To remember a revolution / At huske en revolution

– english below – 

At huske en revolution

Om Nellikerevolution, knuste drømme og revolutionært håb.

20. september 2024, 17-20, YNKB – Baldersgade 70, 2200 Kbh N 

For over 50 år siden, den 25. maj 1974, blev det fascistiske diktatur, der i over 40 år havde styret Portugal, omstyrtet ved en kombination af et militært oprør og folkelig modstand. Den blev døbt Nellikerevolution, fordi nogle soldater, der deltog i oprøret, havde sat nelliker i deres geværkolber. Revolution blev startskuddet på en over 18 måneder lang periode kaldet PREC. En revolutionær tid, hvor arbejdere overtog fabrikker og landområder blev kollektiviseret. En drøm om et solidarisk og lige samfund kunne skimtes i horisonten. I november 1975 oplevede Portugal et højrekup. Det markerer afslutningen på den kommunistiske udvikling af landet. En udvikling både NATO og de borgerlige demokratier i Vesteuropa havde modarbejdet siden revolutionens start.

Men hvordan husker vi Nellikerevolution?  Står den tilbage som et bevis på, at forandring er mulig? Eller som endnu et nederlag i en lang række af nederlag i kampen for en mere lige verden? Forandring kan føles uopnåeligt, når man ser på hvordan oprør og revolutioner gang på gang bliver slået ned. Men kan håb udspringe af kampen, selv når den ikke vindes?

I den dansk/svenske udgave af den Chilenske protestsang El pueblo unido jamas sera vencido lyder en linje. ”Igennem nederlaget vil vi få en viden, som I aldrig kan forstå”. En linje der fortæller magthaverne og undertrykkerne, at selv når et oprør bliver slået ned, vil modstanden finde nye former og kampen fortsætte. Er den revolutionære ild der antændte Nellikerevolutionen, den sammen ild der i dag for eksempel brænder i den iranske kvindeledte revolution? Den samme ild vi ser brænde i den globale solidaritetsbevægelse, der kæmper for et frit Palæstina?

Dette er afsættet for en aften, hvor Nellikerevolution, vil være udgangspunktet for en samtale om, hvad fortidens kampe – sejre og nederlag – betyder for dagens kampe for en anden verden. En aften hvor vi sammen trækker tråde mellem fortidens og nutidens sociale bevægelser og revolutioner.

Aftenen vil bestå af først et oplæg fra billedkunstner og kunstnerisk researcher Tjelle Esrom Raunkjær, med udgangspunkt i hans researchproject A hope was broken. I hvilken forbindelse han i januar 2024 interviewede fire personer organiseret på den ikke parlamentariske og militante venstrefløj i Lissabon, om hvad Nellikerevolution betyder for dem og de politiske kampe, de er en del af i dag. Derefter vil der være et indslag ved skrivende kunstner Sofia Cerqueira. Der vil så blive vist et uddrag af filmen Scenes from a class struggle in Portugal af Robert Kramer. En film der fortæller historien om Nellikerevolutionen. Og til sidst vil der være noget at spise og drikke, og tid til en uformelt samtale om knuste drømme og revolutionært håb.

Et detaljeret program findes på facebookeventet: https://fb.me/e/5N75mugyF

Arrangementet er støttet af Snabslanten

To remember a revolution 

An evening about the Carnation Revolution, broken dreams and revolutionary hope.

20. September 2024, 17-20, YNKB – Baldersgade 70, 2200 Kbh N 

Over 50 years ago, on May 25th 1974, the fascist dictatorship that had ruled Portugal for over 40 years was overthrown by a combination of a military uprising and popular resistance. It was named the Carnation Revolution because some of the soldiers who took part in the rebellion had put carnations in their rifles. The revolution became the starting point for a more than 18 months long period called PREC. A revolutionary time where workers took over factories and land was collectivized. A dream of solidarity and an equal society seemed closer. In November 1975, Portugal experienced a right-wing coup. That marks the ending of the communist development of the country. A development both NATO and the bourgeois democracies in Western Europe had worked against since the beginning of the revolution.

But how do we remember the Carnation Revolution? Does it remain as a proof that change is possible? Or just as another defeat in a long series of defeats in the fight for a more equal world? Change can feel unattainable when looking at how rebellions and revolutions have been defeated time after time. But can hope still spring from a struggle, even though it ends in a defeat?

In the Danish/Swedish version of the Chilean protest song El pueblo unido jamas sera vencido, there is a phrase saying. “Through defeat, we will gain knowledge that you can never understand”. A phrase that talks to the oppressors, telling them that even when a revolution fails to win, the resistance will find new forms and the struggle will continue. Is the revolutionary fire that ignited the Carnation Revolution the same fire that burns today, for example, in the Iranian women-led revolution? The same fire that burns in the global solidarity movement fighting for a free Palestine?

We will look at the Carnation Revolution and have a conversation about what fights of the past – victories and defeats – mean for today’s fights for another world. An evening where we will draw lines between the social movements and revolutions of the past to those of the present.

The evening will start out with a presentation from visual artist and artistic researcher Tjelle Esrom Raunkjær, based on his research project A hope was broken. As a part of the project he has interviewed people organized on the non-parliamentary and militant left in Lisbon about what the Carnation Revolution has meant to them and the political struggles they are a part of today. After that, there will be a contribution by writing artist Sofia Cerqueira followed by an excerpt from the film Scenes from a class struggle in Portugal by Robert Kramer. A film that tells the story of the Carnation Revolution. In the end there will be something to eat and drink, and time for an informal conversation about broken dreams and revolutionary hope.

A detailed program can be found on the facebook event: https://fb.me/e/5N75mugyF

The event is supported by Snabslanten

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