25 April - The Carnation Revolution

The Carnation Revolution (Portuguese: Revolução dos Cravos), also referred to as the 25 April (Portuguese: 25 de abril), was a military coup began on 25 April 1974 in Lisbon, Portugal, and which overthrew the dictatorial regime of the Estado Novo. This movement would lead to the fall of the Estado Novo and the withdrawal of Portugal from its African colonies.

The name "Carnation Revolution" comes from the fact no shots were fired and when the population started descending the streets to celebrate the end of the dictatorship and war in the colonies, carnation flowers were put into the muzzles of rifles and on the uniforms of the army. These events effectively changed the Portuguese regime from an authoritarian dictatorship into a democracy, and produced enormous social, economic, territorial, demographic, and political changes in the country. The revolution was unusual in that the revolutionaries did not use direct violence to achieve their goals.

The revolution was engendered in a very original way by the military, after taken the most important radio stations they gave the signals to the army to go out to the streets by using two songs one very well knowed and listen, "Depois do Adeus" from Paulo de Carvalho and another that screamed for liberty and fraternity intitled, "Grândola Vila Morena" written by a opponent of the regime Zeca Afonso. This song it’s still used in protests.

The Estado Novo was an authoritarian regime which differed from fascist regimes by its lack of expansionism, lack of a charismatic leader, lack of party structure, and more moderate use of state violence. Salazar was a Catholic traditionalist who believed in the necessity of control over the forces of economic modernization in order to defend the religious and rural values of the country, which he perceived as being threatened. One of the pillars of the regime was the PIDE, the secret police. Many political dissidents were imprisoned at the Tarrafal prison in the African archipelago of Cape Verde, on the capital island of Santiago, or in local jails. Strict state censorship was in place.

The Portuguese celebrate the national holiday of Freedom Day on 25 April every year to celebrate these events.

@ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carnation_Revolution

Grândola Vila Morena