"In Portugal in April 1974, before the liberals in the army turned on the oldest Fascist dictatorship in Europe and broke open all the literal and metaphorical prison gates, there had been only one legal party. On May Day of that year, the Socialist and Communist Parties were able to fill the streets of the capital city. Within days, a conservative and a liberal party had been announced, and within a very short time Portugal was, so to say, a “normal” European country. Those parties, with their very seasoned leaders, had been there all along. All that was required was for the brittle carapace of the ancien régime to be shattered."
Quote Details
Added by wikiquote-import-bot
Unverified quote
0 likes
Original Language: English
Available Languages (1)
Sources
Christopher Hitchens, "What I Don't See at the Revolution", Vanity Fair (April 2011)
https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Carnation_Revolution
Revision History
No revisions have been submitted for this quote.
Categories
Carnation Revolution
4 quotes on TrueQuotesView all quotes by Carnation Revolution →
Related Quotes
"Thus, in Europe in the 1970s, there was to be no ‘roll-back’ of Communism, and, crucially, no equivalent to the trans…"
"Esta é a madrugada que eu esperava O dia inicial inteiro e limpo Onde emergimos da noite e do silêncio E livres habit…"
"I remember vividly in 1974 being in the mass of people, descending the streets in my native Lisbon, in Portugal, cele…"
"Hail to the Mexican Revolution, victorious or defeated. And hail to the next that rises!"
"In the storm-wind of popular revolt, rising, no prophet could have foretold when, nor gazer at the aftermath just why…"
"At last we see a genuine awakening of a people, not to political demands alone, but to economic ones,—fundamentally e…"
"Portugal is controlled by a government which does not even accept the idea of democracy and individual freedom for th…"
"It would be well if Mr. Gandhi could be taken into Malabar to see with his own eyes the ghastly horrors which have be…"
"Mr. Gandhi was shocked when some Parsi ladies had their saris torn on, and very properly, yet the God fearing hooliga…"
"During the past one hundred years not fewer than 51 outbreaks of Moplahz fanaticism have been recorded. The West Coas…"