All Freedom is precarious

Hello neighbor!

“All freedom is precarious… and you always have to fight for it”, says Sérgio Godinho in an interview mentioned in Garota Não’s last song, based on his lyrics. It’s a good motto for what happened this week in Lisbon. With the huge demonstration of the 50th anniversary of the 25th of April.

I’m not just talking about the procession. I’m talking about what happened in Terreiro do Paço, Largo do Carmo, Chiado, Rossio, throughout the city. In all the cities of the Metropolitan Area, in fact. It was a popular festival, which the people embraced and celebrated, defending once again what we take so much for granted and are sometimes reminded that it is not.

It was a people’s party.

Sometimes we talk about the People in the somewhat hollow language of political parties, but here, those who were there felt it. Like a collective energy that ran through the spaces, made up of looks, tears and smiles and touches and hugs and songs.

Despite being carried out by the military, the April Revolution in Portugal was very much like that, and that is where much of its beauty comes from. Of the individuals who made it what it was. From Corporal José Alves Costa who was in the armored car, near Terreiro do Paço, with Salgueiro Maia in his sights and ordered to fire and did not do so. From the woman who distributed the carnations she carried in her bag to the soldiers, Celeste Caeiro, giving name to the moment. That’s why that phrase is so important: where were you? Because everyone feels that they have individually participated in a collective gesture (this is the spirit of the Lisboa Que Amanhece series that we published these days, check it out here).

And that is what this day in 2024 was also made of. Amateur posters invented by everyone in their own way, graffiti t-shirts, slogans that someone started shouting alone – and was immediately followed by so many around.

I walked down part of Avenida da Liberdade behind a group of older women who brought Grândola’s lyrics and joined their voices. Further ahead, a child shouted the slogan that I shouted when I was two years old “The United People…” and I got emotional. We clap. I cried when I heard “Gaivota Voava, Voava” sung in unison in Carmo.

A popular party. Against no one, but in favor of each and every one. It was as if everyone woke up and thought they needed to show others this: We are here. We know what we are and what we do here. We will not abandon ourselves.

I always missed the 25th of April that I didn’t experience. From that initial day of hope. I know it’s not the same, but these posters, the strength of this celebration, have restored my hope in these days.

And yours?

I leave below the stories of this April 25th that warmed our souls. From Ferreira Fernandes’ memories to testimonies from the early hours of that morning that Catarina Pires collected and Inês Leote edited – paying homage to Lisboa Que Amanhece, by Sérgio Godinho.

In fact, if we think about it, this entire Lisbon Message is a tribute to April, portraying this free and diverse world that was born with it.

April 25th, always!