I know Portugal had its problems amidst the Salazar years-But if you look at his achievements. Restoring the Portuguese economy, keeping both his country and Spain out of World War Two, reversed the ruination of the Catholic Church, and kept Portugal balanced on a fine line between the Axis and Allied powers during the war, while working with America during the Cold War, while keeping American cultural influence away from his people. And in his personal life, he was a humble, restrained, and fully Catholic man, who loved his mother and his people. He may have been the greatest leader of the 20th century on balance. That said, he did nothing to advance women’s rights, fought fraught and brutal colonial wars in Africa, and left his nation ill prepped to enter the modern European system, once he’d died.
On the matter of women's rights it is a bit odd since for example he allowed women to vote in the referendum on the Estado Novo constitution, allowed nurses to be sent into combat on a parachute (Not combat roles of course.) which is different from how the U.S. approached it certainly and because of the War women increasingly took jobs (Not to his credit perhaps.). He was humble to the point of shyness, which meant taking criticism was hard at first and yeah he adopted two girls I think (He never married thinking that marriage meant he would not be able to govern.). His personal life was so restrained that I believe there were no scandals and while he was tough, there seems to be no abuses while he was in office of funds and the like. On the modern European System yes, he was a sub-Deacon and I guess clergy have a hard time thinking of the future although Marcelo José das Neves Alves Caetano tried to change it but failed (As for the War his legacy in not wanting to give autonomy was the problem really. Portugal held on for 13 years which should be lauded at least on military terms.).
The dictatorship of modern Europe today sits in Brussels. Modern Europe leadership is a clown show, just watch the latest events surrounding the obsession with nonsense sanctions and corrupt Ukraine, but neglecting their own citizens. I hope for EU disintegration and give countries back their sovereignty.
Salazar did prepare Portugal for the future, developping the country at high speed, and creating strong civil institutions - the problem is that the leaders of the new republic have ensklaved Portugal to the EU, and the country is being destroyed - in 2023, people have the income levels of 30 years ago, they work until exhaustion, but their salaries don't keep up with inflation - the birth rate is appalinginly low, and people with technical formation leave the country in droves - all due to the euro system
Salazar came out of the particular way portugal was in the start of the 20th century. the first Portuguese republic was a disaster, there were 45 governments in 16 years. The first republic send portugal to the 1st world war, there was constant violence, poverty and stagnation. The army interview and installed a military dictatorship that never solved those issues, Out of desperation, the military asked Salazar, a briliant man graduated with the best grades of the most prestigious portuguese university at the time, to be their minister of finance. He denied at first. His condition to become their minister of finance was to get absolute control over the expenses of all ministeries (this actually is still present in the portuguese goverment). His sucess with the economy just in his first year impressed everyone. And in the next years the country stabilized for the first time since the regicide of 1908. This made him extremelly popular. In 1933, he passed a new constitution by popular vote, creating the new regime, caled "Estado Novo", with a new position for himself: "president of the council of ministers". So, you see, other european leaders had military roots and came to govern their countries after a periode of national humiliation/destruction. Salazar came up as an efficient minister. And he played an important role stabilizing Portugal, that was probably the most unstable country in europe in the 1910's. His main policies were basically Conservativism. Everything that could cause instability was avoided or smashed. He was also known for defendig finantial stability above all things. This makes sence, since he grew up in the empoverished northern Portugal, in a deprived area and veeeeeeeeeeeeeeery catholic. the main flaws of the regime were the fact that it was very opressive, there was censorship, torture, secret police, no freedom of expression, etc... And a very particular thing, Salazar considered that the portuguese were fundamentaly stupid and could never learn. Therefor, he belived that sending in education was a waste of money. People only learned to "read, write and count". This policy created the naton in europe with more illiteracy and with a higher percentage of the population without completing secondary education, wich contributed to the actual downfall of the nation
Yeah this is why I dislike calling Portugal a military dictatorship since it had a very strong civilian in charge and the military really did not intervene much (There were tensions at the start but later he pretty much controlled them although they legally appointed him.). Salazar's education policy was good for primary school but not great afterwards (It should be referenced that prior to him Portugal was one of the most illiterate countries in Europe.). However his slow progress was good though not good enough during a War.
Salazar is a fascinating character. His main motivation was Portugal's economy, which he felt was being ruined by the country's poliicians. You need to read about the state of Portuguese politics before he took over to understand him. He ran what was almost certainly the most bloodless dictatorship of all time. He did not kill his opponents. He didn't even kill people who tried to assassinate him or even have a death penalty. The lack of bloodshed or any great drama in his presidency probably explains why he's become obscure.
