A number of famous British writers have signed a protest against the Portuguese Government's action in banning the Portuguese Society of Writers. We reprint the text of this protest here:
"The Portuguese Society of Writers has been banned by the Salazar Government. Five distinguished members of the jury which awarded a prize to the Angolan writer Luandino Vieira have been arbitrarily arrested and interrogated by the Portuguese political police (PIDE). The Government press has undertaken a campaign to discredit the Portuguese Society of Writers. This created an atmosphere which led to the destruction of its headquarters by unknown persons.
"We writers and poets in Great Britain are appalled at these actions be the Portuguese Government. They constitute a serious infringement of freedom of expression in Portugal, in clear violation of the United Nations Declaration of Human Rights. The Portuguese Society of Writers has our warmest support. It should be permitted an existence free from Government interference."
Up to now the signatories of this protest have been: John Harvey, Jacquetta Hawkes, David Holbrook, Sir Julian Huxley, Mervyn Jones, Laurie Lee, Hugh McDiarmid, Christopher Middleton, Harold Pinter, J.B. Priestley, Bertrand Russell, Alan Sillitoe, Ted Willis, Angus Wilson, Colin Wilson.
It is obvious that this award was used as an excuse to ban the Society. Luandino Vieira was not condemned for terrorism, as stated by the Portuguese press, but for'activities aimed at achieving independence for Angola, that is, its separation or disintegration from the mother-country'. He had already won in previous years four literary prizes, the last one being for the same novel and awarded last year in Luanda, Angole. This prize, awarded when the author was already serving his sentence, was officially pres- . ented to his wife by the Governor of Luanda.
Even so, the Society was’ apparently aware of its precarious position: its executive issued a statement explaining that the award was'exclusively based on the literary merit of the work and in no way meant to be a judgement on the activities of which the author was accused'. In spite of this statement the Minister of Education justified his ban on the society by saying that it had failed to repudiate tha jury's decision after it yas announced that Vieira was a convicted terrorist. This, he stated, deeply offended national feelings at a time when Portuguese soldiers were falling overseas, victims of such terrorism,
The banning was immediately followed by the ransacking of the Society's premises and a violent campaign on the part of the press, radio and television, The Society was accused of being 'an accomplice of the enemies of the nation! and of 'treason'. Several newspapers which did not participate in the campaign were 'advised' to do so, and one was even temporarily closed down. Three of the jury of five (all of whom were arrested, but two of whom were released) were detained for a week, and their release then was a direct result of the many telegrams of protest which were sent to the Minister of Education by writers, artists and university professors.