25 April, 25 sempre, fascismo nunca mais
At midnight of the 25th of April 1974, the revolutionary song Grândola Villa Morena, which was forbidden by the Salazar regime, and thus marked the start of the Carnation Revolution as it had been played in the radio. The people went out into the streets to join the left-wing military who put an end to more than four decades of dictatorship in Portugal. Since then, year after year, on April 25 the Portuguese take to the streets, with their red carnations, to remember and vindicate the values of the revolution. This year, the Party of the European Left (EL), which concluded on Sunday its Executive in Porto, joined the commemoration of that revolution that recovered the freedom and democracy to Portugal.
The big EL delegation, led by its vice-presidents Marisa Matias and Maite Mola, paid tribute to the anti-fascist fighters and participated in the demonstration of Porto, brimming with people, with the banner "Europe needs more carnations". The EL flags mingled with the ones of the French Communist Party, Die Linke, Spanish Communist Party, Izquierda Unida (Spain), Parti de Gauche (France), Communist Refoundation (Italy), the Labour Party of Switzerland, the Belarusian Party of the Left "Fair World", the Communist Party of the Republic of Moldova, the United Left Party of Estonia and the Party of Democratic Socialism (Czech Republic).
"Today is a special day because we are not only celebrating the anniversary of the revolution but 40 years of our democratic Constitution, the most progressive in Europe, garnering social, labour rights, the right to health, to education and to everything you need to enjoy a full democracy" explained the Portuguese MEP and vice president of the EL Marisa Matias. Although the Constitution has changed seven times, it retains in its preamble that it “proclaims the decision of the Portuguese people (...) to open the path toward a socialist society” and the universal rights.
This year, continued Matias, there is a larger turnout than usual in all cities and the demonstrations have been more festive and joyful because people have regained the illusion with the political change of the progressive government. "Unfortunately, during the last years we have had too many measures of austerity that have cut a lot of rights, but today the people go out to the street to claim the values of April 25”.
“25 Abril always, Fascism never again” and “the people united will never be defeated”, were some of the slogans most chorused. In this occasion the demonstrators expressed their solidarity with the Brazilian people and denounced the institutional coup d'état in Brazil against the government of Dilma Rousseff.
