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the colonial power, during which wider parts of the country passed under
FEE.LI.KO. control: these liberated areas provided a laboratory in which
new systems of production, social relations and services were being
experimented, and a new culture created and consolidated (see 2.1.2.).
Education was a high priority, and schools and literacy courses were set
up as the army took control of a new area, (see 3.2.3). During the armed
struggle, Xozambicans from different parts of the country and with
different languages had to work together, and this was a new as well as
difficult experience; the building of a national consciousness beyond the
ethnic groups was of paramount Importance to win the war, and one of the
main aims of the new education in FEE.LI.KO. schools (Machel,1978).
A Seminar held in 1971 addressed to the issue of colonialism and culture
was clear about the language choice:
In our country there is no dominant language. Choosing one of the
Xozambican languages would be an arbitrary decision which might
have serious consequences; moreover, the technical and personnel
resources are too scarce to embark on the type of research
necessary to turn a [Xozambican] language operational,
particularly for science studies. Ve are forced therefore to use
Portuguese as the medium of instruction and communication among
us. (.FRE.LI,KO. 1971)
Later documents go out of their way to find a mode of analysis of
political and linguistic concepts which explains how in Mozambique the
language of the colonial power was transformed into a weapon for
liberation, while in other countries it retained its role as tool for
exploitation. It is basically argued that Portuguese was the language of
political mobilization against the oppressor, which spread the Ideology of
FRE.LI.KO. across ethnic divisions and in which the new culture and
national identity was forged and developed (Machel,G. 1979, Ganhδo,1978).
This was true for the militants and the army, mainly peasants and
workers, but they still had to use African languages in their contacts
with the population which provided the essential support for the
guerrilla army as It advanced Into new territory: the impressive literacy
work done by the cadres and, later, by trained teachers in the liberated
areas could not transform peasants with almost no contact with the
colonial administration into speakers of Portuguese for daily