On the Joy of Owning Freedom

Yesterday Portugal celebrated the revolution that freed its people from authoritarian rule 50 years ago. In the morning I headed down at about 10:00 to Praça do Comércio. The pomp and pageantry of formal military services had ended. The parade of 50-year-old armored vehicles was just then setting off. 

The armored vehicles and troop transports carried some of the soldiers who 50 years ago originally made the same now historic journey. The army green hardware headed up through the city to what in 1974 was the main headquarters of the Lisbon military police, the National Republican Guard, at Largo do Carmo. This is where the authoritarian government’s rule started to crumble that day.

As the vehicles wound their way up through the city streets thousands of people followed behind them. Heroes of the revolution sat atop these old vehicles, people my age and older, and received repeated rousing cheers. Carnations were everywhere. Many people held just one carnation but others held bouquets of the red flowers and raised them as the tank and troop trucks rolled by. The aging men in the old military vehicles broke down in tears at times from the loving reception they received from the crowds.

 In 1974 the people and the military of Portugal had suffered enough at the hands of the PIDE (Polícia Internacional e de Defesa do Estado). Disappearances, prison sentences that were death sentences, exile, neighbors spying on neighbors and censorship were part of day-to-day life. Hunger and other deprivations were part of many people’s existence. Then on April 25th even the military could no longer tolerate it. They took action.

Despite pleas for people to stay home the streets were flooded with people as the coup hour went on. Carnations were in ample supply at the city’s flower market in 1974. They quickly were handed out and were everywhere including in the barrels of soldiers' guns as the day wore on. Red carnations became the symbol of change, of freedom. The events of that day became known as the Carnation Revolution.

Later in the day yesterday I headed down to the parade on Avenida da Liberdade. Reuters says it was tens of thousands of people cramming the streets. However, I have been to large concerts like Live Aid and I would suggest the crowd all told was well over 100,000 celebrating this 50 anos since the Carnation Revolution.  

As I stood there watching the joy and celebration I wondered when did America lose its focus on celebrating the 4th of July? When did it move from celebrating the concepts embodied in the Declaration of Independence to simply grabbing a day off with beers, boats and burgers?

There is still a generation here that has lived through torture and the disappearance of loved ones. Freedom is not accepted as a given. They know it can be taken away. People here know what happens when one person decides who lives and who dies, who prospers and who suffers. It was awe-inspiring to see the celebration's joy. 

On the same day the Portuguese celebrated their freedom from fascism, the following exchange took place in an American court room.

 SCOTUS Justice Sonia Sotomayor: “If the president ... orders someone to assassinate [a rival], is that within his official acts for which he can get immunity?”

 Trump attorney D. John Sauer: “It would depend on the hypothetical, but we can see that could well be an official act.”

 Maybe things like this are why the American 4th of July celebration is more about bread and circuses and less about freedom.