Angola "revisited" ...

My daughter was telling me yesterday that I tend to regularly inject my African memories into my daily routine, and the truth is I can't help doing it, not so much because I miss being in those far away territories but because some of the experiences I went through in some of those countries, namely Angola, have had a bearing on the way I see things nowadays.

As I was watching a photo exhibition organized by a Human Rights Organization, I came across a photo taken in 1997, depicting an Angolan family, underneath which was written as follows "(...) our interview was interrupted by two plain  cloth policemen and we spent the rest of the day in a police station and  finally got transferred to an immigration office (...)".

Engaging into conversation with anyone who could  eventually reveal the real situation in Unita invaded areas back in 2001 would arbitrarily lead to police retaliation or having to pay a fine as  in accordance with the seriousness of the "crime".

Taking photographs of Angolan statues, rivers and even the sky without having requested previous written authorization (with the exception of Agostinho Neto's mausoleum, which could not be photographed), was subject to pecuniary penalization or subtraction of the camera involved in the "crime".

I went through this situation and for having taken a picture of the sky soon after my arrival to Sumbe province, which I was visiting for the first time, I had to deliver a pallet containing 20 Cuca bottles (local beer)  and 4 bottles of wiskey to the emigration leading officer, in order to have my camera back.

What I felt to be an excess of security consciousness, based on the provided explanation, regarding airports,  rivers and even  other keys areas,  was to be later changed to what I then considered to be a form of corruption, that is to say, to do whatever you needed to do, even  the simple act of selling vegetables, fruit and fish in specific areas not contemplated in the law, irrespective of there not being any regulatory rules, you had to pay, that being the case of the already miserable street vendors and fishermen. And to further add to the situation, the applied fine depended on "arbitrary" factors, such as the colour of your skin, the clothes you were wearing or the amount of mercandise, etc.

In 2006, I somehow changed my opinion about the whole system, which policemen always seemed to be involved in, when I was stopped for over speed  limit,  whilst walking down Luanda bay.

It sounds unbelievable but it is true. 

I initially felt that maybe because of the proximity of the fortress overlooking the street I was caught on, in over walking speed limit, I should have slowed down ..., but the naked truth was, policemen had not been paid their salaries for quite a while and in a subtle "begging" yet  blunt way, made some money out of those, whose argumentative capacity was not enough to win over the imposing force.

"Opportunity makes the thief "or is it  the necessity that leads to it?

Note: Two paintings I bought in  Luanda in 2006