Grafika: Portugal, Angola en Mosambiek deur Gordon Johnson op Pixabay verkry
.........
Tens of thousands of civilians flooded into the streets – no one slept that night. Carnations were the flowers in season, and many of the soldiers “planted” the long-stemmed flowers in their gun barrels – an image broadcast across the world.
........
Grândola, dark village
Land of brotherhood
The people are the ones who order the most
Grândola, vila morena – Jose Afonso
Fifty years is a long time, but to those of us who were around, it still seems like yesterday.
The Carnation Revolution of 24 April 1974, ushering in the return of democracy in Portugal after decades of dictatorship, not only transformed the country’s political, social and economic landscape, but profoundly altered the balance of power in southern Africa as Lisbon withdrew from her colonies in Angola, Mozambique and elsewhere.
Led by the Armed Forces Movement (MFA), the revolution overthrew the authoritarian Estado Novo regime that had ruled Portugal for nearly half a century under António de Oliveira Salazar and Marcelo Caetano.
The sequence of events was triggered when the Portuguese dictator, Caetano, removed General Antonio de Spinola, who had written a book openly disagreeing with the direction of Portuguese colonial policy from command of Portuguese forces in Guinea. Officers supporting Spinola decided to foment a coup and overthrow the government.
The coup was launched with music, in the form of two supposedly “secret” signals, although the intentions of the plotters had become widely known by then.
The songs were Paulo de Carvalho’s “E depois do adeus” and “Grândola, vila Morena”, by influential folk singer Jose Afonso.
........
The first song, “E depois do adeus”, alerted the rebel officers to begin the coup. It was broadcast at 22h55 on 24 April.
........
The first song, “E depois do adeus”, alerted the rebel officers to begin the coup. It was broadcast at 22h55 on 24 April. A few hours later, shortly after midnight, “Grândola, vila morena” was broadcast; both broadcasts were done by small radio stations.
There was no hesitation on the part of the army. It swept into action, bloodlessly taking over strategic points of power in Lisbon and elsewhere in Portugal. Tens of thousands of civilians flooded into the streets – no one slept that night. Carnations were the flowers in season, and many of the soldiers “planted” the long-stemmed flowers in their gun barrels – an image broadcast across the world.
Six hours after the moving strains of the Grândola wafted across the ether, the Caetano government relented and the years of dictatorship were over. As it turned out, Caetano knew what was about to happen, and had simply decided to stand back and let events take their course as the easiest non-violent option. Caetano had tired of playing the dictator; he was not cut out to be another Salazar, and he knew Portugal was being bankrupted by its African adventures.
........
Six hours after the moving strains of the Grândola wafted across the ether, the Caetano government relented and the years of dictatorship were over.
........
One of the immediate consequences of the revolution was the establishment of democracy in Portugal. The overthrow of the Estado Novo dictatorship led to the formation of a provisional government and paved the way for free and fair elections. Portugal transitioned from an authoritarian regime to a democratic system, marked by political pluralism, freedom of speech, and the rule of law.
The revolution also had significant social consequences. It unleashed pent-up demands for social justice, equality and individual freedoms. Moreover, the revolution brought about a cultural renaissance, fostering artistic expression, intellectual freedom and a renewed sense of national identity.
Economically, the aftermath of the revolution presented challenges and opportunities for Portugal. The country faced economic instability and uncertainty in the immediate aftermath of the overthrow of the dictatorship. However, the transition to democracy also opened up new avenues for economic development and modernisation. Portugal sought closer ties with the European Economic Community (EEC), paving the way for its eventual accession in 1986. Economic reforms aimed at liberalising markets and attracting foreign investment were implemented to stimulate growth and integration into the global economy.
The colonies
Internationally, and especially for South Africa, the consequences of the April 1974 revolution were profound. Portugal’s decolonisation process accelerated with blinding speed following the revolution, leading to the independence of its African colonies, including Angola, Mozambique, Cape Verde, Guinea-Bissau and São Tomé and Príncipe. The new Portuguese military leaders couldn’t wait to recall the conscripts who had been despatched to shore up the empire in such large numbers.
........
By coincidence I found myself cast in a ringside seat a year later, 1975, having accepted a job in Luanda, capital of Angola, a country on the brink of civil war, and the largest of Portugal’s African possessions.
