A luta continua

A luta continua (in English: the struggle continues) was the rallying cry of the FRELIMO movement during Mozambique’s war for independence. The phrase is Portuguese (the official language of the former Portuguese colony) and was used by FRELIMO leader Samora Machel to cultivate popular support against the Portuguese colonial presence.

Machel became the first president of an independent Mozambique in 1975 and continued to use the phrase a luta continua as an unofficial national motto. Posters bearing the phrase can still be found on the walls of Maputo, the nation’s capital.

Use in popular media

The phrase has also been used as the title of a 1971 film on the struggle for Mozambican independence and as the title of a Mozambique-inspired song popularized by South African singer Miriam Makeba and written for her by her daughter Bongi after she attended the independence ceremony of Mozambique in 1975 and then released on the album Welela in 1989.

In addition, the phrase appears at the end of the final credits of four films directed by Jonathan Demme:

A Luta Continua

A Luta Continua (Portuguese for The Struggle Continues) is a studio album by Big Youth that was released in 1986.

Track listing

All tracks composed by Herbie Miller and Manley Buchanan

Personnel

Recording Information