Huambo - The anthropologist and researcher Gregório Chicola considered the first President of Angola, António Agostinho Neto, to be an unavoidable figure in Africa, with a broad political and literary vision, who contributed to the liberation of peoples.
Speaking to ANGOP on the occasion of National Heroes' Day, which is celebrated on 17 September, the university professor said that, through his poems, António Agostinho Neto influenced nationalists to fight for national liberation, as well as instigating pan-Africanist movements to demand respect for civil, social and political rights.
He stressed that with his literary works ‘A Hora da Largada’, ‘Renúncia Impossível’ and ‘Sagrada Esperança’, he encouraged the struggle for resistance and social criticism, which galvanised actions by nationalists to fight the colonial yoke.
Gregório Chicola said that one cannot talk about the decolonisation of Africa without mentioning the figure of António Agostinho Neto, who, from an early age, played an important role in the international amnesty movement for independence, demonstrating that he was not just an Angolan citizen, but a citizen of the world.
For the anthropologist, the way he thought and acted, with a cultural universalism, was crucial for the liberation of southern Africa, just by looking at his statements: ‘Angola is and will be, of its own free will, a firm trench for the revolution in Africa’, ‘In Namibia, Zimbabwe and South Africa is the continuation of our struggle’.
He also added, in order to exalt this unavoidable figure, the starting point must be the greater dissemination of his literary, political and social works to the new generation, so that they are aware of his legacy in Angola, Africa and the world.
Gregório Chicola urged Angolans not to transform the figure of António Agostinho Neto into a reductionist attitude and hostage to a single political party, but rather into a national hero with an international dimension that goes beyond ideological and partisan dimensions.
He lamented the fact that there are students who don't read the works of António Agostinho Neto, because they are books of an international nature, especially ‘Sacred Hope’, one of the most translated in the world, in more than 50 languages.
António Agostinho Neto was born on 17 September 1922 in Kaxicane, Icolo e Bengo, and died on 10 September 1979.
As Angola's first President, he proclaimed national independence from the then Portuguese colonial rule on 11 November 1975.
He is a reference in national culture, having written several works that have been translated into various languages, including ‘Quatro Poemas de Agostinho Neto’ (1957), ‘Sagrada Esperança’ (1974) and ‘A Renúncia Impossível’ (1982). ZZN/JSV/ALH/DAN/DOJ
