"Dear listeners." "Whether by tradition or friendship, we all celebrate special dates." "Women, yes, wives, mothers and sisters, particularly enjoy such festivities." "So Portuguese women have gathered here today, for the 70th birthday of a man who has given them so much." "It's right, it's human, it's touching." "From the first lady of the nation to the lowliest domestic, today all are equals outside Salazar's home." "Thousands of women, together as one, to give thanks to Salazar." "They want to meet Salazar." "They will see Salazar!" "Women, unconcerned with politics, who are less complicated, with a less developed sense of values, are here to say "thank you Salazar!"" "Here we are Salazar!" "One man, alone, for 31 years, overcoming everything and everyone, overcoming even himself." "He has triumphed over all, he has achieved his end." "Salazar!" "Salazar!" "Salazar!" "Our positions should be reversed." "It is I who should be offering you the most beautiful flowers - not so much in remembrance of this day, but in recognition of how much our National Crusade owes to the Portuguese Woman." "It is you, the mothers, the wives, the sisters, the daughters of all the Portuguese, whose warm tenderness and indomitable spirit, support us in our struggle." "You give strength to those tempted to disbelieve who waver and worry over difficulties you do not fear and which we will overcome." "Thank you." "Just listen to the women shout, overwhelmed with gratitude and love for Salazar." "Portugal!" "Portugal!" "Portugal!" "Salazar!" "Salazar!" "Salazar!" "Were you never interested in politics?" "No." "I am now." "Now, I'm interested..." "When I was young, politics didn't interest me." "Why weren't you interested?" "I thought it was a nonsense... I don't know... lt wasn't my sort of thing." "There are people who like politics and there are people who don't." "My father taught us early on:" ""don't get involved in politics!" "... this one's good, that one's bad..." "They have a different mentality, don't get involved!"" "Then those things turned up, and at friends' parties we'd ask each other:" ""did you get a letter?" " l did." "So did I!" "What shall we do?" "We'll answer the call, we'll be ready"." "is that what I said?" "Yes." ""My time is so taken up, with associations and parish duties, that I have little left at my disposal..." "However... best regards, Maria Manuela"." "That's not very helpful." "I gave them the brush off, right away." "'58... I got married in 1961 ..." "That's right." "But I don't remember answering that circular." "No." "They either didn't call me or, if I went, it was only a few times..." "The aim of this movement was to have an army of women." "But not for fighting." "A strong army, and if we had to say no, it should mean no." "But we didn't know to what..." "They'd never mention a particular cause..." "They'd just say:" "if it should ever become necessary for us to join forces to make noise, can we count on you?" "Yes!" "I'd never have said yes if I didn't know who they were." "I wasn't going to say yes to just anyone." "I've always loved the values of the fatherland" " a word not used much these days - l've always loved that." "And I loved the groups, the groups girls could join and really be a part of." "To accomplish something all our own!" "Religious values, too." "May I open it?" "Oh, my handwriting..." "How interesting... '58." "I was just a girl." ""The fact that I am only today replying to your circular does not signify a lack of interest in this movement, which I support heart and soul."" "Heart and soul!" ""Dear Ladies... I worked very hard in the election campaign, and I saw what needs to be done in this area." "To whom should I send the stamps I have left over from the manifestos and election material I received?" "May I send them back to you?"" "I don't remember working on the election campaign, unless it was for the Monarchists." "On Américo Thomaz' campaign?" "No." "You must have done something if it's there... lt's written there, yes, but I don't remember it." "Our ideal was a Catholic." "We wanted Thomaz for president." "Because we were Salazarists." "And we had instructions, from Lisbon, telling us to go ahead and campaign." "So, myself and other ladies from Catholic Action, started the campaign, principally three of us, - others were afraid - to campaign for Thomaz." "How did you get access to the electoral roll?" "To the electoral, what...?" "How did you get the electoral roll, to see who was registered to vote and who wasn't?" "We had to rely on our connections:" "the chairmen of the local councils, you see..." "And, of course, we'd only use... for myself, I have to say, I always got on well with everyone, was a friend even." "I've had the vote for many years." "How shall I put it..." "There was this gentleman from the National Union, and as my husband had left, it should have been him... in those days, men always came first, they still do..." "Anyway, he should have had the vote, but since he wasn't around, that gentleman fixed things so it was me who got to vote." "But, what did I know about voting?" "!" "Now, if I want to vote, I know." "I vote, and that's that." "Back then..." "We didn't know." "He was from the National Union, he gave me a sealed vote, not like these days, where we choose the one we want." "Those days it came sealed, they just handed it to us." "We didn't know who we were