Philosopher warns of “pseudo-identitarian claims” in Mozambique

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Philosopher warns of “pseudo-identitarian claims” in Mozambique

12:00 CAT | 27 Nov 2017

Lusa (File photo) / Severino Ngoenha

The Mozambican philosopher Severino Ngoenha warned on Friday of the appearance of “pseudo-identitarian” claims linked to the availability of resources, citing recent incidents in Mocímboa da Praia as a warning.

“Today, pseudo-identitarian claims are beginning to emerge because of the availability of mineral resources in our territory,” the rector of the Technical University of Mozambique (UDM) said, speaking on the last day of the Forum Mozefo conference promoted by the Soico media group.

Ngoenha said the incidents in Mocímboa da Praia, in northern Mozambique in October, in which an armed group attacked police stations, resulting in deaths on both sides, revealed the threat of religious intolerance and exposed the weakness of a society that must rethink its concept of identity.

“Mocímboa da Praia has shown us what religious intolerance can do. Imagine what regional intolerance could do,” he said.

The author of the book “From Independences to Freedoms” also understands that the threat of a political and economic neo-colonialism is a feature of the modern world, and the fact that Mozambique is not “strengthening its internal fabrics” – alluding to the absence of social cohesion – revealed a lack of awareness of the problem.

“We continue to pretend that we are a plural country. In fact, we need to create a really strong social fabric,” he said.

Ngoenha considered that intolerance in Mozambique extended to politics, and the exclusion of political parties and other social stakeholders in the peace negotiations between the government and the main opposition party, National Resistance of Mozambique (Renamo), was the clearest indicator of this.

“At the moment we are in a country with a truce, not at peace. Negotiations are being conducted by only two parties, but the problem concerns all of us,” he said, suggesting that general assemblies be convened to find a definitive solution to the political crisis in the country.

“Let us have a broader debate. We need to make room for everyone, because everybody’s opinion” can lead to “a balance,” he concluded.

Source: Lusa