Angola Quotes

“Violence is itself a form of political mobilisation. It is mainly directed against civilians and not at another army. The aim is to capture territory through political control rather than through military success. And political control is maintained through terror, through expulsion or elimination of those who challenge political control, especially those with a different label. Population displacement, massacres, widespread atrocities are not just side effects of war; they are a deliberate strategy for political control. The tactic is to sow the fear and hate on which exclusive identity claims rest.”
― Leon Kukkuk, Letters to Gabriella: Angola's Last War for Peace, What the UN Did and Why

“The next prisoner looks twelve. He says he's sixteen. He knows it is shameful to fight for the FNLA, but they told him that if he went to the front they would send him to school afterward. He wants to finish school because he wants to paint. if he could get paper and a pencil he could draw something right now. He could do a portrait. He also knows how to sculpt and would like to show his sculptures, which he left in Carmona. he has put his whole life into it and would like to study, and they told him that he will, if he goes to the front first. He knows how it works - in order to paint you must first kill people, but he hasn't killed anyone.”
― Ryszard Kapuściński

“To understand our world, we must use a revolving globe and look at the earth from various vantage points. If we do so, we will see that the Atlantic is but a bridge linking the colorful, tropical Afro-Latin American world, whose strong ethnic and cultural bonds have been preserved to this day. For a Cuban who arrives in Angola, neither the climate, nor the landscape, nor the food are strange. For a Brazilian, even the language is the same.”
― Ryszard Kapuściński, Another Day of Life

“The end of superpower patronage to client movements worldwide created a power vacuum whose inevitable results included the spread of violence and the emergence of disparate groups, ostensibly fighting in the name of ideology, religion or ethnicity, but now seeking their finance through local taxes, plunder and pillage.”
― Leon Kukkuk, Letters to Gabriella: Angola's Last War for Peace, What the UN Did and Why

“In attempting to learn the Umbundu language, I often look back with a shiver and a blush at the atrocious mistakes I made. The African has a highly developed sense of humor, but he listened to these blunders politely with a deadpan expression on his face. Some f the young girls giggle, but the men control their emotions until later, when, in the absence of the missionary, the blunders are repeated around the campfire to the accompaniment of howls of laughter.”
― T. Ernest Wilson, Angola Beloved

“The ‘Buffaloes’ were becoming a legend. The Colonel had forged them into a superb fighting machine […] Enough for a young hothead like me to want to be one of them [...]
Sam pauses and looks for a moment into the sparkling fire. The scar on his jaw glistens against the dark skin like broken glass [...]
You slowly fall prey to a sick frenzy. You develop a lust for blood. You even begin to enjoy killing.”
― Arianna Dagnino, The Afrikaner

“Esse era o problema de falar com pessoas de Portugal, havia palavras que eles não entendiam.”
― Ondjaki, Good Morning Comrades