"Slaughter in Mozambique" is an article published in the New York Times on November 14, 1989, shortly after Vonnegut's return from a visit to that country. It appeared next to an article by Tom Wicker about the recent destruction of the Berlin Wall and the beginnings of German Reunification.[1] Vonnegut mentioned he couldn't find a copy of this piece while compiling Fates Worse Than Death, but thought he remember it mentioning that the Mozambicans threw out the colonial Portuguese around the same time the United States was "thrown out of Vietnam", and that Mozambicans were forbidden to drive cars.[2] These points did not appear in the published work.
Summary[]
Afonso Dhlakama, head of RENAMO, 1993
Mozambique, "a self-confessed Marxist state", is a perfect place to see "freedom fighters" kill "lefties" in great quantities. Cars are useless for such a visit, since all the roads have been mined and even boats and low-flying airplanes are shot at by the National Resistance of Mozambique, or RENAMO, since they might be carrying food, clothes, or medicines for "the pinko refugees". Originally supported by "white Rhodesians and South African idealists", they have driven a million farm families into urban centers that cannot support them, leading to mass starvation. Certainly the refugees deserve this fate, since they failed to stop their government from declaring itself Marxist in 1975, when Mozambique gained its independence, even though "most of them have never heard of Karl Marx or Moscow".
Although the state is now moving toward a mixed economy—and according to American journalist William Finnegan its government is "no more corrupt than Boston's"—RENAMO will continue fighting for as long as it has ammunition. When Vonnegut was in Biafra during the Nigerian civil war, there was "no moral lesson" to the suffering, since neither side was Marxist and the war was clearly just about oil wealth. However, the 100,000 people killed in Mozambique in just the last two years, 10% of them children, as well as the destruction of infrastructure that could potentially make people think "well of a socialist government", is clearly evidence that democracy is still winning in the world. Many Americans unknowingly aid "freedom's enemies, the refugees", by donating to nefarious organizations like the International Red Cross or CARE, who seek to provide food and other essentials to them.[3]
See Also[]
- "My Visit to Hell", an account of Vonnegut's time in Mozambique, published two months later in Parade magazine
- ↑ "Decline Of the East", Tom Wicker, The New York Times, November 14, 1989, Sec. A, pg. 31.
- ↑ "Chapter XVII", Fates Worse Than Death, pg. 174.
- ↑ "Slaughter in Mozambique", The New York Times, November 14, 1989, Sec. A, pg. 31.