The largest being the threat by colonialism in a "modern dress" that continues to exploit the new nations.  A similar notion of collective action and unity is provided in Cabral’s microscopic view on national liberation. According to him, Africans can be truly liberated if they ‘recapture the commanding heights of their own culture”. One of the ways colonial oppression manifested itself in the colonies was through repression of indigenous culture and practices. For the liberation movements in Africa to work, people need to create a "popular culture" that amalgamates all sectors of society. Cabral knows that the class of the 'petite bourgeoisie' created by the colonizers will not be able to liberate all sectors of the society, as it is unaware of its true culture that resides with the people in rural areas. The freedom movements can only work if the bourgeoisie lives with the 'peasant communities' and learn their true cultural identities. Similarly, the 'laboring masses' in the villages must interact with other ethnic and social groups,  "shatter the bounds of their villages and integrate themselves in the whole country". Even though Cabral uses a socialist lens to analyse the conditions of African states, but he calls for collective action by various social groups to liberate themselves. He does not make national liberation an elite project.

One similarity between both leaders was their commitment to forward-looking projects that do not borrow from a romanticized past. Cabral's speech suggests an urgency to 'return to culture' rather than return to 'a mythical African past'. For him, culture is a dynamic and evolving phenomenon that is impacted by political and social realities. And just like any other phenomenon, culture may vary across space and time. The Africans needed to “appreciate the elements of their cultures” and use them to fulfill their task of liberation. Similarly, Sukarno also denounces the notion of an idyllic past that the previously colonized nations need to return to. He tries to unite nations by mentioning their “common experience with colonialism” and common cultural roots, but he urges all nations to fight the common issues that plague their present.

Moreover, while explaining the importance of cultural factors in determining the success of national liberation, Cabral warns the Africans against cultural chauvinism, where a single African culture might be seen as superior to other cultures. This is because all cultures like history are a dynamic and evolving phenomenon that can have “negative, reactionary or retrogressive aspects” which people should recognize. A similar view is provided by Sukarno, who unites the third world nations based on detestation of colonialism and racialism rather than cultural superiority of the East.