@@pedroleitao7829 If you compare political casualties in Portugal to any other country, matching decades and per capita, it would have been one of the least deadly of all time. I'd argue there are more police killings in the US today, than in Portugal during the dictatorship.
They were efficient and certainly could be brutal but for example many of his political enemies were merely exiled rather than executed. That being noted there were concentration camps and torture (How much he knew we do not know.).
The men says ... I own God a gift to be poor ,the man save portugal from 2 world war,shake up the economy and was vote the main figure all times portugal existence my respect and die poor !
Excelente interview. Unfortunately it was necessary for a Brit to clarify some misinformation and propaganda against Salazar. He was a special man that did not buy the neo-liberal capitalist progress lie.
Are you blaming Portugal for India’s hostile and unbeatable invasion of sovereign Portuguese territory? You’re Indian now, if you wanted to be a Portuguese citizen you should have fought harder at the time.
@@richlisola1 How could they have fought it? Portugal itself couldn't have fought it, India is massive, it's army is enormous and nobody would've supported Portugal because the global superpowers were all courting India and didn't want to upset them especially not for non-aligned Portugal. Though i'd argue that maybe for Goans there could've or should've been some ease of repatriation back to Portugal
@@joaoserra3839 António de Oliveira Salazar's view of Goa is suspect, he took away rights given to Goans in the 1910s by the King however it should also be noted that Goans were allowed in the National Assembly of Portugal and indeed one Indalencio Pascoal Froilano de Mello overturned Salazar's own Portuguese Colonial Act of 1930 in the National Assembly. So by the time of the invasions Goa was in essence Portugal (Restoring Goa's perplexing position for Portugal.). Goa's defence was pitiful but for a Portugal that was still weak and had barely a military yet, Salazar was quite tough with the Portuguese soldiers and officers who surrendered when he expressly told them not to (I think they were exiled.). Edit: I think Salazar did try to give ways for Goans to come to Portugal, there were still Goan M.P.s.
I admire you a lot Mr Galloway but this is a very very bad interview. Salazar was a fascist dictator who censored, murdered and opressed the portuguese people for many decades and is successor continued his job. Even though he , on the outside, showed to be neutral, including in the second world was, he supported Hitler, he supported Mussolini and of course FRanco in Spain. He had no economic vision other than to keep Portugal lonely and small , he was aligned only with very few families that had his help in economic terms, monopolies that Salazar supported like they supported him. He was a ruthless dictator that made my country small in every aspect. When we had our revolution in 1974 over 60 percent of the people could not read or write, there was a huge misery and poverty was just normal, there was no health system, liberties were completely supressed, we have had our own concentration camp for the political prisoners. It was called Tarrafal and it was in an ex-colony in Cape Verde. I was 16 when we conquered our freedom in a wonderful revolution that is called the carnation revolution. At the age of 16 i had been to prison 3 times, not under Salazar( i would be too young for that) but under his fascist successor. I read this book from mr Gallagher. It's disgraceful, this is not a history book , it's a praise of a fascist dictator. And i'm very very sorry to say, i would expect more of you when you interviewed him. Sorry. i admire you so much and i feel disapointed by your questions in this conversation.
@@manuelbraga406 of course not. I'm sure you do. Salazar was not fascist and not even real dictator? He was a murderous dictator, a cheap one at that too. If you ever go to Tarrafal, the portuguese equivalent of a concentration camp in Cape Verde you will see how cheap he was, the torture room was so " simple", just a few electric wires for the electric shocks, the infamous " frigideira" which was like a big coffin in the ground where people were left to " roast" , i recommend you visit. I knew 2 people that were imprisoned there actually, both dead now unfortunately. You don't have a clue. Sorry...you don't know what it was living under fascism .
Hello Antonio. I am thinking of moving to Portugal. What is the politics of the country like now? And what is the feeling of the people towards neo-liberalism?
So, Salazars successor was just in power for a few years, so your three prison sentences can't have been very long. Salazar also incarcerated less people during all his years than the commies did after the carnation revolution.
