Sagrada Esperança (Sacred Hope)
Sagrada Esperança (Sacred Hope) belongs to the Vozes do Mundo (Voices of the World) collection, composed of 3 books with one author each. The cover design was done by Sebastião Rodrigues. Printed in Portugal, at Lisgráfica, SARL - Queluz de Baixo, this is the first edition, published in 1974, the year of the Carnation Revolution, by Livraria Sá da Costa Editora in Lisbon.
The author, Agostinho Neto, was an incredibly important Angolan politician who led the MPLA (People's Movement for the Liberation of Angola). Having lived through the Portuguese military dictatorship, his links with the Portuguese Communist Party and anti-colonial political activities resulted in his imprisonment by the political police, the PIDE, several times during his life. He wrote most of his poems in prison.
His various imprisonments led to major international revolts and the revolutionary climate generated triggered the Colonial War. After the 25th of April of 1974 (the Carnation Revolution) and the independence of Angola, Agostinho Neto received the Lenin Peace Prize and was proclaimed its first president, leading the country with Marxist-Leninist ideology.
The designer, Sebastião Campos Afonso Rodrigues dos Santos (Dafundo, 1929-1997) was a celebrated figure in the field of graphic design in Portugal during the second half of the 20th century, best known for directing the magazine Almanaque. Sebastião Rodrigues collaborated with the Estado Novo regime, notably with the National Information Secretariat.
Although he can in fact be called a "designer of the regime," Sebastião Rodrigues presented himself as apolitical, working on any project regardless of ideology, always prioritizing the practice of design.
Analyzing these elements and taking into account the entire context behind this book, it is not surprising that the author's name is highlighted, considering that Agostinho Neto was the first president of independent Angola and the leader of a movement. His name carries the weight of an arduous struggle.
The colors of the cover, besides alluding to the Angolan flag, also illustrate this battle. Together with the title "Sacred Hope," they paint the image of a night sky and the light of faith in the brighter days yet to come, thematically consistent with the poetry contained within its pages. This is the dialectic of light and hope in Neto's lyricism. Light frequently appears in opposition to the darkness of the colonial period. Geopolitical clarity, the search for truth and a dignified life intersect in his verses, drawing a horizon where the conquest of national sovereignty is seen as an inseparable step towards the total emancipation of the African continent.
The dehumanization and precariousness experienced in colonial Angola were so harsh that they resulted in the eventual exhaustion of all peaceful means of action, leading to the explosion that was the revolution of February 4, 1961. This day marked the beginning of the armed acts, being an attempt to rescue political prisoners that resulted in a massacre by the Portuguese police and army against defenseless populations, in addition to the violent response against the combatants. It was poems like those of Agostinho Neto that mobilized the masses. Their effectiveness can be attributed to the “Intelligent Music” of their writing: Neto's poetry (with special emphasis on emblematic works such as Sacred Hope) uses a very particular rhythmic and musical cadence that serves as a vehicle for seduction and ideological mobilization. The poetic technique is directly converted into a structured political weapon for combat and mass awareness.
Thus, the book is admittedly a political manifesto, with the poetry of Angolan authors like Agostinho Neto being crucial in the construction of a national identity capable of claiming its autonomy.
Bibliography:
https://publicacoes.unigranrio.edu.br/magistro/article/view/1059/621
https://pt.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sebastião_Rodrigues
https://dxd.pt/portugal-pelo-lapis-de-sebastiao-rodrigues/
https://www.tipografos.net/portugal/sebastiao-rodrigues.html
https://www.marxists.org/portugues/tematica/mpla/pdf/68.pdf