ATLANTA — “I want to get that book!” people told us many times Sept. 5, as participants at the annual Cape Verdeans of Atlanta picnic stopped by the Socialist Workers Party literature table to browse the display of titles by revolutionary leaders of the working class in the U.S. and around the world published by Pathfinder Press.
Of special interest to many was Cuba and the Independence War in Guinea-Bissau and Cape Verde: The Fall of the Last Colonial Empire in Africa by Cuban revolutionary leader Víctor Dreke. In 1967-68, Dreke headed Cuba’s military mission collaborating with combatants fighting for independence from Portuguese rule in Guinea-Bissau.
Seventeen copies of Dreke’s book were purchased by picnicgoers, along with five copies of other Pathfinder titles: Malcolm X, Black Liberation, and the Road to Workers Power and Red Zone: Cuba and the Battle Against Ebola in West Africa. Six who bought the Dreke book also decided to subscribe to the Militant.
Several hundred people of all generations attended the picnic, enjoying the delicious Cape Verdean food, music and dancing, visiting with friends and family, and checking out vendors offering shirts, hats, jewelry and other Cape Verdean-themed items, as well as our literature.
The pride in how well Cape Verde’s soccer team, the Blue Sharks, performed in the World Cup this summer was also still in the air, with many at the picnic wearing their country’s team jerseys.
Many people were happy to see the photo on the book’s cover of Amílcar Cabral, central leader of the liberation movement in Guinea-Bissau and Cape Verde, meeting with Cuban revolutionary leader Fidel Castro. The detailed history of the independence struggle described in the book — including both how Cabral led the African Party for the Independence of Guinea and Cape Verde to involve broad layers of toilers in fighting for their liberation, as well as the decisive role played by Cuba’s revolutionary leadership and its combatants — was new to some.
Cuba’s role in independence war
“I’m not sure there would have been independence without the Cubans,” said Al Vicente, president of Cape Verdeans of Atlanta and honorary consul for Cape Verde in the Southeast. He spoke with this Militant correspondent; Sam Manuel, the SWP candidate for U.S. Senate from Georgia; and Lisa Potash.
Born in Brava, the smallest inhabited island of Cape Verde, like many other Cape Verdeans Vicente emigrated to New England with his family. He was 7 years old. For many years he worked as a manager of radio stations in different parts of the country, ending up in Georgia, where he retired in 2023. He now helps organize tours to Cape Verde. Vicente also introduced us to several founders of Cape Verdeans of Atlanta, two of whom bought Dreke’s book.
“I have been to Cabo Verde many times,” said Antonio Gomes, a physician assistant in emergency medicine in Atlanta, who grew up in New Bedford, Massachusetts. “I started going there six years ago with others from our group to help provide medical care for those in need in Cabo Verde. We now have chapters around the country and go several times a year.” Like many others we spoke with, Gomes is opposed to Washington’s economic and political blockade against Cuba, which has dealt crippling blows to Cuba’s medical system and the working people it serves.
We learned that many people in Georgia’s Cape Verdean community had come here from New England, where a large Cape Verdean community has existed since the early 1800s.
“I think Amílcar Cabral was the greatest leader who ever lived,” Benvinda Timas said when she saw the new book. Her family left Cape Verde in 1975, first going to Portugal, then to New Bedford. After 30 years as an elementary school teacher in the Boston area, she came to Atlanta two years ago.
A number of the people we met had visited the Cape Verdean Museum in Pawtucket, Rhode Island, which sponsored a successful meeting on Pathfinder’s new book by Dreke on June 28.