Introduction
In this presentation, I will talk about Antonio Agostinho Neto, the first president of Angola. I would briefly discuss his biography and I would also discuss his philosophy.
Biography
Antonio Agostinho Neto was born in Icolo, e-Bengo, Angola on September 17, 1922 (Boddy-Evans, 2013). With his father being a pastor of the Methodist church and his mother a kindergarten teacher (BookRags, 2006), Neto was one of the few Africans who was able to complete secondary school. He later worked for the Portuguese Colonial Health Service until 1947 when he received funding to study medicine in Portugal.
While in Lisbon, Neto met other African students with whom he formed the Anti-Colonial Movement, which was an African cultural society that aimed at rediscovering the indigenous Angolan culture. His first volume of poetry was published in 1948 (Boddy-Evans, 2013) , the same year he was arrested for the first time. He was arrested several more times after that and in 1956, he would join the MPLA (Movimento Popular da Libertacão de Angola) or the Popular Movement for the Liberation of Angola. He would complete his degree in medicine in 1958 and would return to Angola with his wife Maria Eugenia da Silva to set up a private gynecology practice.
After the Carnation Revolution in 1974, Angola gained its independence from the Portuguese colonials and this resulted in Neto being named the country’s first president on November 11, 1975 (Boddy-Evans, 2013). He would die of cancer on September 10, 1979 in Moscow, Russia where he was receiving treatment.
Philosophy
Aside from being the first president of Angola, Antonio Agostinho Neto is also considered the country’s most prominent poet, with his poems having been published in various languages.
The Anti-Colonial Movement that he formed with his colleagues in Lisbon was similar to the Negritude movement in France and Neto’s ideals were influenced by Aime Cesaire and Leopold Senghor (Arana, 2008). However, he would later view the movement as elitist and culturally distant from the lives of the Angolans who were poor and who made up the working class. As a result, he shifted his efforts and participated instead in organizations that were associated with the Portuguese Communist Party with which he had links since the 1940s (Arana, 2008)
Neto’s vision and struggle for the attainment of national independence was intertwined with his socialist ideals. In this regard, he used his poetry to express his quest for freedom, to convince the poor that a revolution was needed, and to condemn colonialism. He also used his poetry to oppose and confront oppression and the apartheid being practiced by the Portuguese colonizers in Angola. In addition, he opposed the poverty and violence that characterized the Western countries’ colonial projects, as well as the exploitation and alienation that was being experienced by the poor Angolans.
He believed that socialism was the alternative to colonialism and that only direct action would make the Portuguese colonists give up their authority over Angola. He believed that the power in Angola lay in the hands of the working class and that an alliance between the peasants and the working people was essential in the efforts to unite all of the patriotic forces in the country (Khazanov, 1986).
Moreover, although Neto declared that the MPLA would follow Marxism-Leninism as its doctrine, he took a socialist rather than a communist stance. In particular, consistent with Neto’s ideologies that favored and sympathized with the working class, a socialist stance meant that the actual ownership of property was ascribed to the workers rather than to the state and that class distinctions were diminished but not eliminated (Diffen, n.d.). This implied that, unlike a communist economic system where the state’s wealth is equally distributed among the people, a socialist economic system would allow the people to earn more if they worked more. Also, unlike in a communist state where private property ownership and religion are abolished, a socialist state allows for private property ownership and the freedom of religion. In this regard, the socialism imposed by the MPLA was one that required a people’s democracy (James and James, 2011).
However, Neto avoided any labels for his ideologies. He perceived the orthodoxy of Marxism and Leninism as a means to attaining a unified society, especially given its diversity, and to establishing the growth of the agriculture industry as a basis for economic development (Collelo, 1991). He also tried to maintain Cuba’s and the Soviet Union’s support while avoiding having to disenfranchise the urban workers or encouraging the growth of a rural bourgeoisie.
Summary
As we have discussed, Antonio Agostinho Neto became the first president of an independent Angola. It was during his studies in Portugal that he published his first book of poetry where he expressed his patriotism for his country and his desire for his country’s independence.
He liaised with the Portuguese Communist Party and also joined the MPLA and by 1975, he would become Angola’s first elected presented. His ideology was based on Leninism and Marxism, although he took a socialist rather than a communist stance as he believed that the working class played a major role in unifying the country.
Neto died of cancer in 1979, but he is considered a hero to this day and his birthday is celebrated as National Heroes Day.
References
- Arana, V. 2008. The facts on file companion to world poetry: 1900 to the present. New York, NY: Facts on File, Inc.
- Boddy-Evans, A., 2013. Biography: Antonio Agostinho Neto. [online] Available at: <http://africanhistory.about.com/od/angola/p/BioAgostinoNeto.htm> [Accessed 8 March 2013].
- BookRags, 2006. Encyclopedia of world biography on Antonio Agostinho Neto. [online] Available at: <http://www.bookrags.com/biography/antonio-agostinho-neto/> [Accessed 8 March 2013].
- Collelo, T., 1991. Government and politics – BACKGROUND. In: Angola: A country study. Washington: GPO for the Library of Congress, 1991. [online] Available at:
< http://countrystudies.us/angola/94.htm> [Accessed 8 March 2013].
- Diffen, n.d. Communism vs socialism. [online] Available at:
< http://www.diffen.com/difference/Communism_vs_Socialism> [Accessed 8 March
2013].
- James, W. M. and James, W. M. III, 2011. A political history of the civil war in Angola:
1974-1990. Piscataway, NJ: Transaction Publishers.
- Khazanov, A. M., 1986. Agostinho Neto. Omaha, NE: Progress.
