Special to Canadian Tribune

A recent visitor to Portugal met with
a number of personalities actively op-
Posed to the present regime. Their com-
Ments and views were summarized at
the end of each day in the form of
hotes which were spirited out of the
country to avoid falling into the hands
Of border officials. Also notated are
impressions and observations of the
author, * ~
A talk with a young journalist:

The censorship is still harshly impos-
ed and increasingly ridiculous in the

eyes of the people generally. Two ex-
amples: the recent tramway strike and
the war in Vietnam. On the trolley-car
Strike in Lisbon there were. no news
reports, but it virtually created a sen-
sation. Some 7,000 workers were in-
volved. The street car conductors re-
fused to collect fares in an astounding-
- ly’new type strike tactic. Seen against.
the. background of state-controlled
“unions, it registered a great advance,
but nota. word appeared about it in
the papers.

On Vietnam. The overseas radio is
constantly reporting on the U.S. bomb-
ings, but there is no news in the pap-
ers. Even the doctored U.S. reports on
its losses are censored and distorted,
_ Making the news media look doubly

ridiculous in the eyes of all thinking
people.

News on the May-June events in
Paris of the students were censored
or distorted, with prominence given
Only to De Gaulle’s speeches. Insofar
as the student press in the country is
Concerned it is not uncommon to have
16-page dailies cut to 4 pages only by
the censors.

On Freedom Avenue:

On Avenida da Liberdale (Freedom
Avenue!) Libson’s main drag siphon-
ing tourist traffic into the many shops
at the bottom end, there are bargains
galore made from sweated underpaid
labor. It is a facade avenue, with gro-
_tesque monuments and pillars glorify-
ing cclonialists and others, while on
the off-streets, the housing on each
Side is incredibly poor, the streets aby-
smally narrow and _ overcrowded.
Every so often the beggars rattling
their boxes; the big-eyed, stunted chil-
dren working in bars and bistros; and
the old ladies selling handicrafts,
Newspapers shock one out of the

make-befi¢ye world of prosperity on‘

Avenida’ da -Liberdale.

fee ae

~“know

Note:

Were advised today not to attempt
to visit Aida Paula or Varela Gomes—
both recently released from political
prisons following a world-wide pro-
test. They are both under police sur-
veillance. This fact as also the news
that two weeks earlier a Swedish
newsman was stripped and searched
on the way out of the country is not
revealed to the average tourist, who
does not easily learn of such occur-
ences — partly because the regime
deftly stoppers up all news, and also
because no Portuguese will easily talk
of these things to a foreigner for fear
of retribution.

A talk with a lawyer:

This lawyer has some experience
defending political prisoners. He kept
saying that international protests do a
lot of good in staying the hand of
those who would work greater hard-
ships on prisoners. It keeps them on
their toes, he said, although the auth-
orities try and tell him that it com-
plicates or worsens the case of the
prisoner. He firmly believes this is not
the case.

A talk with a former political prisoner:
Repressive measures on the in-
crease, he said. It arises out of econo-
mic difficulties, lack of industrial de-
velopment, a failing tourist traffic, the
banks are tightening up on credit. In-
side the regime there are difficulties
with two wings in the government—
an orthodox so-called “liberal” group-
ing (Salazar) and then the real ex-
treme right fascist military grouping.
The latter group is uppermost in in-
fluence pushing things ever to the
right at all levels, and seeking solu-
tions to difficulties by police actions
and terrorism. There is not much fu-
ture in this kind of policy, say many
thinking politicians—nor is the end-
less war in Africa a durable policy.
He described the torture he had un-
dergone in prison. Sleep is denied the
prisoner. He says there is a sardonic
joke that goes the rounds about who
hold the world record for going with-
out sleep. It is said that 17 days with-
out sleep is a world record, but poli-
tical prisoners or those who have been
that.-in Portuguése. prisons
there are many who have long ago
broken this record.
About the prison governor at Peniche:
His name is Victor Ramos, the bru-
tal governor of Peniche, 100 kilo-
meters from Lisbon. The story is told
how Jose Bernardino, the young stu-
dent prisoner, now serving “security
measures”—another approximate two
years over and above his sentence had
asked for a geography atlas. It was
refused him because the atlas contain-
ed a map of the U.S.S.R. During the
Spanish Civil War this same Ramos
executed many loyalist supporters.
The sleep torture:
A vivid description by a former vic-
tim. Some are driven mad by it. Others
are permanently impaired for life. The

victim only spent two months in pri-
son but still suffers nervous attacks as
a result. The torture employs nothing
more than a sharp rap on a table top,
keeping the victim awake, and pre-
venting him from falling off to sleep
at all times. The cumulative effect are
hallucinations and breakdown. The
atmosphere is unreal, here I am talk-
ing to people who if it were known
they were revealing such details to me
would be hauled into prison, without
charges, but simply on suspicion of
having talked to a foreigner and sub-
jected to barbaric treatment. One
could only wonder at their good
humor, their lively spirit and their op-

timism about the -future despite the’: -

terrible odds agairist them.
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Life in prison:

There are strident whistles every-
where, ordering prisoners to their
routines. Workers are treated brutally.
Communist Party militants even more
so. Gifts of food that come to a pri-
soner are strictly kept to the prisoner
himself. He is not permitted to share
such gifts with fellow-prisoners. This
works a hardship on prisoners who
have no families, or whose families are
poor or live far away from the prison
with infrequent visits. It is a means
used by the officials to pit one pri-
soner against the other and introduce

distinctions. The best way of meeting
this is by the work of welfare com-
mittees abroad or within the country
sending direct aid to all prisoners
without distinction so as to thwart the
divisive tactic of the prison Officials.
The plight of students in the coun-
try was talked about. He urged direct
efforts by students in Canada to con-
tact university students and report on

their conditions. A systematic study |

of how students face the danger of ex-
pulsion and ruination of their careers
has been published by a number of
lawyers. It was immediately banned
when it appeared on the newstands.
The year 1962 was a high point of
struggle of the student movement.
That was when the expulsion method
was introduced as a key weapon. It
meant not only the end of promising
careers, but financial ruin for poor
families who had saved and sacrificed
to send their youngsters to univer-
sities.

