In the early hours of April 25, 1974, progressive armed forces overthrew the Salazar dictatorship that governed Portugal for more than four decades. The movement known as the Carnation Revolution not only instituted democracy in the country, but also led to the independence of former colonies in Africa – whose independence struggles were crucial for it to occur – and gave hope to people who still yearned for freedom, such as our. Brasil de Fato prepared some reports to tell the story and mark the 50th anniversary of the Carnation Revolution. Click on the link below to access them:
This year, 2024, in which the Carnation Revolution – which led Portugal to democracy – turns 50 on Thursday (25), was also marked by the consolidation of the extreme right as the third main political force in the country. Represented by André Ventura’s Chega party, reactionary extremism increased its group of federal deputies from 12 to 50 in the parliamentary elections in March this year.
At a time when authoritarianism is growing, the strength of April 25th – which marks the overthrow of the fascist dictatorship (1933 – 74) – appears as a “barrier” against authoritarianism, in the assessment of João Gabriel de Lima, member of the Observatory of the Quality of Democracy at the University of Lisbon and a Brazilian journalist who has lived in the Portuguese capital for more than 3 years.
“It’s a date that unites several different sectors of society, from the right to the traditional left, young and old, and this is really very strong. At a time when the country was frightened by the growth of an extreme right that is led by a politician who declares himself an admirer of leaders who either ended democracy, like Viktor Orban in Hungary, or tried to carry out a coup, like Bolsonaro in Brazil, the strength of the 25th of April seems to be a barrier against these authoritarian attacks”, he said in an interview with Brazil in fact.
The evaluation of the symbol of this date for the Portuguese population is based on numbers, in the most recent survey carried out with the country’s population. According to the study “The Portuguese and the 25th of April”, released on Friday (19), the date is a source of pride for 81% of the country’s population, while 13% believe that it is not a source of pride. Furthermore: 56% of those interviewed point out that the Carnation Revolution brought more positive things than negative things, while only 10% consider the opposite. For 65% of Portuguese people, April 25th is the main date in the country’s history.
Source: Institute of Social Sciences of the University of Lisbon, University Institute of Lisbon and Commemorative Commission for the 50th Anniversary of the 25th of April / Brasil de Fato
The research was developed by a team from the Institute of Social Sciences of the University of Lisbon and the University Institute of Lisbon, in partnership with the Commemorative Commission for the 50th Anniversary of the 25th of April.
The study points out that respondents who sympathize with the Socialist Party (PS) “tend to select April 25, 1974 more frequently” than those who said they sympathize with the Social Democratic Party (PSD) or Chega. The parties mentioned represent the three largest political forces in Portugal, after the parliamentary elections in March, which ended with the victory of the traditional right in the country, represented by the PSD, followed by the (PS).
Salazar?
Despite following the extreme right’s playbook, with an authoritarian, reactionary from the point of view of customs, anti-immigration and even racist speech at first, Lima points out that André Ventura makes no reference to Salazarism. “He doesn’t claim Salazar, he barely appears in Chega’s speech. Maybe he appears in the speeches of some voters.”
From this perspective, Ventura differs from Jair Bolsonaro, one of his political references, who defends the Brazilian military dictatorship (1964-1985) in his speeches and political project. In this sense, Lima points out, Bolsonarism differs from the European right, which, although it has common political agendas with past dictatorships, does not make an open demand for them in its political speeches.
“In Italy, Giorgia Meloni also doesn’t claim Mussolini, but her party is directly descended from the Italian fascist party. In Spain, Abascal also doesn’t claim Franco, but comes closer because he always emphasizes that the worst government than Spain what had happened was the socialist government and not the Francoist dictatorship. In Portugal, Ventura stays a little far from the issue of Salazarism.”
Unlike Bolsonarism in Brazil, which is linked to specific sectors of Brazilian society, such as the authoritarian military sector, agribusiness and the religious and arms groups in the National Congress, it is still not clear, in Portuguese society, which sectors are closed with Chega, by André Ventura. “Chega doesn’t have a very clear ideological program, its is a bit mutant, anti-system, saying that traditional politics doesn’t solve problems, that there is a lot of corruption, combined with anti-immigration discourse and anti-gender ideology, those things. But In this anti-system speech, he catches a lot of different people”, analyzes João Gabriel de Lima.
Despite the distance from Salazarism in his speeches, there are sectors in the Portuguese electorate that can be attracted to Chega’s authoritarian speech.
Another survey, released on the occasion of the 50th anniversary of the Carnation Revolution, points out that, although 87% of the Portuguese population prefers democracy to “any other regime”, 47% support the government of “a strong leader who does not have to worry, nor with parliament, nor with elections” and 70% approve of a government where “experts, and not elected officials, make decisions in accordance with what they consider to be the best for the country”. The 50 Years of Democracy in Portugal was developed by the Higher Institute of Social and Political Sciences of the University of Lisbon.
For historian Patrícia Teixeira de Melo, despite being a minority movement in Portuguese society, Salazarism “never died” and, despite being small, some groups opposed to the independence movement of Portuguese colonies during the Salazar regime, such as Angola and Mozambique, remains active in Portugal and, despite predating Chega, may be attracted by André Ventura’s anti-immigration speech.
“This chauvinist view of history exists. Some groups claim that African nations were ungrateful to the Portuguese civilizing process, groups of settlers who were expelled. So there are families of these former Portuguese settlers with this resentment, this nostalgia for the past, this hurt over the movements of liberation of Mozambique, of Angola”.
Institute of Social Sciences of the University of Lisbon, University Institute of Lisbon and Commemorative Commission for the 50th Anniversary of the 25th of April / Brasil de Fato
Editing: Rodrigo Durão Coelho
Tags: Pride Portuguese people
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