Censorship in Portugal
Encyclopedia
Censorship has been a fundamental element of Portuguese
national culture throughout the country's history
. From its earliest history Portugal was subject to laws limiting freedom of expression. This was mainly due to the influence of the Church
since the time of Ferdinand I
, who requested that Pope Gregory XI institute episcopal censorship
. Later, the censorship would also apply to the publication of other written works. Portuguese citizens still remember the Estado Novo's censorship policy, institutionalizing strict control over the media
, resorting to measures used previously against newspapers and systematic sequestering of books. In fact, every political regime was very careful with the legislation related to the area of press freedom—in most cases restricting it. In the five centuries of the history of Portuguese press, four were marked by censorship.
Portuguese history was marked by many forms of intellectual persecution. Those who dared to freely express thoughts that were contrary to official discourse were frequently punished with prison or public death.
and John Wycliff, which were banned, confiscated and ordered to be burned on August 18, 1451, by Afonso V
.
Later, there is mention of suppression by Manuel I
of the distribution of Lutheran texts, which earned him a commendation from Pope Leo X
on August 20, 1521.
in Portugal following the papal bull
Cum ad nihil magis of May 23, 1536, teaching Judaism
to
"New Christians", and the use of vernacular
translations of the Bible were prohibited. Three types of censorship thus became evident: ecclesiastical, royal, and ordinary.
The earliest existing documentation of publication licences refer to the works of Baltasar Días in 1537 as well as to the Cartinha, an introduction to João de Barros
' "Grammar", in 1539.
On November 2, 1540, Henry I, who had been named Grand Inquisitor by John III
, gave to the prior of the Dominicans
the authority to verify the type of books sold in both public and private libraries, as well as to prohibit the granting of the Imprimatur
, the Church's permission, to any book without prior examination. In 1598, the General Inquisitor António de Matos Noronha conceded this privilege to other clerical orders, as the Dominicans had a monopoly on the review of books.
On July 16, 1547, the restrictions were lessened somewhat due to the directives in the bull Meditatis cordis, although the first edition of the Index Librorum Prohibitorum
in Portugal appeared in 1515, as a consequence of the Fifth Council of the Lateran
. The Index virtually reproduced the lists of books proscribed by the Sorbonne in 1544 and by the Université catholique de Louvain
(Catholic University of Leuven) in 1546.
As a consequence of the Inquisition's discovery that foreign-born professors were in possession of prohibited books, monitoring of books was extended to customs. They began to verify the orthodoxy of books entering the country in greater detail. A second edition of the Index was published on July 4, 1551, in which the Portuguese censors expanded the list of works prohibited by the theologians of Leuven to include the books catalogued by the Swiss scholar Conrad Gesner in their Bibliotheca Universalis, in addition to other works, seven folios of Gil Vicente
among them. This would be the first Portuguese Index to be created, and would be published in all national territories by the Inquisitors who had, according to Inquisition
order, to take in and note all found books and report their owners to the Inquisition itself.
In 1557, Pope Paul IV
, due to pressure from the University of Leuven
and Charles I of Spain, ordered the creation of the Roman Index, where owners of forbidden books were sentenced to 'latae sententitae' excommunication (implying automatic excommunication
) and "perpetual infamy". Such severity, even for those times, brought a wave of panic to European booksellers, dealers, and intellectuals. Portugal was no exception.
In 1561, the Dominican
Francisco Foreiro signed a new Portuguese Index, by order of then-Cardinal Henry I, who wrote as introduction to it a letter in which, while not being as hostile as the one by the Holy See
, proclaimed the need for "preventive Censorship".
On October 21, 1561, the Grand Inquisitor defined the duties of the "Carrack inspectors", who would inspect the works brought from foreign lands by sea.
Censorship efforts in Portugal were openly recognized by Pope Pius IV
, who appointed Friar Francisco Foreiro to head the commission of the Council of Trent
, responsible for reviewing Paul IV's Index.
The Portuguese friar was the author of the rules that preceded the Synod's Index, published by Pope Paul V, and that would later be used in all upcoming Indexes. The Index of Trent was published in the Portuguese capital of Lisbon in the same year, with an addendum called Rol dos livros que neste Reino se proibem (Roll of the books which in this Kingdom are forbidden - List of banned books). This list would be added to all subsequent editions of the Index in Portugal.
King Sebastian of Portugal
, enacting a law on June 18, 1571, had an important role in censorship legislation defining the civil penalties for Index infractors. He defined a fine of from a fourth to a half of the infractors' legal possessions, plus the penalty of exile in Brazil
or an African colony. Death sentences were also not uncommon. Apprehended books were burned and burnings were supervised by clerics.
In 1581, Jorge de Almeida, Archbishop of Lisbon, published a new Index in which the Tridentine document is reprinted.
The Holy Inquisition Council's Regulations of March 1, 1570 stated that all local inquisitors no longer had authority over preventive censorship, centralizing their functions on the Inquisitorial Council .
In 1596, Pope Clement VIII
publishes an Index, the last one of the century, which was translated and reprinted in Lisbon the next year.
The Philippine Orders of 1603, from Philip II
's regency, reaffirm the mandatory character civil preventive censorship, as had been established by King Sebastian.
In 1624, Great Inquisitor Fernando Martins Mascarenhas created, with the help of Jesuit Baltasar Álvares, the first Index of the 17th century, which had a new feature: general guidance - the rules of the Portuguese Catalogue - besides the ones from the Universal Roman Catalogue. The Index consisted, therefore, of three parts: the Tridentine Index, the Index pro Regnis Lusitaniae, and a section detailing the content to be removed from any book published about the Scriptures, philosophy, theology, the occult, and even science and literature. This Index would be in use until the 18th century.
A decree of April 29, 1722 created a memorable and unique exception to this regulations, by freeing the Royal Academy of History from any kind of censorship, especially Inquisitional.
With the establishment of the liberal regime in Portugal, the Inquisition came to an end, and its censorship with it.
simplified the process of book censorship by institutionalizing one sole court, called Real Mesa Censória (Royal Censorial Court), and appointing as its president noted linguist and writer Manuel do Cenáculo, the same man who inspired him to found the National Library. He also minimized the censorship against "heretical actions", instead directing the repression against the Freemasons and the Jesuits, both seen as threats to the Royalty. Indeed, the greatest focus in King Joseph I's reign was the utter elimination of any obstacles whatsoever in the way of complete monarchical power. The monarchy was seen as the absolute sovereign authority, with the divine right
to rule.
A new law passed on April 5, 1768 reaffirmed the right of "temporal
sovereignty" over the prohibition of "pernicious books and papers" in the interest of political defense. This law actually prohibited even certain documents issued by the Holy See
like the In Coena Domini
bull of 1792 (which reserved exclusively to the Pope powers now claimed by the Monarch) and the Expurgation Indexes.
These indexes, like the one from 1624, were presented as a subversive scheme by the Jesuits of the Colégio de Santo Antão (an important education institution of the time).
It was also through this law that the Real Mesa Censória was instituted, unifying the previous three censorship departments, and directed by "Censores Régios" (Royal Censors), including an Inquisitor from Lisbon and the Vicar-General of the Patriarchy. The Court was presented as a "Junta", with "private and exclusive jurisdiction on anything regarding the exam, approval or reproval of books and papers", publishing regular edicts on listing banned works.
The Regimento da Real Mesa Censória (Charter of the Royal Censorial Court) of May 18, 1768, makes provisions for the inspection of bookshops, libraries and printing presses. Works that conveyed superstitious, atheistic, or heretical ideas were forbidden, even though exceptions were provided for some works by Protestant scholars. Such works were accepted in "well governed and prudent (wise) Roman Catholic States", being tolerated only thanks to the provisions contained in the peace of Westphalia
treaties, and because their erudition was recognized and deemed useful for the Portuguese scholars. Works by Hugo Grotius
, Samuel von Pufendorf
, Jean Barbeyrac
, among others, were accepted, although they supported some heterodox views. Voltaire
also risked being completely banned in Portugal. That was at least the intent of António Pereira de Figueiredo, but the Dominican friar Francisco de São Bento decided against censoring works of history and theater.
Mary I's
Carta de Lei (law) of 1787 replaced the Real Mesa Censória with the Mesa da Comissão Geral sobre o Exame e Censura dos Livros (Board of the General Commission on the Exam and Censorship of the Books), the Queen having asked Pope Pius VI
to provide this organ with the adequate jurisdiction for the censorship works throughout the entire Portuguese Empire. On December 17, 1793 Portugal returned to a system similar to the one in use before the Real Mesa Censória, with the separation of duties between 3 authorities: Pontifical, Royal and Episcopal. This meant that the Inquisition once again set foot on Portuguese lands. These were, however, times of change. Some periodicals, like the Correio Brasiliense (1808), the Investigador Português (1811), and the Campeão Português, managed to evade investigation during this period. During the Peninsular war
, a rigorous regime of censorship was instituted by the French authorities, similar to the one in place in France at the time. Despite that, clandestine newspapers were still published. It would be from London, however, that the political refugees, with the support of local Portuguese merchants, would start an abundant literary production and an effort to translate the most important liberal works by John Locke
, Adam Smith
and Benjamin Franklin
, among others, and establish dozens of periodicals, some of them being printed until after the Civil War
.
The Decree of March 31, 1821 brought the "Tribunal do Santo Oficio" (the Inquisition) to an end, because it is found to be "incompatible with the principles adopted as basis for the Constitution
", being "the spiritual and the merely ecclesiastical causes" returned to the "Episcopal Jurisdiction". The Constitution of 1822 established the freedom of the press ("the free communication of thoughts"), without the need for prior censorship, though it still reserved the possibility for any abuse to be punished "in the cases and the way the law determines". The censorship in matters of religion was left, reserved to the ecclesiastical episcopal power, being the government obligated to help the bishops in punishing whoever was found guilty. This period of relative freedom, would however, be a short one. With the Vilafrancada, one year later, prior censorship was once again reintroduced. On November 13, John VI
, aware of the revolutionary influences that were coming into the country through several newspapers printed abroad, extended censorship also to include international papers, which would, from then on, require a royal license to enter the country. From 1824, censorship was handled by two instances (being the third one, the Inquisition definitely extinct): the "Censura do Ordinário" (Ordinary Censor) and the "Desembargo do Paço" (roughly the Custom House Censor, for foreign materials).
