In a recent essay on the need to establish a system of government loyal to the Portuguese Constitution in constitutional political autonomy, determining democracy in the country’s island regions, and speaking of the centrality of São Miguel against the Fundamental Law and against the ideology of political autonomy built on the foundations of the Carnation Revolution – solidarity among populations, freedom, and democracy – we said, “fortunately, Terceira, with its cultural and civic matrix, continues to be the Azorean bastion of Portuguese Azorean autonomy because the country was built with a significant part of its blood and history.“ In another essay, we said that ”The people of Terceira hate this idea that Ponta Delgada is the political capital of the Azores. Just as the people of São Miguel hate it too. But the motivation of one is different from that of the other. The Terceira elite, eminently cultural, somewhat religious, immensely idealistic, and moderately political, does not accept a capital based on the parchments of its history. The São Miguel elite, eminently entrepreneurial, deeply religious, immensely realistic, and actively political, does not accept it because it fears that the people of Terceira will revolt, thereby disturbing or losing this type of political autonomy centered in São Miguel. The Terceirenses do not accept it, but they do nothing because of accommodation; the Micaelenses do not talk about it because they are afraid of the spirituality of the Terceirenses, who, as salon artists, are as meek as they are capable of raising their voices in loud cries. In this fear of one another, the Micaelense elite stands out, which, in exchange for weak governments, accommodates the Terceirense elite. The elites of the other islands are identical in their unwillingness, but their motivations differ.

An author from São Miguel quoted in the essay mentioned above, after saying he identified with admiration with Angra do Heroísmo in 1961, said the following in another text: “For four centuries, Ponta Delgada was just a small colonial town, quiet, puritanical, with its back to the sea, with no vocation to be the capital of anything. It does not have the stately presence of Angra do Heroísmo, nor the modest charm of Vila Franca do Campo.”

In earlier times, the same character of the people of the green island was also attested to in the words of the great Azorean from São Miguel, Antero de Quental, in 1874: “I am writing to you from Terceira. Here in the Azores there is a proverb that says: ‘São Miguel, rich bourgeois; Terceira, poor nobles; Faial, clever smugglers. In fact, Terceira is an essentially Portuguese and peninsular land: nobility, poverty, bulls, sober and philosophical carelessness, enthusiasm, eccentricity, and talkativeness: in a word, the corresponding defects and qualities of peninsular idealism (…) This is so that you understand how much I have enjoyed this, I who feel more Portuguese every day, the more I discover in myself the national spirit and the more I need to commune with the collective soul. This is almost lyrical Portuguese sentiment, but it is excusable in someone who leaves São Miguel (…) the least Portuguese of all the corners of the world where the language of Camões is spoken. Know that I rejoiced when I set foot on land that speaks to my historical soul and that resonates with it all the more because I landed on June 22, a historic day in the history of Portuguese regeneration (June 22, 1832).

The matrix of the mentality of the island populations is known to all who study and follow it, although this knowledge is political rather than scientific. Just as one perceives a man by what he wears and eats, how he speaks and how he thinks, so too does one perceive the islanders, the island man and the island woman, and the islands and populations. We believe that most people will agree with the following: the people of Terceira, where I come from and where I live, have always had a more patriotic sentiment, as evidenced by their extraordinary history in the annals of the islands and the country, and by the preservation of Portuguese traditions, which in Terceira are a living repository of culture. And what about the rest? Of our possessions, we will say the following: we know little about the populations of Corvo and St.ª Maria; in 1831, they adhered to the liberalism imposed by Terceira; in recent years, there has been a noticeable shift towards the center. There is a fairly consistent collective matrix in the center of the archipelago, on the islands of Terceira, Graciosa, and São Jorge: the latter resisted liberalism but later became an important hub; and Pico, also somewhat resistant to liberalism. Flores and Faial are silent in their being, we do not know if this is due to the fear they show: in 1919, Flores offered itself for sale to the US government, but had easily adhered to liberalism; Faial never wanted district administrative autonomy, accepting it in 1832 because it was for the whole country, it did not want to apply the 1895 Decree when the country wanted to maintain district administrative autonomy only on the islands, and Salazar forced it to accept in 1840, but it was an entirely liberal island. São Miguel always wanted its independence from the other islands, and it got lucky with constitutional political autonomy: it was finally able to govern itself, especially from 1998 onwards, using the titles and heritage of the other islands and the Azores brand; it was fiercely opposed to liberalism, but ended up accepting it due to Terceira’s imposition in a memorable battle.

Today, the islands do not live as islands of democracy. They are islands of cohesion. Now, with constitutional autonomy, they are slaves to a future in which they cannot participate: because the elite of São Miguel does not allow it and because the Constitution, although it provides for the salvation of the islanders, at the same time, due to the inertia of politicians and weak and understandable political citizenship, is allowing the political enslavement of the island populations.

In Diário Insular – José Lourenço, director

Arnaldo Ourique is a specialist on the Portuguese Constitution and the Azorean Autonomy. A researcher in the fields of Politics and Society.

NOVIDADES will feature occasional opinion pieces from leading thinkers and writers in the Azores, offering the diaspora and those interested in the current state of the archipelago insight into diverse perspectives on key issues.