Before 1974, culture was controlled by the state and the press muzzled by censorship. A secret police force, the PIDE, suppressed opposition. Women were unable to vote and needed their husbands permission to travel abroad. Denied education, almost a third were illiterate in the early ’70s. Today, women enjoy equal rights, outnumber men at universities and fill over 30 percent of seats in parliament — more than in Switzerland, France or the United States. Today, April 25 is the most popular street name across the country, with more than 1,150 streets, avenues and plazas named after the revolutionary date. April 25 is also fondly remembered in the countrys former African empire, which the dictatorship had battled to keep long after France, Britain and other imperial powers had given up their colonies. The futility of Portugals colonial bloody wars in Angola, Mozambique and Guinea Bissau was a major factor in persuading the army officers to revolt. Although Lourenco, Saraiva de Carvalho and many others were African combat veterans, they quickly sat down with their former foes in Africa to negotiate peace deals that ended colonial rule. Our struggle always went hand-in-hand for the struggle for democracy in Portugal, Joaquim Chissano, the former guerrilla leader who was Mozambiques president from 1986-2005, told GlobalPost. April 25 is seen as a great day, a historic day that saw the fall of fascism and contributed to the freedom of all our peoples.
Posted on: Sat, 26 Apr 2014 09:58:26 +0000
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