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25 de abril sempre

Today is the 50th anniversary of Portugal's Carnation Revolution,[1] when a leftist faction of the Portuguese military (backed by significant popular support) overthrew the fascist[2] Estado Novo regime.

Portugal has been celebrating in quite a fashion: recently, the far-right party Chega has become something of a kingmaker after the way recent parliamentary elections shook out. It honestly breaks my heart that these fucking Salazar wannabes have a single seat, much less thirty.

Still, fifty years of democracy is a win, a huge win. My mother was born under the Estado Novo; I still hope I won't live to see its spiritual successor.

I personally am reading Novas Cartas Portuguesas (published in English as "The Three Marias"), a feminist book that got its authors arrested, only to be released after the revolution. Here's some other media recommendations to mark the day. 25 de Abril sempre!

music

Grândola, Vila Morena

"Grândola, Vila Morena" by Portuguese singer-songwriter Zeca Afonso is a symbol of the revolution. Many of Zeca's fados[3] were banned by the regime for being subversive; "Grândola, Vila Morena" was not, and the revolutionaries played it over the radio at 12:20 AM to signal the beginning of the revolution.

Here's the same song being sung by a crowd gathered in one of Lisbon's public squares last night:

Oh, and because I can't help myself (and why should I?), here's my favorite Zeca Afonso fado, "Os Vampiros", from the same concert. It's a devastating critique of the Estado Novo:

São os mordomos
Do universo todo
Senhores à força
Mandadores sem lei
Enchem as tulhas
Bebem vinho novo
Dançam a ronda
No pinhal do rei

Eles comem tudo
Eles comem tudo
Eles comem tudo
E não deixam nada

They are the stewards
Of the whole universe
Masters by force
Commanders without laws.
They fill their barns
And drink the new wine
They dance the round dance
In the king’s pine forest.

They eat everything
They eat everything
They eat everything
And leave nothing.

Fado Bicha

A bit of genderqueer fado to make Salazar spin in his fucking grave. I love Fado Bicha (which means something like "Queer Fado", with bicha being a reclaimed slur).

articles

‘Everyone was in the streets. I just felt happiness’: Portugal recalls the Carnation Revolution
As the country marks 50 years since the end of fascism, people celebrate the coup’s legacy but say the fight must continue
theguardian.com
How Portugal’s 1974 Eurovision entry toppled the country’s fascist regime
Fifty years ago, a remarkable chain of events set in motion by the broadcast of a series of songs led to the fall of a dictatorship
theguardian.com
Portugal's democracy turns 50: big crowd commemorates Carnation Revolution
Tens of thousands of people marched through Lisbon on Thursday to celebrate the 50th anniversary of Portugal's "Carnation Revolution" that toppled the longest fascist dictatorship in Europe and ushered in democracy.
reuters.com
Greetings From a Free Portugal
On the 50th anniversary of the Carnation Revolution, we republish writer and activist Antonio de Figueiredo, who argued upon his return from exile that the liberation of Portugal's African colonies was the country's own path to freedom.
tribunemag.co.uk
  1. I have serious reservations about how English Wikipedia talks about the Salazar regime (though to be fair, it's a product of the way that Anglophone scholars talk about the Salazar regime, which I also don't like). Still, this page in particular is relatively solid.^
  2. Not "corporatist". Fascist. Just because Salazar thought Hitler was a godless heathen does not mean that he was not also a fucking fascist. (For the record, this is the major point on which Anglophone scholarship and Lusophone scholarship disagree. I take the side of the latter.)^
  3. Fado is a style of Portuguese folk music, one which features in the Estado Novo version of "bread and circuses", "Futebol, Fado e Fátima" ("Football, Fado, and [Our Lady of] Fatima [i.e. Catholicism]").^
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