American author and socialist activist John Catalinotto granted an exclusive interview to Investig’Action to talk about his new book, Turn the Guns Around. We discuss the resistance to the Vietnam War from within the US army and historical soldier revolts that were decisive in revolutionary uprisings, turning «a weapon of oppression into a tool for human liberation», and what progressive forces can learn from this.[...]
Going back to Portugal, one of the appendices you have in the book is a very interesting pamphlet that Amílcar Cabral wrote to the colonial army, in some sense to his enemy. What’s his message?
I wanted to include this pamphlet specifically because it showed that the colonized peoples understood, and the leader of their revolution understood that it was possible to reach into the colonial power’s army, as there was a class struggle going on there. These soldiers were not fighting for their own interests, or for their families’ interests, or for their class interests. They were fighting for the fascists and for the rich in Portugal, actually for England and the United States as well. So he directed a pamphlet, a long one, which I translated to make it available to the US movement. / LER: investigaction.net – parte 1 e 2
Em castelhano: «Volved las armas» – Entrevista a John Catalinotto (redroja.net)