 Chaos and death, well described |
| Review Date: August 25, 2010 |
| Reviewer: Edward Waffle, |
Impressionistic account of the last days of Portuguese rule in the last European colony in Africa. Kapuscinski was in Luanda, the capital and traveled around territory controlled (often temporarily) by the MPLA, the liberation movement that was supported by the USSR and Cuba. As a Warsaw Pact journalist his accreditation if not his sympathies were to them. The MPLA was at war with UNITA in the north which was supported by Mobutu's Zaire--and therefor by the U.S. and France which funded Mobutu ...more Impressionistic account of the last days of Portuguese rule in the last European colony in Africa. Kapuscinski was in Luanda, the capital and traveled around territory controlled (often temporarily) by the MPLA, the liberation movement that was supported by the USSR and Cuba. As a Warsaw Pact journalist his accreditation if not his sympathies were to them. The MPLA was at war with UNITA in the north which was supported by Mobutu's Zaire--and therefor by the U.S. and France which funded Mobutu for decades. In south were the forces of the FNLA which an invasion of armored troops from South Africa helped to stiffen. There was at least one pitched battle between Cuban and South African regular troops.
Kapuscinski has amazing descriptions in several set pieces. One on the rapid decay of Luanda as the Portuguese box up their homes, abandon their pets and head for the airport. The European quarter stays empty and deserted--everyone has left but the Angolans haven't moved in. Another is a terrifying ride to the south from Luanda into the sparsely populated desert to the MPLA outpost in Benguala. There was only one road between the two cities (according to Google Earth that is still the case) and the surrounding hinterlands were the domain of mobile FNLA troops who could set ambushes at any spot along the hundreds of miles of road.
In the last chapter includes telex messages between Kapuscinski and his editor in Warsaw which describe the final defense of the capital interspersed with requests from Kapuscinski for money and cigarettes--cigarettes are coin of the realm in negotiating passage through checkpoints and from his editor asking if he wants a plane sent to him to get him out before the capital is overrun.
Kapuscinski is an incredibly fluent writer and the translator here has done an excellent job |
Another gift from Kapuncinsky
|
| Review Date: October 12, 2009 |
| Reviewer: Greg Dingle, |
I've read most of Kapucinsky's books now. For me this one ranks up at the top with the Emperor. The main story is relatively well defined. Kapucinsky is waiting for Angola's day of independence, 11 Nov 1975, the day of official handover from the Portoguese colonial government. He is waiting and watching to see what happens as two competing rebel armies close in on the capital from three sides and its nascent native government.
He, and all Angolans he encounters, are in a situation of serious shortage, breakdown and confusion. Like his other writing, Kapucinsky depicts scenes of real danger, absurdity and tragedy with a mesmerizing blend of compassion and detachment. As another reviewer noted, his discussion of the Angolan notion of confusao is priceless, something which will stay with me forever. |
"What stories the world press publishes"!...
|
| Review Date: April 15, 2009 |
| Reviewer: John P. Jones III, Albuquerque, NM, USA |
... "I read many of the dispatches sent from Luanda in those days. I admired the opulence of human fantasy." This is Ryszard Kapuscinski's biting assessment of the quality of reportage by so many of his fellow war correspondents. Kapuscinski made necessity into a virtue. He was a reporter for the Polish News Agency, which could not afford the lavish expense accounts that so many Westerner correspondents had, who all too often had the tendency to file their dispatches from the 5-star hotel in the capital, after talking with those who frequented the bars at these hotels. Kapuscinski was either lucky, or quite prescient, (or both) managing to be in the right place at the right time. He was in Iran for the fall of the Shah, which he described in "Shah of Shahs", and in Ethiopia shortly after the fall of Haile Sellassie, which he described in "The Emperor." This book which describes the very last days of Portuguese rule in Angola in 1975 may not have the same intensity of insights as the other two books, but still, it is excellent, and is the only view that we have of these last days.
Angola is rarely in the news (or of interest in the West, particularly since the end of the Cold War). It was mis-ruled by Portugal for three and a half centuries, and its principal export was slaves. This trade was so lucrative and prolific that the country is still under populated. After the downfall of the Salazar dictatorship in 1974, Portugal's new democratic leadership quickly agreed to grant the colonies their independence, which included Angola, where a guerilla war of liberation was being waged for numerous years. There were three principal liberation groups, the MPLA which was backed by the Soviet Union and Cuba, the FNLA, backed by the Western powers and Zaire, and the UNITA, backed by the Western powers and South Africa. The front was "everywhere" literally, whenever one band of these groups might collide.