@@GabrielNicho sorry i was quite angry at the mention of the prisons.as far as i am concerned i was 16 when the revolution happened. And no, twice i was only in the police, the second time i was ( with a friend) beaten. The third time it was different, they took me to PIDE ( the political police) headquarters in Porto, and i was well... badly beaten . Not only spalling the face and punching me, but the hard part was something they did quite often ( believe it or not, because it was cheap). They put a huge phone book ( the old yellow pages) against your body and they hir the book with a mason't hammer ( it's a very very heavy hammer). It leaves no traces, it is very painful and you feel your insides beeing torn appart). It was cheap, that's why they did it like that i think...i wasn't even 16 at the time and after 2 days they had to release me because in the school where i studied ( in fact 100 metres from that place) many coleagues started to gather and putting in jail a 15 year old boy was " not acceptable" . But i look at that experience and quite honestely , compared to some of my friends endured...what happened to me was nothing. I did know some people that were really tortured with 15, 20, 28 days of sleep deprivation, forced to stand on their feet for 10 days until their veins almost burst, now, those were heroes. Not me, i was like many thousands that had bad beatings even though the last one ( 2 days) was bad. But nothing compared with others...pleas note that when this happened to me it was already not Salazar ( he had died) but his successor Caetano who continued his dictatorship. Sorry for my previous tone, we all have the right to different opinions but out fascist dictatorship was a true horror. And anyone thinking the opposite simply doesn't know.
Lágrimas de comuna são doces como mel, se não fosse o Salazar Portugal estava ainda pior que a grécia, os excessos da corrupção do PS só são possíveis devido ao Salazar e ao ouro que ele armazenou e que eles têm vindo a jogar fora ano após ano. Quando acabar o ouro do Salazar é que vocês vão ver como é que elas vos mordem. Somos um país indigente, na cauda da Europa e a pedir esmola sem o ultramar tal como o Marcelo Caetano previu, somos um país corrupto dos mais corruptos da Europa como eramos na 1ª República antes do Salazar.
I know Portugal had its problems amidst the Salazar years-But if you look at his achievements. Restoring the Portuguese economy, keeping both his country and Spain out of World War Two, reversed the ruination of the Catholic Church, and kept Portugal balanced on a fine line between the Axis and Allied powers during the war, while working with America during the Cold War, while keeping American cultural influence away from his people.
And in his personal life, he was a humble, restrained, and fully Catholic man, who loved his mother and his people.
He may have been the greatest leader of the 20th century on balance. That said, he did nothing to advance women’s rights, fought fraught and brutal colonial wars in Africa, and left his nation ill prepped to enter the modern European system, once he’d died.
On the matter of women's rights it is a bit odd since for example he allowed women to vote in the referendum on the Estado Novo constitution, allowed nurses to be sent into combat on a parachute (Not combat roles of course.) which is different from how the U.S. approached it certainly and because of the War women increasingly took jobs (Not to his credit perhaps.). He was humble to the point of shyness, which meant taking criticism was hard at first and yeah he adopted two girls I think (He never married thinking that marriage meant he would not be able to govern.). His personal life was so restrained that I believe there were no scandals and while he was tough, there seems to be no abuses while he was in office of funds and the like. On the modern European System yes, he was a sub-Deacon and I guess clergy have a hard time thinking of the future although Marcelo José das Neves Alves Caetano tried to change it but failed (As for the War his legacy in not wanting to give autonomy was the problem really. Portugal held on for 13 years which should be lauded at least on military terms.).
The dictatorship of modern Europe today sits in Brussels. Modern Europe leadership is a clown show, just watch the latest events surrounding the obsession with nonsense sanctions and corrupt Ukraine, but neglecting their own citizens. I hope for EU disintegration and give countries back their sovereignty.
Salazar did prepare Portugal for the future, developping the country at high speed, and creating strong civil institutions - the problem is that the leaders of the new republic have ensklaved Portugal to the EU, and the country is being destroyed - in 2023, people have the income levels of 30 years ago, they work until exhaustion, but their salaries don't keep up with inflation - the birth rate is appalinginly low, and people with technical formation leave the country in droves - all due to the euro system
@@silveriorebelo2920 I live in Portugal. People here do not work to exhaustion. They very much value balance.
I know nothing about Salazar, however after watching this "benign dictator" springs to mind.
Salazar came out of the particular way portugal was in the start of the 20th century.
the first Portuguese republic was a disaster, there were 45 governments in 16 years. The first republic send portugal to the 1st world war, there was constant violence, poverty and stagnation.
The army interview and installed a military dictatorship that never solved those issues,
Out of desperation, the military asked Salazar, a briliant man graduated with the best grades of the most prestigious portuguese university at the time, to be their minister of finance. He denied at first.
His condition to become their minister of finance was to get absolute control over the expenses of all ministeries (this actually is still present in the portuguese goverment).
