Today, 50 years of the carnation revolution

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It was past midnight on April 25, 1974, in Lisbon, when the song Grândola, Vila Morena, by Portuguese singer and composer Zeca Afonso, was broadcast on Rádio Renascença. Prohibited by the dictatorship that governed the country due to its allusion to communism, it was the sign that civilians and soldiers from the Armed Forces Movement (MFA) were waiting to begin the uprising that would put an end to 48 years of fascist dictatorship and 13 years of colonial wars in Portugal.

The Carnation Revolution began. They were red carnations that a lady distributed, in Lisbon, when the military removed the dictators from the government. The soldiers put the nails in the ends of their rifles and did not fire any shots. This historic event marked the end of the dictatorial regime and the beginning of a new era of democracy and freedom in Portugal.

One of the first measures of the new Portuguese government was to grant a general amnesty to all political prisoners. The Carnation Revolution came a few months after the coup d’état that deposed Salvador Allende (1908-1973) from the Chilean government, culminating in his death on September 11, 1973.

One of the first decrees-laws established proclaimed May 1st as a national holiday. Portugal was one of the rare countries that did not celebrate this date. That year, 1974, the outpouring was contagious, with popular demonstrations across the country.

The Carnation Revolution, supported by the majority of the Portuguese population, paved the way for the end of the colonial wars and the independence of Angola, Mozambique, Guinea-Bissau, Cape Verde and São Tomé and Príncipe. Today, these five countries coexist with Lisbon and together they will celebrate the 50th anniversary of the Carnation Revolution

A medicine grows a city
Kalundborg was a quiet, small town in Denmark, with less than 17 thousand inhabitants. It has been home to the Novo Nordisk pharmaceutical factory for half a century. It is currently the most important in the country. The explosion of growth began with the announcement of an investment of almost 9 billion dollars in the expansion of its facilities, the largest industrial investment made by a company in Denmark.

This investment is to increase production of its popular diabetes and weight loss drugs, Ozempic and Wegovy. Novo Nordisk plans to add 1,250 jobs to the existing 4,500 employees at the Kalundborg plant. A highway is being expanded; investors are purchasing homes and planning new construction; Universities began offering biotechnology courses to supply Novo Nordisk and nearby companies with qualified workers.

Novo Nordisk reshapes Denmark’s economy. The country grew 1.9 percent last year, among the fastest in Europe and all thanks to the pharmaceutical industry, led by Novo Nordisk. Without it, the economy would have stagnated. Almost all of Novo Nordisk’s revenue is earned abroad, more than half in the United States alone. Novo Nordisk employees make up just 1% of the Danish workforce – even though they accounted for 20% of jobs created last year. Novo Nordisk’s impressive expansion places the city of Kalundborg as one of Denmark’s current landmarks.

United States may ban Tik Tok
President Joe Biden signed into law a law that could force TikTok’s Chinese parent company to divest the video-sharing platform, increasing already tense relations between Washington and Beijing.
It is also set to ban TikTok from app stores unless the platform is sold by its Beijing-based owner ByteDance.
TikTok promises to take legal action to block the legislation, which harms its 170 million users in the US.

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