Desertion and exile: experience and memory (original) (raw)
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Evading the War: Deserters and Draft Evaders from the Portuguese Army during the Colonial War
E-journal of Portuguese Histoy, 2019
This article analyzes the question of deserters and draft evaders from the Portuguese army during the colonial war. Utilizing as its starting point the recent discussions taking place about this issue in Portuguese society, the analysis seeks to expand the historiographical knowledge that has been built up about this theme, contributing fresh information and new interpretations relating to the matter of disobedience to military conscription. With this aim in mind, we set out to reevaluate the stance that Portugal's opposition groups adopted in relation to the question of desertion, both at the domestic level and in exile, examining the various typologies relating to the "refusal" of the war and collecting new data on the topic. Important steps will thus be taken towards a quantification of this phenomenon, including the provision of analytical observations that help to put it into perspective. Keywords Colonial war; desertion; Estado Novo; anticolonialism Resumo O presente artigo toma como objeto de análise o lugar dos desertores e refratários da tropa portuguesa durante a guerra colonial. Partindo da forma como o tema tem vindo a ser debatido recentemente na sociedade portuguesa, procura-se avançar no conhecimento historiográfico sobre o tema, trazendo novas informações e interpretações sobre a desobediência à incorporação militar. Nesta medida, revisita-se a posição dos diversos sectores oposicionistas portugueses perante a deserção, no interior e no exílio, examinam-se as diferentes tipologias associadas à recusa da guerra e compilam-se dados novos sobre o tema, nomeadamente para a quantificação do fenómeno, complementados com notas analíticas que contribuem para a sua contextualização. Palavras-chave Guerra colonial; deserção; Estado Novo; anticolonialismo
Seen in its True Light: Desertion as a Pure Political Crime
2014
Individuals from democratic states who flee state prosecution and seek refugee status in Canada face significant challenges in obtaining asylum. There is a strong presumption that the legal system of their country of nationality will provide adequate procedural safeguards. This presumption extends to US military deserters who refused to serve in Iraq. The consequence is that numerous claimants have been denied over the past decade. This article contends that where the feared prosecution relates to a political crime, there should not be a presumption of state protection. Furthermore, the article posits and discusses why desertion should constitute a pure political crime much like treason, sedition, or espionage. Lastly, the article argues, pursuant to United Nations policies, that such deserters should be able to obtain refugee status only where their desertion constitutes a refusal to be associated with military actions that are internationally condemned as contrary to the basic rules of human conduct.
Lusotopie, Recherches politiques internationales sur les espaces issus de l’histoire et de la colonisation portugaises vol. XV (2), (Leiden, The Netherlands, 2008), pp. 107-126, 2008
This paper is focused on the memories of ex-combatants of the Portuguese colonial war in Africa (1961-1974). It addresses the Portuguese colonial conflict mainly in terms of its social memory, exploring the importance of the ex-combatants' individual interpretations and representations of the conflict. This paper argues that the absence of extensive historical reflection on this subject highlights the importance of its lived memories, especially as a means of challenging the idea of war memory as a source of shame, for the veterans and for Portuguese society in general. Firstly, the paper presents a brief overview of the current developments on the war memory field, mentioning other national case studies. Secondly, it dwells on the public memory of the conflict and the historical identity of the Portuguese war veterans. Thirdly and finally, it will pose some questions on the process of collecting these personal memories, namely the oral history practice involved in interviewing these ex-combatants.
What are ‘acts of desertion’, how do they feature in contemporary border struggles, and what might an emphasis on such acts bring to the analysis of the politics of mobility? This article seeks to address these questions in the context of the Sonoran borderzone, which crosses Mexico and the US. It develops an analysis that sheds light on contemporary border struggles in terms that acknowledge both the intensity of security practices as well as the significance of migratory acts, without pre-fixing the relation between the two. The analysis shows how ‘acts of desertion’ involve differentiated dynamics of abandonment and renouncement, which demand appreciation of the ambiguities of contemporary border struggles. As acts that variously involve a dynamics of refusal, the article argues that acts of desertion challenge the limits of liberal citizenship, without wholly transcending its limitations.