“Celebrate the past, prepare the future” – this is the motto of the list that I headed and that has just been re-elected to direct the destinies of the Association of Former Students of Coimbra (AAEC) for the next three years. And we have a lot to celebrate.
This is the month of April, which is rich in ephemerides.
AAEC will participate in several activities commemorating the most important event: the 50th anniversary of the Revolution of April 25, 1974, which put an end to almost half a century of dictatorial rule. To this end, the contribution of students who dared to challenge this regime in two major “Academic Crises” was relevant: that of 1969, but also that of 1962 – the latter less known, especially among more recent generations, but which had great influence and was costly. to one hundred and a half student leaders, arrested by the political police and expelled from the University.
Here we will return to the topic at the next opportunity, as we are preparing, together with AAC, a series of initiatives that mark the symbolic number: 62 years of the 1962 Crisis.
As for the 1969 Crisis, it will be 55 years, on the 17th, since it was triggered, at the inauguration of the Mathematics Department of the University of Coimbra, in which the President of the Republic, Américo Tomás, did not allow the then President of AAC, Alberto Martins.
The students reacted, protested, and this audacity led to the immediate arrest of dozens of them and their incorporation into the Army, being spread across military units throughout the country. It was a mistake on the part of the dictatorial regime (which had governed the country for more than four decades), as the young student leaders politicized the officers, thus contributing to the Revolution that triumphed on April 25, 1974.
Meanwhile, it is tomorrow, April 4th, that 70 years will pass since a student action that became known as “Taking Bastille II”, because it replicated what, in 1920, another group had done, occupying a building to demand adequate facilities for the AAC . This second “Taking of the Bastille” would result in the construction of the current headquarters of the AAC and TAGV. The last survivor of the daring was Prof. Polybio Serra e Silva, who passed away about a year and a half ago (on October 14, 2022, aged 94), who proposed that April 4th be celebrated as “Former Student Day”.
And that’s what we’re going to do tomorrow in Porto, with three initiatives of great significance.
First, we will inaugurate, at 4 pm, the AAEC Delegation in Porto (at Praça Humberto Delgado, 267 – 4th floor – Room 8).
At 6 pm, at the Eng. António de Almeida Foundation, there will be a conference in honor of the memory of Dr. Fernando Aguiar Branco, who was President of that Foundation and generous patron of the University of Coimbra, where he graduated in Law. The conference is in charge of Prof. Rui Figueiredo Marcos, but the Vice-Rector of the University of Coimbra, Prof. João Nuno Calvão da Silva, the President of the Foundation, dr. Augusto Aguiar Branco, and myself, as President of AAEC.
Finally, a dinner will take place at Fundação AEP, with the presence of many former and current students from the University of Coimbra, in which a simple tribute will be paid to five former students from Coimbra: Eng. Napoleão Amorim, the most veteran performer of the Coimbra song, who passed away in October last year, aged 99; the retired judge advisor Dr. Francisco Diogo Fernandes, who was the founder of AAEC in Porto and passed away on March 7th, aged 86; Dr. Manuela Carvalhão Teixeira Santos, one of AAEC’s most dedicated Associates, who passed away on March 10th, aged 91; the Prof. Poiares Baptista, Vice-President of the Board of the AAEC General Assembly, who passed away last November, aged 96; and Prof. Polybio Serra e Silva.
In addition to these fair tributes, you will hear the song from Coimbra, performed by the veteran group “Pardalitos do Mondego” and another group of young people from the AAC Fado Section.
Ultimately, it will be a journey of true conviviality between many dozens of former students of the University of Coimbra, from various generations, united by the same feeling of belonging to their Alma Mater.
Read the full story in today’s edition of DIÁRIO AS BEIRAS
