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Lusa - Business News - Portugal: 25 April sees 50 years of freedom of expression in country
Lisbon,April.16,2024(Lusa)- The idea of preventing someone from expressing themselves in Portugal seems so absurd that it's hard to conceive of a time when it happened, but doubts persist about what freedom of expression means today. In a different country - a much better one, according to an extensive list of indicators ranging from literacy to infant mortality, not to mention the absence of political police - than that of 24 April 1974, freedom of expression has been enshrined in the Constitution since 1976, starting with "pluralism of expression", Article 2, but particularly in Article 37. "Everyone has the right to freely express and disseminate their thoughts by word, image or any other means, as well as the right to inform, attain information and be informed, without hindrance or discrimination". In a survey of the general public carried out in 2022 by the Centre for Studies and Opinion Polls of the Portuguese Catholic University, freedom of expression was ranked second as the greatest achievement of 25 April, only behind the right to vote. In the year that marks the 50th anniversary of 25 April, the Lusa news agency asked more than a dozen personalities from the creative fields about the evolution of freedom of expression in the country and the challenges it faces. All the answers were given before the legislative elections on 10 March. The interviewees emphasised the importance of the Carnation Revolution and, in some cases, called for people to stop and look twice at today's Portugal before starting a new sentence of pessimism or criticism: "In 50 years, we've changed the country. Are we in trouble? Yes. Complicated? Yes. But don't slip into pessimism. Fight. Take risks," the artistic director of the São João National Theatre, Nuno Cardoso, told Lusa. Philosopher André Barata emphasised that freedom of expression "is a fundamental value and this is not in question, but it has to live with other fundamental freedoms, other fundamental values". "Some aspects, especially in very inflammatory political discourse, hide the right to a freedom of aggression, to discriminate. And that's where we have a problem, and it's on this very difficult borderline to determine between freedom of expression and freedom to attack, which isn't necessarily what we're dealing with from a legal point of view. It's a tension, above all, in spaces or places where the commitment to inclusion must be especially emphasised," said the chair of the Faculty of Arts and Letters at the University of Beira Interior. Even so, many of the testimonies collected point to weaknesses in Portuguese democracy, both in political terms and in terms of access to the possibility of making oneself heard, which is apparently equal due to social networks, but not necessarily identical when it comes to amplifying the message. "Any citizen-reader can see that, in our state of democracy, anti-democratic creatures and speeches are more easily given space than reasoned voices of revolt," writer and translator Regina Guimarães told Lusa in a written response. Nuno Cardoso agrees: "Formally, freedom of expression in Portugal is respected and absolute. Substantially, freedom of expression is subject to the same socio-economic tensions as any other right. In other words, you can't talk about freedom of expression when not everyone has the same ability to express themselves freely." "You can't talk about freedom of expression when our 'mass media' are subject to the logic of economic profit groups which, in turn, cut off this channel to freedom of expression for many people. You can't talk about absolute freedom of expression in substantive terms when we don't all have access to the same information and when that information is currently monetised," said the actor and director. The artistic director of the D. Maria II National Theatre, Pedro Penim, pointed out the "bittersweet side" of the fact that the commemorations of the 50th anniversary of 25 April are taking place at a time when the country seems to be "going backwards", referring to the growth of the extreme right, which, a few days after Penim spoke to Lusa, elected a parliamentary group of 50 MPs. "The danger of going back to a time when this freedom of expression was violently curtailed is real and you only have to look at what is happening in the country next door, where the fascist party can and has succeeded in making sure that, for example in the theatre, some productions stop premiering, are interrupted, are questioned," said Penim, referring to the various decisions and pressures of the Spanish VOX party on cultural policy. Ricardo Veiga, the organiser of Barroselas Metalfest, told Lusa that he had a more critical view of the present: "Freedom of expression has always been a pretty facade, but in reality it has always hidden a lot of censorship and objection to controversial ideas, it has never been purely free." "Today, with the media's mass coverage of everyday life, everything is a scurrilous affair, everything is worldly futility and everything scales up in a stupidly irrational way. The challenges are the same as ever, but on a new scale, which requires a lot of forethought and levelheadedness, more modesty and less egomania," wrote the festival organiser in a response to Lusa. Journalist Alfredo Cunha, who first told Lusa that he has lived without freedom of expression, with freedom of expression, again without freedom of expression and finally again with freedom of expression, emphasised that "the attempt to suppress freedom of expression is a constant in the press and journalists have a duty to fight" against it. "The concentration and entry of economic groups has brought with it a new sinister way of limiting freedom of expression, which is to replace older journalists who had already lived without and with freedom of expression, to replace them with journalists more aligned to the right - obviously this is not generalised - and poorly paid, always with a sword over their heads called a job," said the photojournalist. Regina Guimarães speaks in the same vein, saying that "there is, on the one hand, a lack of courage on the part of journalists, and on the other, the veiled threat of dismissal if journalists don't keep their heads down". Cristina Planas Leitão, co-director of the Teatro Municipal do Porto, emphasised the importance of journalistic work, particularly in the face of disinformation: "Journalism is profoundly important at a time like this. Journalists who do in-depth work and investigate do a very important job." TDI/AYLS // AYLS Lusa Agency : LUSA Date : 2024-04-17 10:37:00
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ANADOLU AJANSI - AA
AGENCE FRANCE PRESSE - AFP
AGENCE MAURITANIENNE D'INFORMATION - AMI
ATHENS NEWS AGENCY/ MACEDONIAN NEWS AGENCY - ANA / MPA
AGENZIA NAZIONALE STAMPA ASSOCIATA
ALGERIE PRESSE SERVICE - APS
ALBANIAN TELEGRAPHIC AGENCY - ATA
CYPRUS NEWS AGENCY - CNA
AGENCIA EFE,S.A. - EFE
FEDERAL NEWS AGENCY - FENA
CROATIAN NEW AGENCY - HINA
LIBYAN NEW AGENCY - LANA
AGENCE MAROCAINE DE PRESSE - MAP
MIDDLE EAST NEWS AGENCY - MENA
NATIONAL NEWS AGENCY - NNA
SLOVENIAN PRESS AGENCY - STA
SYRIAN ARAB NEWS AGENCY - SANA
TANJUG TACNO - TANJUG
AGENCE TUNIS AFRIQUE PRESS- TAP
PALESTINIAN NEWS & INFO AGENCY - WAFA
FEDERATION OF ARAB NEWS AGENCY - FANA>
INTERNATIONAL PRESS SERVICE -IPS
ORGANIZATION OF ASIAN -PACIFIC NEWS AGENCIES - OANA
EUROPEAN ALLIANCE OF NEWS AGENCIES - EANA
ASSOCIATION OF BALKAN NEWS AGENCIES - ABNA
FEDERATION ATLANTIQUE DES AGENCES DE PRESSE AFRICAINES - FAAPA
