Freedom Day

"A man is no less a slave because he is allowed to choose a new master once in a term of years."

- Lysander Spooner

April 25 is Portugal's day of liberty. This is in memory of April 25, 1974. A small group of military men staged a coup, and much to their own surprise, it succeeded. The story is both cute and humorous, illustrating that the world does at times come up with some crazy surprises.

The Fascist government was overthrown, and a democratic republic came in its place. However, much of the old regime remained. Bureaucrats who had worked for Fascism, were now working for democracy. The same people, the same institutions, and pretty much the same laws. Only difference was that people no longer lived under dictatorship. Democracy allowed them to choose their new masters.

Choosing a new master

By Rama - Own work, CC BY-SA 2.0 fr, Link

This modest change in the way society was organized put an end to colonial wars. It opened Portugal up to more foreign trade and investments. All sorts of things changed for the better, including EU membership, with access to subsidies. There was a marked improvement in people's lives. However, people aren't all that much more free now than they were. That's abundantly clear after two years of virus hysteria.

But this doesn't stop people from celebrating. People sing songs, and listen to old speeches. Asked why they are so happy, they tell us that it's because they are free. The fact that they're hardly free at all doesn't seem to interfere with their festive moods. The illusion of freedom is for most people all that's required.

This odd disconnect between reality and what people say is not unique to Portugal. I noticed this behavior in Norway even as a kid. People would celebrate May 17 with a passion. But what exactly were these people so happy about? They would tell me that it was independence as a nation. It's about freedom. Self determination. All these words and phrases were thrown about in speeches and songs, with little to no bearing on reality.

My favorite way to celebrate anything is to take life easy and relax, and that has been true all my life. So why was I forced to get up extra early on May 17, and go in a huge parade where I was forced to sing along with everybody else? How is this a celebration freedom?

Oslo May 17 2010

By evelinagustafsson@live.se - Own work, Public Domain, Link

Truth is that none of this has much to do with freedom. It's romanticism of the worst sort. Ideals are reduced to words, and we're going about celebrating these words as if they are the real thing. Some people seem to derive real pleasures from this type of platitudes. But I never saw the charm in it. However, I'm not grumpily refusing to partake in the fun. I've just made it a rule for myself to celebrate freedom by doing exactly what I like to do.

I stopped going to the parades in Norway long before I left that country. I would show up for the games, ice-creams and hot dogs in the afternoon. I would be with friends in the evening. We'd barbeque and celebrate spring.

Freedom is about community and simple pleasures. It has nothing to do with the nation state, the constitution or revolutions. That's all history and pretense. The only thing that matters is that we're free to do exactly what we want to do, and there's no other honest way to celebrate freedom than to do exactly that.