Kapuscinski's first chapter describes Luanda during the final days, and the exodus of the Portuguese. (Most went to Brazil.) Among the many useful insights, the author mentions the poverty of the whites, unique among European colonies. There were white children begging in the streets, and his hotel maid was Portuguese. The author went to the "front," and in so doing took at least as many chances as Filkens, the NYT correspondent who wrote "The Forever War." Kapuscinski memorably describes approaching checkpoints, manned (or more accurately, "kidded") by heavily armed boys. One never knew to which side was their allegiances, and the wrong greeting could literally mean death. Later he took the first re-supply convoy (that got through!) from Benguela to Pereira dEca, near the border with Namibia. Angola was a place where the proxy wars of the Cold War were waged, and Kapuscinski reports on the Cuban involvement, and broke the story of the South African invasion.
There is an excellent appendix chapter, entitled "ABC", which covers most of the salient facts about Angola, the Portuguese mis-rule, and the war of independence. In the end the author admits an exhaustion with the living conditions and the constant dangers, and telexes home for permission to return, which was granted. In the process, he made a significant incorrect assessment: "It is more or less clear what will happen, which is that the Angolans will win,..." When he said it would "take a while" I suspect that he underestimated the extent and length of the fighting between the forces of Holden Roberto and Savimbi, which would last through 2002. Today Angola is still notorious for the number of land mines that plague the country.
Overall, the book is "another day of life", of Kapuscinski, who has written an excellent account, almost certainly the best we will ever have, of the last days of Portuguese rule in Angola.
|
Another day of life is a blessing !
|
| Review Date: September 8, 2008 |
| Reviewer: Toninozagar, slovenia |
Another Day of Life
These are in fact memories of the author's days having been spent in Angola as this African country , the size of Portugal and former West Germany combined , was on the eve of proclaiming independence in 1975 from its colonial master , Portugal ; Mr Kapuscinski was one of few western journalist , living there , having befriended many whites , mostly Portuguese , who are now waiting in fear and trepidation of the inevitable fate , that is grim and ominuous , where blood is in the air , and the carnage cannot be stopped by anyone or anything , mullatos .and blacks themselves , who are somehow expectant of a better life after 300 years of servitude, but still careful , as the same uneasy feeling of impeding chaos is at the door step . Mr . Kapuscinski perfectly shows the prelude to one of the longest lasting wars in human history ( over twenty years ! ) , and the proclamation of independence not being something to rejoice but just the last nail in the coffin , another tragedy on the African soil , where ancient tribalistic and religious divisions , political inexperience and sheer naivity , illiteracy at its worst ( over 90 % ) and rich natural reserves of oil and diamonds had to lead to a calamity . He goes , as is his main characteristic, to great lenghts to explain the reasons , feelings and , first and foremost , fates of ordinary people ( ' I have lived here for thirty years , and now I have to leave , for whom have I worked here , for what ? ' ) - his description of an unusual , world's unique refugees 's wooden city , made of cardboard , built while waiting for the rescue ships , and even here the status and wealth of their owners comes to the fore , the virtual ghost towns left behind , complete stillness , utter doom and despair , cats eating refuse and soon dying with bellies inflated , bizzare with the sad , the best cars being left intact by the blacks , as they are not theirs and it is not right to steal from the former white masters , as they might soon be back , all these mixed in this gloomy tableau . He goes to the front , where the same feelings remain , where most of the soldiers in the various armies and units are children , or teenagers , who had even volunteered to go to the front , as here you can at least get something to eat , and the way they fight is singularly childish , and so humanly innocent ; they shoot in the air without watching , just making noise , and thus firing off all the ammunition , and then it turns out that a target village was already abandonded long time ago . The soldiers , besides being scared to the bones , and totally inexperienced , also lead the fight against the worst sort of enemy , namely , thirst , and the fronts are consequently moving where the water springs are , so today they are here , tomorrow there , nowhere , everywhere , all encapsulated in the universally used word : ' confusao ' ! The book ends with the most appropriately titled chapter ABC , where a reader can learn about the history of Angola , from where the greatest number of world's slaves originate , thus the country having suffered one of the greatest depopulization in history ! There is no positive thinking or some other sort of self-proclaimed post-modernistic remedies or philosophies of equality and secular definition of love that could fix the tragedy in Angola or in Africa in general !
|
Important historical document
|
| Review Date: December 3, 2007 |
| Reviewer: Nuno Martins, Sao Paulo - Brazil |
| Kapuscinski was the only journalist in Angola during that time. He arrived there in september, I left that country (my country) in august. Besides being the only witness of a "word's forgotten war" he was able to accurately catch what was going on there at the time. |
|
Copyright © 2010