His sucess with the economy just in his first year impressed everyone. And in the next years the country stabilized for the first time since the regicide of 1908. This made him extremelly popular. In 1933, he passed a new constitution by popular vote, creating the new regime, caled "Estado Novo", with a new position for himself: "president of the council of ministers".
So, you see, other european leaders had military roots and came to govern their countries after a periode of national humiliation/destruction. Salazar came up as an efficient minister. And he played an important role stabilizing Portugal, that was probably the most unstable country in europe in the 1910's.
His main policies were basically Conservativism. Everything that could cause instability was avoided or smashed. He was also known for defendig finantial stability above all things. This makes sence, since he grew up in the empoverished northern Portugal, in a deprived area and veeeeeeeeeeeeeeery catholic.
the main flaws of the regime were the fact that it was very opressive, there was censorship, torture, secret police, no freedom of expression, etc... And a very particular thing, Salazar considered that the portuguese were fundamentaly stupid and could never learn. Therefor, he belived that sending in education was a waste of money. People only learned to "read, write and count". This policy created the naton in europe with more illiteracy and with a higher percentage of the population without completing secondary education, wich contributed to the actual downfall of the nation
Yeah this is why I dislike calling Portugal a military dictatorship since it had a very strong civilian in charge and the military really did not intervene much (There were tensions at the start but later he pretty much controlled them although they legally appointed him.). Salazar's education policy was good for primary school but not great afterwards (It should be referenced that prior to him Portugal was one of the most illiterate countries in Europe.). However his slow progress was good though not good enough during a War.
Salazar is a fascinating character. His main motivation was Portugal's economy, which he felt was being ruined by the country's poliicians. You need to read about the state of Portuguese politics before he took over to understand him. He ran what was almost certainly the most bloodless dictatorship of all time. He did not kill his opponents. He didn't even kill people who tried to assassinate him or even have a death penalty. The lack of bloodshed or any great drama in his presidency probably explains why he's become obscure.
?????
What about PIDE ????
@@pedroleitao7829 If you compare political casualties in Portugal to any other country, matching decades and per capita, it would have been one of the least deadly of all time. I'd argue there are more police killings in the US today, than in Portugal during the dictatorship.
They were efficient and certainly could be brutal but for example many of his political enemies were merely exiled rather than executed. That being noted there were concentration camps and torture (How much he knew we do not know.).
The men says ... I own God a gift to be poor ,the man save portugal from 2 world war,shake up the economy and was vote the main figure all times portugal existence my respect and die poor !
He saved Portugal from one world war, Portugal fought in WW1, but not in WW2
'An elitist who left no options or successors behind him'. He'd have been at home in 21st century Britain 😁
I grew up with many many Portuguese friends and know much of this history as it relates to Portuguese immigrants and Angola.
Excelente interview. Unfortunately it was necessary for a Brit to clarify some misinformation and propaganda against Salazar. He was a special man that did not buy the neo-liberal capitalist progress lie.
He was the greatest leader of the 20th century-The world has put forth none finer.
Weird seeing Russia Today talk about Salazar. Putin would of been his ally if he was in charge of Portugal today.
Professor Tom 👌👍
Only in 1975 india signed a treaty with portugal to preserve our lev Portuguese civil code
11:33 Versus what? Having your country ruled by talk-show hosts and actors?
Because of salazar Portuguese lost goa now we goans Portuguese citizens require three years of portugese nationality process
Are you blaming Portugal for India’s hostile and unbeatable invasion of sovereign Portuguese territory?
You’re Indian now, if you wanted to be a Portuguese citizen you should have fought harder at the time.
@@richlisola1 How could they have fought it? Portugal itself couldn't have fought it, India is massive, it's army is enormous and nobody would've supported Portugal because the global superpowers were all courting India and didn't want to upset them especially not for non-aligned Portugal.
Though i'd argue that maybe for Goans there could've or should've been some ease of repatriation back to Portugal
@@joaoserra3839 António de Oliveira Salazar's view of Goa is suspect, he took away rights given to Goans in the 1910s by the King however it should also be noted that Goans were allowed in the National Assembly of Portugal and indeed one Indalencio Pascoal Froilano de Mello overturned Salazar's own Portuguese Colonial Act of 1930 in the National Assembly. So by the time of the invasions Goa was in essence Portugal (Restoring Goa's perplexing position for Portugal.). Goa's defence was pitiful but for a Portugal that was still weak and had barely a military yet, Salazar was quite tough with the Portuguese soldiers and officers who surrendered when he expressly told them not to (I think they were exiled.). Edit: I think Salazar did try to give ways for Goans to come to Portugal, there were still Goan M.P.s.
