June 25: From despair to historical appropriation, it faces a crisis of legitimacy

Alípio Freeman"

When Mozambique celebrates its 50th anniversary of independence on 25 June 2025, a shadow hangs over the official celebrations, revealing the shadows between disenchantment and frustration, and collective indignation overshadowed by a glaring silence on the faces of every unfortunate person who wanders the avenues, neighbourhoods, corridors of public institutions, barracks and police stations of this beautiful and broken homeland. It is not just the weight of extreme poverty, abysmal inequality or systemic corruption. It is a deeper wound, the manipulation of historical memory, the symbolic appropriation of the glorious past by a ruling elite that moves away, day after day, from the ideals for which the armed struggle for national liberation was fought. FRELIMO, the party that led the liberation, has become over the past five decades not only the official guardian of independence, but also the only legitimate interpreter of the country’s history. It has appropriated the 25th of June as if independence were a private good, a party achievement and not an achievement of the people. The official ceremonies, the repetitive speeches, the ritualized tributes and the absolute control of national symbols function as instruments of legitimization of an increasingly contested power. The date is used to revive the “heroic memory”, in an attempt to restore the party’s ideological hegemony at a time when reality demands a deconstruction of the founding myth. For decades, FRELIMO has built a political narrative based on the monopoly of memory: it liberated the people, and therefore must govern forever. But the revolutionary symbols that once inflamed hearts and mobilized the masses have become obsolete. They no longer arouse passion, only weariness and despair. The flag, the anthem, the red-painted murals and the names of avenues are fossilized memories that no longer correspond to the present of a country that is predominantly young, whose age pyramid shows that more than 65% of the population is under 25 and did not live through the war of liberation. These young people do not identify with a past in which they did not participate, but suffer in the present constructed by those who claim it as a title of nobility. The project of forging a revolutionary mind was effective at a time in history when there was a clear external enemy, colonialism, and an ideal of a nation to be built. Now, revolutionary essays are voices that rise up against the revolutionaries of yesteryear, incisively questioning their historical importance, comparing them to the colonists, disregarding their historical role, and accusing them of being responsible for the collective misfortune. There is no doubt that today the greatest enemy of Mozambican youth is not a distant empire, but rather exclusion, hunger, unemployment, abandonment by the State and the arrogance of an elite that claims to be liberators. The repeated use of symbols of struggle as a shield of legitimacy largely demonstrates the dim vision that the elites of the party in power have regarding the country's development. These have become tools of symbolic oppression, not of inspiration. Another mistake was not only to remain in power for five decades, but to transform power into a doctrine of worship and flattery. The logic of blind obedience has replaced the logic of critical reflection. The ideologues who once formulated transformative thinking, such as Eduardo Mondlane and Uria Simango, have been silenced, marginalized or distorted. The space for the construction of thought has disappeared, and in its place has grown a culture of adulation in which praise is rewarded and questioning is punished. The consequence is an intellectually stunted State that does not think, does not plan, but only reacts. The ideals of justice, equality and solidarity, pillars of the liberation struggle, gave way to the logic of plunder. Cadres concerned with the transmission of political consciousness were pushed to the sidelines, while careerists took the stage. The Mozambican state became a tool for personal enrichment and the reproduction of elites, rather than for social transformation. The lack of popular enthusiasm for the celebrations of June 25, 2025, is symptomatic. We no longer see the joyful crowds in the squares, the children with flags in their hands, the popular musicians singing about freedom. The hustle and bustle that once characterized the date has given way to a bitter indifference. The reason is simple: the people feel betrayed. The wounds opened by FRELIMO in various segments of the population continue to bleed. Families who suffered persecution during the post-independence purges, communities marginalized by projects to exploit natural resources, young people frustrated by a system that denies them a future — all of these are no longer moved by the rhetoric of liberation. They feel used, discarded, deceived. The glorification of certain heroes of the struggle is beginning to be challenged by voices demanding an honest reclassification of history. How can we accept that figures who are today associated with corruption scandals are still treated as saviors of the nation? The question becomes inevitable: who are these heroes who stole half of the country's wealth? How is it possible to continue to call them liberators when their most visible work is the systematic impoverishment of the people? Those who claimed to be radical socialists and defenders of the oppressed became millionaire capitalists, owners of banks, farms, mining companies, logistics networks and even private universities. They became rich through corrupt public contracts, influence peddling and embezzlement. The transition from revolutionary socialism to predatory capitalism was made without any accountability. Meanwhile, the people have plunged into extreme poverty, with schools without desks, hospitals without medicine, and neighborhoods without sanitation. The country, which is so rich in natural resources, has become one of the poorest in the world. This contradiction is unbearable: those who promised liberation are now the ones who oppress the most. Those who claimed to fight against exploitation are now the great exploiters. How can the people trust that those who impoverished them will be the same ones to lift them out of poverty? Given this difficult path, the decision to remove FRELIMO from power is no longer a question of ideology — it is a question of national survival. It is the most rational act that an impoverished people can take. Political change is not only desirable, it is necessary to renew hope, to rebuild faith in democracy, to break the cycle of impunity and to bring the State closer to the people. Changing government is no longer a risky choice, it is the only logical choice. Continuing to trust a party that has failed for five decades is accepting the perpetuation of the tragedy. June 25th is no longer a symbol of liberation. It has become a date captured by a party in crisis, which tries to recycle past glories to justify present abuses. Historical memory needs to be rescued from FRELIMO's monopoly and returned to the Mozambican people. We need to rewrite our history honestly, reevaluate our heroes with ethical criteria and rebuild the State on new foundations of justice and dignity. The 50 years of independence should not be celebrated with forced applause, but with reflection, courage and an unwavering commitment to change. Because the true hero is the one who serves the people, not the one who serves himself.

2025/12/3