Armed women

Resulted from a series of interviews that journalist Isabel Lindim made to a group of Portuguese women who were part of the revolutionary brigades. An armed organization that wanted to undermine the foundations of the dictatorship and end the colonial war, seen from the point of view of a woman, written by a woman and reported by some of these anonymous heroes of the revolution.

You thought it was important to write "armed women" because it often ignores the role of women in the most important moments of Portuguese history?
Isabel Lindim: The idea to write the book came after start doing interviews with participants of the brigades, one way or another involved in the actions. When I started making a list of possible interviews with my mother and Carlos Antunes, appeared a huge number of name of women. So, then I thought it showed something else about the organization. I spoke with my mother on how indeed women participated in the Revolutionary Brigades (RB) and the Revolutionary Party of the Proletariat (RPP), which was different from other organizations. One of the interviewees had a nephew editor, who suggested publishing a book. I thought it would be a good opportunity to talk about these two issues just discussed, armed organizations struggling in Portugal before April 25th and the role of women in these organizations. I'm sorry I have not gotten all, were more involved in the RB.

Do you think that some of these women continue to want to remain anonymous as the result of a sexist and oppressive society that tended to devalue the role of women in society and that somehow this was all unconsciously imprint and as such continue to disregard that their input was not important?
IL: All of them are aware of having had an important role in the corrosion of the dictatorship and the end of the colonial war. The fact that three of them wanting anonymity have more to do to their professions with some public exposure. They could now be the target of nasty comments. I do not think that has to do with machismo, I also interviewed the men who prefer anonymity. There are women who are intimidated with the judgments.

When we read about the testimonies we got the idea that these women are from another country other and not from the country of the mild manners, seems almost unreal. You had that impression, or not? And if not, what were your first thoughts as you'd be collected these testimonies?
IL: Listening to the stories in the first person was very rewarding. They all surprised me, not only by the actions in which they participated, with great courage, but also by women who are and have become. Teachers, doctors, producers, all without political involvement after the revolution. This shows that they are special people, who saw it as an opportunity for action to overthrow the dictatorship and end the war. While doing the interviews I could have an increasingly elucidated idea of the environment at the time, the day-to-day. And then I had other surprises, facts about the dictatorship that we heard but only when the source is in the first person is when we capture well the notion that time. To give you an idea of the surprises that I was having one of the women who arrived in Lisbon coming from Mozambique in 1962 wore trousers in the early days, because it was cold, it was in November. Was chased down the street and at the door of the university, where she was studying, was barred by the doorman who told her that only men could wear pants. That and other encounter with the police force in universities was enough for her to become one of the biggest supporters for RB.

Regarding still the RB, there are some that impress me, such as Joan II, who pretends to be pregnant and in the belly takes a set of fake bombs to put in the bathroom in the Ministry of Health or Paula Viana, who had to put a portfolio with explosives near a door inside the barracks, because behind that door was a list of nearby soldiers to be sent to war.

The collection of documents and testimonies took how long? And what were the biggest obstacles you felt during this whole process before the writing itself?
IL: The collection of documents began six years ago when the Institute of Social Sciences in the Netherlands became interested in the archival material of RB and the RPP. Carlos Antunes propose me be me organize the material and scan it before sending to Holland. I ended up joining the Mário Soares Foundation in this task, which proved to be larger and more complex than I thought, because they have an excellent history file developed by Dr. Alfredo Caldeira. I felt not great obstacles, except the collection of material that long look; the records of clandestine radio Algiers Voice of Freedom. I know they exist, because they were part of the PIDE bugged system and there excerpts written reports sent to Salazar, I just do not know where they are.