Useless and Counterproductive – Folha de S. Paulo, December 30, 1973

by Plinio Corrêa de Oliveira

The UN’s uselessness was well known to those who closely follow international politics. However, it has now become apparent even to those least familiar with the subject, since the merely decorative role—officially declared as such—of Mr. Kurt Waldheim, Secretary-General of the United Nations, at the Geneva conference is equivalent to proclaiming, in the eyes of all, the uselessness of this ostentatious supranational body. In fact, the UN exists to maintain peace. Once the Arab-Israeli conflict was declared, no one asked for its good offices to bring the warring parties to an understanding. And the Geneva negotiations are taking place outside its framework. So what is the UN for?

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Being ineffective in achieving its specific goal is already a very sad thing for any organization.

But ineffectiveness is not the worst thing for an organization. Even sadder is when it turns against its own purpose. This is what is happening with the UN’s actions on the African continent. I am referring to its recent resolution, which declares that it no longer recognizes the Lisbon government as the representative of the Portuguese overseas provinces, namely Angola, Mozambique, and Guinea.

The UN is thus committing juridical violence by granting independence to those three authentic parts of Portuguese territory. In other words, it is taking up the cause of the communist guerrillas who recently “proclaimed” the independence of Portuguese Guinea and is fanning the flames of revolt in the hinterlands of Angola and Mozambique, where bands of communists are seeking to stir up native populations against whites. In this way, the UN is inciting sedition for Russia’s benefit.

It is striking this blow against Portugal by shrewdly taking advantage of the moment when the Portuguese nation, having opened its airports to American planes during the Arab-Israeli war, is, to some extent, suffering the consequences of oil blackmail by the sheikhs of the Persian Gulf, who are also being manipulated by the Kremlin.

In other words, aggressive and imperialist Russia is at the heart of the issue. By attempting to detach Portugal’s overseas territories and by encouraging armed struggle in Africa, the UN serves as an instrument of Moscow’s great imperialist attack on the West.

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But some readers may ask, don’t the blacks of the Portuguese colonies have the right to separate from Portugal? The answer comes to mind as another question. Who told the reader that they want this independence? What proof is there that the insurgent bands in Portuguese Africa represent the totality—or at least the majority—of black Portuguese? To date, no one has produced such proof. This shows that it does not exist. For if it did, how loudly it would have been trumpeted by communist propaganda throughout the world!

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This issue is of great concern to us Brazilians. The UN’s attack on Portugal’s unity harms all the peoples of the Portuguese-speaking community. By threatening to place Portugal’s overseas provinces under the same veiled Soviet protectorate regime as the other “decolonized” peoples of Africa, the UN shows it is moving from useless to harmful. And it will become increasingly so as it ceases to be jointly controlled by the US and Russia and becomes a pawn manipulated solely by Moscow.