voting for." "In total conformity with the regime and expressing the nation's will," "Admiral Américo Thomaz takes up the presidential mandate to which he was elected by an overwhelming majority." "What became of Thomaz after that..." "No, Delgado... there was so much going on, but then, I was no longer..." "Anyway, Thomaz was elected and the campaign ended." "We had no idea at all who General Delgado was, whether he was better than Salazar or worse." "I've an idea that at the time, we thought he was some kind of... of a Hitler or a Mussolini, or similar..." "Or that he wasn't..." "We never understood why they killed him, we never understood what he was exactly." "It seems to me now, he was a good man." "But since they killed him..." "Oh dear, how can I remember what we talked about 50 years ago!" "We talked about the same things as today." "About everything..." "We probably spoke about Salazar..." "Salazar was someone women held very dear..." "There were many women who adored Salazar." "A friend of mine used to say there were three men in her life:" "her husband, her son, and Salazar." "She had such adoration for him." "And she wasn't the only one." "Did you ever meet Salazar?" "No, I never did, we were never..." "Salazar!" "We owe you... our hope!" "We owe you... the peace!" "We owe you... the present!" "We owe you... our joy!" "On behalf of all of us, thank you, forever!" "Long Live Salazar!" ""Dear Ladies, I am writing to give you my news." "I should like you to know that:" "I would dearly have liked to work for the good of my fatherland." "I am married, with 4 children, I live in a small community." "My time is..."" "I liked Salazar." "I liked him, I have books he wrote." "He was an exceptional man, different." "Sometimes I argued with my husband..." "Because I thought he was an exceptional man... very kind to the ladies." "At that time everyone liked him." "He was governing the country." "I never mixed with people who were totally against him." "The ones I mixed with, some were in favour, most were for Salazar, and the others left well alone." "The ones against who hatched conspiracies, I didn't know them." "They wouldn't have said, because they didn't want to be arrested." "I was an admirer of Salazar, because I thought he was a very serious man." "He wasn't always good." "For example, to primary school teachers, he gave them very small salaries, but he left Portugal a lot of money which the others spent." "I don't hold with the revolution." "Not at all." "I lost a great deal, they closed one of my factories, and I lost too much money." "I admired that man because he was so meticulous." "But of course, he must have had faults." "Only God is perfect." "When Salazar came to power the country was in a mess, in ruins." "And he raised the country up through his austerity and sacrifice." "There was no corruption like there is with today's leaders." "He was never corrupted by anything." "He lived very much alone, working." "Just a man in his house doing sums." "As the saying goes, "a Portuguese house, no doubt"." "That was Salazar." "He was a lovely man, a very handsome man." "An attractive man." "He wasn't very interested in women, he wasn't the type..." "as far as I know." "He had a housekeeper who gave the orders..." "Only the people she wanted went there, he'd only see the ones she wanted him to." "We never really understood what that woman's role was." "A woman from a humble background, apparently, not remotely attractive." "She was ugly, she was fat, she was..." "She wasn't his mistress, that's for sure... well, we don't know." "How did we live?" "Cheerfully!" "Some anyway, others not so much:" "like today." "We were more self reliant, we found enjoyment in each other." "We didn't need outside distractions to be happy and cheerful." "You don't hear anyone singing in the fields these days." "Fields are deserted now!" "There was the secret police (Pide) to maintain order." "With the Pide, dear, there was everything." "Were people afraid?" "Some were..." "Why shouldn't they be?" "It was a dictatorship." "What were people most afraid of?" "Everything, my dear." "Of being arrested..." "Salazar's era was... a peaceful one." "But things weren't so easy for those who had nothing." "The poorest people lived, as one woman said:" ""l buy a..."" "What's that fish called?" "It's not mackerel... a sardine!" ""l buy a sardine, I grill it nicely" ""then I wipe it on my children's bread." ""l don't eat, but all my children get a little bit that tastes of sardine"." "That kind of thing happened in the countryside." "It was bad." "Sometimes people say "in those times of hunger"." "But when they say hunger, they might not mean hunger exactly in the true sense of the word, more likely they weren't able to afford certain foodstuffs." "I still maintain that, aside from the odd exception, the diet then was more appropriate than it is now." "The country was poor and backward." "But let me tell you:" "as old as I am, I think in the past," "poor people were more respectful and families were more cheerful." "The parents may have been poor, with a lot of children, but there was a respect for others, that isn't there anymore." "Young people today have no idea who we are." "It was one of the things I most adored!" "They were such good people, those who lived in the slums." "As soon as we arrived, they'd latch on to us." "We'd go there eight girls at a