37 years after 25 April 1974 Carnation Revolution

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Bellow red square with information and Mimi's photo, click Ver Galeria, on your left!

http://www1.ci.uc.pt/cd25a/wikka.php?wakka=coleccaoConceicaoNeuparth

Today is Freedom Day. It’s a national holiday in Portugal. 37 years ago by sunrise, the Movement of the Armed Forces, or MFA, took control of Portugal's destiny. After almost five decades of dictatorship, MFA promised to restore civil liberties and hold general elections. The people longed for the replacement of state institutions that included political police that imprisoned and tortured people. Six civilians were dead during the outburst. The 25 April coup became known as the Carnation Revolution. (Florists distributed the flowers they were selling to the military on the street.) It ended the longest dictatorship in Europe, the Estado Novo. The new regime pushed decolonization. Over the next few years Guiné -Bissau, Moçambique, Cabo Verde, São Tomé and Príncipe, and Angola became independent. Hundreds of political prisoners were released. A new era started. Portugal was on its way to democracy and modernization. (Video soundtrack is Grândola Vila Morena song by Zeca Afonso. I wrote about him here. )

The times following April 25, 1974, Carnation Revolution people painted street walls all over the country showing they were pleased with the changes. Conceição was a woman that believed in freedom. She was very active in publishing articles in the underground press. She fought the dictatorship regime since 1960 and was against the colonial war. Her friends called her Mimi. Conceição Neuparth (1926-2006) photographed and collected more than 500 photos.