-
The UN Secretary-General highlighted the role of the people and popular will in consolidating democracy, referring to the mobilization of the Portuguese in the Carnation Revolution, but also in the post-25 April period.
At an event organized by the Portuguese Mission to the United Nations to mark the 50th anniversary of the Carnation Revolution, António Guterres said, in an unscripted speech in English: “we would not have consolidated democracy if the people had not repeatedly and massively taken to the streets of Portugal to say that they wanted democracy in our country”.
In front of hundreds of people, including diplomats from various countries, Guterres recalled personal experiences from when Portugal was led by the dictator António de Oliveira Salazar and shared memories not only of the day of the revolution, but also of the turbulent period that followed.
The former prime minister said he knew what it was like to live in a country under dictatorship, where you could be imprisoned or tortured for having an opinion that differed from the government’s, where newspapers were censored and any form of association was forbidden.
“But the regime collapsed, not only because it was rotten, but also because the people joined the armed forces in creating the conditions for the revolution,” he said.
“And this importance of the people was not limited to 25 April 1974 (…) It took two years to consolidate Portuguese democracy,” he added, recalling the mobilizations and demonstrations after the revolution.
In addition to the experiences of that period in Portugal, Guterres also linked 25 April to the African liberation movements that led to decolonization.
Under the motto “Portugal 3D: Democracy, Decolonization, Development”, the event discussed “The impact of the Carnation Revolution on the world”, with the participation of the ambassadors of Mozambique, Brazil, Spain and East Timor.
Portugal’s permanent representative to the UN, Ana Paula Zacarias, defended the need to fight for democracy “every day”.
“Democracy is never guaranteed. We have to fight for it every day,” said the diplomat in the chamber of the United Nations Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC), specially decorated with hundreds of red carnations.
Speaking to Lusa during the event, Ana Paula Zacarias considered Guterres’ message and the sharing of his personal experience to be “extremely important”.
“The Secretary General reinforced the idea that democracy is the will of the people, at a time when the world is going through dramatic situations of authoritarianism and even regression in some respects,” the diplomat noted.
“It’s the people who are in charge of what politics should be, the political choices in a democracy. And that was a very clear message that the Secretary General gave: that we can go through difficult times, we can go through complicated circumstances, but the people are wise and know how to find the paths,” added the ambassador.
Among the hundreds of people in the audience were, in addition to Portuguese officials at the United Nations, permanent representatives at the United Nations from countries such as Angola, Cape Verde, Ukraine and Morocco.
The celebration also included two musical moments: a Portuguese guitar concert by Marta Pereira da Costa, and a rendition of “Grândola, Vila Morena” by the young Portuguese artist Júlia Machado.
