In the Name of the People: Angola's Forgotten Massacre

by Lara Pawson

On 27th May 1977, a small demonstration against the MPLA, the ruling party of Angola - led to the slaughter of thousands, if not tens of thousands, of people. These dreadful reprisals are little talked of in Angola today - and virtually unknown outside the country. In this book, journalist Lara Pawson tracks down the story of what really happened in the aftermath of that fateful day. In a series of vivid encounters, she talks to eyewitnesses, victims and even perpetrators of the violent and confusing events of the 27th May and the following weeks and months. From London to Lisbon to Luanda, she meets those who continue to live in the shadow of the appalling events of 40 years ago and who - in most cases - have been too afraid to speak about them before. As well as shedding light on the events of 1977, this book contributes to a deeper understanding of modern Angola - its people and its politics; past, present and future.

Genres: Africa, History, Angola, Nonfiction, Politics, War

336 pages, Hardcover

First published May 1, 2014

About the author

Lara Pawson lives in London. She is the author of three books.

Spent Light (CB editions, January 2024) is a hybrid work of prose combining fiction, memoir and history. It was shortlisted for the The Goldsmiths Prize 2024 and was a book of the year in the The Guardian, the Times Literary Supplement, Frieze magazine, and New Statesman. It has received rave reviews in The Guardian, the TLS, The Telegraph, the Financial Times, The Irish Times, The Spectator, New Statesman, The Idler, and the Daily Mail. It has been translated into Serbian (Prometej, 2024) and Dutch (Koppernik, 2025), and is soon to be published in the United States with McNally Editions.

This Is the Place to Be (CB editions, 2016) is a fragmentary memoir. In 2017, it was shortlisted for the Gordon Burn Prize, the PEN Ackerley Prize, and the Bread and Roses Award for Radical Publishing. It has been translated into French as Là où tout se passe (Les Éditions de l’Observatoire, 2018) and into Spanish as Este es el lugar (LOM Ediciones, 2021).


In the Name of the People: Angola’s Forgotten Massacre (IB Tauris, 2014) is a work of investigative journalism, memoir and history. It was runner-up for the Royal Africa Society Book of the Year 2015, longlisted for The Orwell Prize 2015, and shortlisted for both the Bread & Roses Award for Radical Publishing 2015 and the Political Book Awards Debut Political Book of the Year 2015. It was translated into Portuguese as Em Nome Do Povo: O massacre que Angola silenciou (Ediçôes Tinta da China, 2014).

Her commentary, essays and reviews have been published in many places and she reviews regularly for The Guardian and the Times Literary Supplement.

Between 1996 and 2007, Lara worked as a journalist, mainly for the BBC World Service. She lived and travelled widely in Angola, Ivory Coast, Mali and Ghana, and also reported from Namibia, Ethiopia, Burkina Faso, Niger and São Tomé & Príncipe. During this period she also wrote for many other publications, including specialist press on Africa, mainstream newspapers, magazines and the wires.

She is represented by Lisa Baker at Aitken Alexander Associates.

Reviews

[AJ Payne · Rating 3 out of 5]

I read this one a little bit ago and forgot to review it - oops!

I don't think I've read a history book quite like this one. I ended up having to also bin it in the bio/memoir genre because this is not your straightforward history book. It's as much about the author's life and attempts to get to the bottom of the story as it is about the actual story of the events of 27 May 1977 in Angola. I suppose some might find this effective, but I found myself becoming a bit annoyed because I wanted to know about Angola - not about the author. Nonetheless, it was an interesting way to approach a history book.

I found the writing to be very well done, and the author's introspection on colonialism and its aftermath to be good, and of course it's a book about Angola in English so it's rare enough to warrant reading and a decent review.

And to be perfectly honest, I'm not sure how the topic could have been approached because there isn't a straightforward history to be told about the events of 27 May because no one really knows (or, at least, those who do know aren't talking) so it's a matter of piecing together different threads to see what makes sense. And little of it does. So again, perhaps the author's way of telling the story as a series of recollections rather than a narrative of an event in history is the only way to do it given the shadows, lies, and misinformation lost to history.

But Angola does remain a fascinating place, and this book definitely opens the door a bit on the country for the typical English speaker who doesn't know much about Angola.

[Álvaro Athayde · Rating 5 out of 5]

First in Portuguese, after in English.

Esta obra é extraordinariamente interessante… e importante!

