Basil Davidson, who has died aged 95, was a radical journalist in the
great anti-imperial tradition, and became a distinguished
historian of pre-colonial Africa. An energetic and charismatic figure,
he was dropped behind enemy lines during the second world war and
joined that legendary band of British soldiers who fought with the
partisans in Yugoslavia and in Italy. Years later, he was the first
reporter to travel with the guerrillas fighting the Portuguese in
Angola and Guinea-Bissau, and brought their struggle to the world's
attention.
(...)
Later he threw himself into the reporting of the African liberation
wars in the Portuguese colonies, particularly in Angola, Mozambique,
Cape Verde and Guinea-Bissau. Following in the steps of the great
campaigning journalist Henry Nevinson, who had reported from Angola in
1905, he made an epic journey on foot half a century later that took
him into the liberated areas of eastern Angola with the Popular
Movement for the Liberation of Angola. The MPLA became the government
at independence in 1975 and the epicentre of the cold war struggle in
Africa.
great anti-imperial tradition, and became a distinguished
historian of pre-colonial Africa. An energetic and charismatic figure,
he was dropped behind enemy lines during the second world war and
joined that legendary band of British soldiers who fought with the
partisans in Yugoslavia and in Italy. Years later, he was the first
reporter to travel with the guerrillas fighting the Portuguese in
Angola and Guinea-Bissau, and brought their struggle to the world's
attention.
(...)
Later he threw himself into the reporting of the African liberation
wars in the Portuguese colonies, particularly in Angola, Mozambique,
Cape Verde and Guinea-Bissau. Following in the steps of the great
campaigning journalist Henry Nevinson, who had reported from Angola in
1905, he made an epic journey on foot half a century later that took
him into the liberated areas of eastern Angola with the Popular
Movement for the Liberation of Angola. The MPLA became the government
at independence in 1975 and the epicentre of the cold war struggle in
Africa.
[OBITUARY]
ADENDA
Há intelectuais que, apesar de terem deixado o mundo dos vivos, são o âmago
da polémica entre os vivos. Basil Davidson é o exemplo disso. O jornalista e
historiador britânico morreu na última sexta-feira em Londres, mas já entrou no
centro das discussões da cena política angolana.
O britânico escreveu
alguns trabalhos sobre a guerra de libertação nacional, mas as suas obras estão
longe de serem consensuais.
O MPLA e a UNITA, as duas maiores formações
políticas angolanas, estão a trocar “farpas” sobre o papel do estudioso na luta
contra o colonialismo português.
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