The "Carta Constitucional
" (Constututional Charter) of 1826 once again rejected prior censorship, as is stated in article 145, third paragraph: "Everyone can communicate their thoughts by words and writings, and publish them through the press, without depending upon censorship, as long as they are made to answer for any abuse that is committed while exercising that right, in the cases and form prescribed by the law". Quickly, however, the government tried to establish a stricter control in its press policies. Francisco Manuel Trigoso
, the chief of government, established on September 23, the "Comissão de Censura" (Censorship Commission) for "handbills and periodical writings" (newspapers). By August 16, 1828, this commission had been abolished, with its censorship responsibilities being transferred to the "Mesa do Desembargo do Paço" (the appellate court).
It would be on November 21, 1833, with the liberal regime in place, that Joaquim António de Aguiar
would sign a decreto-lei nominating those responsible for the prior censorship of Portuguese newspapers until a law that agreed with the constitutional principle came into force (a Decreto-Lei (decree) is a law enacted by the government alone, as opposed to the parliament, and is usually accepted as morally weaker). This law would be signed into effect on December 22, 1834, abolishing prior censorship, but making provisions for the prosecution of abuses, namely those against the Roman Catholic Church, the state, or the "bons costumes" (good habits - the public morals), and for slander.
On February 3, 1840, a complaint was brought by the owners of typographical workshops to the Câmara dos Deputados (Chamber of Deputies - the parliament), alleging that "without condemnation or sentence", they had been the victims of the whims of the authorities (police) which had been coming into the workshops and destroying their presses. On the night of August 11 of that same year, there was rioting in the streets of Lisbon
, which lead Queen Mary II to begin a cycle of constant and successive "temporary" elimination of liberties, like the freedom of press, resulting in further rioting. The law of October 19, drafted by Costa Cabral, forced publishers to pay hefty bonds, deposits and mortgages, and to submit to an exam qualifying them as honorable persons. Press freedom would only be formally reestablished through the law of August 3, 1850 (known as the "Lei das Rolhas" [the bottle-corks law]), even though public opinion did not regard it as being in the spirit of the Constitution, because it still contained heavy sanctions which in practice completely restricted the activity of writers and journalists. Among the intellectuals that rebelled against this law were Alexandre Herculano
, Almeida Garrett
, António Pedro Lopes de Mendonça, José Estêvão de Magalhães and Latino Coelho. Also sharing this opinion was the Duque of Saldanha, who shortly after rising to power, revoked it, opening a period known as the "Regeneração" (regeneration/renewal) which would be especially welcomed by journalists after the law of May 17, 1866 specifically abolished any "bonds or restrictions to the periodical press".
The monarchic regime, however, tried to face the growing power of republican ideals. The first repressive action taken in this context was the closure of the Conferências do Casino (the Casino Conferences, republican public meetings), where Antero de Quental
, Augusto Soromenho, Eça de Queiroz and Adolfo Coelho had already spoken. When Salomão Saragga was to take the stand to speak about the "Divinity of Jesus", the room was closed, under the pretext that the discussions were offensive to religion and to the "Fundamental Code of the Monarchy". After the protests of a few dozen Portuguese intellectuals against this attitude of the government, Antero de Quental
and Jaime Batalha appealled the parliament to recognize these actions as illegal. Deputy Luis de Campos brought his protest to the Marquês de Ávila e Bolama, the Prime Minister at the time: "sue
them but don't close them, you don't have the power for that".
On March 29, 1890, a dictatorial decree imposed severe sanctions on newspaper publishers, and forceful closure should they repeat the offense. On February 13, 1896 the government of Hintze Ribeiro took even more drastic actions. Despite no legal provisions existing for prior censorship, the police seized any materials that criticized the monarchic institutions. It would be another two years until the press once again enjoyed more freedom. This state of things would last until June 20, 1907, when through a coup d'etat
João Franco
came to power, and any "writings, drawings or printed papers deemed dangerous to public order or security" were forbidden. The Governadores Civis (Civil Governors - the representative of the central government in the district) were allowed to close down newspapers. This law would be officially repealed when Manuel II
was enthroned, but the repression would be unchanged and a "gabinete negro" (dark cabinet) would be added to every criminal court, in order to watch over the Press in each judicial district.
With the proclamation of the Republic, a new press law was quickly passed on October 28, 1910, which, according to its thirteen articles, aimed at reinstating freedom of expression. Critiques of the government or of any political or religious doctrine would no longer be impeded. However, faced with difficulties implementing the new regime, the republican government also imposed, on July 9, 1912, a set of measures and situations that warranted the confiscation of printed materials by the judicial authorities. Thus were forbidden publications of pornographic content or those that would outrage the republican institutions or jeopardize the security of the State.
Censorship was reinstated on March 12, 1916, after the declaration of war
by Germany. Seizures were ordered of all documents whose publication might hinder national security or could be perceived as anti-war propaganda. Prior censorship, now a task of the Department of War, was always seen as a temporary exception, being unconstitutional. The military coup by Sidónio Pais
would be in part justified with the unpopularity of prior censorship, which was now very obvious in the newspapers, as the space occupied by the censored text was intentionally left blank, so as to indicate to readers that the text had been censored. Sidónio Pais would, however, resort to prior censorship, adding it to all other repressive actions by his government until the end of the War.
of May 28, 1926, Gomes da Costa
signed a decree on July 5 that would secure freedom of thought "independent from bonds
and censorship", even though it insisted on prohibiting offences to the republic's institutions or any behaviour that would disturb public order. The Press Law of the new military executive repeated almost word-for-word the assurances of article 13 from the previous Press Law, allowing criticism and discussion of legislative bills, political and religious doctrines, acts of government, and so forth, as long as the goal was to "enlighten and prepare the (public) opinion for the necessary reforms(...)". On July 29, however, prior censorship was re-instated. The Estado Novo never took a definite stance on the censorship, avoiding even discussion of the subject the few times the issue was raised in the Parliament. If only the signed legislation is taken into account, one might suppose the regime was quite lenient. On May 27, 1927 the Literary Property Law was reformed, which in its letter guaranteed censorship-free publication. A decree of September 3, 1926 had already extended the freedom of the press concept to apply on the Overseas Provinces, pending a future law that would be signed into effect on June 27, 1927.
On April 11, 1933 a new constitution was published. While its article 8, n.4, would establish the "freedom of thought under any form", n.20 of the same article states that "special laws will regulate the exercise of the freedom of expression". One article would also explain that the purpose of censorship is "to prevent the perversion of public opinion in its function of social force and (censorship) should be exercised so as to defend (public opinion) from all factors that might make it stray from the truth, justice, morality, good administration and common good, and to avoid that the fundamental principles of organization of society are attacked". As would be expected, the government reserved for itself the definition of criteria for this truth, justice, and morality. In fact it would be António de Oliveira Salazar
himself who said in that same year, "Men, groups and classes see, observe things, study the events, under the light of their own interest. Only an institution has, by duty and position, to see everything under the light of everyone's interest".
The decree 22 469, published on the same day as the Constitution, was explicit in establishing prior censorship for periodicals, "handbills, leaflets, posters and other publications, whenever in any of them political or social matters are covered". By May 14, 1936, the creation of newspapers was regulated and official public notices were also removed from some of them, so as to prevent any sort of official connection between government and the press.
The "Regulamento dos Serviços de Censura" (Censorship Services Regulations) was adopted in November of the same year but was, however, not published in the Diário do Governo (the official journal). Whoever wanted to establish a newspaper or magazine would have to, from the on, require a permit from the direction of the Service. In order to prevent white spaces from appearing in newspapers' pages, as had happened during the First Republic, the Estado Novo would force them to completely reorganize the pages before printing, so that any traces of censorship were disguised. Adding to this, editors were sometimes forced to submit pre-press pages to the censorship commission which would make maintaining a paper unbearably expensive and eventually drove some editors into bankruptcy. In 1944 the Censorship Service fell under the "Secretariado Nacional de Informação" (National Information Secretariat) which in turn was under the control of Salazar himself.
Using the "lápis azul" (blue pencil, which came to be a symbol of censorship), city and district censors would strike out any text deemed unsuitable for publication. While receiving generic instructions regarding which subjects were sensitive and should be censored, each censor would decide by himself what was admissible or not, resulting in considerable variations in what got published. This was mainly because censors were intellectually a very disparate group: while some would quickly cut any "dangerous" text, others would let by openly subversive content. This becomes readily clear by examining the original, striked-out articles preserved to date.
An order from the Direction of Censorship Services noted that, concerning children's and young adult books, "it seems desirable that the Portuguese children are educated, not as citizens of the world, in preparation, but as Portuguese children, that will soon no longer be children but will continue to be Portuguese".
Books were not subject to prior censorship, but could be confiscated after being published. This would be frequently enforced by the Direcção-Geral de Segurança
(General Directorate of Security, the political police), which would issue search warrants for bookstores. The post office would also monitor any mailing of books. The Inspecção Superior de Bibliotecas e Arquivos (Library and Archive Inspection) would also forbid the reading of certain documents, namely those concerning Portuguese India
after the War of Baçaim (1732/1739). The Biblioteca Nacional
(National Library) would also keep a list of books that were not to be read.
When Salazar was replaced in office by Marcello Caetano, some liberalization was promised. In an interview given to the O Estado de S. Paulo
, a Brazilian newspaper, Caetano himself promised to enact a new Press law shortly thereafter. However, little did change. According to "Evolution in Continuity", Caetano's political doctrine, "Prior Censorship" was now termed "Prior Exam". The State Secretary for Informatio and Tourism would say that: "Nothing has changed in this house, not the spirit, nor the devotion to essential values, nor the course of action", maintaining what was Salazar's stated purpose for the institution: "To maintain the truth". As an example of the "new" state of things, on October 26, 1972, for an article about the prohibition of a play (an adaptation of "O Arco de Sant’Ana" by Almeida Garrett
), the Prior Exam Services from Oporto rejected a version that referred to the prohibition: "Don't mention it was forbidden. It can be said, however, that it won't come to stage".
had to submit the text of "Os Lusíadas
" to the censorship of the Inquisition, being forced to debate it verse by verse. That which is today considered the greatest poem in Portuguese language went through a phase of abandonment, being ignored and despised, which can also be considered a subtle form of censorship.
Damião de Góis
received the Imprimatur for his "Crónica do Felicíssimo Rei D. Manue" in 1567. Five years later, however, it was still waiting for Bishop António Pinheiro to correct an error in one of the pages. Prior censorship gave free rein to censors who could easily exploit any minuscule question they might have with the authors to delay the publication of the work.
