April 25th in Portugal

[spank]

Today it's been thirty years since the Portuguese fascist regime was overthrown by popular power. This country had been in oppression since 1926 and it shows. We're one of the most retrograde countries in Europe (BTW, the Portuguese dictatorship lasted longer than the Spanish, for example) and we face serious structural problems, even today.

Older people who I talk to that had the chance to live that day often speak of it very emotionally. I understand, even though I would never be able to feel the same way as them. Not that I wanted to. But I suppose living under a dictatorship is a nasty thing.

Anyway, the point of this post is to know whether any of you has any idea about what I'm talking about. I suppose none of the users of this forum - apart from Fodders, probably - would hear from my country when all that was happening, and that would be an interesting standpoint to know.

[Gokuma]

[Arioch]

China.

[Sharessa]

Hey, at least you guys can take heart in the fact that you were once the most powerful naval power in the world, before that Columbus asshole stole your maps and got the Spanish interesting in seafaring.

Gokuma: Heh, wasn't that from Weebl and Bob?

[Ichor]

Kenya, actually.

[Gokuma]

If you click the image it takes you to the Kenya flash animation I got the idea from. And this is what led up to it.

[Sharessa]

Heh, the lion in that animation rules.

[Scientist]

Europe is considered a symbol of democracy but when taken a closer look you start wondering why.
-Spain only became democratic in 1975 after Franco died. And they reintroduced monarchy. I seriously can't imagine why a country would introduce monarchy in 1975 but it happend.
-Portugal wasn't democratic since 1974 after the "carnation" revolution.
We've got monarchy in:
Belgium
Liechtenstein
Luxemburg
Monaco
Netherlands
Norway
Spain
Sweden
United Kingdom
Who are we to speak of democracy?

[dsm]

Scientist said:

We've got monarchy in:
Belgium
Liechtenstein
Luxemburg
Monaco
Netherlands
Norway
Spain
Sweden
United Kingdom
Who are we to speak of democracy?

One country (possibly more) missing from that list. Plus, a monarchy today arguably doesn't mean jack.

[Fredrik]

The Swedish king has about as much political influence as a bag of potatoes. Keeping the palace going costs a lot of tax money, though.

[Scientist]

hmmm... Denmark

The role of the monarch differs per monarchy. In Sweden for example a King/Queen only has "symbolic power" whereas here in the Netherlands the royal family still has lots of economical (2.1 billion Euro) and political power/influence.

[NiGHTMARE]

Fredrik said:

The Swedish king has about as much political influence as a bag of potatoes. Keeping the palace going costs a lot of tax money, though.

Ditto for the British Queen; in fact, she probably has more influence over the Australian and Canadian governments (she's still considered Queen of both countries) than she does Blair & co.

I'd bet good money that at least half the other monarchs in that list have no bearing on the beliefs, actions and methods of the governments of their respective countries either.

[Scientist]

Which brings us to the question: Why do we still have these institutions? Are they simply some cultural heritage? It just doesn't make any sense to me to keep these people around. They cost huge amounts of money, are undemocratic, and don't do anything.

[Fredrik]

Momentum. Or, rather, friction.

[Grazza]

I think the claim normally trotted out at this point is that the British royal family generate more income from tourism than they cost the British taxpayers. I don't know if that's true or how it would be calculated though.

[fodders]

When the British Queen goes on an overseas tour, the number of heads of business that travel with her is large. During her visit they conduct huge amounts of business with the visited country, generating large amounts of trade with Britain.

[Job]

But is that always the same with royalty of all countries? Or just the industrialized nations, Britain in particular?

[pritch]

A lot of Economics academics like Houghton reckon the British royalty is possibly unique in that it probably generates more tourist money than it costs to run.