Between the violence of the senses and the senses of violence: the voices of worker’s memory about the portuguese and brazilian authoritarian regimes of the 20th century

Abstract

Nowadays, memory eruption movements have gained strength because, in addition to a documental and historical function, such records become educational, social, and political instruments of resistance. This article has as its object of analysis the testimonies of workers who were victims of the Brazilian and Portuguese authoritarian regimes, two dictatorships that emerged and developed in different political contexts, but that can give rise to possible approximations between the discourses and narratives of those who lived them. The interviews were carried out by scientific research on the memory of workers' resistance to authoritarian regimes, which is part of the project Direitos Humanos: dos fundamentos teóricos às tendências contemporâneas no nível local (cidades). In addition, were also consulted documental archives of the Centro de Documentação 25 de Abril (CD25A), Museu do Aljube – Resistência e Liberdade and Confederação Geral dos Trabalhadores Portugueses – Intersindical Nacional (CGTP-IN), in Portugal, and Associação de Anistiados e Anistiandos do ABC (AMA-A ABC), in Brazil. The discourses produced by these narratives articulate statements that show that victims attribute different meanings to what they suffered; however, political violence, on the other hand, calls into question meanings already established in these people's imaginations. Finally, this paper also reveals pedagogical places of memory related to workers' resistance to authoritarian regimes.