ABSTRACT

The main aim of the Portuguese colonial administration was to perpetuate economic exploitation. In its final years, the colonial state's ideology was provided by the propaganda themes of General Spinola, the penultimate colonial governor. Colonial logic is inspired by direct domination. Independence, symbolizing a political rupture, engenders a new and indirect dependence, which can be characterized as neocolonialism. Whenever this occurs, the state apparatus is a tributary of the colonial forms of organization and reproductive schemes. The most conspicuous aspect of the colonial legacy in Bissau is the civil service mentality. This mentality was so strong that it was victorious in its war against the 'spirit of struggle'. The confrontation between the two principles was only superficial and the second adapted itself to the first. The vitality of the petty bourgeoisie also comes from its capacity to accumulate capital and wealth by extra-economic means.