Ancient state of portugese india territory lost to european union because of slazar
Nothing great about Britain mate✌️
I admire you a lot Mr Galloway but this is a very very bad interview. Salazar was a fascist dictator who censored, murdered and opressed the portuguese people for many decades and is successor continued his job. Even though he , on the outside, showed to be neutral, including in the second world was, he supported Hitler, he supported Mussolini and of course FRanco in Spain. He had no economic vision other than to keep Portugal lonely and small , he was aligned only with very few families that had his help in economic terms, monopolies that Salazar supported like they supported him. He was a ruthless dictator that made my country small in every aspect. When we had our revolution in 1974 over 60 percent of the people could not read or write, there was a huge misery and poverty was just normal, there was no health system, liberties were completely supressed, we have had our own concentration camp for the political prisoners. It was called Tarrafal and it was in an ex-colony in Cape Verde. I was 16 when we conquered our freedom in a wonderful revolution that is called the carnation revolution. At the age of 16 i had been to prison 3 times, not under Salazar( i would be too young for that) but under his fascist successor. I read this book from mr Gallagher. It's disgraceful, this is not a history book , it's a praise of a fascist dictator. And i'm very very sorry to say, i would expect more of you when you interviewed him. Sorry. i admire you so much and i feel disapointed by your questions in this conversation.
Hey Antonio. You do not no what ur taking ant.
@@manuelbraga406 of course not. I'm sure you do. Salazar was not fascist and not even real dictator? He was a murderous dictator, a cheap one at that too. If you ever go to Tarrafal, the portuguese equivalent of a concentration camp in Cape Verde you will see how cheap he was, the torture room was so " simple", just a few electric wires for the electric shocks, the infamous " frigideira" which was like a big coffin in the ground where people were left to " roast" , i recommend you visit. I knew 2 people that were imprisoned there actually, both dead now unfortunately. You don't have a clue. Sorry...you don't know what it was living under fascism .
Hello Antonio. I am thinking of moving to Portugal. What is the politics of the country like now? And what is the feeling of the people towards neo-liberalism?
So, Salazars successor was just in power for a few years, so your three prison sentences can't have been very long. Salazar also incarcerated less people during all his years than the commies did after the carnation revolution.
@@GabrielNicho sorry i was quite angry at the mention of the prisons.as far as i am concerned i was 16 when the revolution happened. And no, twice i was only in the police, the second time i was ( with a friend) beaten. The third time it was different, they took me to PIDE ( the political police) headquarters in Porto, and i was well... badly beaten . Not only spalling the face and punching me, but the hard part was something they did quite often ( believe it or not, because it was cheap). They put a huge phone book ( the old yellow pages) against your body and they hir the book with a mason't hammer ( it's a very very heavy hammer). It leaves no traces, it is very painful and you feel your insides beeing torn appart). It was cheap, that's why they did it like that i think...i wasn't even 16 at the time and after 2 days they had to release me because in the school where i studied ( in fact 100 metres from that place) many coleagues started to gather and putting in jail a 15 year old boy was " not acceptable" . But i look at that experience and quite honestely , compared to some of my friends endured...what happened to me was nothing. I did know some people that were really tortured with 15, 20, 28 days of sleep deprivation, forced to stand on their feet for 10 days until their veins almost burst, now, those were heroes. Not me, i was like many thousands that had bad beatings even though the last one ( 2 days) was bad. But nothing compared with others...pleas note that when this happened to me it was already not Salazar ( he had died) but his successor Caetano who continued his dictatorship. Sorry for my previous tone, we all have the right to different opinions but out fascist dictatorship was a true horror. And anyone thinking the opposite simply doesn't know.
With all due respect you don't know much about Salazar. The prisioners and the population can give you better information.
Lágrimas de comuna são doces como mel, se não fosse o Salazar Portugal estava ainda pior que a grécia, os excessos da corrupção do PS só são possíveis devido ao Salazar e ao ouro que ele armazenou e que eles têm vindo a jogar fora ano após ano.
Quando acabar o ouro do Salazar é que vocês vão ver como é que elas vos mordem. Somos um país indigente, na cauda da Europa e a pedir esmola sem o ultramar tal como o Marcelo Caetano previu, somos um país corrupto dos mais corruptos da Europa como eramos na 1ª República antes do Salazar.