Ep. 04 - PAIGC and Guinea-Bissau’s WAR of INDEPENDENCE

In 1956, Amilcar Cabral and his comrades founded the African Party for the Independence of Guinea in Cape Verde in Guinea-Bissau, aiming to liberate their nation from Portuguese colonialism. Over the course of their armed struggle, the PAIGC not only liberated two-thirds of the country but also introduced schools, hospitals, and local government with free elections in areas that had seen none of these things during Portuguese colonialism. For many women in the PAIGC, the struggle offered opportunities. Women who were peasants received training to be nurses in the Soviet Union. But while the PAIGC liberated many women to join the movement, there were also off-the-record stories of sexual violence within the party.The war lasted for 11 years, and the PAIGC leadership had to address issues regarding sexual abuse and other contradictions that arose during the liberation struggle. Joining us today are Catarina Larenjeiro and Ines Galvao, both of whom are feminist researchers based in Lisbon. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.