Censorship in Portugal
Portuguese citizens still remember the Estado Novo's censorship policy, institutionalizing strict control over the media, resorting to measures used previously against newspapers and systematic sequestering of books.
With the start of the Portuguese Inquisition following the papal bull Cum ad nihil magis of May 23, 1536, teaching Judaism to "New Christians", and the use of vernacular translations of the Bible were prohibited.
The earliest existing documentation of publication licences refer to the works of Baltazar Dias [pt] in 1537[1] as well as to the Cartinha, an introduction to João de Barros' Grammar, in 1539.
On July 16, 1547, the restrictions were lessened somewhat due to the directives in the bull Meditatis cordis, although the first edition of the Index Librorum Prohibitorum in Portugal appeared in 1515, as a consequence of the Fifth Council of the Lateran.
In 1561, the Dominican Francisco Foreiro signed a new Portuguese Index, by order of then-Cardinal Henry I, who wrote as introduction to it a letter in which, while not being as hostile as the one by the Holy See, proclaimed the need for "preventive Censorship".
King Sebastian of Portugal, enacting a law on June 18, 1571, had an important role in censorship legislation defining the civil penalties for Index infractors.
This law actually prohibited even certain documents issued by the Holy See like the In Coena Domini bull of 1792 (which reserved exclusively to the Pope powers now claimed by the Monarch) and the Expurgation Indexes.
The Court was presented as a "Junta", with "private and exclusive jurisdiction on anything regarding the exam, approval or reproval of books and papers", publishing regular edicts on listing banned works.
The Regimento da Real Mesa Censória (Charter of the Royal Censorial Court) of May 18, 1768, makes provisions for the inspection of bookshops, libraries and printing presses.
Such works were accepted in "well governed and prudent (wise) Roman Catholic States", being tolerated only thanks to the provisions contained in the peace of Westphalia treaties, and because their erudition was recognized and deemed useful for the Portuguese scholars.
Mary I's Carta de Lei (law) of 1787 replaced the Real Mesa Censória with the Mesa da Comissão Geral sobre o Exame e Censura dos Livros (Board of the General Commission on the Exam and Censorship of the Books), the Queen having asked Pope Pius VI to provide this organ with the adequate jurisdiction for the censorship works throughout the entire Portuguese Empire.
It would be from London, however, that the political refugees, with the support of local Portuguese merchants, would start an abundant literary production and an effort to translate the most important liberal works by John Locke, Adam Smith and Benjamin Franklin, among others, and establish dozens of periodicals, some of them being printed until after the Civil War.
The Decree of March 31, 1821 brought the "Tribunal do Santo Oficio" (the Inquisition) to an end, because it is found to be "incompatible with the principles adopted as basis for the Constitution", being "the spiritual and the merely ecclesiastical causes" returned to the "Episcopal Jurisdiction".
The Constitution of 1822 established the freedom of the press ("the free communication of thoughts"), without the need for prior censorship, though it still reserved the possibility for any abuse to be punished "in the cases and the way the law determines".
Francisco Manuel Trigoso, the chief of government, established on September 23, the "Comissão de Censura" (Censorship Commission) for "handbills and periodical writings" (newspapers).
This law would be signed into effect on December 22, 1834, abolishing prior censorship, but making provisions for the prosecution of abuses, namely those against the Roman Catholic Church, the state, or the "bons costumes" (good habits - the public morals), and for slander.
The law of October 19, drafted by Costa Cabral, forced publishers to pay hefty bonds, deposits and mortgages, and to submit to an exam qualifying them as honorable persons.
When Salomão Saragga was to take the stand to speak about the "Divinity of Jesus", the room was closed, under the pretext that the discussions were offensive to religion and to the "Fundamental Code of the Monarchy".
After the protests of a few dozen Portuguese intellectuals against this attitude of the government, Antero de Quental and Jaime Batalha appealed the parliament to recognize these actions as illegal.
This state of things would last until June 20, 1907, when through a coup d'etat João Franco came to power, and any "writings, drawings or printed papers deemed dangerous to public order or security" were forbidden.
This law would be officially repealed when Manuel II was enthroned, but the repression would be unchanged and a "gabinete negro" (dark cabinet) would be added to every criminal court, in order to watch over the Press in each judicial district.
However, faced with difficulties implementing the new regime, the republican government also imposed, on July 9, 1912, a set of measures and situations that warranted the confiscation of printed materials by the judicial authorities.
After the 28 May 1926 coup d'état, Gomes da Costa signed a decree on July 5 that would secure freedom of thought "independent from bonds and censorship", even though it insisted on prohibiting offences to the republic's institutions or any behaviour that would disturb public order.
The decree 22 469, published on the same day as the Constitution, was explicit in establishing prior censorship for periodicals, "handbills, leaflets, posters and other publications, whenever in any of them political or social matters are covered".
The Regulamento dos Serviços de Censura (Censorship Services Regulations) was adopted in November of the same year but was, however, not published in the Diário do Governo (the official journal).
[4] The council, then headed by Coelho Ribeiro (who had been a censor during the dictatorship) justified the action by the supposedly undignified way in which the "Historical Interviews" segment (written by Miguel Esteves Cardoso) portrayed important figures in Portuguese history.
It is often told that, in a Zeca Afonso concert, the censor assigned to monitor the performance unwittingly joined the chorus singing "You'll all end up in the PIDE", being later severely punished for his naivete.
Many other authors were jailed or saw their books impounded, such as Soeiro Pereira Gomes, Aquilino Ribeiro, José Régio, Maria Lamas, Rodrigues Lapa, Urbano Tavares Rodrigues, Alves Redol, Alexandre Cabral, Orlando da Costa, Alexandre O'Neill, Alberto Ferreira, António Borges Coelho, Virgílio Martinho, António José Forte, Alfredo Margarido, Carlos Coutinho, Carlos Loures, Amadeu Lopes Sabino, Fátima Maldonado, Hélia Correia, Raul Malaquias Marques, among others.
In 1965 the Sociedade Portuguesa de Autores (Portuguese Authors Society) had the audacity to present Angolan writer Luandino Vieira with the Camilo Castelo Branco Award at a time when he was serving a 14-year sentence at Tarrafal camp for terrorism (while fighting for the independence of Angola).
According to law 2027 of 1948, when António Ferro was in charge of the Secretariado Nacional de Informação (National Information Secretariat), he forbade the dubbing of foreign movies, not out of any aesthetic concern, but simply because dialog could thus be left untranslated or purposely mistranslated so as to avoid forbidden subjects.
