Writing Challenge: What does it mean to decolonize today?

18 de November, 2024 | Chisoka Simões | Event

The MigraMediaActs project – “Migrations, media and activisms in the Portuguese language: decolonizing media landscapes and imagining alternative futures” (CECS – University of Minho), in partnership with the YouNDigital project (CICANT – Lusófona University), invites all interested people to a dialogue about the history of Portugal and its impact on the present and future of the country to write an essay based on the following question:  “What does it mean to decolonize today?

The challenge began at the end of 2024 when we celebrated the 50th anniversary of the event that many Portuguese consider the most important in the country’s history: the 25th of April, or Freedom Day. This context, in which the country celebrates its freedom after 48 years of dictatorship, summons us to a kind of historical rescue, a “splash of memories” that were not necessarily lived by us individually but represent collective inheritances and achievements. Celebrating April also means remembering the expectations of change and constructing a fairer and more inclusive country. We recall that the Carnation Revolution had as its motto the “3 D”: Decolonize, Democratize, Develop. On July 27, 1974, General Spinola gave a speech that was generally considered the starting point of the decolonization process. Fifty years later, several studies indicate that political decolonization was not accompanied by mental decolonization.

So, considering the present issues, we propose a question: in your opinion, what is the future of this Portuguese past? Have the revolution’s goals been achieved, or do they remain a challenge that requires new struggles? What does it mean today to decolonize, democratize and develop?

You can start posting here. We count on your participation.