By AFP
April 24, 2024
A flower placed in a gun -- as depicted in a giant mural in Lisbon -- has become a symbol of Portugal's 1974 'Carnation Revolution'
Thomas CABRAL
Portugal marks Thursday 50 years since a military coup ended a decades-long dictatorship and 13 years of colonial wars in Africa, an anniversary that comes as a far-right party gains prominence.
The anniversary of the Carnation Revolution — named after the flowers protesters placed in soldiers’ guns during the peaceful uprising — comes a month after the far-right party Chega more than quadrupled its seats in parliament, cementing its position as Portugal’s third-largest party.
The highlight of the celebrations will be a military parade through central Lisbon featuring some of the roughly 5,000 soldiers who were part of the putsch, as well as around 15 restored military vehicles used on the day.
On April 25, 1974, the oldest authoritarian regime in Western Europe at the time fell within a matter of hours, virtually without bloodshed, thanks to an uprising by non-commissioned officers that was immediately backed by the public.
The coup paved the way for the country’s first free elections based on universal suffrage on April 25, 1975, as well as the independence of Portugal’s remaining African colonies: Angola, Mozambique, Guinea-Bissau and Cape Verde.
“The main motivation was to resolve the problem of the colonial wars” that had been going on for 13 years in Angola, and almost as long in Mozambique and Guinea-Bissau, said retired colonel Vasco Lourenco.
Lourenco, one of the officers who took part in the coup, now heads the April 25 Association that represents putschist soldiers.
As a young officer, he said it took almost a year to put together the “conspiracy” to carry out “a coup d’etat aimed at opening the way to freedom, putting an end to the wars and building democracy in Portugal”, he told AFP.
As it does every year, parliament will hold a special commemorative session and there will be a parade. And this year the heads of African states that were once Portuguese colonies will join the celebrations.
– ‘Poor, backward, illiterate’ –
Portugal’s dictatorship years began in 1926, consolidated under prime minister Antonio de Oliveira Salazar and continued from 1968 by his successor Marcelo Caetano.
Many Portuguese believed the country’s authoritarian past would offer it some protection from the rise of the far right, which has been seen elsewhere in Europe, but the breakthrough by Chega in a general election last month has dampened this view.
While its founder and leader Andre Ventura has criticised the dictatorship years, Chega (“Enough”) has used the slogan “God, Homeland, Family, Work” — an echo of the Salazar dictatorship’s “God, Homeland, Family”.
Set up in 2019, Chega promises greater law and order, tougher immigration measures and chemical castration for paedophiles.
It is the first hard-right party to gain ground on Portugal’s political scene since the end of the dictatorship.
“I thought that 48 years of dictatorship would have made the country immune to this wave of populism and radical far-right movements, but the reality turned out to be different,” said Maria Inacia Rezola, a historian who is overseeing the anniversary celebrations.
During the dictatorship Portugal remained “a poor, backward, illiterate country isolated from the rest of the world”, Rezola said.
Despite the fact that the Carnation Revolution still appears widely appreciated, a sizable part of the population express a certain nostalgia for the previous regime.
A survey published last week found that half of respondents said the former regime had more negative aspects than positive — but a fifth said the opposite.
Debate At UN Examines Impact Of Portugal’s ‘Carnation Revolution’
On 25 April 1974, military officers overthrew the nearly 50-year dictatorship in Portugal in a largely peaceful coup known as the Carnation Revolution.
Named after the flowers civilians stuffed in the muzzles of the soldiers’ guns, the revolution put Portugal on the path to democracy and led to the independence of its six remaining colonies, stretching from Africa to the Pacific, with ripple effects in Brazil – independent since 1822, but under military rule at the time.
UN Secretary-General António Guterres, a former Portuguese Prime Minister, argues that from a historical perspective, the uprising “should have occurred decades earlier.”
Reflection and analysis
Ahead of the 50th anniversary of the revolution, which is also known as 25 April, Mr. Guterres and UN Ambassadors from Portuguese-speaking countries sat down to reflect on its significance and implications today.
Participating in the debate were the Permanent Representatives of Angola, Brazil, Cabo Verde, Mozambique, Portugal and Timor-Leste. Their countries are all members of the Community of Portuguese Language Countries (CPLP), established roughly a decade after the revolution. Other members include Guinea-Bissau and the island nation of São Tomé and Príncipe.
