More than 5,600 call for government action against “toxic” Salazar Museum

Alex Englefield 19 August 2019

salazar More than 5,600 people have already signed a public petition calling for intervention from the Government to prevent the installation of a museum dedicated to the former dictatorship of the Estado Novo and its leader, Salazar, in Santa Comba Dão, Viseu.

The digital document was posted on the Internet two and a half days ago and has already been signed by some well-known Portuguese figures, such as former union leader Carvalho da Silva, political analyst Pedro Adão e Silva, writer Maria Teresa Horta, former University of Lisbon dean José Barata Moura and singer Francisco Fanhais, among others.

The petition, titled “No Salazar Museum!" supports an open letter to the Prime Minister, António Costa, from August 12th, in which 204 former political prisoners demanded action from the PS executive, as well as expressing "the most vehement rejection" for the initiative announced by the local mayor.

According to the petition, the Santa Comba Dão project is "far from being aimed at enlightening the population and especially the younger generations", and would be "an instrument at the service of the whitewashing of the fascist regime, and a toxic centre for nostalgia of the regime overthrown on the 25th of April 1974".

Comments

+2 #11 Peter Booker 2019-08-23 08:48

Quoting Charly:

Why the Portugese these days so vehemently WANT to be reminded at dictator Salazar ? It gives the impression many prefer dictatorship above Costa-ship !

There are people here in Portugal who see nostalgically through rose-tinted glasses that the Estado Novo was a time of stability and certainty. Similarly, there are people in Russia who look back on the Soviet regime for similar reasons. They were not affected by the downsides, and perhaps benefitted from the advantages of these regimes.

-1 #10 Darcy 2019-08-23 00:39

Quoting Barb:

Costa-ship is still a dictatorship under the guise of another name. Democracy would require a democratic judicial, political and policing system. Progress here is slower than the queue at Financas.

EXPLAIN YOURSELF !!!
Do you know what it is like to live in a country that is ruled by a dictator.... if you did, you wouldn't make such an idiotic comment.

-1 #9 Barb 2019-08-21 18:33

Quoting Charly:

Why the Portugese these days so vehemently WANT to be reminded at dictator Salazar ? It gives the impression many prefer dictatorship above Costa-ship !

Costa-ship is still a dictatorship under the guise of another name. Democracy would require a democratic judicial, political and policing system. Progress here is slower than the queue at Financas.

+1 #8 Peter Booker 2019-08-21 08:59

We are not yet quite far enough away from the events of the Estado Novo to consider them dispassionately. There are too many people who have suffered either personally, or through their families. Better wait until these have passed away. Spain has similar but bigger problems over the fate of the corpse of General Franco.

I am fascinated by AL´s view of history. How do you go about not offending people who are for whatever reason biassed; and yet remain truthful?

And the winner always writes the history. For example, who won the Battle of Waterloo? The British have always thought that they did, under their General the Duke of Wellington. It was really a German victory - they supplied the most troops, and without Blücher, the battle would have been lost. At the very least, it was an Allied victory.

0 #7 Darcy 2019-08-20 22:51

Quoting Hamilton:

These were dark days indeed, well illustrated by the fear even Salazar's inner circle had of Salazar in faking proof that his decisions were being followed long after his impairment. As with Stalin towards the end. This discussion just continues a regular theme seen on expat sites and here on ADN. That the Salazar regime organised the 1974 Revolution then handed it to the Portuguese people as a done deal; insisting that there was nothing useful to be gained from anything resembling a Truth and Reconciliation procedure. A procedure since seen as vital to allow a national society to move on as it flushes out the bad guys and helps explain what actually happened to the persecuted. So much today in Portugal is influenced by this 'Silence of the Lambs' - yet another recent example being the tens of thousands of fraudulent EU grant applications over the last 3 decades by Portuguese landowners and many others inventing their landownership.

(The entire system rotten to the core; totally corrupt

)
................................................
This is a very sweeping statement, could you please explain which system is rotten and who is totally corrupt ! !

-2 #6 dw 2019-08-20 11:35

Fascism is being rehabilitated internationally as the Western order collapses. It's a last gasp attempt to maintain control.

+3 #5 AL 2019-08-20 09:57

"Who controls the past controls the future; who controls the present controls the past?" George Orwell.
You cannot erase or hide the past to satisfy "fragile minds". History is about educating the younger generations and not offending the older ones.

-1 #4 Hamilton 2019-08-20 06:49

These were dark days indeed, well illustrated by the fear even Salazar's inner circle had of Salazar in faking proof that his decisions were being followed long after his impairment. As with Stalin towards the end. This discussion just continues a regular theme seen on expat sites and here on ADN. That the Salazar regime organised the 1974 Revolution then handed it to the Portuguese people as a done deal; insisting that there was nothing useful to be gained from anything resembling a Truth and Reconciliation procedure. A procedure since seen as vital to allow a national society to move on as it flushes out the bad guys and helps explain what actually happened to the persecuted. So much today in Portugal is influenced by this 'Silence of the Lambs' - yet another recent example being the tens of thousands of fraudulent EU grant applications over the last 3 decades by Portuguese landowners and many others inventing their landownership. The entire system rotten to the core; totally corrupt, but anyone honest caught up in it too terrified to speak out!

+4 #3 Chip 2019-08-19 23:52

Suppressing history achieves nothing.

Let visitors to the museum form their own opinions and stop trying to manipulate history.

+2 #2 Sebby 2019-08-19 23:05

Portugal should creat a museum on this dictator and this will lead to more discussion about a man that kept pt in the dark ages.

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