24247-Texto Do Artigo-93955-3-10-20231027
24247-Texto Do Artigo-93955-3-10-20231027
24247-Texto Do Artigo-93955-3-10-20231027
ISSN 2317-7438
https://doi.org/10.15210/rps.v9i01.24247
Artigo
Abstract
This article aims to analyse the ongoing structural violence in Angola and outline
the theoretical framework that are associated with it. Despite the end of the long
civil war and the glimmer of peace, post-Cold War and political parties´ ideologies
have deeply dived the country up to now. The MPLA government has used brutality
against the opposition and incited physical and symbolic violence against the
Bakongo and Ovimbundu ethnic groups. Indeed, the signing of the ceasefire in 2002
after the death of Jonas Savimbi did not bring true reconciliation in Angola. Political
motivated crimes, the use of excessive force and brutality, kidnapping, mass killing
and human rights abuse are common in Angola. Hence, the following guiding
question arises: How can structural violence be fought in Angola? The theoretical
research was based on Bourdieu's concepts of symbolic violence. Qualitative,
bibliographic, documentary and empirical studies, with the collection of secondary
data were carried out. The results can be fundamental in the search for solutions to
promote reconciliation, tolerance and social cohesion through the peaceful resolution
of conflicts for the progress of Angola and the humanity as well.
Keywords: Structural violence. Physical and symbolic violence. Human rights
abuse in Angola.
Resumo
Este artigo tem como objetivo analisar a violência estrutural em curso em Angola e
delinear o quadro teórico que lhe está associado. Apesar do fim da longa guerra civil
e do vislumbre da paz, as ideologias do pós-Guerra Fria e dos partidos políticos
mergulharam profundamente o país até agora. O governo do MPLA tem praticado a
brutalidade contra a oposição e incitado a violência física e simbólica contra as etnias
Bakongo e Ovimbundu. De fato, a assinatura do cessar-fogo em 2002, após a morte
de Jonas Savimbi, não trouxe uma verdadeira reconciliação em Angola. Crimes de
motivação política, uso excessivo de força e brutalidade, sequestro, assassinato em
massa e abuso dos direitos humanos são comuns em Angola. Assim, surge a seguinte
questão norteadora: Como combater a violência estrutural em Angola? A pesquisa
teórica baseou-se nos conceitos de violência simbólica, de Bourdieu. Foram realizados
estudos qualitativos, bibliográficos, documentais e empíricos, com coleta de dados
secundários. Os resultados podem ser fundamentais na procura de soluções que
promovam a reconciliação, a tolerância e a coesão social através da resolução pacífica
de conflitos para o progresso de Angola e da humanidade.
Palavras-Chave: Violência estrutural. Violência física e simbólica. Violação dos
direitos humanos em Angola
S
tructural violence manifests itself in situations where “human beings
are being influenced so that their actual somatic and mental
realizations are below their potential realizations” (GALTUNG, 2009,
p. 80). Chroback (2022) argues that:
peaceful resolution of conflicts for the progress of Angola and the humanity
as well.
Theoretical-methodological framework
Due to its qualitative2 nature of the research, it was necessary to
adopt the constructivist structuralism paradigm of the French sociologist
Pierre Bourdieu (1930-2002) and the interpretivist epistemology. By
structuralism, Bourdieu (2004) points out that in different social fields, there
are objective mechanisms and structures of the dominant classes that
inculcate the vision of the world to the dominated classes, independent on
their will and consciousness. Pierre Bourdieu understands that it is due to
the individual genesis of patterns of perception, thought and action. These
schemes certainly correspond to the social structures he calls “fields” or social
classes.
However, on the individual scale, he calls them habitus: The
incorporation of objective structures in each social agent. Faced with this
critical observation, the author considers the dominated social agents are
impotent and incapable of changing the order that dominates them in
different social fields. Even more, Bourdieu (2004) recognizes that the
cultural traits embedded in the depths of our individualities are old and
immutable, that is, there is an arbitrary reproduction of practices,
dispositions, beliefs, representations, images, social status and more.
Hence, based on this analysis, Pierre Bourdieu creates his paradigm
"Constructivist Structuralism", that is, in the author's speech, individuals are
born determined (social subjects) and are built to become (social agents), from
objective and arbitrary structures of the dominant ruling class that inculcates
into social and mental structures the habitus which legitimize symbolic
violence and the domination of the dominated social agents, groups or
categories through mechanical accords done by the dominated by accepting
the inculcation of the cultural arbitrariness of the dominants. In relation the
Indeed, Angola was the bastion of the Cold War between the United
States of America and the Soviet Union in Africa. The superpowers fought to
control territories for geopolitical and economic control strategies. Of course,
Schmidth (2013) argues that different nations and political forces within
Africa had their own interests, which led them to seek international alliances
and sometimes invite external intervention against domestic enemies.