Tenho a impressão de que a autora — inglesa, protestante e socialista — não se apercebeu que a sua grelha de análise marxista — logo germânica e calvinista — é absolutamente inaplicável numa Angola que é banta, lusa, animista e católica.

Não se tendo embora apercebido desse problema apercebeu-se que as narrativas dos seus camaradas socialistas não correspondiam à realidade que ela teve oportunidade de cheirar, palpar, provar, ouvir e ver.

Por isso empenhou-se na busca do Vinte e Sete e o resultado da sua busca é um conjunto de descrições, quase fotográficas, que são um documento de antropologia cultural impressionante e absolutamente inestimável.

¡¡¡ DE LEITURA OBRIGATÓRIA !!!

Post-scriptum: Na página 122 a autora reproduz uma declaração de João Van-Dúnem, declaração que considera estranha, que não consegue compreender e que acaba por desvalorizar. Transcrevo:

O João afirma que o MPLA usou Nito Alves para combater grupos de extrema-esquerda, como o Comité Amílcar Cabral e o Comité Henda e outros grupos que surgiram mais tarde, como a Organização Comunista de Angola (OCA).

– Em termos sociais, porém, não tinha peso nenhum – vangloria-se o João. – Não tinha linhagem, como a minha família, que era uma poderosa família de proprietários fundiários de Luanda. Tínhamos demasiados lugares no Bureau Politico, por isso não podiam matar-nos a todos.

Aparentemente divertido pelo seu acesso de snobismo, deixa escapar uma curta gargalhada que me desconcerta. O seu complexo de classe confunde-me. Eis um homem que eu julgava ser um radical, um homem que sonhou com uma revolução socialista. Uma vez pediu-me para o ajudar a emoldurar umas fotografias do Che Guevara. Acedi, presumindo que, atendendo a sua história, devia ter uma colecção pessoal. Em vez disso, pediu-me que lhe comprasse um conjunto daqueles postais a preto e branco que existem um pouco por toda a parte e que retiraram ao herói argentino já falecido todo o seu fervor ideológico, convertendo-o num insipido produto de consumo, diluído em felicitações, votos de feliz aniversario e vagas declarações de amizade. Ao ouvi-lo vangloriar-se das suas origens privilegiadas, sinto-me ridícula e ingénua. Não sei se reparou ou não na minha irritação, mas os meus sentimentos serenam a medida que continua a falar no irmão.

O que o João Van-Dúnem diz é rigorosamente verdade.

Os Van-Dúnem – tal como os Viera Lopes, os Pinto de Andrade, e outros – pertencem à elite Ambaquista – no Brasil, em São Paulo, seriam ditos Quatrocentões, em Portugal Fidalgos, na Grã-Bretanha Nobility – e o Nito Alves não pertencia à dita elite.

E também é rigorosamente verdade que em Angola os problemas nunca foram de cor, de raça, sempre foram, ainda são, de classe.

Now in English. / Agora em Inglês.

This work is unusually interesting ... and important!

I get the impression that the Author — English, Protestant and Socialist — did not realize that hers Marxist Analysis — inherently Germanic and Calvinist — is absolutely inapplicable in Angola which is Bantu, Latin, Animist and Catholic.

Although not having realized this problem she realized that the narratives of hers socialist comrades did not corresponded to the reality that she was able to hear, palpate, see, smell and taste.

Therefore she strove in search of the Vinte e Sete (Twenty-Seven) and hers search results are a set of almost photographic descriptions which are an amazing and absolutely invaluable document of Cultural Anthropology.

¡¡¡ MANDATORY READ !!!

[Julian Richards · Rating 5 out of 5]

Gripping, brave, beautifully written in a lucid, rhythmic, acrobat voice. The author's honesty is as impressive as it is necessary, refusing to turn away from her own implication in colonial history and attitudes, from the shortcomings of her ideological allies, or from the limits of what her enormous labours can reveal. This pushes this excellent journalist way beyond the comfort zone of her profession.

[Wessel van Rensburg · Rating 5 out of 5]

Incredible journalism, and even better writing. A page turner that spares no shibboleths.

[Akira · Rating 5 out of 5]

I am deeply grateful for this book. It took me to paths I was yet to know and explore, I've learned a lot about my country's history and it was suddenly so easy to understand the grief and culture of fear you can still sense among some of us. Lara Pawson wrote this book passionately and truthfully, "bringing her sources to life like a novelist" - as stated by M. John Harrison. I cried in the first chapter learning Maria's background, I cried because I feel her pain and the weight we still carry. I am mostly appreciative of Lara crediting and referencing several Angolan artists that ultimately allowed her to finish this book. (including but not limited to the bibliography and notes section displayed, which I always find interest in reading and getting more recommendations)

The author did her best to explore both sides of the story - as you should when trying to find out any truth - and making careful and thoughtful judgements about everything and everyone she encountered, still sharing every information she recollected. There is not much to say; this is a book I highly recommend.

