Life, with its peculiarly twisted sense of irony, took Fernando Menezes from us in the very year the Azores commemorate fifty years of Autonomy—a moment intended for reflection on what has been achieved and on what may, and indeed must, be accomplished over the next fifty years. In preparation for that reckoning, think tanks are springing up and flourishing, ranging from the liberal right’s economic orthodoxy to the introspective bourgeoisie of the left. At the same time, others continue searching for cracks in the armor of the Political-Administrative Statute, quietly preparing the day when the old notion of the Adjacent Islands might be restored, even as they publicly profess the opposite.
Fernando Menezes passed away leaving behind a legacy worthy of the envy of many and a life’s work capable of unsettling many others. He devoted a considerable part of his life to regional politics. He served as President of the Regional Legislative Assembly. He was a lawyer on Faial, a deputy for the archipelago, and one of those who rolled up his sleeves and gave his sweat to the deepening of the Autonomy we now celebrate. His passing should have been an occasion for tribute and remembrance, especially in these times and under the banner of the anniversary we are commemorating.
Instead, it became yet another log cast upon the long bonfire that now burns in the public square, an unmistakable consequence of the erosion of civility and moral decency. It is an age in which the most outrageous absurdities are uttered—not only across the counter of the neighborhood tavern, but equally around the tables of elegant restaurants, in the ballrooms of the old aristocracy, in the village gathering places, or amidst the festivities on the island fajãs. Anything goes.
Almost overnight, the battlefield of hatred that had flourished on social media spilled into everyday life. There are threats of violence. Opinions sharpened into weapons. Friendships shattered. Families hurling insults at one another. Allegations of favoritism resurrected and displayed as though at public auction. All of it unfolding around a moment of mourning. A time when we ought to have honored one who honored us instead became an occasion to reveal contempt for those who helped make us free.
This cannot be allowed to pass in silence. Not only in the name of Fernando Menezes, but in the name of all those who, in recent years, have suffered under this new culture of hatred. We must rise from our chairs and intervene. It is neither comfortable nor pleasant. It draws us beyond the safety of our own comfort and into the weariness of constant confrontation. Yet it remains the only way to restrain the momentum of an ill-informed electorate—and also of those who pretend not to know regulations that have governed public life for decades.
Many recalled the death of Álvaro Monjardino in an effort to compare it with this moment, insisting that mourning had likewise been forgotten then, when the question they ought to have asked was why the proper observances had not been respected in the first place. But they believed what they heard on street corners and what they read on social media. They believed it because it is easier to embrace mockery and the destruction of a person’s reputation than to seek the truth. Hatred, in times of crisis, too often proves more seductive than love.
The world must once again be reminded of its duty to feel indignation, to rebel, and to transform society—not because ceremonies have been postponed, but because the politicians who sold them falsehoods now seek to consume what remains of their savings and security.
We must continue. For Fernando Menezes, and for Autonomy. For Freedom, and for all those who helped defend that hard-won achievement. There must always be someone willing to resist.
Perhaps these commemorations should also become an occasion to reflect upon opportunism, dereliction of duty, and the growing alienation from the very principles that define the public good.
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).