Foreign Intervention in Africa during the Cold War was a reflection of
polarization of the super powers The USA and the former USSR. However,
after the Cold War, African countries were abandoned and civil wars spread
in the continent, such as in Zaïre (DR Congo), Mozambique, Nigeria and
Angola.
Undoubtedly, the Angolan civil war was influenced by the Cold War
and caused the ethnic hatred. As in many other african countries, political
parties emerged from social groups and categories based on tribes, clans and
ethnicities. This kind of political parties’ formation has contributed to the
collapse of many countries and is one of the causes of national and cross
border structural violence, war and genocide between neighboring countries
and ethnic groups. One clear example is the Rwanda's genocide between the
Hutu and Tutsi. In the same perspective, James (2017) considers that:
On the other hand, Schmidth (2013, p. 8) still argues that the fourth
proposition suggests that during the period under consideration, foreign
political and military intervention in Africa often did more harm than good.
Actually, the presence of foreign troops, fighting for economic, ideological,
geopolitical and military interests has impacted enormously Angola, after the
failed independence, when the MPLA took power by military force and incited
ethnic hatred among the populations. Undoubtedly, the MPLA took power by
force and desrepecting the Alvor Agreement by committing serious human
rights violations with murder, ethnic hatred and massacre of the Bakongo
and Ovimbundu populations.
Regardless of that, it is important to underline that the super power
countries USA and the former USSR used Angola as a Cold War battlle
ground, as stated by Guimarães, in his thisis “The Origins of the Angolan
Civil War International Politics and Domestic Political Conflict 1961-1976”
defended at the London School of Economics and Political Science, at the
University of London in 1992.
The cold war was very much the context of the Angolan civil war, as
it is for this study. The ideological and political competition between
East and West was one of.the battlefields on 11 which the Angolan
adversaries sought to fight each other. The post-war bipolar
international system formed the background to other levels of
conflict which also played a part in the Angolan civil war. [...] The
Angolan civil war in the history of the cold war is related to the end
of detente and the beginning of a major Soviet profile in Africa. In
this way, the Angolan civil war became another cold war incident.
What will be considered is the manner in which this competition was
imported into the internal Angolan conflict. (GUIMARÃES, 1992, p.
11, 12, 25)
Due to the impact of the USA and the former Soviet Union during the
Cold War in Angola, the post-Cold War era with the ongoing conflict and war
in Angola was characterized by and as the continuity of structures of the Cold
War, with violent dispute of power, capitalism (UNITA and FNLA) and
communism (MPLA) ideologies framed the conflict and the return to war after
the failed so called democratic elections in 1992. In conclusion, the events of
1975, after the failed “Alvor Agreement” on the independence were repeated
in 1992, after the failed first so called democratic elections. In sequence, all
the elections organized in Angola are characterized by serious human rights
abuse.
When the Portuguese African empire fell and liberation was secured
in 1974, the three groups – Frente Nacional de Libertação de Angola
(FNLA), the Movimento Popular pela Libertação de Angola (MPLA)
and UNITA- agreed, based on the terms of the Alvor Agreement, to
a tripartite government for the fledging nation. The liberation
groups massed in Luanda, the Capital, but personality, ideological,
and ethnic conflicts quickly arose. The MPLA, with the Soviet and
Cuban assistance, drove FNLA and UNITA from the Capital and
declared the People´s Republic of Angola on November 11, 1975.
(JAMES, 2017, p. 7)
The Capital Luanda was the natural base of support for MPLA, but
other factors also played a decisive role, the portuguese armed forces
continued to aid and abet MPLA activities, and MPLA had armed large
numbers of civilians with weapons obtained from the Soviet Union and the
Cuban troops. All non-MPLA Members belonging to Bakongo were chased,
killed and victims of ethnic slurs. This practice goes along with Bourdieu´s
argument saying that symbolic violence serves to legitimize domination, it is
the principle of effectiveness of all obedience.
In fact, ethnic slurs have been anchored in the Angolan colective
consciousness and considered by many victims as legitimate and normal due
to the imposition of the ideology, political and social objective structures of
the members of the dominant political party the MPLA. Soon after the
collapse of the Soviet Union, a so called democratic election was organized in
Angola. Due to elections contest by the opposition led by the late Dr. Jonas
Malheiro Savimbi of UNITA, thousands of militaries, police officers,
politicians and civilians were assassinated by the MPLA; as stated by Jornal
de Angola:
The ‘massacre’, which both UNITA and the FNLA attribute to
government forces, arose in the wake of the peace phase that followed the
Bicesse agreements, signed by the parties on May 31, 1991, and would trigger
a new escalation of violence in Angola, with the extension of the civil war until
the death of Savimbi, in February 2002 - peace was officially declared on April
4, 2002 (JORNAL DE ANGOLA, 2019). Years later, on Friday January 23,
1993, the Angolan Government killed thousands of Bakongo people in Luanda
and the date is still remembered and called “Sexta feira sangreta” -the bloody
Friday-, says Quino (2016). In the same year, on January 5th, 1993, more
than 600 people (250 in Namibe and 360 in Tombwa) were killed by the MPLA
Government for political motivations, declares VOA Angola (2015). In short,
the mass killing of the opposition has started since the independence of the
country.
