The Carnation Revolution and Protest Day

On Wednesday, the 24th of April (the day before the Portuguese Freedom Day), Year 9 had a day full of revolution and protest-based activities. Year 9 enjoyed a fun-packed protest day! 

On this day we learnt that; 

Music and arts are great ways to feel stronger and to protest 

Some examples of this are: 

Banksy- lots of his arts are protests or are related to protest and peace. 

This painting by Banksy promotes peace. 

Bella Ciao – this is a famous protest song that inspired and energized the rebellious Partizans in Italy who were fighting against fascism.  

Grandola, Vila Morena - This song was played during the Portuguese 25 de Abril, leading the revolutionaries to Grandola.  

Messages as a community are stronger. - we learnt that if you get together to protest (like most peaceful protests), you will be more successful, this applies to peaceful protest too.  

We learnt the rules of the dictatorship – did you know that you could not play cards on the train! (it was seen as a way to get together to overthrow the government) 

During this day we learnt about the Portuguese Revolution (25 de Abril). 

Do you ever wonder why it was called the carnation revolution? - we learnt the story: There was a coffee shop in Lisbon celebrating its anniversary with carnations. But They had to close the shop for the revolution. Some soldiers came and asked for coffee, but they were closed so they gave the soldiers carnations. The soldiers placed these in the barrel of their guns and soon the carnations were everywhere. 

Reformation – after the revolution Portugal wanted reformation.  

A period of intense conflict followed as different groups including the Communists and more moderate socialists battled for control. At times, Portugal looked close to civil war and there was a great deal of suffering, especially in rural areas. Many Portuguese people either chose or were forced to emigrate. This ended shortly, one year later, with democracy. 

Now, we look back 50 years from 25 Abril de 1974, and peace is now with Portugal. 

 Next, we learnt about why Portugal wanted revolution. To do this we listened to revolution songs and created some visual expressions. 

I interviewed Ms. Du Vale about the importance of 25 de Abril to Portuguese people now and then to tell you about this:  

“25 de Abril marks the end of the Portuguese dictatorship in 1974. Before this day Portugal was under a regime that did not allow citizens to have freedom of expression, the investing in education in rural areas was not enough. And the war of the Portuguese colonies was very sensitive at the term for what it represented. There were lots of colonies, so it was a very big topic. Making profit of their recourses, and imposing Portuguese culture, religion, architecture, and language. None the less, there were Portuguese citizens in the colonies who had good intentions and tried to have good relationships the locals. Unfortunately, this was not the general feeling across the colonies (Angola, Guinea Bissau, Mozambique, and Cabo Verde) which eventually led to the war in these areas. I think that it is important to all to know what led to the freedom day on April 25th,  the new chapter that brought to a Portugal in this era, but it is also relevant to point out that the transition period between the dictatorship and the first government in office, it brought a lot of good things but the transition showed people’s properties and finances being taken away. There are always two sides to every story, and being aware of all parts involved is important. The 25 of April marks a new era where people have freedom of speech was granted, freedom of reading books and listening music without surveillance, the first steps for women’s rights started to appear, female teachers could now get married, a woman could travel without needing to ask their husbands for permission, children were now attending school, and having proper education, and with time the space, respect for the colonies was given. These are just a few points on why the Freedom Day is so important for Portuguese people. Without April 25th protest day at OIS (Oeiras International School,) would not have been possible, from international schools to mixed schools, and learning about protest songs and understanding the impact of censorship.” 

Later during the day, the most exciting moment arrived – the big protest! 

This is Pedro Neto (a student in Year 9 who participated at the events)’s opinion about the day and his insight on the big play that we enjoyed about the day of the freedom:  

“Today was a lot of fun, the activities were extremely engaging, and the presentations were all extremely creative and had many learning outcomes from it, either from information about the revolution, or about the impact it had on our society nowadays. 

The roleplay was extremely creative, Mr. Davies’ writing was both extremely informative, as it had many facts involved to give the reality to a roleplay, and it also showed many points of view of people who had just discovered a revolution. It was extremely educative, and I hope everyone did have fun with it as much as I did. Every member of the roleplay was clearly very impressive, as they really wanted to participate from the start, and it went perfectly from the start, even though in the final performance there was a slight “accident” with the board.” 

What is the importance of protest day to the students? 

I interviewed Mr. Charles to learn more about this topic: 

Two main things:  

1. It is very important that people have the knowledge of the major events that shape the society they live in especially as an international school to recognize that we are part of the community of Portugal.  

2. These are events that divide opinion and inspire strong emotions, by teaching historical skills, we hope for students to understand that there can be multiple perspectives on an event or issue and our job as historians is not to judge right from wrong, but to think critically about causes and consequences. 

Mr. Charles tells us about the Nowadays impact: 

The short-term impact was a period of immense instability, and unrest. Which had both positive and negative consequences for huge amounts of people. Although the 25th of April itself did not put Portugal on a direct path to democracy, one of the long-term consequences was, the establishment of democratic government one year later. This is very important today.