time" " we never went alone." "We'd never say who we were, who our father was, who our mother was..." "We were all Portuguese, like them." "We didn't wear elegant suits, we dressed simply to visit the slums." "We used to say," ""l've got some spare time I've come to help you"." "For me it's: a person's dignity, charity," "to live for others and not for oneself, to serve others and not to serve oneself." "That's one of the main things." "For me, a woman will always be valued above any man," "if she is truly a worthy spouse, a mother... if she is kinder, and more considerate to poor women than to high society women." "So, each lady took care of took care of one poor, one poor family." "And she'd watch over the family?" "Yes." "For a number of years, I suppose?" "Every week... every month we had to visit them." "Then in the holidays, we always went to the seaside, we had a nice house there... visiting stopped, then we'd start again." "All year round." "You couldn't miss a visit." "I never did, except when I was ill." "We'd find the poorest little girls, get them together, they'd sing, do embroidery, keep them occupied." "And what was the idea behind all that?" "Well, the idea is that now, there are many who are splendid wives and mothers and housewives and Christians, which is what we wanted them to become." "Some didn't, some left, they didn't turn out so well." "There was one whose husband drank a lot and she ran away." "She didn't go far away... what's the name of that place, near Sintra?" "At that time, I had a car and a chauffeur." "So, one day I went to persuade her that marriage was meant to last and that her husband's drinking..." "Her husband was working for my husband at the gas company." "My husband was the company director." "That man drank too much, poor soul, he even had his leg amputated because of his drinking." "So I went to persuade the wife to go back and after a while she did." "They ended up together, fortunately." "That's how it was." "We tried to do our best." "And besides taking care of the house and the children?" "I did nothing else..." "A housewife!" "You never joined Catholic Action?" "No, nothing." "I've always been a practising catholic, but I never wanted to join those groups." "Nor would my husband have let me get involved." "I'd need to go and organise... lt wouldn't do." "You know, in those days women were different." "A wife has to be the angel of the home." "And the wife can make a man very good or very bad." "Women weren't all that subjugated..." "They did whatever they wanted, except vote." "In the home, the woman was in charge." "Sometimes they had more authority than their husbands." "And over the children..." "Much more than now!" "A married woman's job is the home." "That doesn't mean she can't do anything else." "I think she can." "But the home - l tell my daughters - the home is the main concern." "My father used to say:" "to be kept happy, a man has to have a good table." "He arrives home, has a good meal, he's well served!" "Religious marriage," " for me it's the only true marriage - is a contract that binds until the death of one of the partners." "Until the end of one's life." "And it must be respected." "Whatever the cost." "And being a mother?" "That's the best there is." "Catholic School, trustful to its past, is concentrating now on the present." "We are at the school of Our Lady of the Conception." "It is morning and one can breathe youth in this house where hundreds of poor girls, under the guidance of our Sisters, are transformed into the virtuous women that our society requires." "Not neglecting the humanities, they are encouraged to cultivate a taste for women's work." "Their handcrafted work and all attests to how well these girls are being prepared." "I don't know..." "When I got to know myself I was already here." "I was born in 1919." "We were all born here." "My father lived here, everyone was born here." "Then, later, they all started going away and I always stayed, I always stayed, I stayed right to the very last." "I looked after my parents to the very last." "I always looked after them." "It wasn't easy, but... I got married, had children." "Then my husband went to Brazil, and I never heard from him again." "And that was my life, surviving." "Then one daughter died, leaving me 2 grandchildren to bring up... their father was fighting overseas." "Two of my sons, as well." "I had to take it all on..." "But one thing I knew, deep inside me:" "I didn't want debts and I didn't want my children to go into service." "At that time, it was the norm:" "people had a butler and maids." "Fortunately, I... lt was a hard struggle, but I was the one who went." "And I worked and worked." "Day and night." "At home in the evenings, sewing shirts for the big stores." "By day, I did the cleaning in a gentleman's house." "My children went hungry, I won't deny it." "Here's your letter, if you'd like to read it." "Oh, it's in there?" "Can you read it?" "Yes." "Would you like me to read it?" "Please, that would be better." "If you want... lt says: "Dear Madam, I am sorry I took so long to answer your letter, but I have been ill and that prevented me." "Madam, I agree with the plan you propose." "Despite the fact I need time to work, I will make some hours available, to work for the good of all and for the continuation of peace and social order." "I am a simple village seamstress, but I will do