@ Maka Angola, Feb. 5

'MISERY AND MAGIC FUEL MAYHEM IN CAFUNFO': A new book from Angolan journalist and human rights defender Rafael Marques reveals why a supposedly 'peaceful protest' in a diamond-rich but dirt-poor north-eastern town erupted into bloody violence and shocked the nation.

Amid public outrage, there were claims that the security forces had used excessive force against peaceful demonstrators - but the truth lay elsewhere.

"Within a day of the news of terrible bloodshed during a protest march in the diamond-mining town of Cafunfo, some people had already drawn conclusions," says Rafael Marques. "It took me months of investigation to get to the truth."

The undisputable facts were these: when participants in a banned march clashed with security forces in Cafunfo on January 30th, 2021, at least a dozen people were killed and many more were injured. Two members of the security forces were lucky to survive a gruesome assault by multiple protestors wielding scythes and machetes.

Over six months of meticulous inquiry, award-winning journalist Rafael Marques gathered the evidence into a new book that reveals how traditional belief in magic was a major factor in mobilizing a vulnerable and illiterate group of people and inciting them to commit violence [....]

SIFTING ALTERNATIVE VERSIONS OF ‘TRUTH’

With meticulous attention to detail, Rafael Marques lays out the context behind the march:        

• How decades of neglect and underdevelopment have led to hunger, poverty and desperation. 
• How cynical local figures distorted regional history to make a flawed case for autonomy.  
• How leaders of this banned separatist movement manipulated locals into believing the world was watching as they paraded their anguish. 
• And how these same leaders organized two days of fasting with shamans conducting ‘magic’ rituals to convince those on the march that they were immune from harm and could fly away [....]