the parliament failed today the Bloco de Esquerda project that recommended the government release all military documents up to 1975, particularly those related to the colonial war. The proposal was voted against by the PS, PSD and Chega, the Liberal Initiative abstained and the blocking group, the PCP, PAN and Livre voted in favour.
For the PS, deputy Diogo Leão claimed that the aim of the BE initiative is “excellent, but the project is not in line with reality”. The statement that a large part of the military document collection is secret “does not correspond to the truth”, argued the socialist parliamentarian.. “In the Military Historical Archives, there is not a single document from before 1974 that is still classified. In the Air Force Historical Archives, the situation is absolutely similar, all documents related to the Colonial War have already been released and are subject to consultation. Only in the The Naval History Archive states that some classified documents have been preserved, but that the Portuguese Navy’s Document Declassification Commission has already released the vast majority of documents from this historic period,” said Diogo Leão. Another reality, he stressed, “is pre-1975 NATO documents”, but in this case the “Portuguese State does not, according to its own motto and unilaterally, have the legal authority or powers to release these documents”.
To justify the dissenting vote that would shortly afterwards dictate the leadership of the BE proposal, Diogo Leão claimed that “One does not dismantle myths, such as the imperial myth, at the expense of creating contemporary mythsas well as the myth that the vast majority of military records are classified, when in fact they are an absolute minority”.
For PSD, Pedro Roque confirmed the “consonance” of the Social Democrats with the “spirit” of the project, but warned against the “fact that this issue has a legal framework” that prevents, for example, the disclosure of documents containing personal data. “There are clear rules in this area, so the BE project lacks real usefulness”to maintain.
Patrícia Gilvaz, from IL, also defended that her party has no objection to the disclosure of historical documents related to the colonial war, but questioned the purpose of the blockades: “Would it be to reconstruct history on the basis of a principle of transparency or to contribute to a vision ideology of history, in the hope of finding new ways to attack armed forces and make noise?
For the PCP, João Dias agreed with the need to release the historical documents, also warning of the lack of resources in the archives to deal with this documentation. Rui Tavares, from Livre, defended that “no mature debate can be had about the past without access to documents made available to historians, professors, academia and researchers”.
André Ventura (Chega) classified the blockers’ proposal as “vastly irresponsible” that “endangers our history”.
In response, blogger Joana Mortágua recalled that personal data can be removed from documents and underlined the contradiction in the criticism of the draft resolution, which was simultaneously directed “because of its futility and its dangers”. “No country is built in the present and in the future without really looking back,” said the BE deputy. “We want access to the whole truth so that future generations have access to history based on facts, not myths.”
Opening the archives is a “historic necessity”
The text voted on today refers to the 50th anniversary of the Wiriyamu massacre and underlines the need to release pre-1975 military documents so that the Portuguese have access to “relevant information about the country’s history”. The armed forces “have in their historical archives an important collection of documents that reflect an important part of the country’s recent history,” particularly those referring to the colonial war, the project says, adding that the “vast majority of this collection is still classified, preventing researchers, journalists, academics, students from accessing it in full or in part”.
For BE it is a “historic necessity” to open these documents for consultationrejecting any “risk or harm” to the “maintenance of internal and external security, as well as other fundamental interests of the state”, as they relate to a historical period and a “political context diametrically different from the present”.
“Proceeding with the release of this collection would allow us not only to understand the facts behind the colonial war, but also to restore justice to all those who were part of the Portuguese contingent and who were affected by this event. including the 8,831 killed, 30,000 injured, 4,500 maimed, 14,000 physically disabled and more than 100,000 diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder”, supports the text presented by the blockers. Which brings up yet another argument: “This initiative has an essential purpose of to dismantle the unique story, the fiction told and retold about this period of Portuguese collective historywhich tends to justify the exploitation, barbarism, violence, oppression and genocide of the peoples of the occupied countries of the African continent, through a narrative of benevolent self-representation of the Portuguese overseas experience and which subordinates civilizations and populations, infantilizes and humiliates in order to legitimize that imperialist intervention”.
Source: DN