Even Father António Viera was jailed by the Inquisition from 1665 to 1667, because he openly supported the works of the New Christians and criticizing actions of the Dominican inquisitors.
More serious were the processes that involved dramatist António José da Silva
, known as "O Judeu" (The Jew), who was arrested and tortured together with his mother in 1726. In 1737 he was arrested again, also with his mother, wife and daughter, being decapitated and burned in an auto-da-fé
in Lisbon, his wife and mother suffering the same fate.
Francisco Xavier de Oliveira, Cavaleiro de Oliveira was luckier, managing to evade in August 18, 1761, the last auto-da-fé held in Portugal, exiling himself in the Netherlands. His works, however, were apprehended and burned.
Later, during the Estado Novo, Maria Velho da Costa
, Maria Teresa Horta
and Maria Isabel Barreno were involved in a court case due to the publication of their "Novas cartas portuguesas" (New Portuguese Letters), which allegedly contained pornographic and immoral content and which is today considered no more than a sharp criticism of the Portuguese chauvinism and a commentary on the condition of women in society.
Maria Velho da Costa would, as a reaction to this proceedings write "Ova Ortegrafia" (Ew Rthography) which begins with "(I) [h]ave [d]ecided [t]o [c]ut [m]y [w]riting, [t]hat [w]ay I [s]pare [t]he [w]ork [o]f [w]ho [w]ant [t]o [c]ut [m]e (...) " (letters within brackets added for readability).
Writers fear that their works will end up prohibited, and therefore some things are not worth writing, lest they damn the whole book. Journalists were always the ones that suffered the most from this self-imposed censorship, as there would bear responsibility for any delays in the newspaper, for some ill-pondered or reckless phase. Ferreira de Castro
wrote in 1945 "Each of us, when writing, places an imagiary censor on the desk".
Some authors started using metaphors: Dawn
for Socialism
, Spring for Revolution
, Vampire
for Policeman, etc., which made some of the works unintentionally poetic, something that is today remembered with some nostalgia (even today, specially in some of the smaller newspapers, we can find an overly elaborated prose in everyday subjects). David Mourão Ferreira wrote in the poem that was later sung by Amália Rodrigues
as "Fado de Peniche", "At least you can hear the wind! - At least you can hear the sea!", in a reference to the political prisoners held in the Forte de Peniche (Peniche fortress), not to the fishermen of the town (fisheries and fish canning have been the most important activity in Peniche for decades). The objective of this coded wording was to induce in the audience the suspicion of everything being reported and officially sanctioned by the authorities, and let the second meaning be imagined even where there were none.
It is often told that in a Zeca Afonso
concert the censor assigned to monitor the performance unwittingly joined the chorus of singing "You'll end up in the PIDE
", being later severely punished for his naivete.
Many other authors were jailed or saw their books impounded, such as Soeiro Pereira Gomes
, Aquilino Ribeiro
, José Régio
, Maria Lamas, Rodrigues Lapa, Urbano Tavares Rodrigues
, Alves Redol
, Alexandre Cabral, Orlando da Costa
, Alexandre O´Neil, Alberto Ferreira, António Borges Coelho, Virgílio Martinho, António José Forte, Alfredo Margarido, Carlos Coutinho, Carlos Loures, Amadeu Lopes Sabino, Fátima Maldonado, Hélia Correia
, Raul Malaquias Marques, among others.
Aquilino Ribeiro saw his book Quando os lobos uivam (When the wolves howl) confiscated in 1958. The regime brought a criminal suit against him for alleged offenses against the state, though the suit was later dropped after protests from François Mauriac
, Louis Aragon
, André Maurois
and other foreign writers. Even upon his death, any news about these events was suppressed.
In 1965 the Sociedade Portuguesa de Autores (Portuguese Authors Society) had the audacity to present Angolan writer Luandino Vieira with the Camilo Castelo Branco Award at a time when he was serving a 14-year sentence at Tarrafal camp
for terrorism (while fighting for the independence of Angola
). As a consequence, the society was shut down by order of the Minister of Education, and its headquarters were vandalized. Jaime Gama
, who would become foreign affairs minister in the '90s, wrote about the issue in the "Açores
" newspaper and was arrested by the PIDE
.
In cinema the regime, besides prohibiting certain movies and scenes, also sought to impede the access of the less literate to certain ideas. According to law 2027 of 1948, when António Ferro was in charge of the Secretariado Nacional de Informação (National Information Secretariat), he forbade the dubbing
of foreign movies, not out of any aesthetic concern, but simply because dialog could thus be left untranslated or purposely mistranslated so as to avoid forbidden subjects. Even though censorship ended, today's Portuguese moviegoers still prefer subtitles over dubbing, and in recent years even children's cartoons have been available in subtitled, non-dubbed versions.
Several Portuguese intellectuals have showed how the various forms of censorship have hindered the cultural development of Portugal. Some authors have pointed out that the Portuguese cultural elite has become something of an aristocracy, disconnected from the rest of the population. This is evident by the prevalence of a gap between popular culture and "high culture", with the arraiais (popular gathering with light music and ball dancing), pimba music (based on double-entendre or straightforward sexual slang) and racho folclórico (folk and ethnological dancing and music groups) on one side, and literature, drama and classical music on the other. Portugal has become one of the countries in Europe with the lowest attendances of theater and the lowest rates of book reading. The traditionally bad box-office results of Portuguese cinema, compared to the amount of foreign awards the same movies get, is also pointed out as a result of this gap.
. It also quickly led critics to protest against the "excess of liberty" that was taking hold of newspapers, magazines, television, radio and cinema. Movies that had until then been forbidden started being screened, some of them many years after being filmed. Social and political satire became common in television and theater, a prime example being teatro de revista.
The Portuguese Constitution of 1976 once again included freedom of expression and information and freedom of the press in its text. Following revisions of the constitutional text have extended freedom of expression to all the media.
However, incidents of censorship still occur occasionally, in the form of appeals to entrepreneurial groups, to the government, or to lobbies, to exert their influence on the media. For example, Herman José
, in 1988, had his TV series "Humor de Perdição" suspended by the RTP
Management Council. The Council, then headed by Coelho Ribeiro (who had been a censor during the dictatorship) justified the action by the supposedly undignified way in which the "Historical Interviews" segment (written by Miguel Esteves Cardoso
) portrayed important figures in Portuguese history. References to the supposed homosexuality of King Sebastian are frequently cited as the main reason for the termination of the series.
In 1992, Under-Secretary of State for Culture, Souza Lara, who had final say on applications from Portugal, prevented José Saramago
's "The Gospel According to Jesus Christ
" from participating in the European Literary Award, claiming that the work was not representative of Portugal, but was instead divisive of the Portuguese people. As a result and in protest against what he saw as an act of censorship by the Portuguese government, Saramago moved to Spain
, taking permanent residency in Lanzarote
in the Canary Islands
.
In 2004, the so-called "Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa
affair" became public. A former leader of the PSD
, Rebelo de Sousa, was a political commentator for the TVI
television station when he was pressured by the station president, Miguel Pais do Amaral and by the Minister for Parliamentary Affairs, Rui Gomes da Silva, to refrain from criticizing the government so sharply. This was regarded as unacceptable by the press and prompted Rebelo de Sousa's resignation from TVI and an investigation by the Alta Autoridade da Comunicação Social (High Authority for the Media - the media regulator) into the station which found proof of "pressures from the government and promiscuity between political and economical powers".
In 2006, Portugal was ranked at number 10 on the Press Freedom Index published by Reporters Without Borders
, number 8 in 2007, number 16 in 2008 and more recently number 30 in 2009.
Portugal
Portugal , officially the Portuguese Republic is a country situated in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula. Portugal is the westernmost country of Europe, and is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the West and South and by Spain to the North and East. The Atlantic archipelagos of the...
national culture throughout the country's history
History of Portugal
The history of Portugal, a European and an Atlantic nation, dates back to the Early Middle Ages. In the 15th and 16th centuries, it ascended to the status of a world power during Europe's "Age of Discovery" as it built up a vast empire including possessions in South America, Africa, Asia and...
. From its earliest history Portugal was subject to laws limiting freedom of expression. This was mainly due to the influence of the Church
Roman Catholic Church
The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the world's largest Christian church, with over a billion members. Led by the Pope, it defines its mission as spreading the gospel of Jesus Christ, administering the sacraments and exercising charity...
since the time of Ferdinand I
Ferdinand I of Portugal
Ferdinand I , sometimes referred to as the Handsome or rarely as the Inconstant , was the ninth King of Portugal and the Algarve, the second son of Peter I and his wife, Constance of Castile...
, who requested that Pope Gregory XI institute episcopal censorship
Censorship
thumb|[[Book burning]] following the [[1973 Chilean coup d'état|1973 coup]] that installed the [[Military government of Chile |Pinochet regime]] in Chile...
. Later, the censorship would also apply to the publication of other written works. Portuguese citizens still remember the Estado Novo's censorship policy, institutionalizing strict control over the media
News media
The news media are those elements of the mass media that focus on delivering news to the general public or a target public.These include print media , broadcast news , and more recently the Internet .-Etymology:A medium is a carrier of something...
, resorting to measures used previously against newspapers and systematic sequestering of books. In fact, every political regime was very careful with the legislation related to the area of press freedom—in most cases restricting it. In the five centuries of the history of Portuguese press, four were marked by censorship.
Portuguese history was marked by many forms of intellectual persecution. Those who dared to freely express thoughts that were contrary to official discourse were frequently punished with prison or public death.
Beginnings of censorship
The first books known with some certainty to have been censored by the Portuguese monarchy were the works of Jan HusJan Hus
Jan Hus , often referred to in English as John Hus or John Huss, was a Czech priest, philosopher, reformer, and master at Charles University in Prague...
and John Wycliff, which were banned, confiscated and ordered to be burned on August 18, 1451, by Afonso V
Afonso V of Portugal
Afonso V KG , called the African , was the twelfth King of Portugal and the Algarves. His sobriquet refers to his conquests in Northern Africa.-Early life:...
.
Later, there is mention of suppression by Manuel I
Manuel I of Portugal
Manuel I , the Fortunate , 14th king of Portugal and the Algarves was the son of Infante Ferdinand, Duke of Viseu, , by his wife, Infanta Beatrice of Portugal...
of the distribution of Lutheran texts, which earned him a commendation from Pope Leo X
Pope Leo X
Pope Leo X , born Giovanni di Lorenzo de' Medici, was the Pope from 1513 to his death in 1521. He was the last non-priest to be elected Pope. He is known for granting indulgences for those who donated to reconstruct St. Peter's Basilica and his challenging of Martin Luther's 95 Theses...
on August 20, 1521.
