TV Sucesso's marriage with the government to raise the “torch of national unity”: opium to lull Mozambicans to sleep

Paulo Vilanculo "

Mozambique is going through a period of government crisis, marked by post-election demonstrations, rising unemployment, social tension and collective frustrations. In light of this situation, we can see the strengthening of a state strategy of popular distraction, symbolized by the “torch of national unity” and now widely packaged and disseminated by the television channel TV Sucesso through its program “Moçambique em concerto”. This article proposes a critical reading of the performance of this channel as an agent of symbolic silencing, in light of the theories of ideology and spectacle, questioning whether TV Sucesso is playing the contemporary role of “opium of the people”. Is TV Sucesso’s program Moçambique em concerto fulfilling an innocent entertainment role or, on the contrary, acting as an instrument of ideological manipulation, diverting the public’s attention from the real national crisis? TV Sucesso needs to be questioned in its current role: is it a television channel or an instrument of power to perpetuate the slumber of reason?

Mozambique is experiencing one of the most tense and uncertain periods in its recent history. The contested elections, marked by allegations of fraud, lit the fuse of instability. Youth unemployment, persistent poverty and disenchantment with institutions have further aggravated the feeling of widespread helplessness. Since then, the country has witnessed demonstrations, repression, silenced deaths and a growing rise in unemployment, especially among young people. The streets have become the stage for revolt, but also for hope. However, as voices are raised, those in power have perfected their mechanisms of containment, not always with weapons, but with screens. However, instead of openly confronting these issues in the media, what we have seen is the propagation of a discourse of “peace” and “unity”, symbolised by the so-called “torch of national unity”.

Founded with an editorial line focused on entertainment, TV Sucesso has transformed itself in recent days from a leisure channel to a device for shaping collective perception, using strategically oriented content to divert attention from the country's real dramas. While Mozambicans protest for bread, justice and dignity, the station broadcasts concerts, festive interviews and reports on the “torch of national unity”, a symbolic project sponsored by the government and promoted insistently by the station.

Mozambique in concert embraced the torch march in Nampula, which will then climb the province of Quelimane and successively shined bright shows from province to province, spending the millions scheduled to be made in the name of national unity in a silent theater of symbolic manipulation, highlighting the unsuspected protagonism of the program Moçambique em concerto on TV Sucesso, this symbolic artifact, widely promoted by TV Sucesso, emerges as a central piece of the government's communication strategy to reaffirm an appearance of stability and national unity.

The network’s coverage opts for a narrative in which everything is in order, where the future is promising and the heroes of the nation march with torches in their hands. This omission, as Louis Althusser taught us, is not neutral. It is configured as an “ideological apparatus of the State”, that is, a tool that serves to reproduce the conditions of domination, masking the real contradictions that affect the people. Instead of informing, TV Sucesso forms and conforms. Its programming operates as a true “opium of the people”, to paraphrase Marx, not in the religious sense of the term, but as an effective means of anesthetizing criticism, dampening revolt and manufacturing consensus. The artificial joy that emanates from its programs contrasts violently with the pain and discouragement in the outskirts, where unemployed young people and homeless families do not see any “success”.

The presence of the Minister of Youth and Culture, Caifadine Manasse, on the shoulders of a private TV station like TV Sucesso, in the middle of a cultural fair in Nampula, raises serious questions about the promiscuity between political power and private media, especially when the latter act as vehicles for government propaganda disguised as culture or entertainment. In a democratic state, the role of a Minister of Culture would ideally be to promote cultural pluralism, encourage freedom of expression and guarantee equal access to cultural production and dissemination. However, when the Minister symbolically appears “on the shoulders” of a broadcaster with an editorial line notoriously aligned with the government and with practices that exclude critical voices, this gesture becomes political and ideological.

The “torch of unity” itself may seem like a harmless gesture of patriotism. But its symbolism, promoted in the midst of a latent social crisis, reveals a calculated effort to erase recent memories of repression, political polarization and institutional failure. It is an attempt to reposition the country under an artificial cloak of peace and cohesion, while the people burn with anguish. As the French philosopher Guy Debord warned, “the spectacle is not a set of images, but a social relationship between people, mediated by images.” TV Sucesso thus assumes the role of managing this spectacle, producing a simulacrum of normality to lull the collective conscience.

The most disturbing thing is that this cultural anesthesia finds fertile ground in a country where access to plural information is limited and where a large part of the population consumes reality through the lens of television. TV Sucesso, with its broad reach and apparent neutrality, becomes a decisive political actor, not because of the news it reports, but because of the news it omits. When there is no distance between the representative of the State and the editorial line of TV Sucesso, an environment is created in which the “private” media becomes an informal arm of the government. Caifadine Manasse’s appearance alongside TV Sucesso in Nampula, more than a formal visit, is a symbolic gesture of political and ideological complicity. Sitting on the stage of a channel that erases these realities in the name of a television party is an act of disconnection from the priorities of the youth. This naturalization can be dangerous, as it undermines the idea of ​​an independent press.

The State, by using cultural events as showcases to reaffirm its authority or create the illusion of national harmony, is instrumentalizing culture. In this context, the minister becomes an agent of symbolic domestication, one who legitimizes alienation instead of combating it. “Culture, when institutionalized in the name of power, loses its capacity for contestation and becomes an ornament of domination,” Pierre Bourdieu. Culture, used as a distraction, and the media, used as a shield, become pieces on the same manipulation board. It is up to civil society and the Mozambican youth to understand this theater of appearances and demand truly emancipatory cultural and communication policies. As the minister responsible for the youth portfolio, he is expected to take an active stance in listening to the real concerns of young people, especially in Nampula, a province marked by high rates of unemployment and youth frustration.

The Mozambican crisis will not be overcome with torches and the entertainment of Mozambique in Concert, but with justice, structural reforms and a free press. While Mozambique in Concert promotes the spectacle of the torch, the people cry out for truth, for a voice and for change. May the torch of unity not become a bonfire of alienation. Democracy does not flourish in silence or under festive lights. It requires a confrontation of ideas, constant criticism and the courage to face reality. It is therefore urgent to denounce this strategy. May TV, and the program Mozambique in Concert, instead of being opium, once again be a mirror and, who knows, a beacon of true joy for Mozambicans.

2025/12/3