Moçâmedes - The minister of National Defence and Veterans of the Homeland, João Ernesto dos Santos, said last Monday in Moçâmedes City that the best way to honour the memory of those who gave their best and lost their lives in the struggle for National Independence is to transmit the legacy of genuine patriotism to the youth.
Speaking at the central act in commemoration of the Colonial Repression Martyrs Day (January 4), the minister said it was imperative that Angolans know deeply well the history of Colonial Repression Martyrs, especially young generations, the driving force of society.
In his point of view, the effort and sacrifice made by the peasants of the Baixa de Cassanje region (country’s centre-east) projected the name of Angola and its people across Africa and the world.
He added that the January 4 (1961) date brought with it a spirit of struggle for the conquest of rights in the world of employment, against humiliation and economic asymmetries, for freedom and against all injustices.
According to the minister, Angolans should permanently defend the superior interests of the nation, consolidating national unity and reconciliation, as cohesion is fundamental for a country in progress and development.
He went on to say that the courageous and heroic action of the peasants murdered in the region of Baixa de Cassanje, in 1961, had a transcendent impact, because from that date on a new hope was reborn for the Angolan people, awakening the populations and allowing to reaffirm the conviction that the overthrow of Portuguese colonialism was possible.
As a result of these and other events that occurred across the continent and in the world, the heroic action of Angolans became a reference in the long process of struggle of the peoples for their self-determination, a situation that would aggravate the colonial repression, in an attempt to break the yearnings for Angola's independence.
In honour of the compatriots murdered by the then colonial Portuguese Army, in the region of Baixa de Cassanje, province of Malange, “January 4” was instituted as the Day of the Martyrs of Colonial Repression (currently a day of national celebration, but not a public holiday).
Labour exploitation and oppression, combined with the end of the Second World War and the independence of African countries, with emphasis on the former Belgian Congo, now the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), whose territory shares a 2,511 kilometre border with Angola, led the emergence of a wide and strong movement of claims, carried out by the peasants that were labouring at the agricultural enterprises of the Baixa de Cassanje region.
Baixa de Cassanje is an immense “geographical depression”, with 80 thousand kilometres, distributed between the centre-north province of Malanje and the eastern provinces of Lunda Norte and Lunda Sul.