Inquisitorial censorship
With the start of the InquisitionInquisition
The Inquisition, Inquisitio Haereticae Pravitatis , was the "fight against heretics" by several institutions within the justice-system of the Roman Catholic Church. It started in the 12th century, with the introduction of torture in the persecution of heresy...
in Portugal following the papal bull
Papal bull
A Papal bull is a particular type of letters patent or charter issued by a Pope of the Catholic Church. It is named after the bulla that was appended to the end in order to authenticate it....
Cum ad nihil magis of May 23, 1536, teaching Judaism
Judaism
Judaism ) is the "religion, philosophy, and way of life" of the Jewish people...
to
"New Christians", and the use of vernacular
Vernacular
A vernacular is the native language or native dialect of a specific population, as opposed to a language of wider communication that is not native to the population, such as a national language or lingua franca.- Etymology :The term is not a recent one...
translations of the Bible were prohibited. Three types of censorship thus became evident: ecclesiastical, royal, and ordinary.
The earliest existing documentation of publication licences refer to the works of Baltasar Días in 1537 as well as to the Cartinha, an introduction to João de Barros
João de Barros
João de Barros , called the Portuguese Livy, is one of the first great Portuguese historians, most famous for his Décadas da Ásia , a history of the Portuguese in India and Asia.-Early years:...
' "Grammar", in 1539.
John III of Portugal
John III , nicknamed o Piedoso , was the fifteenth King of Portugal and the Algarves. He was the son of King Manuel I and Maria of Aragon, the third daughter of King Ferdinand II of Aragon and Queen Isabella I of Castile...
, gave to the prior of the Dominicans
Dominican Order
The Order of Preachers , after the 15th century more commonly known as the Dominican Order or Dominicans, is a Catholic religious order founded by Saint Dominic and approved by Pope Honorius III on 22 December 1216 in France...
the authority to verify the type of books sold in both public and private libraries, as well as to prohibit the granting of the Imprimatur
Imprimatur
An imprimatur is, in the proper sense, a declaration authorizing publication of a book. The term is also applied loosely to any mark of approval or endorsement.-Catholic Church:...
, the Church's permission, to any book without prior examination. In 1598, the General Inquisitor António de Matos Noronha conceded this privilege to other clerical orders, as the Dominicans had a monopoly on the review of books.
On July 16, 1547, the restrictions were lessened somewhat due to the directives in the bull Meditatis cordis, although the first edition of the Index Librorum Prohibitorum
Index Librorum Prohibitorum
The Index Librorum Prohibitorum was a list of publications prohibited by the Catholic Church. A first version was promulgated by Pope Paul IV in 1559, and a revised and somewhat relaxed form was authorized at the Council of Trent...
in Portugal appeared in 1515, as a consequence of the Fifth Council of the Lateran
Fifth Council of the Lateran
The Fifth Council of the Lateran was the last Ecumenical council of the Catholic Church before reformation.When elected pope in 1503, Pope Julius II , promised under oath that he would soon convoke a general council. However, as time passed the promise was not fulfilled...
. The Index virtually reproduced the lists of books proscribed by the Sorbonne in 1544 and by the Université catholique de Louvain
Université catholique de Louvain
The Université catholique de Louvain, sometimes known, especially in Belgium, as UCL, is Belgium's largest French-speaking university. It is located in Louvain-la-Neuve and in Brussels...
(Catholic University of Leuven) in 1546.
As a consequence of the Inquisition's discovery that foreign-born professors were in possession of prohibited books, monitoring of books was extended to customs. They began to verify the orthodoxy of books entering the country in greater detail. A second edition of the Index was published on July 4, 1551, in which the Portuguese censors expanded the list of works prohibited by the theologians of Leuven to include the books catalogued by the Swiss scholar Conrad Gesner in their Bibliotheca Universalis, in addition to other works, seven folios of Gil Vicente
Gil Vicente
Gil Vicente , called the Trobadour, was a Portuguese playwright and poet who acted in and directed his own plays. Considered the chief dramatist of Portugal he is sometimes called the "Portuguese Plautus,"[3] often referred to as the "Father of Portuguese drama" and as one of Western literature's...
among them. This would be the first Portuguese Index to be created, and would be published in all national territories by the Inquisitors who had, according to Inquisition
Inquisition
The Inquisition, Inquisitio Haereticae Pravitatis , was the "fight against heretics" by several institutions within the justice-system of the Roman Catholic Church. It started in the 12th century, with the introduction of torture in the persecution of heresy...
order, to take in and note all found books and report their owners to the Inquisition itself.
In 1557, Pope Paul IV
Pope Paul IV
Pope Paul IV, C.R. , né Giovanni Pietro Carafa, was Pope from 23 May 1555 until his death.-Early life:Giovanni Pietro Carafa was born in Capriglia Irpina, near Avellino, into a prominent noble family of Naples...
, due to pressure from the University of Leuven
Leuven
Leuven is the capital of the province of Flemish Brabant in the Flemish Region, Belgium...
and Charles I of Spain, ordered the creation of the Roman Index, where owners of forbidden books were sentenced to 'latae sententitae' excommunication (implying automatic excommunication
Excommunication
Excommunication is a religious censure used to deprive, suspend or limit membership in a religious community. The word means putting [someone] out of communion. In some religions, excommunication includes spiritual condemnation of the member or group...
) and "perpetual infamy". Such severity, even for those times, brought a wave of panic to European booksellers, dealers, and intellectuals. Portugal was no exception.
In 1561, the Dominican
Dominican Order
The Order of Preachers , after the 15th century more commonly known as the Dominican Order or Dominicans, is a Catholic religious order founded by Saint Dominic and approved by Pope Honorius III on 22 December 1216 in France...
Francisco Foreiro signed a new Portuguese Index, by order of then-Cardinal Henry I, who wrote as introduction to it a letter in which, while not being as hostile as the one by the Holy See
Holy See
The Holy See is the episcopal jurisdiction of the Catholic Church in Rome, in which its Bishop is commonly known as the Pope. It is the preeminent episcopal see of the Catholic Church, forming the central government of the Church. As such, diplomatically, and in other spheres the Holy See acts and...
, proclaimed the need for "preventive Censorship".
On October 21, 1561, the Grand Inquisitor defined the duties of the "Carrack inspectors", who would inspect the works brought from foreign lands by sea.
Censorship efforts in Portugal were openly recognized by Pope Pius IV
Pope Pius IV
Pope Pius IV , born Giovanni Angelo Medici, was Pope from 1559 to 1565. He is notable for presiding over the culmination of the Council of Trent.-Biography:...
, who appointed Friar Francisco Foreiro to head the commission of the Council of Trent
Council of Trent
The Council of Trent was the 16th-century Ecumenical Council of the Roman Catholic Church. It is considered to be one of the Church's most important councils. It convened in Trent between December 13, 1545, and December 4, 1563 in twenty-five sessions for three periods...
, responsible for reviewing Paul IV's Index.
The Portuguese friar was the author of the rules that preceded the Synod's Index, published by Pope Paul V, and that would later be used in all upcoming Indexes. The Index of Trent was published in the Portuguese capital of Lisbon in the same year, with an addendum called Rol dos livros que neste Reino se proibem (Roll of the books which in this Kingdom are forbidden - List of banned books). This list would be added to all subsequent editions of the Index in Portugal.
King Sebastian of Portugal
Sebastian of Portugal
Sebastian "the Desired" was the 16th king of Portugal and the Algarves. He was the son of Prince John of Portugal and his wife, Joan of Spain...
, enacting a law on June 18, 1571, had an important role in censorship legislation defining the civil penalties for Index infractors. He defined a fine of from a fourth to a half of the infractors' legal possessions, plus the penalty of exile in Brazil
Brazil
Brazil , officially the Federative Republic of Brazil , is the largest country in South America. It is the world's fifth largest country, both by geographical area and by population with over 192 million people...
or an African colony. Death sentences were also not uncommon. Apprehended books were burned and burnings were supervised by clerics.
Portuguese Indexes until the end of the Inquisition
The Holy Inquisition Council's Regulations of March 1, 1570 stated that all local inquisitors no longer had authority over preventive censorship, centralizing their functions on the Inquisitorial Council .
In 1596, Pope Clement VIII
Pope Clement VIII
Pope Clement VIII , born Ippolito Aldobrandini, was Pope from 30 January 1592 to 3 March 1605.-Cardinal:...
publishes an Index, the last one of the century, which was translated and reprinted in Lisbon the next year.
The Philippine Orders of 1603, from Philip II
Philip III of Spain
Philip III , also known as Philip the Pious, was the King of Spain and King of Portugal and the Algarves, where he ruled as Philip II , from 1598 until his death...
's regency, reaffirm the mandatory character civil preventive censorship, as had been established by King Sebastian.
In 1624, Great Inquisitor Fernando Martins Mascarenhas created, with the help of Jesuit Baltasar Álvares, the first Index of the 17th century, which had a new feature: general guidance - the rules of the Portuguese Catalogue - besides the ones from the Universal Roman Catalogue. The Index consisted, therefore, of three parts: the Tridentine Index, the Index pro Regnis Lusitaniae, and a section detailing the content to be removed from any book published about the Scriptures, philosophy, theology, the occult, and even science and literature. This Index would be in use until the 18th century.
A decree of April 29, 1722 created a memorable and unique exception to this regulations, by freeing the Royal Academy of History from any kind of censorship, especially Inquisitional.
With the establishment of the liberal regime in Portugal, the Inquisition came to an end, and its censorship with it.
Royal Censorial Court
The Marquis of PombalSebastião de Melo, Marquis of Pombal
Sebastião José de Carvalho e Melo, 1st Count of Oeiras, 1st Marquess of Pombal Sebastião José de Carvalho e Melo, 1st Count of Oeiras, 1st Marquess of Pombal Sebastião José de Carvalho e Melo, 1st Count of Oeiras, 1st Marquess of Pombal ((Marquês de Pombal, ; 13 May 1699–8 May 1782) was an 18th...
simplified the process of book censorship by institutionalizing one sole court, called Real Mesa Censória (Royal Censorial Court), and appointing as its president noted linguist and writer Manuel do Cenáculo, the same man who inspired him to found the National Library. He also minimized the censorship against "heretical actions", instead directing the repression against the Freemasons and the Jesuits, both seen as threats to the Royalty. Indeed, the greatest focus in King Joseph I's reign was the utter elimination of any obstacles whatsoever in the way of complete monarchical power. The monarchy was seen as the absolute sovereign authority, with the divine right
Divine Right
Divine Right may refer to:* The Divine right of kings, the doctrine that a monarch derives his or her power directly from God* Episcopal polity, the doctrine that is required in the church jure divino, i.e...
to rule.