all I can for the good of everyone, since it is the plan you propose."" "Some thought it was fine, others thought it was bad." "And you?" "I didn't even know if I should think one way or the other, because we didn't understand anything." "It wasn't very good." "But we just got on with it." "What choice did we have!" "Most of us." "A few were very angry." "But like I said before:" "you couldn't speak up, you had to keep quiet." "There were informers for the police." "And I didn't want my children to go into service." "I knew how wretched it was..." "People who could afford to... they had servants..." "And servants just ate scraps, pork scratchings, and the soup was pigs' swill..." "That's why I didn't want them to go into service." "It was never like that in my parents' house." "In my parents' house we lived well." "That was why... for my children, to be treated like that, no." "Their first words, it was me who taught them, their first numbers, it was me who taught them." "Sums... they'd come up the path," ""Oh grandma, I only got a B, I only got a C..."" " What?" " For sums!" "This one here would come up for me to teach her sums." ""You've already done your sums, and you want me to teach you more?"" ""Oh, grandma..."" "It was me that taught them their sums." "What I knew, I taught, I couldn't do more." "Oh, dear God, sometimes I got angry!" "I could have been somebody!" "I wanted to be somebody, but I was nobody." "The priest tried to help, and he said to my father:" ""Manuel, have you got 2,50 euros - in those days - 2,50 euros a month, for her to go to school?"" "My father said: "l haven't." He was very poor." ""Well, she can't go then, there's no chance at all."" "When he told him this, I must have been about 10 or 12." "I left school very young." "I started school when I was 4 and a half." "I'd finished by the time I was 9." "I asked them to let me stay on." "When I was there, it only went up to 4th grade." "So I stopped there." "There was no money..." "None." "Well, the fatherland, for me, is sacred, it's where l was born," "I have obligations to my fatherland." "I have an obligation to contribute so there'll be less wickedness, so there won't be so little charity, to the best of my ability." "Fatherland, it's difficult to put into words, but I feel it very strongly." "I liked those values very much and to give of myself   though I didn't manage to." "God, fatherland and family." " God..." " First." "First God, then fatherland, then family." "As long as there's someone over us who makes us realise that what is bad is bad and what is good is good, the world will right itself." "Without faith, all is lost." "Without faith..." "we must have faith, to say: "l want to do this!" "I may not manage, but I'm going to try."" "And you face it, you have faith..." "You try, if not today, then tomorrow and you do it." "Family?" "It's our support." "Democracy?" "Sometimes, it can be freedom." "Freedom?" "A value not properly understood." "It's the best thing one can have in life, is freedom." "It's indispensable." "Whether it's the best..." "it's certainly indispensable." "To lose freedom is to lose everything." "Freedom..." "I didn't want more freedom, I wanted a decent life." "That was all I wanted:" "freedom to be able to buy a kilo of rice... and to have enough money." "Without money..." "we had no freedom at all." "There was neither the freedom to speak, nor to live." "There was nothing, that's how we lived, like someone trapped in a shell." "What, for you, is democracy?" "I don't even know what the word democracy means." "I don't know what democracy is." "I know nothing about it." "Democracy, for me... I don't understand what democracy is." "I see so many things..." "and I don't know what it is." "Democracy is a good thing, because a woman has to be independent." "In the old days, it wasn't like that." "It was much stricter." "The man was... how can I put it... he didn't value his wife as much as he should." "People were more arrogant." "I don't like our democracy." "Because they say wicked things about one another." "And that's not nice." "What does the word dictatorship mean to you?" "I don't know what dictatorship means." "I can't give an answer for that word." "I don't know what dictatorship means." "Like democracy?" "They're political terms, I never really managed... to understand what they mean." "Censorship?" "Something that can cleanse or make dirty." "We all of us censor one another." "Dictatorship?" "It's a form of government." "Mr President, sir, you can start reading." " You can start." " Leave it like that." "Leave it like that, it's in the right position." "Don't touch it, don't touch it, Mr President don't touch anything." "Don't touch!" "Don't touch!" "Would you prefer to hold it?" "Here, up here." "I could not... prevent myself  those demonstrations of friendship and of concern which continue to help us and protect us..." "Mr. President, that's it, it's over." "It's over?" "That's the thing I'm most proud of!" "I helped this one, she's had an education;" "Her sister had an education." "Her brother got his education." "The other one did chemistry, he earns as much as his brother." "That's what I'm proud of!" "I couldn't help my children, but I did it for my grandchildren!" "I was born to this life, that's how it is." "I brought these up..." "You know what?" "I'm not vain... but I'm proud of what I was, of who I am."