Post by Deleted on Apr 25, 2010 16:49:01 GMT -5
April 24th 1974 - Portugal:Sources: Carnation Revolution (Wikipedia), Estado Novo (Wikipedia).
It is late. You are in your bed, thinking on the daily life you live, and on topics of the time. Thinking, this is, because if you said anything which disagreed with the government you would be arrested by PIDE, the political police, tortured, and put into jail in the prison of Tarrafal.
Portugal is in a dictatorship under the name of "Estado Novo" for about 40 years, and there is no apparent end in sight. The news are censored before being published. The political police, called PIDE, makes sure, trough undercover agents, that you are unease to say your true opinions on the coffee shop, under the fear of being kidnapped, tortured, and arrested or deported.
You secretly hear a pirate broadcast of the BBC radio so you can know the real news out there. You have secret uncensored copies of many books, so you can read true masterpieces of amazing artists.
Portugal is the last country in Europe to have colonies. In these colonies, there is war, to make sure they are kept under their domain. You are going to be called to war soon, and you fear that day constantly.
Its 10:55pm, you are listening to radio "Renascença" and you hear the song "E Depois do Adeus", Portugal's nomination for the Eurovision Song Contest of 1974. It lost very badly being last place. You fall asleep while hearing it.
April 25th, 1974 - Portugal:
Its 20 minutes past midnight, and you wake up. You immediately notice something is strange... oh, of course, you left the radio on! But... that is not all... you are hearing to the song "Grândola Vila Morena", by José Afonso. This song has censored parts, actually, the songwriter is known for having many songs forbidden to be played... yet, these parts are all being broadcasted!
You don't understand! You look out the window but nothing is different. So you give up and decide to go back to bed.
You wake up again. Why is there so much noise at this time of the night? You look trough the window and you see tanks! What? - you say. You can't believe it! You immediately turn on the radio and scan trough all radio posts. You find nothing interesting.
The noise continues trough all the night and you are unable to sleep.
You keep browsing trough the radio and finally, around half past 4am, you hear something relevant!"Here the post of command of the Armed Forces Movement.
The Armed Forces request to all Lisbon habitants to stay in their houses, in which they should keep with the greatest amount of calm. We hope sincerely that the gravity of the hour we live at isn't sadly marked by any personal accident.
(...)"
The Armed Forces Movement is a movement against the current dictatorship! You are intrigued and curious. You spend the rest of the dawn listening to the radio, frustratingly, with some rare sparks of hope of hearing something more informative, crushed by the usual communications.
Its morning, the sun rises, and all people are on the street! You go to the streets too. You ask them what is happening. It is a revolution, by the MFA [Armed Forces Movement], to bring down the dictatorship!
Soldiers pass by with carnations on their gun barrels. They all request people to stay at home, but nobody cares, they all want to help!
People all gather around "Quartel do Carmo", where the MFA pressures for negotiations, led by Captain Salgueiro Maia. After countless hours, the government gives in, and a new age has come!
By the end of the day the revolution is over, and a new age of true democracy begins.
This is a fictional tale I just made up of what would be like to live in 1974. This revolution, which happened at the dawn of April 25th 1974, used no violence, and became known as the Carnation Revolution due to the carnations MFA soldiers used in their gun barrels.
I think this is an event worth seeing, thinking of and discussing by the pogotribe because the revolution, even if with some mistakes (because everything has mistakes), was made without causing a civil war, and without almost no drops of blood shed. Only four people were dead, and they were killed by the political police, PIDE.
Beyond that, it is a true example of altruism and higher thinking, teaching lessons about freedom, dreaming, and that it is not necessary to use violence to achieve our goals.
Revolution of April 1974, the streets of Lisbon. |
I also advice everybody to see the movie Capitães de Abril which, although not giving an exact reproduction of what happened, has all the info necessary.
So, do you think we should follow such role models? And why? I do think we should as I stated above.