Online Protest in Memory of Activist Ganga
-600x280.jpg)
Maria José Vitorino de Carvalho has one mission in life: to demand justice for the political assassination of her eldest son, Manuel Hilbert de Carvalho Ganga, who was shot twice in the back and killed by a member of the Presidential Security Unit (USP) on November 23, 2013.
Maria José Vitorino de Carvalho believes that it is her right, as a mother and citizen, to demand justice. As a grandmother she feels that she has a responsibility, in time, to explain to her 3 year old grandson, Uriel Tomás, the efforts made by the family in the face of the impunity of the murderer and those who ordered the execution of his father.
On the mother’s request, Maka Angola and Club-K are currently promoting a photographic protest online in memory of Ganga. Citizens who wish to express their solidarity with the victim’s family, those who wish to fully exercise their citizens’ rights and show courage, may post photos of posters referring to Ganga (see address details below). Angolan authorities persecute, torture and kill people with impunity, but they cannot torture or kill the photos in this protest. They cannot even burn them. We are organizing a virtual protest.
Manuel Hilberto de Carvalho Ganga, a civil engineer, was shot dead as a result of his human rights activism. He was putting up posters on the walls of the Coqueiros Stadium when he was arrested, along with seven other members of CASA-CE, by members of the USP. The posters were demanding justice in the Cassule and Kamalingue case (two victims of brutal assassinations, on the May 27 and 29, 2012, by members of the National Police, State Security Services and the MPLA’s militia group).
António Baião, who was with Ganga at the time, gave an account of the event to Maka Angola: “There were eight of us, including Ganga. The soldiers surprised us and ordered us to stop [putting up the posters]. They corralled us in the passage at gunpoint for about 45 minutes”. Then, they were put in a vehicle and driven to USP headquarters, beside the presidential palace, where one of the soldiers shot Ganga dead, shortly after midnight.
Cassule and Kamalingue were executed for being involved in organising a protest march, a right defended by the Constitution. Ganga was shot dead for expressing his solidarity with the victims, for exercising his constitutional right to freedom of speech.
The government claims to respect the Constitution. But the evidence is clear: official authorities carry out political assassinations; they arrest people arbitrarily and torture protestors, all with complete impunity.
This on-line photographic protest will celebrate the life of Ganga for all those who believe in the power of solidarity and who uphold the principles of the Constitution and the inalienable right to exercise citizenship. Any one of us could be the next victim.
The campaign, which will be promoted on social networks, will run from November 23 to December 23. Send your photo to info@makaangola.org.