UN News’s Portuguese team organized the high-level discussion, moderated by journalists Marta Moreira from Portugal and Felippe Coaglio from Brazil.
The debate will be broadcast by media outlets throughout the Lusophone world. Globally, roughly 250 million people speak Portuguese.
'On the right side of history'
Having experienced the events of the Carnation Revolution firsthand, Mr. Guterres declared that “being on the side of freedom against oppression” means being on the right side of history.
“It is clear that we are on the right side of history, freeing a country from dictatorship, and we are on the right side of history re-establishing justice in international relations after a colonial past that is unacceptable,” he said.
The UN chief declared that 25 April would not have occurred “without the struggle of the African liberation movements”. For him, “the two things are interconnected and that is why there is no cause-and-effect relationship”.
In this regard, Mr. Guterres noted that if there were any criticism of 25 April, it would be that “from a historical point of view, it should have happened decades earlier.”
Catalyst for independence
The Permanent Representative of Angola, Francisco José da Cruz, stated that the Carnation Revolution was of great importance to Angolans as it created the dynamics that led to the country's independence.
“Portugal's desire to move forward in this process became clearer when the Secretary-General of the United Nations, Kurt Waldheim, visited Portugal in August, and Portugal made it clear that this would be the path to follow and that the liberation movements would be the legitimate interlocutors in this process that would lead to independence,” he said.
Brazilian Ambassador Sérgio Danese said 25 April had two main impacts on South America’s largest country. The first was to show that “there was hope” for a path towards democratic rule once again and the second was in diplomacy.
“We had a very strong contradiction in our foreign policy. We recognized the independence of all former French, British and Dutch colonies, but we remained tied to Portuguese colonialism, and the 25th of April and its immediate consequences promptly freed us from that yoke," he recalled.
“We were the first country to recognize Angola. And then we were among the first to recognize each of the former Portuguese colonies,” he added.
A deep friendship
When asked what helped shape new relations between the Portuguese-speaking nations, the Ambassador of Cabo Verde, Tânia Romualdo, highlighted the relationship between their populations as the basis for the bond between the emerging States.
“This revolution made it possible not to begin, but to continue this deep friendship that united peoples,” she said. “There was a union there, a very strong friendship, that preceded the revolution itself which contributed to the revolution and which helped the decolonization process after 25 April to accelerate bilateral cooperation”.
Among the issues raised during the debate was how Portuguese-speaking countries have much in common, despite their different paths to democracy and nationhood.
Unity and fraternity
Ambassador Pedro Commissar of Mozambique highlighted how the Lusophone bloc is defined by ties of proximity and solidarity with the United Nations. Mozambique is currently the only Lusophone country on the 15-member UN Security Council, occupying one of the 10 seats allotted to non-permanent members.
“The CPLP is a totally different model from the Commonwealth or Francophonie model. It is a model of sovereign States but linked by a bond of deep fraternity. 25 April gave us that basis, that impulse so that today we have this affection that unites our countries,” he said.
On this issue, the Ambassador of Portugal, Ana Paula Zacarias, pointed to ongoing efforts on the diplomatic front to amplify their common voice, in Portuguese, at the UN. She emphasized that some of their common positions are already being heard in the General Assembly and the Security Council.
“Being heard means working together - and working together in areas that have already been identified,” she said. “Above all, we have a lot to do in political coordination, in coordinating security and defense issues which are currently fundamental. And everything that has to do with the fight against climate change.”
The Representative of Timor-Leste, Dionísio Babo Soares, spoke of reinforcement at an internal and external level to boost future action as a bloc in a world marked by complexities in politics and development.
“For Timor-Leste, the CPLP is an entry point to the world. Member countries are located in different parts of the world,” he said. Furthermore, efforts to reintroduce the Portuguese language in Timor-Leste are intensifiying.
“We work together with Portugal in this sense, and we are committed to moving forward with this programme of having Portuguese as the official language of the United Nations”.
‘Symbol of peace’
Looking to the future, Mr. Guterres characterized the cooperative relations that exist today between Portuguese-speaking countries as a “symbol of peace” that should inspire the world.
The Secretary-General expressed hope that the bloc “can play a decisive role in re-establishing the trust that has unfortunately been lost in our world, and in re-establishing the conditions that can allow us not only more peace but at the same time fairer development, respect for human rights and overcoming the dramatic divisions that today weigh on us all as a threat to the future of humanity.”
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