The Voice of the Oppressed of Pérola

ALIPIOFREEMAN"

The year that is ending does not allow for silence. It demands firm words, active memory, and civic courage.
In Mozambique, the calendar didn't just turn pages: it confirmed old wounds and deepened social fractures.
and exposed, without disguise, the structural crisis of the State. The country ends the year carrying the weight of a political crisis,
social and moral changes that have become deeply ingrained in the national fabric, leaving visible and invisible marks.
Some of them are still unnamed, others deliberately ignored.

The year began in the most complicated way possible, with the confirmation of an electoral farce that solidified collective distrust.
and paved the way for the rise to power of yet another president perceived by vast sectors of society as illegitimate.
A power built upon the blood of hundreds of innocent people who refused to accept the deception could not possibly be established.
with gestures of humility or reconciliation. The posture that followed was predictable: visceral arrogance,
A detachment from the real suffering of the people and an inflammatory discourse that finds no correspondence in concrete actions.

Fear and anger lingered throughout the year as a permanent state. Mutual distrust crystallized.
It has invaded social relations, contaminated public debate, and pushed society toward a dangerous polarization.
Mozambique today lives like a powder keg waiting for a new fuse, in an atmosphere of permanent tension.
where dialogue is proclaimed, but rarely practiced with sincerity.

The president continues on his aimless path, alternating between bold statements and empty promises.
without these translating into firm decisions or structural measures capable of alleviating collective suffering.
Meanwhile, public resources continue to be consumed on expensive trips and large delegations.
In stark contrast to the lives of millions of Mozambicans who struggle daily to secure the basics.

In everyday reality, salaries arrive in dribs and drabs, uncertainty settles into homes, and unemployment spreads.
Companies and multinationals with a history in the country are closing down, throwing thousands of workers into the informal economy.
or in silent despair. The cost of living rises, the currency loses value, and the future is transformed, for many,
in an exercise of daily endurance.

To the academics of this land, the appeal remains unavoidable: knowledge cannot serve as an ornament of power.
When doctors and professors abandon criticism and choose instead to flatter the system,
The academy loses its reason for being and the State decays more rapidly.
depriving society of one of its most important tools for moral and intellectual oversight.

In the north of the country, in Cabo Delgado, the tragedy continues to be shrouded in strategic silences and convenient narratives.
After years of conflict, the inability—or unwillingness—to present a clear interpretation remains.
about the nature of war, its actors, financiers and beneficiaries. The deaths of civilians,
Forced displacements and the systematic destruction of entire communities are downplayed in the name of
of apparent stability and economic interests linked to natural resources.

While blood flows, rubies, gas, and other riches make their way to the major international markets.
When people are asked to tone down the war narrative with the argument that it will deter investment,
What is demanded in practice is silence in the face of death and the normalization of barbarity.

The country is fragmented. The north is numbed by fear and neglect.
the center is resisting thanks to local experiences of more responsible governance,
while national leadership continues to fail in building an inclusive project.
National Highway Number One, transformed into ruins and a veritable graveyard of dreams,
It is a symbol of the state's structural negligence and indifference to preventable deaths.

The institutions reveal a profound breakdown: scandals without accountability.
Selective justice, announced reforms that never materialize, and public communication.
which confuses propaganda with information. The youth, who make up the majority in the country, oscillate between frustration, revolt, and escapism.
in a nation that seems incapable of offering clear horizons.

It is impossible to end the year without mentioning those who disappeared in the post-election struggle.
Citizens whose whereabouts remain unknown, leaving families caught between hope and perpetual grief.
The disappearance of journalist and activist Arlindo Chisale, still unexplained to this day, remains an open wound.
in the national consciousness, a symbol of a country that has not yet resolved its relationship with the truth,
Freedom of speech and human life.

Thousands of protesters, enthusiasts, and sons and daughters of this land lost their lives throughout the post-election process.
not by foreign weapons, but by the hands of the State itself, simply for demanding change,
Transparency and respect for the popular will. These deaths cannot be erased by empty speeches of reconciliation.
nor buried under tables of dialogue that ignore those who were left behind.

If we truly aspire to reconciliation as a people, it is imperative that we look to these families.
that their pain be acknowledged, that the disappearances be clarified, and that material, psychological, and moral support be provided.
To those who have lost children, parents, and siblings. There will be no true dialogue until there is sincere connection.
with those who are wounded in their souls, abandoned by the State and silenced by political expediency.

In healthcare there is a shortage of medicines, in education there is a lack of resources, and in rural areas there is a lack of serious and sustainable policies.
This is a stark portrait of a year in which promise far exceeded delivery.
...and in which Christmas emerges more as an appeal to conscience than as a celebration.

Nevertheless, Mozambique resists. There are citizens who refuse to be silent, journalists who persist,
Community leaders who make a difference and voices that insist on denouncing injustice.
The Pearl of the Indian Ocean is wounded, but not dead.

This Christmas, the request is simple yet profound: that we invest in medicine, not weapons.
Let life be prioritized over war; let us look after the poor who have nothing to eat.
and that it be governed with humanity, truth, and historical responsibility.

2025/12/3