Portugal’s Carnation Revolution

Seriously...

BBC

Society & Culture, Documentary

4.1 • 885 Ratings

🗓️ 21 May 2024

⏱️ 29 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

25th April 2024 marked the 50th anniversary of Portugal's 'Carnation Revolution', which overthrew the authoritarian dictatorship of the Estado Novo ('New State') which had governed Portugal since the 1920s. A largely bloodless revolution, marked by the carnations that were placed in the rifles of the soldiers, it led to the successful establishment of democracy in Portugal and the integration of more than half-a-million 'retornados' - returnees - Portuguese citizens from its former African colonies.

Portugal's revolution was indeed televised, and recorded in sound. One of those who bore witness to its aftermath was journalist, and former Channel 4 news presenter Jon Snow, who reported from Portugal at the time for LBC Radio. At this important anniversary, he remembers his time there, and tells the story of what unfolded, through archive and interviews with those who organised and lived through those heady days of April 1974.

Presenter: Jon Snow Producer: Michael Rossi

With thanks to RTP (Rádio e Televisão de Portugal) and LBC for archive.

Transcript

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0:00.0	This was an impregnable fortress. The only way you get out was in a wooden box.
0:05.0	The controversial maximum security prison impossible to escape from.
0:09.0	And one of the duties of a political prisoner is the escape.
0:12.0	The IRA inmates who found a way. of a political prisoner is the escape.
0:12.5	The IRA inmates who found a way.
0:14.5	I'm Carlo Gableer and I'll be navigating a path
0:19.5	through the disturbing inside story of the biggest jailbreak in British and Irish history.
0:25.0	The narrative that they want is that this is a big achievement by them.
0:28.5	Escape from the maze, listen first on BBC Sounds.
0:36.0	BBC Sounds. BBC Sounds, Music Radio Podcasts.
0:40.0	Welcome to Seriously from BBC Radio 4. I'm Vanessa Kasule. This podcast finds the world's best
0:47.0	audio documentaries and puts them all in one place. The only are now firing into the air.
0:55.0	Troops are now firing into the air in an attempt to get the crowd here to disperse. What an
1:05.0	incredibly posh boy,
1:08.0	much more posh than I know.
1:10.0	It's not bad for a novice.
1:12.0	It's not bad for a novice. It's amazing. I've never heard it before.
1:15.7	It really has the very narcissist effect on the eyes. I'm John Snow and that young man there is
1:20.9	me reporting from Braga in the north of Portugal in August of
1:25.0	1975. What was going on? There was an anti-communist protest where both people on
1:31.6	the left and the right of the political spectrum
1:34.4	were worried about threats to democracy.
	...

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