Some 20-30 lawyers are involved in
taking the cases of political prisoners
at different times. It is a hazardous
undertaking since they face arrest
themselves and are often picked up for
grilling and detention.

The most vicious practice is deten-
tion without charge of up to six
months, which can ruin one’s employ-
ment or vocation in life. Only Portu-
gal and South Africa of all countries
have such a custom. In the prisons,
politicals do not work, unlike the treat-
ment of criminals, who are permitted
some useful labor.

Cognac and coffee with a man
of the old school:

It was like a scene out of Dickens.
A narrow trash-filled street off the main
drag. Bawling kids at the doorstep. A
shoe-shine set-up in the entrance way,
with not the slightest suggestion of an
office—a chance buzz at a doorway and
as luck would have it, the right place!
Ushered into a book-lined waiting
room, panelled in oak, not the least
like what had greeted one downstairs.
And then the old man himself bowing
courteously, sweeping us into his pri-
vate study, which had a well-lived-in
cosy look. And then the ordering of
cognac and coffee. He was a towering
man with an amiable face, a veteran
advocate. Right off the bat, without
giving me time to frame a question he
began in the style of a university pro-
fessor before an avid audience.

His theme: the insularity of Portugal
and hence the great problems before
its small population. I countered with
the oft-repeated thought that Portugal
however was well-known in the his-
tory books—the story of its great ex-
plorers etc. etc. and indeed their con-
tact with the Western World. He coun-
tered with a learned treatise on the
cupidity and commercial motivations
that underlay these travels of the early
explorers, and opined that all the fuss
and fever about the distant past is a
game played by Salazar to cover up
the realities of the day and delude the
people with tales of a past grandeur
that meant little to ordinary people.

How about the censorship? One sees
books by Garaudy, Bertrand Russell,

Brecht, Shirer in English, French or
even Portuguese ‘in store windows. Is
this censorship? How do you explain
this contradiction? He replied: There
are differences inside the regime on
how to apply the censorship policy —
there are at least five different depart-
ments of the censorship for different
fields; secondly, many officials are stu-
pid. They do not know the difference
about or meaning of a book by Garaudy.
He gave his own experience of returning
from abroad (a rare visit) to an inter-
national lawyers parley. He displayed
all his books to customs officials on
his return, but they passed up books
by Roger Garaudy to pick up some-
thing else as forbidden wares. Finally

‘there is such a high rate of illiteracy

that the regime is not too concerned
that the infection of ideas carried in
some books will carry to the working
people. The appearance of such titles
in shop windows is far from the reality
that prevails in the country as regards
the censorship. It is better to be illiter-
ate said the old man (“you are better
informed this way”) otherwise you are
a victim of the kept press.

He told from his own experience how
when introducing a film night, his
speech had been pre-censored, so that
only the “Mesdames, Messieurs” re-
mained. He insisted on carrying out
the letter of the law by speaking the
two words, but he was refused per-
mission.

Life of intellectuals:

Many of them work at humdrum jobs
during the day, but on week-end pur-
sue their real vocation as writers,
poets, etc. All articles for magazines,
newspapers and periodicals must be
submitted beforehand to the censors,
with exception of books. In the latter
case there is self-censorship, since to
go into a book printing means financial
ruin if the print run is confiscated. This
happened with the Minotaur publishing
company. The police came in, opened
all the water taps and flooded all the
book stocks, ruining them. Then there
are vigilante SS squads that destroy
print shops and books while the offi-
cials calmly look on. :

A onetime director of a large publish- -
ing house refuses to leave the country
for a secure job abroad, saying his
duty lies with the young people in Por-
tugal whom he wishes to encourage so
they can carry out what the older gen-
eration has been unable to thus far.
There is real “intellectual opposition”

in the country. Not a single writer of —

any consequence supports the regime.
Writers do not write because no pub-
lisher dare publish his work, but there
are- courageous intellectuals who pro-
vide a “free university” to students
who thirst for knowledge outside regu-
lar hours. Many subjects are not
taught, for example history is only
taught to the end of the 18th century.
The 19th century European history is
not taught at universities, despite ef-
forts to win such a course. Nor may
students study political economy, or
economics that is connected with his-
torical development. The democratic
revolutions of 19th century Europe
are forbidden topics. The illiteracy rate
is 40 percent. Those remaining num-
bers are limited in their ability to read

by economic factors — books cost
money; very little library facilities;
and a small-desire to read the books
that are available. There is a difference
between literacy and being a cultured
person, it was pointed out. Even though
the situation is adverse, students are
always seeking outlets and contact with
the outer world, intellectual freedom.
That which goes on in the world gener-
ally is not lost on them even though
the officialdom seeks to isolate them
from. world developments.

PACIFIC TRIBUNE—OCTOBER 11, 1968—Page 7

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