So this is it?
Today is a national holiday here. The celebration of the Carnation Revolution that put an end to the dictatorship.
It’s called Freedom Day by most. Some however believe the 25 of November should be the real Freedom Day.
After the revolution the forces opposing the dictatorship split into two, a communist faction who intended to turn Portugal into a Soviet model republic and another faction who wanted real democracy and a capitalist model republic. On the 25th of November of 1975 the communists tried a second revolution but they met a counter-revolution from the moderates and finally Portugal became a real democratic state.
Yet this is the only day that is celebrated. Sadly most people don’t even know what the 25th of November was nor what led to it.
Plenty of people in my family have fought the dictatorship. That is probably the reason why I don’t really feel like celebrating this day.
True enough it brought down the regime, but not only did it almost bring another kind of oppression it also fell into oblivion in the sense the ideals have long been lost.
People are free now. But the elected rulers we’ve had ever since are as bad as the tyrants before them, for they care not but for their own interests.
Is this the country so many have fought for?
With crooks being elected, corruption grassing, people living in misery while others get increasingly rich, a social service collapsing while the government spends millions in surreal projects?
No, I really don’t feel like celebrating today.
I'll leave you with the song that served as a signal to start the revolution.
You can find the lyrics here.
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It’s called Freedom Day by most. Some however believe the 25 of November should be the real Freedom Day.
After the revolution the forces opposing the dictatorship split into two, a communist faction who intended to turn Portugal into a Soviet model republic and another faction who wanted real democracy and a capitalist model republic. On the 25th of November of 1975 the communists tried a second revolution but they met a counter-revolution from the moderates and finally Portugal became a real democratic state.
Yet this is the only day that is celebrated. Sadly most people don’t even know what the 25th of November was nor what led to it.
Plenty of people in my family have fought the dictatorship. That is probably the reason why I don’t really feel like celebrating this day.
True enough it brought down the regime, but not only did it almost bring another kind of oppression it also fell into oblivion in the sense the ideals have long been lost.
People are free now. But the elected rulers we’ve had ever since are as bad as the tyrants before them, for they care not but for their own interests.
Is this the country so many have fought for?
With crooks being elected, corruption grassing, people living in misery while others get increasingly rich, a social service collapsing while the government spends millions in surreal projects?
No, I really don’t feel like celebrating today.
I'll leave you with the song that served as a signal to start the revolution.
You can find the lyrics here.
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posted by DCveR at 10:56 AM
12 Comments:
De nada serve a democracia sem a responsabilidade cívica dos cidadãos e a verdade é que se hoje podemos afirmar com toda a certeza que o grande objectivo do 25 de Abril era muito mais ambicioso do que os resultados que temos à nossa frente, não podemos culpar outros senão nós próprios. Afinal somos nós que não conseguimos desenvolver uma cultura democrática própria, somos nós que permitimos à classe política que emergiu após 1974 decidir tudo por nós (à semelhança do que se passava com o Estado Novo), somos nós que nos preocupamos mais em comprar um carro vistoso para impressionar os vizinhos ou um telefone de terceira geração. Espero sinceramente que a maioria dos portugueses não seja indiferente à seguinte interrogação: o que está escrito na Constituição da República corresponde ao nosso país, ou houve algum erro de cálculo nos últimos 32 anos?
Only now read the FAQ concerning the language of comments, guess I'm too late for it now...but then again a personal comment about the April 25th uprising would appear as a simple observation of an unknown (or almost unknown) subject for a non-portuguese person.
Happy Freedom Day to you!!
Are we ever truely free?
joao: Our current constitution dates in fact from 2005 and it is the seventh revision since it was originally written in 1974, and our rulers are already planning on changing it again. This surely shows the rulers are very comfortable with it. As with any constitution ours is not written in stone, it is natural and healthy for it to change, the issue with the constitution should are the changes for the better? Are the changes for the common good of the nation? Anyhow, you can relax: if the crooks decide to sell out Portugal altogether they will change the constitution first in order to allow it. As for personal responsibilities, I try to do my share to change things, but I keep no delusions of grandeur as the savior of our nation.
nat: Thanks, it was a nice day, at least I didn’t have to work! ;)
mr mystic: If you’re talking philosophically, the answer is definitely no, there will always be bonds (family, friends, places, etc…). When it comes to civic life we’ll have more bonds (need of money, need of housing, need of transportation) and boundaries (respect for other’s property, etc…). So I guess all we can aspire is to be free within reasonable limits.
But inside our minds we can be totally free, our thought is our key to freedom.
i'm really feeling the revolutionary vibe from you dcver... the question i have is how are you using your chemistry formulas to fix all this.... or maybe that's why you chose it since you can manipulate chemicals but cant manipulate people?
once again and again and again... we're all screwed on so many levels--
sounds like bullshit politicians are the same everywhere in the world. anarchy, lead by the Bees Knees is perhaps the only solution! Viva La Bees Knees!
Sad old world!
And getting sadder by the day!
Good job we can find little things to cheer us up! Like Tall Glass of Vino's comment!
Democracy will always be governed by self-serving people. I can't realistically picture it any other way.
LOL @ Tall Glass.
D,
Coming up late on this one, however liked the song, and particularly love the idea of a revolution starting with a marching song! Ah, sweet days. I think there's more revolution yet to be had in this world of ours. Viva!
TGOV: Carnations ousting roses? You must be kidding!!! I mean, if it were tulips ousting roses I could understand, but carnations?
ale: Nope. We already had the revolution and it didn't help much, it really wasn't enough. We need something more powerful.
bees knees: You leading a country? Vlad the Impaler would sound as a nice alternative to such ruling!
cream: It's funny watching the footage of our revolution. The faces of the soldiers when people started sticking those carnations down the barrels of their guns. Some of the armored cars that were suppose to protect the regime maneuvering to change side. A ship in river taking control of the situation by aiming its canons to the armored cars only to realise bigger canons on the other side of river were aimed at the ship and so it would be better to wait elsewhere. The actual events were a bit surrealistic, not the usual revolution.
bent: Maybe so, but we don't have to like it.
dan: Actually this was the second signal. The first one, the go signal was a love song, the second signal was given to the troops after the first commandos had taken the primary targets, so this one was the one the lauched the "main army" out of their barracks. As you say very apropriate.
I keep hearing the Beatles song, 'you say you want a revolution...'
Man, my isp prevents me from hearing your music, it's so darn slow. All the isp's here.
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