Campus and Community

Protagonists of student movements share their memories in a debate

This event aims to highlight the importance and share the experiences throughout the student movements at Técnico from 1967 to 1974.

This Tuesday, May 29, some of the main protagonists of the student movement at Técnico remembered the protests, the motivations, the close link to society, the difficult moments, the friendships that have been strengthened and the lessons learnt. This debate is part of a series of debates organised by AEIST on this topic.

The debate was moderated by José Pacheco Pereira and the invited speakers were António Mota Redol, Fernando Sacramento and Carlos Costa, former AEIST presidents in 1965-1966, 1967-1968 and 1972-1974. “A lot of political changes happened in Portugal and abroad in this period due to these student movements”, reiterated José Pacheco Pereira in the beginning of the session. “AEIST played a central role in Lisbon due to its dimension and student mobilisation”, he added. “The year 1962 represented a moment of rupture between the student movement and the regime”, stressed António Mota Redol. “A new way of seeing the world and a new way of leadership also occurred during this period”, highlighted Fernando Sacramento.

“This was a very complicated and important struggle due to leaders and students self-sacrifice”, stressed Carlos Costa. The constant protests, fear, revolt and police forces surrounding Técnico were some of the topics addressed during the speeches. “This was an extremely violent struggle under repression conditions, with some victories and defeats”, said Carlos Costa, who was tortured at Caxias prison.