June 9. António José Seguro took a carefully choreographed stroll through the streets of Angra and Praia, scattering smiles and punctuating the day with embraces. He was accompanied by the women mayors, by his chief of staff, by Margarida (who will never be a first lady), and by the Representative of the Republic. He stopped at Basílio Simões to take photographs with Dona Serafina. He spoke with Sandra Serpa of Olhar Poente, attentively and with concern. He visited Avós por Linhas e Travessas, talking, listening, and engaging. He shared tea with Mota Amaral, at a table prepared by Soraia and attended by Dona Helena.
It was a historic day for Terceira, and a day of tribute to the Azores, fittingly carried out among the people. It was Seguro’s first day as president of insular affection, ending the evening at Marta and Joel’s bookstore, where Margarida Maldonado chose to remain standing and give up her seat, because she does not need to sit beside her husband in order to exist. Probably without realizing it, the day became one dedicated to women.
Seguro never mentioned it, but those observing from the outside recognized a posture entirely opposed to the crude machismo of Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa, with his remarks about necklines and other such foolishness. Seguro revived a tradition from earlier socialist times, when wives ceased to be bedside lamps and instead assumed active voices of their own. One remembers Maria Barroso and Maria José Ritta.
June 10 dawned under a blanket of fog, so that the visitors might better understand the reality of island life. Only a journey to Flores was missing for them to truly grasp what it means to be Bruma. The day continued with the arrival of the Prime Minister and other figures who came to appear before the cameras.
Yet there was an important distinction to be noted. Miguel Monjardino embraced Portugal’s maritime vocation without committing the nostalgic error of invoking Pessoa’s Mensagem as a way of hiding reality behind grand illusions. Quite the opposite. Miguel was unequivocal in presenting the past as a tool—one that must be cherished carefully and employed in the defense of freedom and democracy against their adversaries.
He reinforced this vision through references to the Bay of Angra do Heroísmo and to underwater archaeology, in a clear allusion to the National Museum of Nautical and Underwater Archaeology, which the Azorean people have already demanded through a public petition.
That was the structural and decisive thread of thought running through the June 10 celebrations in Angra do Heroísmo. It was not a ribbon-cutting ceremony. It was a springboard into the future of the archipelago and of Portugal.
It was the Century of the Sea, as Miguel Monjardino called it, thereby recognizing that the destiny of these islands lies with the ocean and not with the many misguided attempts to transform them into American aircraft carriers.
Using the example of the National Museum and archaeology, what remained implicit was the need to invest in the sciences—whether human, social, natural, or formal. The Century of the Sea can become the Century of the Azores and of their true autonomy, because only when we recognize that it is the sea that gives us dignity will we be able to turn our backs on the mindsets that seek to import models from other worlds and instead fulfill our authentic Azorean identity.
Seguro complemented this vision with a more poetic speech, necessary to balance the reformist and progressive fervor that had preceded him. The presidential visit continued, flanked by distinguished women and crowned by the spirit of the maritime mission that we have yet to fully embrace.
The most curious episode came when a woman approached Seguro to take a photograph with him and asked José Pedro Aguiar-Branco, who happened to be standing nearby, to take the picture—as though he were a presidential aide. It took a visit to the Azores, and an encounter with the Azorean woman, for him to discover a role that suited him rather well.
Alexandra Manes is from Flores Island but lives on Terceira Island in the Azores. She is a regular contributor to several Azorean newspapers, a political and cultural activist, and has served in the Azorean Parliament.
NOVIDADES will feature occasional opinion pieces from leading thinkers and writers in the Azores, providing the diaspora and those interested in the current state of the Azores with a sense of the significant perspectives on some of the archipelago’s issues.
Translated to English as a community outreach program from the Portuguese Beyond Borders Institute (PBBI) and the Modern and Classical Languages and Literatures Department (MCLL).