Africa-Press – Mozambique. Mozambican President Daniel Chapo said on Thursday that the he rise of the far-right around the world, including in Mozambique, uses politics of the “streets and social media” and that, through “violent demonstrations,” it attempts to “change regimes by force.”
“There is a global wave led by the far-right that believes politics is conducted on the streets, on social media, agitating people, disrespecting democratically elected and established institutions, and disrespecting legally established authorities,” stated Daniel Chapo, while teaching a class at the Lieutenant-General Armando Emílio Guebuza Higher Institute of Defence Studies (ISEDEF) in Maputo province, southern Mozambique.
For the head of state, the world, including Mozambique, has been the victim of a wave of “violent and illegal” demonstrations, noting that in recent years they have occurred in countries such as Angola, Kenya, Zimbabwe, South Africa, Venezuela, and the United States of America, following elections and driven by the far-right, whose goal is to remove liberation parties from power.
According to the Mozambican president, these demonstrations, worldwide, “were prepared long before the election results” by the far-right in the aforementioned countries, including Mozambique, whose goal is to attack regimes that they “tried to change through elections”.
“And since they fail, a new strategy of using force is needed, using protests, especially issues related to violent demonstrations, which turn into authentic urban terrorism, which consists of the destruction of public and private property to tear apart countries’ economies and consequently turn people against their own governments,” said Daniel Chapo, calling for an end to these acts.
“Each of us, as Mozambicans, needs to be extremely vigilant about this wave and this new way the far-right has found to engage in street politics, defying local authorities. This is not just in Mozambique, as I mentioned here, but across the region, and this has been more prevalent in those where the liberation parties remain in power,” said the Mozambican head of state.
Chapo called for everyone to intervene, including the Mozambican Armed Forces and Defence Forces, to stop these protests in the country, saying that they hinder the country’s development by destroying public and private infrastructure.
“One of the pretexts for these violent demonstrations [is that] they aim to forcibly change regimes. This is related to a completely misconception that has been spread about the meaning of democracy. They claim that democracy is alternation and must necessarily be alternation,” said the Mozambican president.
For Chapo, democracy “does not necessarily have to be alternation,” but a choice by a people who “decide to voluntarily vote for a particular leader, for a particular party organization”.
Mozambique has experienced a climate of intense social unrest since the October 2024 elections, with demonstrations and strikes called by Venâncio Mondlane, who rejected the election results that gave victory to Daniel Chapo. These demonstrations culminated in around 400 deaths, according to data from civil society organizations that monitored the process.
The Mozambican government previously confirmed at least 80 deaths, in addition to the destruction of 1,677 commercial establishments, 177 schools, and 23 health units during the demonstrations.
After months of protests against the election results, the head of state and Venâncio Mondlane met for the first time on March 23 in Maputo and agreed to attempt to pacify the country, repeating the meeting on May 21.
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