A new law passed on April 5, 1768 reaffirmed the right of "temporal
Secularity
Secularity is the state of being separate from religion.For instance, eating and bathing may be regarded as examples of secular activities, because there may not be anything inherently religious about them...
sovereignty" over the prohibition of "pernicious books and papers" in the interest of political defense. This law actually prohibited even certain documents issued by the Holy See
Holy See
The Holy See is the episcopal jurisdiction of the Catholic Church in Rome, in which its Bishop is commonly known as the Pope. It is the preeminent episcopal see of the Catholic Church, forming the central government of the Church. As such, diplomatically, and in other spheres the Holy See acts and...
like the In Coena Domini
In Coena Domini
In Coena Domini was a recurrent papal bull between 1363 and 1770, so called from its opening words , formerly issued annually on Holy Thursday , or later on Easter Monday.Its first publication was in 1363 under Pope Urban V...
bull of 1792 (which reserved exclusively to the Pope powers now claimed by the Monarch) and the Expurgation Indexes.
These indexes, like the one from 1624, were presented as a subversive scheme by the Jesuits of the Colégio de Santo Antão (an important education institution of the time).
It was also through this law that the Real Mesa Censória was instituted, unifying the previous three censorship departments, and directed by "Censores Régios" (Royal Censors), including an Inquisitor from Lisbon and the Vicar-General of the Patriarchy. The Court was presented as a "Junta", with "private and exclusive jurisdiction on anything regarding the exam, approval or reproval of books and papers", publishing regular edicts on listing banned works.
The Regimento da Real Mesa Censória (Charter of the Royal Censorial Court) of May 18, 1768, makes provisions for the inspection of bookshops, libraries and printing presses. Works that conveyed superstitious, atheistic, or heretical ideas were forbidden, even though exceptions were provided for some works by Protestant scholars. Such works were accepted in "well governed and prudent (wise) Roman Catholic States", being tolerated only thanks to the provisions contained in the peace of Westphalia
Peace of Westphalia
The Peace of Westphalia was a series of peace treaties signed between May and October of 1648 in Osnabrück and Münster. These treaties ended the Thirty Years' War in the Holy Roman Empire, and the Eighty Years' War between Spain and the Dutch Republic, with Spain formally recognizing the...
treaties, and because their erudition was recognized and deemed useful for the Portuguese scholars. Works by Hugo Grotius
Hugo Grotius
Hugo Grotius , also known as Huig de Groot, Hugo Grocio or Hugo de Groot, was a jurist in the Dutch Republic. With Francisco de Vitoria and Alberico Gentili he laid the foundations for international law, based on natural law...
, Samuel von Pufendorf
Samuel von Pufendorf
Baron Samuel von Pufendorf was a German jurist, political philosopher, economist, statesman, and historian. His name was just Samuel Pufendorf until he was ennobled in 1684; he was made a Freiherr a few months before his death in 1694...
, Jean Barbeyrac
Jean Barbeyrac
-Life:Born at Béziers in Lower Languedoc, the nephew of Charles Barbeyrac, a distinguished physician of Montpellier. He moved with his family into Switzerland after the revocation of the Edict of Nantes. After spending some time at Geneva and Frankfurt am Main, he became professor of belles-lettres...
, among others, were accepted, although they supported some heterodox views. Voltaire
Voltaire
François-Marie Arouet , better known by the pen name Voltaire , was a French Enlightenment writer, historian and philosopher famous for his wit and for his advocacy of civil liberties, including freedom of religion, free trade and separation of church and state...
also risked being completely banned in Portugal. That was at least the intent of António Pereira de Figueiredo, but the Dominican friar Francisco de São Bento decided against censoring works of history and theater.
Liberalism
Maria I of Portugal
Maria I was Queen regnant of Portugal and the Algarves from 1777 until her death. Known as Maria the Pious , or Maria the Mad , she was the first undisputed Queen regnant of Portugal...
Carta de Lei (law) of 1787 replaced the Real Mesa Censória with the Mesa da Comissão Geral sobre o Exame e Censura dos Livros (Board of the General Commission on the Exam and Censorship of the Books), the Queen having asked Pope Pius VI
Pope Pius VI
Pope Pius VI , born Count Giovanni Angelo Braschi, was Pope from 1775 to 1799.-Early years:Braschi was born in Cesena...
to provide this organ with the adequate jurisdiction for the censorship works throughout the entire Portuguese Empire. On December 17, 1793 Portugal returned to a system similar to the one in use before the Real Mesa Censória, with the separation of duties between 3 authorities: Pontifical, Royal and Episcopal. This meant that the Inquisition once again set foot on Portuguese lands. These were, however, times of change. Some periodicals, like the Correio Brasiliense (1808), the Investigador Português (1811), and the Campeão Português, managed to evade investigation during this period. During the Peninsular war
Peninsular War
The Peninsular War was a war between France and the allied powers of Spain, the United Kingdom, and Portugal for control of the Iberian Peninsula during the Napoleonic Wars. The war began when French and Spanish armies crossed Spain and invaded Portugal in 1807. Then, in 1808, France turned on its...
, a rigorous regime of censorship was instituted by the French authorities, similar to the one in place in France at the time. Despite that, clandestine newspapers were still published. It would be from London, however, that the political refugees, with the support of local Portuguese merchants, would start an abundant literary production and an effort to translate the most important liberal works by John Locke
John Locke
John Locke FRS , widely known as the Father of Liberalism, was an English philosopher and physician regarded as one of the most influential of Enlightenment thinkers. Considered one of the first of the British empiricists, following the tradition of Francis Bacon, he is equally important to social...
, Adam Smith
Adam Smith
Adam Smith was a Scottish social philosopher and a pioneer of political economy. One of the key figures of the Scottish Enlightenment, Smith is the author of The Theory of Moral Sentiments and An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations...
and Benjamin Franklin
Benjamin Franklin
Dr. Benjamin Franklin was one of the Founding Fathers of the United States. A noted polymath, Franklin was a leading author, printer, political theorist, politician, postmaster, scientist, musician, inventor, satirist, civic activist, statesman, and diplomat...
, among others, and establish dozens of periodicals, some of them being printed until after the Civil War
Liberal Wars
The Liberal Wars, also known as the Portuguese Civil War, the War of the Two Brothers, or Miguelite War, was a war between progressive constitutionalists and authoritarian absolutists in Portugal over royal succession that lasted from 1828 to 1834...
.
The Decree of March 31, 1821 brought the "Tribunal do Santo Oficio" (the Inquisition) to an end, because it is found to be "incompatible with the principles adopted as basis for the Constitution
Constitution of Portugal
The first Portuguese Constitution was drafted in 1822. Several revolutions led to the constitutions of 1826 , 1838 , 1911 , 1933 , and 1976 ....
", being "the spiritual and the merely ecclesiastical causes" returned to the "Episcopal Jurisdiction". The Constitution of 1822 established the freedom of the press ("the free communication of thoughts"), without the need for prior censorship, though it still reserved the possibility for any abuse to be punished "in the cases and the way the law determines". The censorship in matters of religion was left, reserved to the ecclesiastical episcopal power, being the government obligated to help the bishops in punishing whoever was found guilty. This period of relative freedom, would however, be a short one. With the Vilafrancada, one year later, prior censorship was once again reintroduced. On November 13, John VI
John VI of Portugal
John VI John VI John VI (full name: João Maria José Francisco Xavier de Paula Luís António Domingos Rafael; (13 May 1767 – 10 March 1826) was King of the United Kingdom of Portugal, Brazil and the Algarves (later changed to just King of Portugal and the Algarves, after Brazil was recognized...
, aware of the revolutionary influences that were coming into the country through several newspapers printed abroad, extended censorship also to include international papers, which would, from then on, require a royal license to enter the country. From 1824, censorship was handled by two instances (being the third one, the Inquisition definitely extinct): the "Censura do Ordinário" (Ordinary Censor) and the "Desembargo do Paço" (roughly the Custom House Censor, for foreign materials).
Constitution of Portugal
The first Portuguese Constitution was drafted in 1822. Several revolutions led to the constitutions of 1826 , 1838 , 1911 , 1933 , and 1976 ....
" (Constututional Charter) of 1826 once again rejected prior censorship, as is stated in article 145, third paragraph: "Everyone can communicate their thoughts by words and writings, and publish them through the press, without depending upon censorship, as long as they are made to answer for any abuse that is committed while exercising that right, in the cases and form prescribed by the law". Quickly, however, the government tried to establish a stricter control in its press policies. Francisco Manuel Trigoso
Francisco Manuel Trigoso
Francisco Manuel Trigoso de Aragão Morato , best known as Francisco Trigoso was a Portuguese liberalist politician...
, the chief of government, established on September 23, the "Comissão de Censura" (Censorship Commission) for "handbills and periodical writings" (newspapers). By August 16, 1828, this commission had been abolished, with its censorship responsibilities being transferred to the "Mesa do Desembargo do Paço" (the appellate court).
It would be on November 21, 1833, with the liberal regime in place, that Joaquim António de Aguiar
Joaquim António de Aguiar
Joaquim António de Aguiar was a Portuguese politician. He held several relevant political posts during the Portuguese constitutional monarchy, namely as leader of the Cartists and later of the Partido Regenerador...
would sign a decreto-lei nominating those responsible for the prior censorship of Portuguese newspapers until a law that agreed with the constitutional principle came into force (a Decreto-Lei (decree) is a law enacted by the government alone, as opposed to the parliament, and is usually accepted as morally weaker). This law would be signed into effect on December 22, 1834, abolishing prior censorship, but making provisions for the prosecution of abuses, namely those against the Roman Catholic Church, the state, or the "bons costumes" (good habits - the public morals), and for slander.
On February 3, 1840, a complaint was brought by the owners of typographical workshops to the Câmara dos Deputados (Chamber of Deputies - the parliament), alleging that "without condemnation or sentence", they had been the victims of the whims of the authorities (police) which had been coming into the workshops and destroying their presses. On the night of August 11 of that same year, there was rioting in the streets of Lisbon
Lisbon
Lisbon is the capital city and largest city of Portugal with a population of 545,245 within its administrative limits on a land area of . The urban area of Lisbon extends beyond the administrative city limits with a population of 3 million on an area of , making it the 9th most populous urban...
