Interviewed by: Jasmina Andrić
Fascism lived long in Europe after World War II, particularly in Portugal and Spain. José Pedro Soares, a man who was tortured in prison and whose name anti-fascists wrote on city walls as inspiration for the resistance movement, experienced this firsthand in Portugal. He survived unimaginable torture to become one of the authors of the Portuguese Constitution. Today, decades later, he bitterly states that his country has no place in either the EU or NATO.
What was the fascist period in Portugal like?
Portugal participated in World War I but experienced numerous problems, leading to constant government overthrows, sometimes monthly, so the Republic did not achieve its goals. Corruption destroyed society, and people were dissatisfied. These circumstances created fertile ground for a coup carried out by the right-wing military in 1926; the result was the abolition of workers’ unions, media censorship, arrest and imprisonment of all protesters, and deportation to isolated colony areas. In 1933, the coup leaders invited Salazar, who copied many of Mussolini’s fascist ideas, to become prime minister. Thus, fascism was born in Portugal, with a strong repressive apparatus, prisons for opposition members, and a concentration camp in one of the colonies, on the Cape Verde islands. This repressive regime arrested, tortured, and killed anyone against them. Parties were abolished. Salazar collaborated with Franco during the Spanish Civil War, supported Hitler, and thus fascism in Portugal. He sent food and numerous products that people lacked to support the Nazi and fascist regimes in Europe. This fascist dictatorship lasted until 1974. After Salazar died, Marcelo Caetano succeeded him and continued his mentor’s path. It was a very difficult period for the Portuguese people, ending on April 25, 1974, with the revolution in Portugal that ended fascism and colonialism. At that time, both we and the people from the colonies were liberated, and April 25 became a world historical event—the Carnation Revolution, bloodless, with people and young soldiers taking to the streets and celebrating together.
You personally felt the brutality of fascism in Portugal. What do you remember from that period?
I was arrested and imprisoned for three years as a political prisoner. They tortured me, but I never spoke, I never betrayed my friends and organization, knowing that my comrades had the greatest trust in me. When they arrested me, they told me I had written many documents, organized meetings, and brought numerous young people into the fight against fascism. The secret service offered two options: either a long time in prison or freedom if I confessed what I had done and with whom. In every struggle, there are traitors, and many of my comrades and I were arrested. The secret service already knew a lot about me, but in our secret fight, we did not use names but aliases. They tortured me. One method was six days and six nights without sleep, so I slept only one night in 21 days. I didn’t know where I was, what time it was, I couldn’t think, my body was covered in bruises from constant beatings. The secret police were desperate because I said nothing. It was brutal. They would stop only when I was close to death. I received medical help because they wanted to keep me alive to get me to say something and extract information, but I never did. It was a very painful experience, both mentally and physically.
Half a century after the revolution, Portugal is a NATO member. What do you think about that?
In a certain way, we could have made a country with progressive politics. I personally participated in writing the Portuguese constitution, which is one of the most progressive in the world. I also believe that Portugal could have had good relations with everyone without EU membership and developed its economy, politics, and military. We in Portugal are against military blocs, we are against NATO, we believe it makes no sense. Our constitution clearly states that we must end colonialism and membership in military blocs, that we should respect the decision and path of all people, and that every conflict should be resolved diplomatically and peacefully. NATO was not formed to resolve conflicts peacefully, on the contrary. NATO membership is against our constitution. We are there, against our constitution and the people’s will.
Do you share the same views regarding the EU?
We are aware of all the limitations of the EU and feel them more every day. We are also aware of globalization. We believe it is the beginning of a new world capitalism and imperialism. Opening borders and creating a global village has not contributed to connecting people. If you look at world events today, we have never been farther from each other. Globalization is just an instrument for enriching those who promote it at the expense of smaller states. The EU or the European Economic Community is not a community of cooperation and peace among people; they are guided by the interests of big businesses and all those things we think should be banned. The biggest countries in the EU, Germany and France, and even the UK, which left the Union, are guided only by the interests of their big businesses. This is not a relationship of equality among people.
However, Portugal belongs to the EU’s second ring…
Peripheral countries, including Portugal, do not have the same conditions, the same rights. The rules in the EU do not apply equally to all, and if you are a smaller state, you become a servant and slave of this organization. As a result, we lost our independence, sovereignty, and right to decide. Even when we want to discuss our state budget, it must first go to Brussels for approval. Such functioning does not suit any free-thinking person who wants to feel at home in their country. The EU sets rules they think are good for them, but not for us and our state budget. These rules suit a few countries, while others bear the burden and create restrictions in functioning. You in Serbia are free to buy goods you think you need, while we in Portugal are obliged to buy only what the EU says we can.
It is unquestionable that the USA is closely connected with the EU. What do you think is the USA’s role in everything you previously described?
I think we would be much more advanced, but we are not because of the position mentioned, where the USA certainly has its role, even with President Biden. Under Trump, the motto was “America First,” but it remained after him. They gather their allies to defend American supremacy around the world. NATO was not formed to protect people worldwide or to promote democracy; it was formed for the interests of the USA. The array of instruments used for such goals is diverse and well-concealed, wrapped in the colorful paper of democratic values. For example, maintaining a criminal blockade against Cuba, trying to attack Russia, China, Serbia, there is no respect for the free decisions of people. They try to maintain an order where the only correct way is what the Americans impose on the EU, and if you don’t accept that, you are an enemy. If people do not follow the will of the USA or the EU, they are enemies; they get blockades, wars, propaganda, blackmail, as you in Serbia experienced. Here’s an example from recent history: NATO bombed FRY in 1999, Portugal did not consciously enter that nor decide on it. There was not enough information in our public, and the USA exclusively decided on it.
What is your view on contemporary geopolitical events?
Reading world politics in the real world is complex. New information or lies are very quick and manipulative. Today you can only be sure that the truth is somewhere out there, and it is shocking. How much misinformation was there about the conflict in Ukraine and the Palestinian situation, but there are also other situations with conditioning small and developing economies. All this together reminds of colonialism methods that are different from those used by the Spanish or Portuguese in colonies but have such elements. Today we can openly talk about not political but direct control of states, and that is what should concern the whole planet. We citizens must fight for a more humane and freer world, and I think everyone, especially the UN, must do more. It is unacceptable that the interests of one state are at the expense of half the world, that innocents suffer, and that we allow someone else to be blamed for that suffering.
At the moment when it becomes one of the founders of the NATO alliance, Portugal still carries the remnants of its fascist past. Is this fact confusing?
Portugal tries to be a good student of the USA, Germany, etc., while the Portuguese government just follows instructions. Fascist Portugal was a founder of NATO after World War II. They accepted a fascist country into NATO; they had no problem with that. We ask how it is possible that NATO, the USA, the UK, and France accepted a fascist country into NATO where fascist laws and concentration camps still existed. This is a living example of what NATO stands for. Although I speak about my country, the facts are that fascism existed here, and that was not an obstacle to NATO membership. Therefore, I think neither NATO nor the EU is a good direction for my country.
