Yearbook 2008
Portugal. The leader of the opposition Social Democratic Party (PSD), Luís Filipe Menezes, resigned in April after failing to resolve the internal conflicts that the party suffered in the wake of a corruption scandal in 2007. Several high-ranking PSD politicians were involved in the scandal, among other Lisbon mayors.
In the same month, laws were adopted that standardized the spelling of hundreds of words in the Portuguese language worldwide. The spelling rules adopted are those used in the Brazilian variant of the language, which would reflect the weight Brazil has on economic and population terms. In South America there are 190 million Portuguese speakers, while Portugal has just over 10 million residents.
- ABBREVIATIONFINDER: Click to see the meanings of 2-letter acronym and abbreviation of PT in general and in geography as Portugal in particular.
1974 The carnation revolution
General Spinola, who shortly before the coup broke with the regime and became the first president of the so-called carnival revolution, represented the neo-colonialist mindset. However, the coup itself was carried out by a group of younger officers – the Captain’s Movement, later the Armed Forces Movement (MFA). It began as a protest against poor working conditions and against a war that the officers considered lost. Many of them had also become politically conscious. Partly through contact with recent Marxist thinking, and partly through contact with the theories and practices of the African liberation movement. When Spinola tried to determine the development – especially in the colonial issue – over the summer of 1974 – MFA and the left-wing parties pushed him to retire on September 28, 1974, and the uncompromising general Costa Gomes took over the post.
It was clear that political tensions existed within MFA, and over the fall and winter were the most radical sectors of the offensive. They secured control over the government and the Revolutionary Council, after Spinola on March 11, 1975, tried to conduct a counter-coup. Shortly after, land reforms and nationalizations that led to significant structural changes and stronger state control of the monopolized Portuguese economy. At the same time, the road was paved for complete independence to Portugal’s former colonies in Africa: Angola, Mozambique and Guinea Bissau.
During the same period, the Communists came to play an important role in the administration, and the unity between the Moscow-oriented Communist Party and several of its leading officers – including Prime Minister Goncalves – became increasingly evident. A number of officers also sympathized with some of the many and divided movements on the far left, accusing the Communists of centralism and bureaucracy. At the same time, attempts were made to isolate and harm the Socialist Party and in particular its leadership around Mario Soares, who linked the Party to the social democracies in Northern Europe – especially the West German, which also provided important financial aid.
After the election to the Constitutional Assembly – which gave the Socialists 38% of the vote, the Communists and their allies 17, the far left 4 and the right wing 34% – the conflict between the Socialists on the one hand and the Communists and the MFA leadership on the other increased. At the same time, a right turn took place within the army and among the people of Northern Portugal. The election had become a proof of what everyone already knew, namely that Portugal was socially and politically divided into two: In the Greater and industrial areas of the south, the communists dominated, while receiving only a few percent of the votes in the north, with smallholder and small industry dominating.. Yet, at a general meeting, they had taken over the local administration in a number of cities. In several of these cities the population now turned to them and stormed and set fire to the Communists’ offices.
In addition, two offenses were launched against the military and political leadership. Mario Soares and the Socialists, who had withdrawn from the coalition government, organized a series of fighting meetings, which partly reflected, and intensified, the dissatisfaction with the government. Within the officer movement, a nine-man group around Major Melo Antunes sought to counter the Communist Party’s dominance without breaking the socialist objective. The result was a new broad coalition government in September and a military leadership in which the Antunes group played a key role. This included the conclusion of MFA’s desire for a direct democracy based on district, factory and soldier councils and trade union representatives, and where the MFA had the role of a national liberation movement.
Population 2008
According to Countryaah reports, the population of Portugal in 2008 was 10,595,947, ranking number 79 in the world. The population growth rate was 0.170% yearly, and the population density was 115.6901 people per km2.