Visual Archives of the Revolution
‘The Democracy established by the April Revolution in 1974 was born accompanied by the desire to invent another destiny for Portugal’ | Eduardo Lourenço.
The Mário Soares and Maria Barroso Foundation is making available to the public a set of images and texts from the archives of two foreign photojournalists, Ingeborg Lippmann and Peter Collis, who were in Portugal during the Revolution of 25 April 1974 and documented a series of events that illustrate the history of the revolution, decolonisation and the transition to democracy.
The archives of Ingeborg Lippmann and Peter Collis, whose contents can now be accessed and studied in digital format, also illustrate the flexibility and speed characteristic of the photographic techniques and processes of the time, as well as the ability of news agencies to inform the public about what was happening on the other side of the world, deriving from a practice that materialises in negatives and slides, author's proofs and contact proofs, equally relevant to the history of photojournalism.
British journalist Peter Collis followed the events that followed the military coup from Portugal, in partnership with US Time magazine correspondent Martha de La Cal.
As imagens de Collis ilustram diversos aspectos da época, como o regresso de exilados políticos, o fim da guerra colonial e a transição das ex-colónias para a independência (a chegada dos retornados e dos refugiados de conflitos armados e o regresso do contingente militar português), as primeiras manifestações em liberdade, a constituição dos governos provisórios e a abertura da Assembleia Constituinte, a celebração do 1º de Maio de 1975, e a Reforma Agrária, entre outros eventos que marcaram a sociedade de então, deixando-nos um retrato dos seus protagonistas.
Collis' images illustrate various aspects of the time, such as the return of political exiles, the end of the colonial war and the transition of the former colonies to independence (the arrival of returnees and refugees from armed conflicts and the return of the Portuguese military contingent), the first demonstrations for freedom, the establishment of provisional governments and the opening of the Constituent Assembly, the celebration of 1 May 1975, and the Agrarian Reform, among other events that marked society at the time, leaving us with a portrait of its protagonists.
A norte-americana Ingeborg Lippman, à época correspondente do jornal The New York Times, deu especial atenção às mulheres em dois projetos fotográficos, a luta das guerrilheiras da FRELIMO pela emancipação feminina em Moçambique, e as trabalhadoras agrícolas no Alentejo durante a Reforma Agrária (The changing face of Alentejo, 1975).
The American Ingeborg Lippmann, at the time a correspondent for The New York Times, paid special attention to women in two photographic projects, the struggle of FRELIMO guerrillas for women's emancipation in Mozambique, and farm labourers in Alentejo during the Agrarian Reform (The changing face of Alentejo, 1975).
During his trip to Mozambique in November 1974, Lippmann attended a FRELIMO meeting (‘banja’) with the population in Pemba, during which he interviewed the guerrilla Geraldina Mitwo, who would become the protagonist of the report he wrote on female emancipation in the context of the liberation movements:
Lippmann acompanhou também a transição de Angola para a independência, entrevistando o líder histórico da UNITA, Jonas Savimbi, na base militar de Sakalemba (Lippman, Angola - Only in Peace is a discussion possible, 1974, 07899.005), regressando àquele país para fazer a cobertura da guerra civil a partir do território controlado pela UNITA, onde testemunhou a retirada de refugiados do Huambo, a cisão da coligação UNITA-FNLA e a intervenção de forças estrangeiras na guerra, sendo, porém, impedida pelos militares de avançar até à linha da frente, onde se desenrolavam os combates.
Lippmann also followed Angola's transition to independence, interviewing UNITA's historic leader, Jonas Savimbi, at the Sakalemba military base (Lippmann, Angola - Only in Peace is a discussion possible, 1974, 07899. 005), returning to that country to cover the civil war from UNITA-controlled territory, where she witnessed the withdrawal of refugees from Huambo, the split in the UNITA-FNLA coalition and the intervention of foreign forces in the war, but was prevented by the military from advancing to the front line, where the fighting was taking place.
From the city of Huambo, on the eve of the proclamation of independence, Lippmann reported on the withdrawal of refugees via the air bridge linking Angola to Portugal in 1975, in the reports ‘Angola's Second City - Slowly Strangling’ and ‘Angola Airlift Runs out of time’:
UNITA leaders say they hate to see the whites go and would like to see a multi-racial society in Angola. BUt UNITA Secretary General N'Zau Puna says, "In all fairness we can't stop them from leaving because the moment the Portuguese troops go, the real war will start" (Lippmann, Angola's Second City - Slowly Strangling, p. 2, 07902.006)
This city [Nova Lisboa], Angola's second largest, is almost dead now, most of its shops closed. Of its 13 pharmacies perhaps six are still open and there's not an aspirin to be found. Medical stocks are running out and there's no hope to get any more, since traffic between Nova Lisboa and Luanda, the capital, has been cut (Lippmann, Angola airlift runs out of time, 1975, p. 1, 07902.004)
A radio announcement said that the airlift would be halted in a matter of days; there may be panic among the refugees if this is true. As for myself, I'll stay as long as I can and fly to Lisbon in the last military plane out (Lippmann, Angola airlift runs out of time, 1975, p. 2, 07902.004)
This time, Lippmann stayed in UNITA territory between November 1975 and January 1976.