Thirty nine years ago on November 22nd, 1970, the European country of Portugal staged an illegal and immoral military invasion of the sovereign country of Guinea, West Africa. With the recent illegal and immoral imperialist staged "overthrow" of the democratically elected Evo Morales government in Bolivia, South America, there are many telling similarities between what these two countries have experienced.
Imperialism is telling us that the people of Bolivia desired the change in government. They are telling us that the people of that country wanted an end to the Indigenous focused and social justice based policies of the Morales government. Imperialism is using its mass media propaganda mechanisms to "show" us that people are on the streets celebrating the overthrow of Morales who has left the country for Mexico. This same narrative that leftist, socialist governments like Bolivia, Venezuela, Cuba, etc., are repressive to their populations and that the masses of those people do not support those governments is on full display with events in Bolivia.
Serious students of history should be able to see right through this dishonesty. The first rule of any social movement for justice is that the credibility of that movement is validated based solely on the degree in which that movement seeks to improve the conditions for the suffering elements of any society. This principle is the reason that no seasoned organizer will be fooled by the so-called "movement" that we are being told by imperialism is taking place in Hong Kong presently. Unlike Hong Kong, in Bolivia, the social policies of the Morales government strongly benefited the poor Indigenous populations as well as African and other poor segments of that society. In other words, its these poor people who revolutions are fought and maintained to benefit, but as it relates to Bolivia, its not these poor people in Bolivia who's voices you are hearing as it relates to what's happening in that country. Without social media, most people wouldn't even know about the true mass uprisings taking place in Bolivia that are being carried out by the actual masses of Bolivians who oppose the illegal coup that has placed a racist and right wing government in control in that country.
In the last week, I've had occasion to have conversations with two different people who each claim family history from Bolivia. Both of those people expressed support for the coup in Bolivia while expressing lies about mass starvation in Bolivia under the Morales government. We say lies because even a cursory analysis of the conditions of these two "Bolivians" reveals that both of them occupy a class privileged positions (college degrees and similar generational privilege) that easily exposes the fact neither of them know enough about the Indigenous and poor populations of Bolivia to half fill a thimble. What these two people rely on to make their claims about mass suffering are subjective stories allegedly articulated by "people in Bolivia." My response to these bogus claims was its very difficult for me to believe anything any of the people these people referenced have to say about Bolivia and that I can say that confidently because such a charged allegation such as starvation would be easily supported by independent data. For example, if I claim that institutional racism exists in the U.S., I can provide plenty of personal stories to substantiate my claim, but I can also provide even more data to validate inequity in this society. In the case of claims about starvation, mass crime, etc., there is no evidence, besides the immoral claims of class privileged people who have a vested interest in having a regime in Bolivia that upholds imperialism, that these social ills exist in Bolivia. Organizations like the United Nations, World Health Organization, Organization of American States, etc., all imperialist dominated institutions that have no love for Morale's government in Bolivia, would have plenty of data readily available to support these bogus allegations against Bolivia's previous social justice government if the allegations were true.
As we look at Portugal's invasion of Guinea from 1970, its important to commemorate the fierce resistance the people of Guinea waged to beat back the criminal invasion, but its equally important to use that 1970 example to illustrate how imperialism works as it relates to propaganda for circumstances like what we are currently witnessing in Bolivia. Since Portugal's invasion of Guinea was a coordinated effort by imperialism, there are since released Central Intelligence Agency documents confirming the details behind Portugal's intentions in carrying out their attack. According to discussions between U.S. and Portuguese intelligence agencies, Portugal's specific intent was to assassinate Guinean President Sekou Ture, Guinean co-President Kwame Nkrumah, and Amilcar Cabral, the founder and leader of the Guinea-Bissau political party - the African Party for the Independence of Guinea-Bissau (PAIGC). Even before these imperialist documents were ever released we knew these were the reasons for the invasion because during that time, Guinea served as the base for the three African liberation movements, including the PAIGC, that were fighting to defeat Portuguese colonialism in Guinea-Bissau, Angola, and Mozambique. Sekou Ture and the Democratic Party of Guinea had warmly welcomed Cabral and the PAIGC into Guinea since 1960. With Ture's invitation to Kwame Nkrumah to come to Guinea and become co-president after Nkrumah's government was illegally and immorally overthrown in Ghana in 1966, Guinea easily became (along with Algeria) public enemy number one for imperialism in Africa. What's so important to understand about all of this history is that the imperialist narrative expressed through all of the mass media entities for going on 40 years has been that Portugal sent 400 highly trained terrorist operatives into Guinea because Guinea was hosting terrorist attacks against Portuguese nationals living in Guinea and Guinea-Bissau. Just like the lies about starvation in Bolivia, there has never been a shred of evidence to support this claim about Guinea terrorism, yet just the simple expression by imperialism that this is reality has been enough to justify Portugal's attempt to sabotage African self-determination and national liberation. The point of course is that those same dishonest tactics they used almost 40 years ago are the same dishonest and tired tactics they are still using today as it relates to all progressive and revolutionary governments and imperialism's efforts to control those governments.
