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25-4-2003 - REVOLUÇÃO DOS CRAVOS

9:36am GMT

Portugal celebrates the Carnation Revolution today -- 29 years of liberation. This country lived in dire poverty and oppression under fascist dictators Antonio Salazar and Marcello Caetano for 48 years.

This from an essay, 'Portugal: a revolution that worked' by history teacher Rui Bebiano. "Generations of Portuguese grew up and lived in a strongly traditional and rural society, under a rigid political authority and a Catholic culture closer to Tridentine strictness than to the changes of Vatican II. April 1974 triggered a series of transformations. The country was profoundly and definitively changed. and the lives and tile cultural attitudes of the Portuguese took a radically different turn. That day remains vividly alive in the collective memory of the nation.

Perhaps more amazing than the changes, is the pace at which they took place. No other European country has urbanised its society, reduced the birth rate, reduced infant mortality, changed consumer habits, implemented universal suffrage, launched an all-inclusive welfare system, changed the state-church relationship, created a middle-class, opened the frontiers to people and goods, educated the population - and wound up an empire to boot - at the speed with which Portugal has."

This has to be the coolest revolution ever as no shots were fired, no one was killed, even though the liberators were ready for anything. Just before midnight on the 24th, the song E Depois do Adeus was played on Rádio Eurofestival to signal the MFA (Movimento das Forças Armadas) to take their positions. At 12:25am, Rádio Renasença broadcast the song Grandoa, Vila Morena, the signal that the revolution was on.

This is from the words of the man who commanded the military personnel, Salgueiro Maia " We came to the city to take the city. I passed through streets and past houses ensuring that the sleep and the silence of these streets and homes was not disturbed. I occupied the old areas of Lisbon, circling the streets that lead from the Rossio, aware of the furtive movements of the ships on the river. With the aid of our sentinels and of our agents we travelled to the very heart of the long Portuguese night - a night that had, according to the older ones, lasted 48 hard and immovable years. It had been a night that divided us, leaving us without will, morale or history.

When I became involved in the planning of this mission, I swore on my honour that I would see it through to its end. For this I would give my soul - my life. I knew that it could be the end of me or my salvation. I was told, in no uncertain terms, that this could be viewed as a voyage of madness that would lead to death. For this reason I said my goodbyes to my wife and to my children. I was prepared to die for them. They, of course, opposed me, it is better to be. As the writer Miguel Torga was to write one day - it only makes sense to die for that which is loved.

I came to see a mass of people, all raising their voices, placing flowers in the muzzles of the rifles. No-one needed to kill or to be killed. No-one needed to order an assault, or even the arrest of the king and his vassals. It is often said of missions such as this that the Emperor will be naked and that his Empire will come crumbling down."

This site, not even Portuguese, provides an extensive history of the revolution with essay's and images depicting the "absolute and unbridled relief of a people who had suddenly, and for the first time in over two generations, been given their lives to live."

It's a shame the younger generation don't know much about their history. This generation is spoiled, very spoiled, but it makes sense that their elders would dote on their every need to give them what they never had -- it still doesn't excuse the fact this current crop doesn't know enough about their what their predecessors went through to appreciate what they have properly. So what's new? It sounds familiar, eh?.

"this is one revolution that should have been televised"
--ricardo sousa

Brenda Stardom
Portugal