, which lead Queen Mary II to begin a cycle of constant and successive "temporary" elimination of liberties, like the freedom of press, resulting in further rioting. The law of October 19, drafted by Costa Cabral, forced publishers to pay hefty bonds, deposits and mortgages, and to submit to an exam qualifying them as honorable persons. Press freedom would only be formally reestablished through the law of August 3, 1850 (known as the "Lei das Rolhas" [the bottle-corks law]), even though public opinion did not regard it as being in the spirit of the Constitution, because it still contained heavy sanctions which in practice completely restricted the activity of writers and journalists. Among the intellectuals that rebelled against this law were Alexandre Herculano
Alexandre Herculano
Alexandre Herculano de Carvalho e Araújo , was a Portuguese novelist and historian.-Early life:...
, Almeida Garrett
Almeida Garrett
João Baptista da Silva Leitão de Almeida Garrett, Viscount of Almeida Garrett was a Portuguese poet, playwright, novelist and politician. He is considered to be the introducer of the Romanticism in Portugal, with the epic poem Camões, based on the life of Luís de Camões...
, António Pedro Lopes de Mendonça, José Estêvão de Magalhães and Latino Coelho. Also sharing this opinion was the Duque of Saldanha, who shortly after rising to power, revoked it, opening a period known as the "Regeneração" (regeneration/renewal) which would be especially welcomed by journalists after the law of May 17, 1866 specifically abolished any "bonds or restrictions to the periodical press".
Antero de Quental
Antero Tarquínio de Quental , old spelling Anthero, , a Portuguese poet, philosopher and writer, whose works became a milestone in the Portuguese language, alongside those of Camões or Bocage....
, Augusto Soromenho, Eça de Queiroz and Adolfo Coelho had already spoken. When Salomão Saragga was to take the stand to speak about the "Divinity of Jesus", the room was closed, under the pretext that the discussions were offensive to religion and to the "Fundamental Code of the Monarchy". After the protests of a few dozen Portuguese intellectuals against this attitude of the government, Antero de Quental
Antero de Quental
Antero Tarquínio de Quental , old spelling Anthero, , a Portuguese poet, philosopher and writer, whose works became a milestone in the Portuguese language, alongside those of Camões or Bocage....
and Jaime Batalha appealled the parliament to recognize these actions as illegal. Deputy Luis de Campos brought his protest to the Marquês de Ávila e Bolama, the Prime Minister at the time: "sue
Lawsuit
A lawsuit or "suit in law" is a civil action brought in a court of law in which a plaintiff, a party who claims to have incurred loss as a result of a defendant's actions, demands a legal or equitable remedy. The defendant is required to respond to the plaintiff's complaint...
them but don't close them, you don't have the power for that".
On March 29, 1890, a dictatorial decree imposed severe sanctions on newspaper publishers, and forceful closure should they repeat the offense. On February 13, 1896 the government of Hintze Ribeiro took even more drastic actions. Despite no legal provisions existing for prior censorship, the police seized any materials that criticized the monarchic institutions. It would be another two years until the press once again enjoyed more freedom. This state of things would last until June 20, 1907, when through a coup d'etat
Coup d'état
A coup d'état state, literally: strike/blow of state)—also known as a coup, putsch, and overthrow—is the sudden, extrajudicial deposition of a government, usually by a small group of the existing state establishment—typically the military—to replace the deposed government with another body; either...
João Franco
João Franco
João Franco Ferreira Pinto Castelo-Branco, GCTE was a Portuguese politician, Minister, 43rd Minister for Treasury Affairs and 73rd Prime Minister in the last years of the Portuguese monarchy...
came to power, and any "writings, drawings or printed papers deemed dangerous to public order or security" were forbidden. The Governadores Civis (Civil Governors - the representative of the central government in the district) were allowed to close down newspapers. This law would be officially repealed when Manuel II
Manuel II of Portugal
Manuel II , named Manuel Maria Filipe Carlos Amélio Luís Miguel Rafael Gabriel Gonzaga Francisco de Assis Eugénio de Bragança Orleães Sabóia e Saxe-Coburgo-Gotha — , was the last King of Portugal from 1908 to 1910, ascending the throne after the assassination of his father and elder brother Manuel...
was enthroned, but the repression would be unchanged and a "gabinete negro" (dark cabinet) would be added to every criminal court, in order to watch over the Press in each judicial district.
First Republic
Censorship was reinstated on March 12, 1916, after the declaration of war
World War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
by Germany. Seizures were ordered of all documents whose publication might hinder national security or could be perceived as anti-war propaganda. Prior censorship, now a task of the Department of War, was always seen as a temporary exception, being unconstitutional. The military coup by Sidónio Pais
Sidónio Pais
Sidónio Bernardino Cardoso da Silva Pais was a Portuguese politician and diplomat, the fourth President in 1918. He was known as the President-King.-Family:...
would be in part justified with the unpopularity of prior censorship, which was now very obvious in the newspapers, as the space occupied by the censored text was intentionally left blank, so as to indicate to readers that the text had been censored. Sidónio Pais would, however, resort to prior censorship, adding it to all other repressive actions by his government until the end of the War.
Estado Novo
After the Coup28th May 1926 coup d'état
The 28 May 1926 coup d'état, sometimes called 28 May Revolution or, during the period of Estado Novo , National Revolution , was a military action that put an end to the unstable Portuguese First Republic and initiated the Ditadura Nacional , later, renamed the Estado Novo, an authoritarian...
of May 28, 1926, Gomes da Costa
Gomes da Costa
Manuel de Oliveira Gomes da Costa, GOTE, GCA, commonly known as Manuel Gomes da Costa , or just Gomes da Costa , son of Carlos Dias da Costa Manuel de Oliveira Gomes da Costa, GOTE, GCA, commonly known as Manuel Gomes da Costa , or just Gomes da Costa (Lisbon, January 14, 1863 – Lisbon,...
signed a decree on July 5 that would secure freedom of thought "independent from bonds
Surety bond
A surety bond is a promise to pay one party a certain amount if a second party fails to meet some obligation, such as fulfilling the terms of a contract...
and censorship", even though it insisted on prohibiting offences to the republic's institutions or any behaviour that would disturb public order. The Press Law of the new military executive repeated almost word-for-word the assurances of article 13 from the previous Press Law, allowing criticism and discussion of legislative bills, political and religious doctrines, acts of government, and so forth, as long as the goal was to "enlighten and prepare the (public) opinion for the necessary reforms(...)". On July 29, however, prior censorship was re-instated. The Estado Novo never took a definite stance on the censorship, avoiding even discussion of the subject the few times the issue was raised in the Parliament. If only the signed legislation is taken into account, one might suppose the regime was quite lenient. On May 27, 1927 the Literary Property Law was reformed, which in its letter guaranteed censorship-free publication. A decree of September 3, 1926 had already extended the freedom of the press concept to apply on the Overseas Provinces, pending a future law that would be signed into effect on June 27, 1927.
On April 11, 1933 a new constitution was published. While its article 8, n.4, would establish the "freedom of thought under any form", n.20 of the same article states that "special laws will regulate the exercise of the freedom of expression". One article would also explain that the purpose of censorship is "to prevent the perversion of public opinion in its function of social force and (censorship) should be exercised so as to defend (public opinion) from all factors that might make it stray from the truth, justice, morality, good administration and common good, and to avoid that the fundamental principles of organization of society are attacked". As would be expected, the government reserved for itself the definition of criteria for this truth, justice, and morality. In fact it would be António de Oliveira Salazar
António de Oliveira Salazar
António de Oliveira Salazar, GColIH, GCTE, GCSE served as the Prime Minister of Portugal from 1932 to 1968. He also served as acting President of the Republic briefly in 1951. He founded and led the Estado Novo , the authoritarian, right-wing government that presided over and controlled Portugal...
himself who said in that same year, "Men, groups and classes see, observe things, study the events, under the light of their own interest. Only an institution has, by duty and position, to see everything under the light of everyone's interest".
The decree 22 469, published on the same day as the Constitution, was explicit in establishing prior censorship for periodicals, "handbills, leaflets, posters and other publications, whenever in any of them political or social matters are covered". By May 14, 1936, the creation of newspapers was regulated and official public notices were also removed from some of them, so as to prevent any sort of official connection between government and the press.
The "Regulamento dos Serviços de Censura" (Censorship Services Regulations) was adopted in November of the same year but was, however, not published in the Diário do Governo (the official journal). Whoever wanted to establish a newspaper or magazine would have to, from the on, require a permit from the direction of the Service. In order to prevent white spaces from appearing in newspapers' pages, as had happened during the First Republic, the Estado Novo would force them to completely reorganize the pages before printing, so that any traces of censorship were disguised. Adding to this, editors were sometimes forced to submit pre-press pages to the censorship commission which would make maintaining a paper unbearably expensive and eventually drove some editors into bankruptcy. In 1944 the Censorship Service fell under the "Secretariado Nacional de Informação" (National Information Secretariat) which in turn was under the control of Salazar himself.
An order from the Direction of Censorship Services noted that, concerning children's and young adult books, "it seems desirable that the Portuguese children are educated, not as citizens of the world, in preparation, but as Portuguese children, that will soon no longer be children but will continue to be Portuguese".
Books were not subject to prior censorship, but could be confiscated after being published. This would be frequently enforced by the Direcção-Geral de Segurança
PIDE
In 1969, Marcello Caetano changed the name PIDE to DGS . The death of Salazar and the subsequent ascension of Caetano brought some attempts at democratization, in order to avoid popular insurgency against censorship, the ongoing colonial war and the general restriction of civil rights...
(General Directorate of Security, the political police), which would issue search warrants for bookstores. The post office would also monitor any mailing of books. The Inspecção Superior de Bibliotecas e Arquivos (Library and Archive Inspection) would also forbid the reading of certain documents, namely those concerning Portuguese India
Portuguese India
The Portuguese Viceroyalty of India , later the Portuguese State of India , was the aggregate of Portugal's colonial holdings in India.The government started in 1505, six years after the discovery of a sea route to India by Vasco da Gama, with the nomination of the first Viceroy Francisco de...
after the War of Baçaim (1732/1739). The Biblioteca Nacional
Biblioteca Nacional
Biblioteca Nacional may refer to:*Biblioteca Nacional de España, in Spain*Biblioteca Nacional de Portugal, in Portugal*Biblioteca Nacional de la República Argentina, in Argentina*Fundação Biblioteca Nacional, in Brazil...
