ESC FACTOR stories of Europe:

The CARNATION Revolution in Portugal

THIS STORY WAS TOLD TO US BY OUR ESC VOLUNTEER: BRUNO, 21 YEARS OLD, PORTUGUESE.

We are used to defining a coup d’état as a sudden change of government that is illegal and usually violent, we know many violent ones like those in Chile or Cuba. However, in this story we will see that it is possible to change a violent regime in a relatively peaceful way.

Do you know why carnations are a symbol of freedom in Portugal?

We are in Portugal on April 25, 1974.
The story we are telling you about today has been nicknamed the Carnation Revolution (Revolução dos Cravos in Portuguese), a surprising name for a coup that marked the end of a bloody repressive government.

Estado Novo was the regime in power since 1933 in Portugal.
It was first led by António de Oliveira Salazar until 1968, when his successor Marcello Caetano replaced him, as Salazar had to retire due to health problems.
The “professor” implemented a series of legislative and social improvements that today are grouped under the name of Marcelo Spring (elimination of some trade union restrictions, opening to foreign investors, easing of censorship). Reforms that gave the people hope for a possible democratic turn, but did not produce real change. It was an authoritarian regime, characterized by censorship, repression, exiles and colonial wars.

When music smells of freedom:

The April coup began at 10:55 p.m. with the broadcast of the Portuguese song from the 1974 Eurovision contest, «Depois do Adeus» by Paulo de Carvalho, followed by «Grandola, Vila Morena», a song by José Afonso that was banned during the Regime.

When music smells of freedom:

1974 – Paulo de Carvalho – “E Depois Do Adeus2 | RTP

Despite the government’s repeated warnings to the population to stay in their homes, thousands of Portuguese took to the streets, mingling with the rebel military. No one really understood what was happening, chaos reigned. Everyone knew they were facing a historic moment, although very few could foresee that it would soon expand. And in the meantime, the streets of Lisbon were filled with tanks.

A woman became the face of this revolt, a woman who walked the streets of Lisbon that same morning with red carnations in her hand.
The shop where she worked was celebrating its first anniversary and the woman had bought those flowers to celebrate. But when the saleswoman, returning home, met a soldier and said to him:

The soldier hadn’t smoked for several hours, so he asked me for a cigarette, I told him I didn’t have any, but he could go buy them at the tobacconist’s. The tobacconists were closed, so I humorously commented that if instead of a cigar he wanted a carnation, he could take it and put it on his gun. I continued walking to the Carmen barracks and there I handed out all the carnations I had left and I felt an enormous joy that I can’t explain right now. I went up and told my mother that those carnations that were in the guns and tanks were mine and I had given them to her.

This coup was marked by the images of flowers in the weapons of the military. Those carnations were offered by civilians who joined the rebel soldiers in a peaceful civil resistance. Even the pistols of the officers were all filled with flowers.

April 25th, from Italy to Portugal means liberation:

The Revolution triumphed, but the days and months that followed were not easy, uncertainty reigned and struggles between the right and the left were the order of the day.
There are several experts who believe that without the Carnation Revolution, the transition process that would take place after the death of Francisco Franco in Spain would not have been possible.
On April 25, 1974, when people tired of poverty took to the streets to demand freedom, Portugal began its history.

ESC FACTOR, Stories of Europe:
The communication campaign ESC FACTOR, Stories of Europe was born from the experience of a workshop on multi-channel communication that further enriched the personal background of the young volunteers of the ESC project, European Solidarity Corps who have been living for months at Il paguro Ostello, a small house for young Europeans, a property confiscated from the Casalesi family in which Giosef Italy has created a youth hostel, in Casapesenna.
During the past few months, the young people involved have had the opportunity to learn about the history of Italy, through a series of meetings whose main theme was the history of the Antimafia.

From the realisation that such an important and well-known history in our country is often ignored by other young Europeans, this project was born.
We said to ourselves, what if we now tell our readers stories that changed the history of your home countries but are not known by the Italian public?

Così è nata l’idea di THE ESC FACTOR, un progetto di condivisione di storie di movimenti e di persone che hanno in comune una sola cosa: il coraggio della libertà, la voglia di giustizia, la lotta per l’affermazione dei diritti civili, in ogni loro forma, al di là di ogni confine.

Share

Related articles

All Posts
Q.L.ESC