Portugal was the poorest country in Western Europe in 1970 which explains why all three of their colonies in Africa had to be freed from colonialism with protracted armed struggle. Still, despite Portugal's standing as it relates to the rest of Europe, they were still a very rich country in comparison to all of Africa. There is ample evidence that the masses of people in Portugal were engaged in serious struggle against the Portuguese government because of dissatisfaction about social conditions in Portugal during that time. This isn't to say the masses of Portuguese were opposed to their government's colonial domination in Africa, but the actions of the Portuguese illustrates that the masses of Portuguese were struggling which underscores the point that Portugal's existence in Guinea, Angola, and Mozambique was beneficial to the Portuguese elites and not their working poor. So, there's never been any evidence of Guinea doing anything against anyone Portuguese anywhere and even if they was, the super rich have absolutely no history of conducting military invasions to help working people, working poor, etc. The Portuguese elite didn't do that in Guinea in 1970 and the Bolivian elites aren't protecting Bolivia's poor and working poor today. These super rich elites, and the petti bourgeoisie representatives like the two people I talked to, are narrating the events in Bolivia as against the people of Bolivia because they wish to open up Bolivia for big business interests e.g. exploiting the vast lithium reserves in the Uyna region of Bolivia that are essential to the automobile industries. This is exactly what the Portuguese were interested in doing in Guinea e.g. exploiting the vast bauxite reserves that are essential for the production of all aluminum products. These crooked scum recognize that they cannot tell you their true intentions, so they make up lies to justify why they sabotage the masses of humanity. And, they usually get away with it because they know most of you won't take 20 seconds to investigate and confirm that there is absolutely no truth to their allegations.
The people of Guinea stood up and chased the Portuguese out of Guinea in November, 1970. At the present time, the criminals of injustice have the upper hand in Bolivia, but what we should learn from Guinea's resistance is that a poor people with limited technological means can still properly organize to drive out a world power in the name of righteousness. Here's hoping we - and especially the people of Bolivia, Venezuela, Cuba, and all other front line states against imperialism - can be inspired by the example of the people of Guinea in 1970, and the truth behind imperialism's efforts, to help us learn how to stop them from interrupting the progress of the masses of people on earth.
Imperialism is telling us that the people of Bolivia desired the change in government. They are telling us that the people of that country wanted an end to the Indigenous focused and social justice based policies of the Morales government. Imperialism is using its mass media propaganda mechanisms to "show" us that people are on the streets celebrating the overthrow of Morales who has left the country for Mexico. This same narrative that leftist, socialist governments like Bolivia, Venezuela, Cuba, etc., are repressive to their populations and that the masses of those people do not support those governments is on full display with events in Bolivia.
Serious students of history should be able to see right through this dishonesty. The first rule of any social movement for justice is that the credibility of that movement is validated based solely on the degree in which that movement seeks to improve the conditions for the suffering elements of any society. This principle is the reason that no seasoned organizer will be fooled by the so-called "movement" that we are being told by imperialism is taking place in Hong Kong presently. Unlike Hong Kong, in Bolivia, the social policies of the Morales government strongly benefited the poor Indigenous populations as well as African and other poor segments of that society. In other words, its these poor people who revolutions are fought and maintained to benefit, but as it relates to Bolivia, its not these poor people in Bolivia who's voices you are hearing as it relates to what's happening in that country. Without social media, most people wouldn't even know about the true mass uprisings taking place in Bolivia that are being carried out by the actual masses of Bolivians who oppose the illegal coup that has placed a racist and right wing government in control in that country.
In the last week, I've had occasion to have conversations with two different people who each claim family history from Bolivia. Both of those people expressed support for the coup in Bolivia while expressing lies about mass starvation in Bolivia under the Morales government. We say lies because even a cursory analysis of the conditions of these two "Bolivians" reveals that both of them occupy a class privileged positions (college degrees and similar generational privilege) that easily exposes the fact neither of them know enough about the Indigenous and poor populations of Bolivia to half fill a thimble. What these two people rely on to make their claims about mass suffering are subjective stories allegedly articulated by "people in Bolivia." My response to these bogus claims was its very difficult for me to believe anything any of the people these people referenced have to say about Bolivia and that I can say that confidently because such a charged allegation such as starvation would be easily supported by independent data. For example, if I claim that institutional racism exists in the U.S., I can provide plenty of personal stories to substantiate my claim, but I can also provide even more data to validate inequity in this society. In the case of claims about starvation, mass crime, etc., there is no evidence, besides the immoral claims of class privileged people who have a vested interest in having a regime in Bolivia that upholds imperialism, that these social ills exist in Bolivia. Organizations like the United Nations, World Health Organization, Organization of American States, etc., all imperialist dominated institutions that have no love for Morale's government in Bolivia, would have plenty of data readily available to support these bogus allegations against Bolivia's previous social justice government if the allegations were true.
