Marissa Moorman's guest appearances

Marissa Moorman

Unauthorized Disclosure

Steppin' Out of Babylon: Radio Interviews

Dahr Jamail

Medea Benjamin

James Howard Kunstler

Michael Mann

Ilhan Omar

Marc Lamont Hill

George H.W. Bush

Matt Taibbi

David Cobb

Aaron Maté

Laura Wells

Tulsi Gabbard

Daniel Pinchbeck

Josh Fox

Jamie Kilstein

OwlTail

Prexy Nesbitt

For this week's show, Rania Khalek and Kevin Gosztola present a conversation that was recorded several months ago on Angola history: Portuguese colonialism, Black anti-colonial resistance, United States imperialism, and the way in which this history reverberates during President Donald Trump's administration.  "Unauthorized Disclosure" welcomed two guests: Prexy Nesbitt, who is a presidential fellow at the Peace Studies Department at Chapman University in Orange County, California where he teaches Southern African History, and Marissa Moorman, who is the author of the book, Powerful Frequencies: Radio, State Power, and the Cold War in Angola, 1931-2002. Prexy was one of Kevin's professors in college, and he wanted to introduce some more people to the history of southern African countries. (Plus, Kevin attributes a significant part of his political awakening in college to Prexy.)  Our conversation begins with Marissa, who provides a brief background on Portuguese colonialism in Angola and the rise of black Angolan resistance that ignited a struggle for independence.  We pay particular attention to Jonas Savimbi, who was the militant leader of the National Union for the Total Independence of Angola (UNITA). Savimbi sought support from the U.S. government, and the government was willing to provide support during the Cold War because they believed Angola was a crucial battleground in the fight against the Soviet Union.  The Clark Amendment was repealed in 1985, which removed a prohibition to providing covert or overt U.S. assistance to militant groups in Angola. It was the result of a lobbying effort by conservative organizations like the Conservative Caucus, the Heritage Foundation, and the American Security Council, as well as Senator Jesse Helms, Representative Jack Kemp, and Representative Claude Pepper.  Savimbi was  as the leader of "true anti-communist freedom fighters." The militant leader even traveled to the United States in 1985 and hired a publicity firm called Black, Manafort, Stone and Kelly for $600,000/year. It was tied to President Ronald Reagan, and one of the partners at the firm was Paul Manafort. The firm was largely successful. Reagan said during the tour, "We want to be very helpful to what Dr. Savimbi and his people are tying to do."  Later, Marissa and Prexy talk about the civil rights movement and solidarity work with struggles against colonialism in southern Africa. They address how developments in Angola led to fractures in organizing, including among Black activists.  We really have not done a show on this part of the world before so we're pleased to share this conversation.

S7: Episode 23 - Prexy Nesbitt & Marissa Moorman

Marissa Moorman is Asssistant Professor of African History at the University of Indiana in Bloomington, Indiana. Her particular area of expertize is Angola and the formation of an Angolan culture during the end of Portuguese control of this African country. She pursued this subject in Angola where she has lived because there was so much happening with music during the struggle for independence from Portugal. Little had been written in English about this phenomenon of music and political struggle. Moorman talks about the history of the long and violent struggle for independence and how the country is, since the Peace Accords in 2002, finally free of war and able to focus on re-building and healing. She also mentions how she thinks that-- even though it has that much desired resource of oil -- Angola will not be attacked by the countries that need oil since, unlike in Nigeria, the oil sources are very difficult for protestors to reach since they are far off shore and technologically difficult to bring up the oil from the very very deep water where it's found. Also, the Angolan national oil company and other oil companies already control the oil and the government is insisting on the nationalization of the employee base. She talks about the presence in Africa of China and India as they are looking for oil.The second half of the interview is focused on the development of Angolan culture, particularly their own music, where people could put forth their feelings and opinions about politics as they went about their daily life. The the music that Moorman focuses on was written mostly between 1961-'65 and was later repressed from '75-'80 and has been brought back more recently as well as many more new types of popular music in which political and social comments are included. She finds that the connections between people and the good that has come out of this truly Angolan music that has been created in the wake of repression is even more important than the repression itself as it leads to the further formation of community.