[Joe Frank · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love this book, although it is a difficult read at times. I thought I knew a lot about the civil war in Angola because of studying the history of the frontline states while I was an exchange student in South Africa in 2000. But this book opened my eyes to a number of internal conflicts within the MPLA that I hadn't heard about before, which include really horrible human rights abuses. That's not to let UNITA and the apartheid South African government off with a free pass - they did horrible things too. But what I learned from Lara's book is that even within the MPLA there was horrific repression, suppression, and mass killings of individuals who did not toe the party line. And the impacts of those days in the late 1970s and early 1980s spilled over into the civil war, and still have a significant impact on the lives of Angolans and Angola ex-pats in Portugal and the U.K., even today. I also appreciated the way that Lara included herself in the story, and acknowledged she was not an omniscient narrator, even at times questioning her own motivations for writing the story of what happened on and after 27 May 1977.

[Amy · Rating 2 out of 5]

I stopped reading this book on page 80. When I first started reading this book, I thought it was well-written and beautifully descriptive. I wonder if a different author took over the writing midway through because it lost it descriptive narrative. Instead, it became convoluted and confusing. I lost sense of what was happening, especially with the overuse of acronyms. By page 81, you have to sort through all the OCA, MPLA, FNLA, UNITA all mean and who side each takes. It started making my head hurt. I began to wonder who the audience this book is written for.

[Laura · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is a good introduction to Angola for the uninitiated like me, although the focal point is the relatively unknown massacre of 27 May 1977. A faction of the ruling party within the MPLA - the dominant party - stages what is alternately described as either a coup d etat or a peaceful demonstration - and the consequences are dire. The whole faction is wiped out by the rest of the party through a massacre where Cuban forces have a key role to play. No-one knows exactly how many people were killed and murdered post the 27 May and the event is still hanging on the current government's consciousness as one of the worst retaliation actions of its history. The author's style is very personal and at times I found it slightly too keen on exposing unnecessary personal detail - especially part 1. However, as she delves into part 2 and 3 of her work her considerations become deeper and her research work is outstanding. Pawson presents the information she gathers through interviews as it is with characters' foibles and quirks mixed in with their personal viewpoints. I'd like to see more on Angola from this author. Maybe a collection of her past articles for the BBC.

[David Smith · Rating 5 out of 5]

In the Name of the People is one of those books I read because I thought I should. I don’t know nearly enough about Angola and I know enough about Lara Pawson that if she writes a book on the subject, then it’s certainly worth taking a look at. My only fear is that I might not like it enough to sound convincing when I give her my impressions.
No need to worry, on my part. I picked the book up yesterday and finished it today. It’s one of those I don’t want it to end sort of books. It is courageous, it is well-written, it is vital and it is even, at times, funny. It almost feels as if In the Name of the People was written for me. Of course it wasn’t but it’s the kind of book that, while narrow-casting on one specific event in Angola’s history, provides a much bigger picture of how the country, and in particular its leadership, operates.
Very pleased to have this book in my library.
Perhaps a series could be in the making – recent history viewed through the lens of a watershed moment – perhaps Marikana merits a similar effort.

[Nic · Rating 5 out of 5]

A brilliant approach to writing history. The author includes herself without intruding. Her interview subjects are beautifully portrayed. The complexities and ambiguity of the topic are conveyed clearly, but without oversimplifying. No conclusive truth is uncovered but, far from being unsatisfying, this highlights the elusiveness of truth in a realm of partial observation, subjective memory and political misinformation.

[Pam Thomas · Rating 5 out of 5]

Its a story of human and political dimensions of the forgotten people of angola and the massacre and how everything was covered up by British Journalist and Historians and the role of the cuban forces in the killings and racism against black africans. ITS A STORY WHICH SHOULD NEVER BE FORGOTTEN

[Becky Dale · Rating 4 out of 5]

An excellently told tale. Lara Pawson delivers a perfect weave of personal experience, interview and historical context to detail the events surrounding the political massacre in Angola on 27 May 1977

[NOAH · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great book. Would've liked to know more about UNITA and FAPLA