In addition to that, symbolic violence envolving ethnic slurs against
Bakongo and Ovimbundu population is common in Angola. The French
sociologist, still agues that, symbolic violence is [...] a soft, insensitive
violence, invisible to its own victims, which is exercised essentially through
the purely symbolic means of communication and knowledge, or, more
precisely, of ignorance, recognition or, ultimately, of feeling. This
development, and safety threatens the progress made in child survival and
sustainable development over the past several decades. It is putting Angolan
children’s lives at risk today and threatens future generations.
In addition to that, violence against girls and child marriage in Angola
continue to represent major child protection Country Office Annual Report
2021 Angola - 6810 Page 1 of 8 Page 1 of 8 concerns, with almost one in every
four girls between 15 and 18 years old having suffered physical or sexual
violence; almost one in every three girls are married (or in a union) before the
age of 18, and one in every ten before their 15th birthday (UNICEF, 2021). In
fact, it is possible to say that the leading party MPLA has influenced
negatively the social construction of Angola by dividing the country on basis
of former Cold War belligerents: The USA (capitalism) and the former USSR
(communism) and the ethnic groups division. Thus, ethnic hatred,
assassinations, kidnapping and politically motivated violence amongst the
population, mostly against women, have been part of the social construction
of the Angolan society.
arbitrary order making it appear normal, natural, legitimate and as the only
possible social order.
Furthermore, symbolic violence is a gentle violence1imperceptible
and invisible even to its victims exerted for the most part through the purely
symbolic channels of communication and cognition (more precisely,
misrecognition), recognition, or even feeling (BOURDIEU, 2007, p. 1-2). The
author still argues that it is a particularity of domination that can happen if
only granted to the dominants through unconscious agreements of the
dominated or the victims of domination. It is “[…] as if, being the product of
an unconscious adjustment to the probabilities associated with an objective
structure of domination, the submissive dispositions [...] (BOURDIEU, 2007, p.
37).
The French sociologist still argues that: “[…] the foundation of symbolic
violence lies not in mystified consciousnesses that only need to be enlightened but in
dispositions attuned to the structure of domination of which they are the product,
the relation of complicity that the victims of symbolic domination grant to the
dominant can only be broken through a radical transformation of the social
conditions of production of the dispositions that lead the dominated to take the point
of view of the dominant on the dominant and on themselves. Symbolic violence is
exercised only through an act of knowledge and practical recognition which takes
place below the level of the consciousness and will and which gives all its
manifestations injunctions, suggestions, seduction, threats, reproaches, orders or
calls to order - their ‘hypnotic power’ (BOURDIEU, 2007, p. 41-42).
On the other hand, Landry (2006, p. 88) states that “Symbolic violence
generates lasting effects” While Bourdieu (2000) states that symbolic violence
serves to legitimize symbolic violence and domination, it is the principle of
effectiveness of all obedience. domination takes place through language or
signs based on the balance of power and seems natural and legitimate from
the inculcation of objective structures and the incorporation of these
structures in social agents. This process shapes and structures the culture of
both the dominant and the dominated. Therefore, within the concept of
symbolic violence, Bourdieu and Passeron (1970) and Bourdieu (2014)
address the concepts and notions of (i) State; (ii) unconscious agreements and
legitimization of symbolic violence and domination; (iii) cultural capital; and
(iv) habitus.
Regarding the concept of State, Bourdieu (2014) says that “I made an
addition to the famous definition of Max Weber, who defined the state [as the]
'monopoly of legitimate violence', which I corrected by adding 'monopoly of
legitimate physical and symbolic violence', inasmuch as the monopoly of
symbolic violence is the condition for possession of the exercise of the
monopoly of physical violence itself (BOURDIEU, 2014, p. 3-4). By
considering the State as the monopoly of physical and symbolic violence,
Bourdieu shows how power works in both cases: physical and symbolic. The
perception of Bourdieu goes along with the Angolan State with the structural
violence against the opposition parties and members of the Bakongo and
Ovimbundu ethnic groups.
