50 Years Since Carnation Revolution

 By Henry Srebrnik, [Charlottetown, PEI] Guardian

Led by the left-wing Armed Forces Movement and supported by most of the population, the so-called Carnation Revolution not only brought down Portugal’s dictatorship, but also paved the way for the end of the country’s colonial wars in Africa.

The Portuguese army’s coup on April 25,1974 set Portugal on a path towards democracy and decolonisation. It put an end to the Estado Novo (New State), inaugurated by Antonio de Oliveira Salazar in 1932 and led by Marcelo Caetano since 1968, a regime unable to evolve while tied to a set of unwinnable wars in Africa.

The regime had remained in power for 41 years, enough to outlive every other far-right government in Europe. Throughout that period, it consistently marketed itself as a different form of authoritarianism. In the homeland, the state positioned itself as a strict but paternal figure, one that elevated God, country and family. To the colonised peoples in Africa and Asia, it posed as a deliverer of advanced “civilisation.”

But it was a very different world by the time Salazar died, and Caetano found himself forced to address the need for change and liberalisation when he became leader of the Estado Novo. Caetano allowed the return of the Socialist political exile Mario Soares from Sao Tomé, for example.

Still, even after the April 1974 events, the threat of a right-wing countercoup and a return to the past was never far away; it was attempted twice in the following months. But the army declared itself the “liberation movement” of the Portuguese people. A democratic government was finally established when national elections were held in April 1976.

As most of the other European possessions in Africa had gained independence, Portugal had grimly held on to its centuries’ old conquests. It continued to rule its “overseas provinces” of Angola, Guinea-Bissau, Mozambique, Sao Tomé and Príncipe, and Cape Verde (along with its Asian outposts in Macau, East Timor and Portuguese India -- Goa, Daman and Diu).

As a consequence, colonial wars had been underway since 1961 in Angola, 1963 in Portuguese Guinea, and 1964 in Mozambique. (India had already occupied the Indian enclaves.) The economic and human costs were huge, and the lower ranks of the military had realized they were unwinnable. 

They understood that a political solution acceptable to the African liberation movements would not emerge from Lisbon while Caetano remained at the helm and resolved to act. Portugal needed to negotiate a swift end to its colonial wars and take on the task of repatriating over half a million “retornados” from Africa.

With the change of regime, direct negotiations between the Portuguese government and the independence movements in Angola began in earnest, and, in January 1975 Lisbon signed independence agreements with the three liberation organizations of Angola, the MPLA, UNITA and FNLA.

There was also increased military pressure on Portugal to grant Mozambique its independence. An agreement was signed in September 1974 and that country became independent a year later under Samora Machel’s FRELIMO movement.

The process of gaining independence was most advanced in Guinea-Bissau. The PAIGC, under the leadership of Amilcar Cabral, had already unilaterally declared independence from Portugal on September 25, 1973.

If the Carnation Revolution had not taken place, Sao Tomé and Principe, as well as the Cape Verde islands, might have remained in the hands of the colonizers for longer.

In the early days, the new African governments repeatedly accused Portugal of harboring representatives of rebel organizations, especially Mozambique’s RENAMO and Angola’s UNITA, who fought against the regimes in their countries.

But the discord between Portugal and the former colonies did not last long. Portugal went on to establish close links with all the Lusophone countries based on their shared history, culture and language. For many from the former colonies, Portugal today is the most important gateway to Europe.

“More important than trade exchange for the Portuguese, however, is the historical and emotional dimension,” explains Fernando Cardoso, a professor of international relations and geopolitics at the Autonomous University of Lisbon. “It is believed that a privileged cultural and political partnership with the Portuguese-speaking countries is indispensable.”

In 1996, the Community of Portuguese Language Countries was founded. The CPLP encompasses the nine countries where Portuguese is the official language, from East Timor in Asia to Brazil in South America. So Portugal remains an outsized influence in the world.