As we look at Portugal's invasion of Guinea from 1970, its important to commemorate the fierce resistance the people of Guinea waged to beat back the criminal invasion, but its equally important to use that 1970 example to illustrate how imperialism works as it relates to propaganda for circumstances like what we are currently witnessing in Bolivia. Since Portugal's invasion of Guinea was a coordinated effort by imperialism, there are since released Central Intelligence Agency documents confirming the details behind Portugal's intentions in carrying out their attack. According to discussions between U.S. and Portuguese intelligence agencies, Portugal's specific intent was to assassinate Guinean President Sekou Ture, Guinean co-President Kwame Nkrumah, and Amilcar Cabral, the founder and leader of the Guinea-Bissau political party - the African Party for the Independence of Guinea-Bissau (PAIGC). Even before these imperialist documents were ever released we knew these were the reasons for the invasion because during that time, Guinea served as the base for the three African liberation movements, including the PAIGC, that were fighting to defeat Portuguese colonialism in Guinea-Bissau, Angola, and Mozambique. Sekou Ture and the Democratic Party of Guinea had warmly welcomed Cabral and the PAIGC into Guinea since 1960. With Ture's invitation to Kwame Nkrumah to come to Guinea and become co-president after Nkrumah's government was illegally and immorally overthrown in Ghana in 1966, Guinea easily became (along with Algeria) public enemy number one for imperialism in Africa. What's so important to understand about all of this history is that the imperialist narrative expressed through all of the mass media entities for going on 40 years has been that Portugal sent 400 highly trained terrorist operatives into Guinea because Guinea was hosting terrorist attacks against Portuguese nationals living in Guinea and Guinea-Bissau. Just like the lies about starvation in Bolivia, there has never been a shred of evidence to support this claim about Guinea terrorism, yet just the simple expression by imperialism that this is reality has been enough to justify Portugal's attempt to sabotage African self-determination and national liberation. The point of course is that those same dishonest tactics they used almost 40 years ago are the same dishonest and tired tactics they are still using today as it relates to all progressive and revolutionary governments and imperialism's efforts to control those governments.
Portugal was the poorest country in Western Europe in 1970 which explains why all three of their colonies in Africa had to be freed from colonialism with protracted armed struggle. Still, despite Portugal's standing as it relates to the rest of Europe, they were still a very rich country in comparison to all of Africa. There is ample evidence that the masses of people in Portugal were engaged in serious struggle against the Portuguese government because of dissatisfaction about social conditions in Portugal during that time. This isn't to say the masses of Portuguese were opposed to their government's colonial domination in Africa, but the actions of the Portuguese illustrates that the masses of Portuguese were struggling which underscores the point that Portugal's existence in Guinea, Angola, and Mozambique was beneficial to the Portuguese elites and not their working poor. So, there's never been any evidence of Guinea doing anything against anyone Portuguese anywhere and even if they was, the super rich have absolutely no history of conducting military invasions to help working people, working poor, etc. The Portuguese elite didn't do that in Guinea in 1970 and the Bolivian elites aren't protecting Bolivia's poor and working poor today. These super rich elites, and the petti bourgeoisie representatives like the two people I talked to, are narrating the events in Bolivia as against the people of Bolivia because they wish to open up Bolivia for big business interests e.g. exploiting the vast lithium reserves in the Uyna region of Bolivia that are essential to the automobile industries. This is exactly what the Portuguese were interested in doing in Guinea e.g. exploiting the vast bauxite reserves that are essential for the production of all aluminum products. These crooked scum recognize that they cannot tell you their true intentions, so they make up lies to justify why they sabotage the masses of humanity. And, they usually get away with it because they know most of you won't take 20 seconds to investigate and confirm that there is absolutely no truth to their allegations.
The people of Guinea stood up and chased the Portuguese out of Guinea in November, 1970. At the present time, the criminals of injustice have the upper hand in Bolivia, but what we should learn from Guinea's resistance is that a poor people with limited technological means can still properly organize to drive out a world power in the name of righteousness. Here's hoping we - and especially the people of Bolivia, Venezuela, Cuba, and all other front line states against imperialism - can be inspired by the example of the people of Guinea in 1970, and the truth behind imperialism's efforts, to help us learn how to stop them from interrupting the progress of the masses of people on earth.
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