A luta continua

A luta continua (in English: the struggle continues) was the rallying cry of the FRELIMO movement during Mozambique’s war for independence. The phrase is Portuguese but was used by FRELIMO leader Samora Machel to cultivate popular support against the Portuguese colonial presence.^[1]

Machel became the first president of an independent Mozambique in 1975 and continued to use the phrase a luta continua as an unofficial national motto. Posters bearing the phrase can still be found on the walls of Maputo, the nation’s capital.^[2][3]

Use in popular media

The phrase has also been used as the title of a 1971 film on the struggle for Mozambican independence^[4] and as the title of a Mozambique-inspired song popularized by South African singer Miriam Makeba and written for her by her daughter Bongi after she attended the independence ceremony of Mozambique in 1975^[5][6] and then released on the album Welela in 1989.^[7]

In addition, the phrase appears at the end of the final credits of four films directed by Jonathan Demme:

• Philadelphia (1993)
• The Silence of the Lambs (1991)
• Married to the Mob (1988)
• Something Wild (1986)

The phrase appeared on T-shirts worn by LGBT rights activists at the funeral of David Kato in Uganda in 2011.^[8]

A luta continua is also widely used in Nigeria by students and activists. The National Association of Nigerian Students (NANS) utilizes this phrase at every given opportunity. Protests, riots, and other actions to demand for the rights of Nigerian students are termed as "Aluta".

Nigerian student leaders also do claim that they are in Aluta Republic and their President claims to be the Commander-in-Chief of Aluta Forces. They always answer the phrase with another phrase: "Victoria ascerta" meaning "Victory is certain". "Aluta continua... ...victoria ascerta" "The struggle continues... ...victory is certain"

References