(National Library) would also keep a list of books that were not to be read.
When Salazar was replaced in office by Marcello Caetano, some liberalization was promised. In an interview given to the O Estado de S. Paulo
O Estado de S. Paulo
O Estado de S. Paulo is a daily newspaper published in the Metropolitan region of São Paulo, Brazil, and distributed mainly nationally. It is owned by Grupo Estado, a holding company which publishes the Jornal da Tarde and owns the radios Rádio Eldorado AM and FM and the Agência Estado, largest...
, a Brazilian newspaper, Caetano himself promised to enact a new Press law shortly thereafter. However, little did change. According to "Evolution in Continuity", Caetano's political doctrine, "Prior Censorship" was now termed "Prior Exam". The State Secretary for Informatio and Tourism would say that: "Nothing has changed in this house, not the spirit, nor the devotion to essential values, nor the course of action", maintaining what was Salazar's stated purpose for the institution: "To maintain the truth". As an example of the "new" state of things, on October 26, 1972, for an article about the prohibition of a play (an adaptation of "O Arco de Sant’Ana" by Almeida Garrett
Almeida Garrett
João Baptista da Silva Leitão de Almeida Garrett, Viscount of Almeida Garrett was a Portuguese poet, playwright, novelist and politician. He is considered to be the introducer of the Romanticism in Portugal, with the epic poem Camões, based on the life of Luís de Camões...
), the Prior Exam Services from Oporto rejected a version that referred to the prohibition: "Don't mention it was forbidden. It can be said, however, that it won't come to stage".
Effect of censorship on Portuguese culture
Even Luís de CamõesLuís de Camões
Luís Vaz de Camões is considered Portugal's and the Portuguese language's greatest poet. His mastery of verse has been compared to that of Shakespeare, Vondel, Homer, Virgil and Dante. He wrote a considerable amount of lyrical poetry and drama but is best remembered for his epic work Os Lusíadas...
had to submit the text of "Os Lusíadas
Os Lusíadas
Os Lusíadas , usually translated as The Lusiads, is a Portuguese epic poem by Luís Vaz de Camões ....
" to the censorship of the Inquisition, being forced to debate it verse by verse. That which is today considered the greatest poem in Portuguese language went through a phase of abandonment, being ignored and despised, which can also be considered a subtle form of censorship.
Damião de Góis
Damião de Góis
Damiao de Góis , born in Alenquer, Portugal, was an important Portuguese humanist philosopher. He was a friend and student of Erasmus. He was appointed secretary to the Portuguese factory in Antwerp in 1523 by King John III of Portugal...
received the Imprimatur for his "Crónica do Felicíssimo Rei D. Manue" in 1567. Five years later, however, it was still waiting for Bishop António Pinheiro to correct an error in one of the pages. Prior censorship gave free rein to censors who could easily exploit any minuscule question they might have with the authors to delay the publication of the work.
Even Father António Viera was jailed by the Inquisition from 1665 to 1667, because he openly supported the works of the New Christians and criticizing actions of the Dominican inquisitors.
More serious were the processes that involved dramatist António José da Silva
António José da Silva
António José da Silva was a Portuguese-Brazilian dramatist, known as "the Jew" . The Brazilian spelling of his first name is Antônio.-Life:...
, known as "O Judeu" (The Jew), who was arrested and tortured together with his mother in 1726. In 1737 he was arrested again, also with his mother, wife and daughter, being decapitated and burned in an auto-da-fé
Auto-da-fé
An auto-da-fé was the ritual of public penance of condemned heretics and apostates that took place when the Spanish Inquisition or the Portuguese Inquisition had decided their punishment, followed by the execution by the civil authorities of the sentences imposed...
in Lisbon, his wife and mother suffering the same fate.
Francisco Xavier de Oliveira, Cavaleiro de Oliveira was luckier, managing to evade in August 18, 1761, the last auto-da-fé held in Portugal, exiling himself in the Netherlands. His works, however, were apprehended and burned.
Later, during the Estado Novo, Maria Velho da Costa
Maria Velho da Costa
Maria de Fátima de Bívar Velho da Costa is a Portuguese writer who was awarded the Camões Prize in 2002. She took part of the Portuguese Feminist Movement with Maria Isabel Barreno and Maria Teresa Horta ....
, Maria Teresa Horta
Maria Teresa Horta
Maria Teresa Mascarenhas Horta is a Portuguese writer.She is bachelor in the Universidade de Lisboa and she has worked as a journalist...
and Maria Isabel Barreno were involved in a court case due to the publication of their "Novas cartas portuguesas" (New Portuguese Letters), which allegedly contained pornographic and immoral content and which is today considered no more than a sharp criticism of the Portuguese chauvinism and a commentary on the condition of women in society.
Maria Velho da Costa would, as a reaction to this proceedings write "Ova Ortegrafia" (Ew Rthography) which begins with "(I) [h]ave [d]ecided [t]o [c]ut [m]y [w]riting, [t]hat [w]ay I [s]pare [t]he [w]ork [o]f [w]ho [w]ant [t]o [c]ut [m]e (...) " (letters within brackets added for readability).
Writers fear that their works will end up prohibited, and therefore some things are not worth writing, lest they damn the whole book. Journalists were always the ones that suffered the most from this self-imposed censorship, as there would bear responsibility for any delays in the newspaper, for some ill-pondered or reckless phase. Ferreira de Castro
Ferreira de Castro
José Maria Ferreira de Castro was a Portuguese writer and journalist.At age 12, he immigrated to Brazil, where his work at a rubber plantation for the next four years would be the inspiration for his most famous book, A Selva , which was adapted for a 2002 film of the same title José Maria...
wrote in 1945 "Each of us, when writing, places an imagiary censor on the desk".
Some authors started using metaphors: Dawn
Dawn
Dawn is the time that marks the beginning of the twilight before sunrise. It is recognized by the presence of weak sunlight, while the sun itself is still below the horizon...
for Socialism
Socialism
Socialism is an economic system characterized by social ownership of the means of production and cooperative management of the economy; or a political philosophy advocating such a system. "Social ownership" may refer to any one of, or a combination of, the following: cooperative enterprises,...
, Spring for Revolution
Revolution
A revolution is a fundamental change in power or organizational structures that takes place in a relatively short period of time.Aristotle described two types of political revolution:...
, Vampire
Vampire
Vampires are mythological or folkloric beings who subsist by feeding on the life essence of living creatures, regardless of whether they are undead or a living person...
for Policeman, etc., which made some of the works unintentionally poetic, something that is today remembered with some nostalgia (even today, specially in some of the smaller newspapers, we can find an overly elaborated prose in everyday subjects). David Mourão Ferreira wrote in the poem that was later sung by Amália Rodrigues
Amália Rodrigues
Amália da Piedade Rodrigues, GCSE, GCIH, , also known as Amália Rodrigues was a Portuguese singer and actress.She was known as the "Rainha do Fado" and was most influential in popularizing the fado worldwide. She was one of the most important figures in the genre's development, and enjoyed a...
as "Fado de Peniche", "At least you can hear the wind! - At least you can hear the sea!", in a reference to the political prisoners held in the Forte de Peniche (Peniche fortress), not to the fishermen of the town (fisheries and fish canning have been the most important activity in Peniche for decades). The objective of this coded wording was to induce in the audience the suspicion of everything being reported and officially sanctioned by the authorities, and let the second meaning be imagined even where there were none.
It is often told that in a Zeca Afonso
Zeca Afonso
José Manuel Cerqueira Afonso dos Santos, known as Zeca Afonso or just Zeca , was born in Aveiro, Portugal, the son of José Nepomuceno Afonso, a judge, and Maria das Dores. Zeca is among the most influential folk and political musicians in Portuguese history...
concert the censor assigned to monitor the performance unwittingly joined the chorus of singing "You'll end up in the PIDE
PIDE
In 1969, Marcello Caetano changed the name PIDE to DGS . The death of Salazar and the subsequent ascension of Caetano brought some attempts at democratization, in order to avoid popular insurgency against censorship, the ongoing colonial war and the general restriction of civil rights...
", being later severely punished for his naivete.
Many other authors were jailed or saw their books impounded, such as Soeiro Pereira Gomes
Soeiro Pereira Gomes
Joaquim Soeiro Pereira Gomes was a Portuguese writer of realist influence and became one of the major names of Portuguese literature of the 20th century. Pereira Gomes is, along with Alves Redol, the biggest name of the Portuguese neo-realist movement...
, Aquilino Ribeiro
Aquilino Ribeiro
Aquilino Gomes Ribeiro, ComL was a Portuguese writer and diplomat. He is considered as one of the great Portuguese novelists of the 20th century. He was nominated for the Nobel Literature Prize in 1960....
, José Régio
José Régio
José Maria dos Reis Pereira, better known by the pen name José Regio was a Portuguese writer which lived most of his life in Portalegre...
, Maria Lamas, Rodrigues Lapa, Urbano Tavares Rodrigues
Urbano Tavares Rodrigues
Urbano Tavares Rodrigues, GCIH is a Portuguese professor of literature, a literary critic and a fiction writer, winner of many literary prizes. He was born in 1923 in Lisbon, Portugal, but spent most of his childhood near Moura, in Alentejo, the Southern region of Portugal...
, Alves Redol
Alves Redol
António Alves Redol was one of the most influential Portuguese neorealist writers. Redol was born in Vila Franca de Xira, an industrial zone near Lisbon. In 1927 he finished school, and in the next year travelled to Angola , where he stayed for three years...
, Alexandre Cabral, Orlando da Costa
Orlando da Costa
Orlando António Fernandes da Costa was a Portuguese writer of Goan descent on his father Luís Afonso Maria da Costa's side and of Portuguese and French on his mother Amélia Maria Fréchaut Fernandes' side. Born in Lourenço Marques, Mozambique, a Portuguese colony at the time, he spent his youth in...
, Alexandre O´Neil, Alberto Ferreira, António Borges Coelho, Virgílio Martinho, António José Forte, Alfredo Margarido, Carlos Coutinho, Carlos Loures, Amadeu Lopes Sabino, Fátima Maldonado, Hélia Correia
Hélia Correia
Hélia Correia is a Portuguese writer, born in Lisbon. At university, she read Romance Philology. After a period working as a high school teacher, Hélia Correia undertook postgraduate studies in Classical Theatre. Her literary career started in earnest in the 1980s and she quickly achieved great...
