Santomean writer and politician, Alda do Espírito Santo (1926 – 2010) distinguished herself by her struggle for the independence of Sao Tome and Principe. She is the author of the national anthem Independência total .
Born in a Portuguese colony
Daughter of Maria de Jesus Agostinho das Neves and João Graça do Espírito Santo, Alda Neves da Graça do Espírito Santo was born on April 30, 1926, into an influential family in São Tomé (Sao Tomé and Principe). This archipelago in the Gulf of Guinea, located 216 kilometers from the African coast, was then part of the Portuguese colonial empire.
Alda did her primary studies in São Tomé and Príncipe, and continued her secondary education in Portugal; at that time, no high school was opened on the archipelago. In 1948, Alda began her university studies in Lisbon to become a primary school teacher. There she met students from other Portuguese colonies (Angola, Cape Verde, Mozambique, etc.), and joined the Casa des Estudantes do Império association. (house of the students of the empire). Supported by the government, the association aims to defend the interests of the Portuguese colonies, but above all proves to be a meeting place for African students from these colonies, and a hotbed of nationalism.
Committed to independence
In 1951, Alda do Espírito Santo founded the Centro de Estudos Africanos (African Studies Center) with a few other students, including the Mozambican poet and journalist Noémia de Sousa, the Angolan poet Mário Pinto de Andrade, the Angolan politician Agostinho Neto, the Mozambican politician Marcelino dos Santos and the politician from Guinea-Bissau Amílcar Cabral.
In 1953, Alda returned to São Tomé, where she took a job as a teacher. Alongside her career, she remains active in nationalist circles, campaigning for the independence of Sao Tome and Principe. These activities earned him an arrest and several months in prison in December 1965, a sentence that did not prevent him from continuing to fight for independence.
Minister and President of the National Assembly
The archipelago gained independence in July 1975, with President Manuel Pinto da Costa. Alda do Espírito Santo holds several positions in his government, including Minister of Education and Culture, and Minister of Information and Culture. From 1980 to 1991, she served as President of the National Assembly. She will also be Secretary General of the National Union of Writers and Artists of Sao Tome and Principe.
Alda is indeed also a woman of letters. Writing in Portuguese, she has published several collections of poetry, including O Jorgal das Ilhas (1976) and O Nosso o Solo Sagrado de Terra (1978), texts that evoke the daily life of the island or the thirst for independence of colonized peoples. She is the one who writes the lyrics of Independência total , the national anthem of Sao Tome and Principe since independence in 1975.
Alda do Espírito Santo died at the age of 83 in a hospital in Luanda (Angola) where she was being treated. In Sao Tome and Principe, a five-day national mourning is decreed.
Total independence (national anthem)
Total independence
Glorious song of the people
Total independence
Sacred Hymn of Battle
The dynamism
of the national struggle
eternal oath
In the sovereign country
From Sao Tome and Principe
Unarmed guerrillas in hand
Living flame in the soul of the people
Gathering the children of the islands
Around the immortal homeland
Total, total and complete independence
Building on progress and peace
The happiest nation in the world
With the heroic arms of the people
Total independence
Glorious song of the people
Total independence
Sacred Hymn of Battle
Work, Struggle and Conquer
We're taking leaps and bounds
On the crusade of the African peoples
Raising the national flag
Voice of the people, present, present together
Vibrant in the choir of hope
Be a hero in the hour of danger
To be a hero at the country's rebirth
Total independence
Glorious song of the people
Total independence
Sacred Hymn of Battle
The dynamism
of the national struggle
eternal oath
In the sovereign country
From Sao Tome and Principe
Angolas
Fragile canoe, near the beach,
fabrics attached to the waist,
a floating candle...
The sea outside
canoe floating on the waters,
here is the ship of hunger.
Hard faces of Angolares
in the fight
on the waves
paddling, paddling
in the shark sea
everyday hunger.
Far away on the beach,
next to the coconut trees
on line,
boxes,
fiery cooking
in clay pots.
Today, tomorrow, every day
he conceals himself, the canoe on the waters.
The canoe is life
the beach is long
sand, endless sand.
In the moored canoes
with coconut trees on the beach.
The sea is life.
Beyond cocoa land
without telling the Angolares
“The land has its owner. »
And Angola, at the work of the sea,
Next to the beach
boxes
pestilent bumps
but he has no land.
For him, the struggle of the waves,
the fight,
canoes swaying in the sea
and the immense shoreline of the beach.
(The sacred ground belongs to us)