........
From one month to the next, effectively, the old order gave way to the new, with dramatically destabilising consequences in the colonies.
By coincidence I found myself cast in a ringside seat a year later, 1975, having accepted a job in Luanda, capital of Angola, a country on the brink of civil war, and the largest of Portugal’s African possessions.
My drive north from South Africa, through Namibia, had taken several days. I’d bribed my way through roadblocks with cigarettes, scrounged petrol where I could, slept in some dire flea-ridden lodgings, and eventually found myself in Luanda, that glittering, beautiful, pink-painted city on the sea.
The famous marginal roadway curved around the bay, which glittered in the morning sun. Luanda was a true jewel in the crown of the Portuguese empire as it was.
“What’s happening to the city?” I enquired somewhat apprehensively on my first day at the office. Within the confines of what I had supposed to be the relatively safe harbour of the Tropico Hotel, the biggest and most luxurious and supposedly safest in town, my car was broken into, and all my precious tapes stolen, together with my white Panama hat (a relief, according to those who had seen me wear it).
One of my colleagues shrugged. “It’s like watching Luanda die,” he said, “and watching Luanda die is like watching a woman one has once loved take to drink. Be careful where you go.”
I needed little warning. The previous night, gunfire had kept me awake. And I had already discovered that the air and sea ports were crammed with Portuguese descendants of settlers who had been in the country for 500 years. They were desperate to get out, so rapid had been Portugual’s withdrawal from its colonies in Africa.
.........
The expatriates left behind to man the outposts of Western businesses were a cynical bunch of old Africa hands. They were the epitome of a certain kind of fellow in the tropics, characters out of a Somerset Maugham novel, perhaps.
.........
The expatriates left behind to man the outposts of Western businesses were a cynical bunch of old Africa hands. They were the epitome of a certain kind of fellow in the tropics, characters out of a Somerset Maugham novel, perhaps. Adventurers of the old school, like Thessiger or Burton. But as I was to swiftly find out they, too, were preparing to leave Angola, responding to the colour-coded evacuation signals being flown by their respective embassies.
A month before, when I first arrived, Luanda had had at least an appearance of normality: milk was delivered, garbage collected, the street lights worked. Now fighting had flared up and soon all the basic services which sustain organised urban existence had collapsed. Even the water supply could not be relied upon and bathtubs were filled every night “just in case”. As rubbish piled up, rats and ever more flies made their appearance. The smell of decay permeated everything. Casualties mounted, and bodies delivered to the over-full city morgue were left on the pavement in full view. Rumours of cholera outbreaks were rife.
South Africa gets involved
As Portuguese colony after Portuguese colony raced to independence, Pretoria found itself struggling to contain the repercussions for southern Africa. Frelimo-dominated Mozambique was already a threat, while the collapse of the Angolan coalition comprising the three main liberation movements, which hadn’t lasted more than a year, came as little surprise to observers. In late 1975, little more than a year after the Carnation Revolution in Lisbon, the Angolan civil war was in full swing, with Jonas Savimbi’s Unita movement in the south enjoying support from the South African Defence Force, while Agostinho Neto’s MPLA accepted Russian and Cuban backing.
........
A mere 15 years after “Depois” and “Grândola vila morena” had triggered the Lisbon coup, Nelson Mandela’s ANC was unbanned, and Mandela was released from prison to become president of South Africa.
........
In the years that followed, the MPLA emerged victorious, and Pretoria eventually withdrew not only from Angola, but also from Namibia, and the writing was on the wall for Pretoria. A mere 15 years after “Depois” and “Grândola vila morena” had triggered the Lisbon coup, Nelson Mandela’s ANC was unbanned, and Mandela was released from prison to become president of South Africa.
The moral of the tale is, don’t underestimate the potential of a good song to upend history!
Fifty years on, the Carnation Revolution is an anniversary worth commemorating. In Angola and Mozambique they have never ceased saying “A luta continua” (The struggle continues), only now the struggle isn’t against the colonists, but against poverty and joblessness.
Also read:
African Library: Luuanda – Short Stories of Angola by Josè Luandino Vieira
Countdown to socialism by Anthea Jeffery: The ANC’s road to Karl Marx
Hero in hiding: Jeff Morphew, forgotten South African in the fight for democracy