Lusophobia
Lusophobia (Portuguese: Lusofobia) is a hostility toward Portugal or the Portuguese language. Like Lusitanic, the word derives from Lusitania, an Ancient Roman province, and phobia that means "fear". The term is used in Portuguese-speaking countries, and its use in the English language has been limited.
Historical background
Brazil
In the nineteenth century, the term Lusophobia was often used to describe nationalist sentiments in Brazil, a former colony of the Portuguese Empire, with Liberal politicians in Rio de Janeiro and Pernambuco advocating the reduction of immigrant Portuguese involvement in the Brazilian economy, though most were of Portuguese descent.[1] In Rio, the "Jacobinos", a small national radical group, were the strongest opponents of the "Galegos", the Portuguese immigrants, who were also the biggest immigrant community in Brazil.[2]
Today, relations between the two countries are amicable, with a degree of friendly rivalry comparable to that between English-speaking countries such as Britain and the United States.
Australia
The Indonesian invasion and annexation of East Timor, from which Portugal abruptly withdrew in 1975 after the Carnation Revolution, also gave rise to anti-Portuguese sentiment in Australia, even among those sympathetic to East Timor's struggle. [3] However, while successive Australian governments supported the Indonesian occupation and the status quo, Portugal and the Portuguese-speaking countries of Africa (PALOP countries) maintained a diplomatic campaign in support of East Timor's right to self-determination, and East Timor has been an independent nation since May 20, 2002. During the crisis in 2006, Australian commentators attacked Portuguese involvement in East Timor, with one going so far as to label Portugal as Australia's "diplomatic enemy." [4]
Great Britain
Although Portugal and Great Britain are known for having the oldest Alliance in the world, in 2007, when a three year old British child, Madeleine McCann, disappeared in Praia da Luz, Algarve region, it generated a wave of lusophobic comments in the UK media towards Portuguese society and the authorities investigating the case. The British media admitted that their "arrogant xenophobia" was caused by their own ignorance of the Portuguese legal system.[5]
No category
Episodes in Portugal's 20th century history, including the long period of dictatorship under António Salazar, the instability following the 1974 Carnation Revolution, and the disastrous withdrawal from its overseas empire in 1975, contributed to a negative image of the country, as did a relative lack of economic development, which prompted The Economist in 1980 to describe the country as 'Africa's only colony in Europe'.[6]
The Portuguese colonial policy of allowing mixed race relationships also prompted some racist Northern Europeans to regard the Portuguese as racially inferior.[7] However, Portuguese leaders, including Salazar, defended the policy of multiracialism, or Lusotropicalism, as a way of integrating Portuguese colonies, and their peoples, more closely with Portugal itself.[8]
Nevertheless, Portugal's refusal to grant self-determination to what it regarded as its 'overseas provinces' until the 1970s, not only damaged its image internationally, but resulted in costly unpopular wars against independence movements in the Portuguese overseas provinces of Angola, Mozambique, and Guinea Bissau.
During the Euro 2004 football championship, which was hosted and organised in Portugal, a number of Portugal national football team fans had to be led to safety after more than 300 people began throwing missiles at a Norfolk pub following England's Euro 2004 defeat. Police arrested the hooligans after the trouble outside the Portuguese-run pub. The Portuguese fans - including women and children - were trapped inside the pub for more than two hours.[9]
References
- ^ Mosher, Jeffrey C. "Political Mobilization, Party Ideology, and Lusophobia in Nineteenth-Century Brazil: Pernambuco, 1822-1850" Hispanic American Historical Review - 80:4, November 2000, pp. 881-912
- ^ Jacobinos versus Galegos: Urban Radicals versus Portuguese Immigrants in Rio de Janeiro in the 1890s, June E. Hahner - Journal of Interamerican Studies and World Affairs, Vol. 18, No. 2 (May, 1976), pp. 125-15, [1], JSTOR
- ^ Current Language Issues in East Timor Dr Geoffrey Hull Text of a public lecture given at the University of Adelaide, 29 March, 2000.
- ^ "Downhill all the way since Habibie let go", Greg Sheridan, The Australian, 26th May 2006.
- ^ Berlins, Marcel (10 September, 2007). "Media have rushed to judge Portuguese police". The Guardian. Retrieved 2007-09-10.
{{cite news}}: Check date values in:|date=(help); Italic or bold markup not allowed in:|publisher=(help) - ^ 'Almost there, Portugal: A Survey' Robert Harvey, The Economist June 14, 1980.
- ^ WARNING: white supremacist site Lessons in Decline - Portugal
- ^ Colorblind Colonialism? Lusotropicalismo and Portugal’s 20th. Century Empire. in Africa. Leah Fine. Barnard College Department of History, Spring 2007
- ^ Portuguese fans attacked by mob, (25 June, 2004), in BBC News