With regard to the unconscious agreements and the legitimization of
symbolic violence and domination made by the dominated, Bourdieu (2014)
says that: symbolic violence, which is exercised thanks to the perfect
unconsciousness of those on whom it exercises is a result of a coercion that
rest on unconscious agreements between objective structures and mental
structures, that compel the dominated to be accomplices of their own
domination. This is the magic of symbolic power when it operates in social
and mental structures and possibly alianate the dominated by accepting the
habitus of the dominant groups.
As for the cultural capital, Silva (1995, p. 124) considers that it “is
more than a class subculture; it is taken as a resource of power that equals
and stands out – in the double sense of separating and having a special
relevance”. Therefore, Bourdieu (1985) establishes a link between the cultural
capital and social reproduction insofar as the transmission of cultural capital
is a extremely efficient factor of reproduction of the social classes and the
establishment of the domination through social, cultural and political
arbitrary. In other words, the cultural arbitrary perpetuate the social and
cultural reproduction, but also the domination of the opposition parties and
members in Angola.
About the concept of Habitus, Bourdieu (2004, p. 98) considers the
habitus “as a system of dispositions to practice, is an objective basis for
regular conduct, therefore, for the regularity of conduct […] is because the
habitus makes the agents who possess it behave in a different way. “[…] By
constructivism, I mean that there is, on the one hand, a social genesis of the
schemes of perception, thought and action that are constitutive of what I call
habitus […]. Therefore, the State is given the power and monopoly of
structuring and construction of habitus that are structuring structures of
society. In the context of this article, the habitus tructured by the MPLA serve
to pratice symbolic violence and perpetuate the domination.
Finally, to speak of domination or symbolic violence is to say that,
except in the case of a subversive revolt leading to inversion of the categories
of perception and appreciation, the dominated tend to adopt the dominant
point of view on themselves (BOURDIEU, 2007, p. 119). “Symbolic violence is
instituted through the adherence that the dominated cannot fail to grant to
the dominant (and therefore to the domination) […] being no more than the
embodied form of the relation of domination, cause that relation to appear as
natural (BOURDIEU, 2007, p. 35). This can be verified in Angola where most
of Bakongo and Ovimbundu populations tend to naturalize ethnic slurs and
legitimate the MPLA domination by fear of retaliation.
Conclusion
members live like enemies and not opponents; this enmity is a peculiarity of
the former belligerents: The USA and the former USSR. Therefore, structural
violence in Angola is expressed on one hand by the imposition of rules, laws
and social structures in favor of the governing or ruling party (MPLA)and its
members, and on the other hand, by the use of physical force, brutality and
symbolic violence against the opposition.
Since the independence of Angola, the country has faced an
unprecedented crackdown on human rights, including political motivated
killings, social injustice, social discrimination and humiliation based on origin
and ethnicities, arbitrary arrests on daily basis done by the ruling party
(MPLA). Generally, the Bakongo and Ovimbundu ethnic groups are the
victims. However, the United Nations and all the Human Rights
International organizations should consider this human rights violation and
prevent further consequences in Angola. But also, the Angolan governing
party has the responsibility to create a platform of debate in order to reconcile
and reconstruct the country by organizing, for example, the ‘national
Conference”.
All in all, the analysis of the secondary data on the basis of the
bibliographic contents indicates that the MPLA government practice the
structural violence against members of the opposition. In other words,
physical and ethnic slurs are common and there is no social cohesion in
Angola, despite the signing of peace agreement soon after the death of the
late warlord Dr. Jonas Malheiro Savimbi. The results suggest that a ‘National
Conference’ or a ‘Truth and Reconciliation Committee’ be organized in Angola,
in the light of South Africa in order to bring to light all the atrocities and
search for peaceful solutions and reconcile the Angolan populations for the
progress not only of their country but for the progress of the humanity as well.
Como citar este texto: MENDES. Joel Nemona. Structural Violence in Angola.
Perspectivas Sociais, Pelotas, vol. 09, nº 01, p. 40-61, 2023.
Bibliographic References
KURIAN, George. The new book of world rankings. New York: Facts on
file, 1990.
Notas
1 The state has the ability to impose in a universal fashion, on the scale of a certain territorial
foundation, principles of vision and division, symbolic forms, principles of classification, what I often
call a nomos - taking up the etymology proposed by Benveniste, in which nomos comes from nemo,
‘share’, ‘divide’, ‘partition’, by a kind of diakrisis, as the Greeks said, meaning ‘original division1.
(BOURDIEU, 2014, p. 166).
2 The strength of qualitative research is its ability to provide complex textual descriptions of how
people experience a given research issue. It provides information about the “human” side of an issue
– that is, the often-contradictory behaviors, beliefs, opinions, emotions, and relationships of
individuals. Qualitative methods are also effective in identifying intangible factors, such as social
norms, socioeconomic status, gender roles, ethnicity, and religion, whose role in the research issue
may not be readily apparent. (MACK Et al., p. 1-2)