, Raul Malaquias Marques, among others.
Aquilino Ribeiro saw his book Quando os lobos uivam (When the wolves howl) confiscated in 1958. The regime brought a criminal suit against him for alleged offenses against the state, though the suit was later dropped after protests from François Mauriac
François Mauriac
François Mauriac was a French author; member of the Académie française ; laureate of the Nobel Prize in Literature . He was awarded the Grand Cross of the Légion d'honneur .-Biography:...
, Louis Aragon
Louis Aragon
Louis Aragon , was a French poet, novelist and editor, a long-time member of the Communist Party and a member of the Académie Goncourt.- Early life :...
, André Maurois
André Maurois
André Maurois, born Emile Salomon Wilhelm Herzog was a French author.-Life:Maurois was born in Elbeuf and educated at the Lycée Pierre Corneille in Rouen, both in Normandy. Maurois was the son of Ernest Herzog, a Jewish textile manufacturer, and Alice Herzog...
and other foreign writers. Even upon his death, any news about these events was suppressed.
In 1965 the Sociedade Portuguesa de Autores (Portuguese Authors Society) had the audacity to present Angolan writer Luandino Vieira with the Camilo Castelo Branco Award at a time when he was serving a 14-year sentence at Tarrafal camp
Tarrafal camp
Tarrafal was a prison camp in Cape Verde, then a Portuguese colony, set up by the dictator António de Oliveira Salazar after the outbreak of the Spanish Civil War , where opponents of his right-wing authoritarian regime were sent...
for terrorism (while fighting for the independence of Angola
Angola
Angola, officially the Republic of Angola , is a country in south-central Africa bordered by Namibia on the south, the Democratic Republic of the Congo on the north, and Zambia on the east; its west coast is on the Atlantic Ocean with Luanda as its capital city...
). As a consequence, the society was shut down by order of the Minister of Education, and its headquarters were vandalized. Jaime Gama
Jaime Gama
Jaime José de Matos da Gama, GCC, GCIH, GCL, GCMG , is a Portuguese politician.-Background:...
, who would become foreign affairs minister in the '90s, wrote about the issue in the "Açores
O Açoriano Oriental
O Açoriano Oriental is a Portuguese daily newspaper, published in Ponta Delgada, Azores.It was founded in 18 April 1835, by Manuel António de Vasconcelos, which makes it the oldest Portuguese newspaper still in print....
" newspaper and was arrested by the PIDE
PIDE
In 1969, Marcello Caetano changed the name PIDE to DGS . The death of Salazar and the subsequent ascension of Caetano brought some attempts at democratization, in order to avoid popular insurgency against censorship, the ongoing colonial war and the general restriction of civil rights...
.
In cinema the regime, besides prohibiting certain movies and scenes, also sought to impede the access of the less literate to certain ideas. According to law 2027 of 1948, when António Ferro was in charge of the Secretariado Nacional de Informação (National Information Secretariat), he forbade the dubbing
Dubbing (filmmaking)
Dubbing is the post-production process of recording and replacing voices on a motion picture or television soundtrack subsequent to the original shooting. The term most commonly refers to the substitution of the voices of the actors shown on the screen by those of different performers, who may be...
of foreign movies, not out of any aesthetic concern, but simply because dialog could thus be left untranslated or purposely mistranslated so as to avoid forbidden subjects. Even though censorship ended, today's Portuguese moviegoers still prefer subtitles over dubbing, and in recent years even children's cartoons have been available in subtitled, non-dubbed versions.
Several Portuguese intellectuals have showed how the various forms of censorship have hindered the cultural development of Portugal. Some authors have pointed out that the Portuguese cultural elite has become something of an aristocracy, disconnected from the rest of the population. This is evident by the prevalence of a gap between popular culture and "high culture", with the arraiais (popular gathering with light music and ball dancing), pimba music (based on double-entendre or straightforward sexual slang) and racho folclórico (folk and ethnological dancing and music groups) on one side, and literature, drama and classical music on the other. Portugal has become one of the countries in Europe with the lowest attendances of theater and the lowest rates of book reading. The traditionally bad box-office results of Portuguese cinema, compared to the amount of foreign awards the same movies get, is also pointed out as a result of this gap.
Present day
Freedom of expression was one of the achievements of the Carnation RevolutionCarnation Revolution
The Carnation Revolution , also referred to as the 25 de Abril , was a military coup started on 25 April 1974, in Lisbon, Portugal, coupled with an unanticipated and extensive campaign of civil resistance...
. It also quickly led critics to protest against the "excess of liberty" that was taking hold of newspapers, magazines, television, radio and cinema. Movies that had until then been forbidden started being screened, some of them many years after being filmed. Social and political satire became common in television and theater, a prime example being teatro de revista.
The Portuguese Constitution of 1976 once again included freedom of expression and information and freedom of the press in its text. Following revisions of the constitutional text have extended freedom of expression to all the media.
However, incidents of censorship still occur occasionally, in the form of appeals to entrepreneurial groups, to the government, or to lobbies, to exert their influence on the media. For example, Herman José
Herman José
Hermann Joseph von Krippahl, known as Herman José , is a well-known Portuguese comedian, though virtually unknown abroad. His career has focused on television....
, in 1988, had his TV series "Humor de Perdição" suspended by the RTP
Rádio e Televisão de Portugal
Rádio e Televisão de Portugal, S.A.,commonly known as RTP, is Portugal's public service broadcasting organization. It operates four terrestrial television channels and three national radio channels, as well as several satellite and cable offerings....
Management Council. The Council, then headed by Coelho Ribeiro (who had been a censor during the dictatorship) justified the action by the supposedly undignified way in which the "Historical Interviews" segment (written by Miguel Esteves Cardoso
Miguel Esteves Cardoso
Miguel Vicente Esteves Cardoso is a Portuguese writer, translator, critic and journalist. He's a well known monarchist and conservative.-Early life:...
) portrayed important figures in Portuguese history. References to the supposed homosexuality of King Sebastian are frequently cited as the main reason for the termination of the series.
In 1992, Under-Secretary of State for Culture, Souza Lara, who had final say on applications from Portugal, prevented José Saramago
José Saramago
José de Sousa Saramago, GColSE was a Nobel-laureate Portuguese novelist, poet, playwright and journalist. His works, some of which can be seen as allegories, commonly present subversive perspectives on historic events, emphasizing the human factor. Harold Bloom has described Saramago as "a...
's "The Gospel According to Jesus Christ
The Gospel According to Jesus Christ
The Gospel According to Jesus Christ is a novel by the Portuguese author José Saramago. A fictional re-telling of Jesus Christ's life, it depicts him as a flawed, humanised character with passions and doubts...
" from participating in the European Literary Award, claiming that the work was not representative of Portugal, but was instead divisive of the Portuguese people. As a result and in protest against what he saw as an act of censorship by the Portuguese government, Saramago moved to Spain
Spain
Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...
, taking permanent residency in Lanzarote
Lanzarote
Lanzarote , a Spanish island, is the easternmost of the autonomous Canary Islands, in the Atlantic Ocean, approximately 125 km off the coast of Africa and 1,000 km from the Iberian Peninsula. Covering 845.9 km2, it stands as the fourth largest of the islands...
in the Canary Islands
Canary Islands
The Canary Islands , also known as the Canaries , is a Spanish archipelago located just off the northwest coast of mainland Africa, 100 km west of the border between Morocco and the Western Sahara. The Canaries are a Spanish autonomous community and an outermost region of the European Union...
.
In 2004, the so-called "Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa
Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa
Marcelo Nuno Duarte Rebelo de Sousa, ComSE, GCIH is a Portuguese politician and former Minister and Member of Parliament, law professor, former journalist, political analyst and pundit.-Background:...
affair" became public. A former leader of the PSD
Social Democratic Party (Portugal)
The Social Democratic Party , is a centre-right liberal conservative political party in Portugal. It is commonly known by its initials, PSD; on ballot papers, its initials appear as PPD/PSD, with the first three letters coming from the party's original name, Democratic People's Party...
, Rebelo de Sousa, was a political commentator for the TVI
TVI (Portugal)
Televisão Independente is Portugal's fourth terrestrial television channel, launched in 1993. It has been leading audience ratings since 2005. It competes directly with SIC and RTP1.-History:...
television station when he was pressured by the station president, Miguel Pais do Amaral and by the Minister for Parliamentary Affairs, Rui Gomes da Silva, to refrain from criticizing the government so sharply. This was regarded as unacceptable by the press and prompted Rebelo de Sousa's resignation from TVI and an investigation by the Alta Autoridade da Comunicação Social (High Authority for the Media - the media regulator) into the station which found proof of "pressures from the government and promiscuity between political and economical powers".
In 2006, Portugal was ranked at number 10 on the Press Freedom Index published by Reporters Without Borders
Reporters Without Borders
Reporters Without Borders is a France-based international non-governmental organization that advocates freedom of the press. It was founded in 1985, by Robert Ménard, Rony Brauman and the journalist Jean-Claude Guillebaud. Jean-François Julliard has served as Secretary General since 2008...
, number 8 in 2007, number 16 in 2008 and more recently number 30 in 2009.
Further reading
- Rodrigues, Graça Almeida; Breve história da censura Literária em Portugal; Amadora; Ministério da Educação e Ciência, 1980.
- Marques, A. H. de Oliveira; História de Portugal, Vol. III; 3.ª Edição; Palas Editores, Lisboa; Março de 1986.
- Anastácio, Vanda, Leituras Potencialmente Perigosas - Reflexões sobre as traduções castelhanas de Os Lusíadas no tempo da União Ibérica - Accessed March 8, 2007
- Banha de Andrade, A. A., Censura, in "Enciclopédia Verbo Luso-Brasileira da Cultura, Edição Século XXI", Volume VI, Editorial Verbo, Braga, Setembro de 1998
- Brandão, José; Os livros e a censura em Portugal in Vidas Lusófonas - Accessed March 8, 2007
- Franco, Graça; A Censura à Imprensa (1820–1974), Imprensa Nacional Casa da Moeda, Lisboa, 1993 ISBN 972-27-0570-9
- Santos, Cândido dos; "Os Jansenistas Franceses e os Estudos Eclesiásticos na Época de Pombal" - Accessed March 8, 2007
- Sousa, Nuno J. Vasconcelos de Albuquerque; A Liberdade de Imprensa, Almedina, Coimbra, 1984
- Matos, Manuel Cadafaz de; Erasmo e os índices inquisitoriais portugueses no século XVI - Accessed March 8, 2007