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When, one hundred years ago, precisely on 5 October, a handful of courageous and well intentioned Portuguese, moved by republican political ideals and by an indomitable will to place their country on the path of social and economic progress, established the Portuguese Republic, their wish was to change the political regime and place power under the sovereign will of the People with whom they belonged.

These generous men, in their majority intellectuals and free thinkers, were conscious that it was not enough to overthrow a regime that had been on its death bed for years and was ridiculed in the eyes of other countries, and thus a wound in the national pride.

They were well aware that it was necessary to achieve a cultural change and that this would only be viable through the implementation of a very deep structural and political reform, the results of which would only come to light one or two generations hence. I obviously refer to free and obligatory primary education for all, from 7 to 10 years of age.

João de Barros and João de Deus were two of the prevailing figures of the first Republic that stood out in the pursuit of this ideal, in the belief that only an educated people could enjoy real freedom.

The dream of the visionaries of the 1910 revolution led them to believe that solely the school, independently from political and economic change, would unequivocally guarantee universal fraternity and happiness.

History has revealed many of the vicissitudes suffered by our Republic, when aged just a century, if we view positively all that has been possible to achieve, thanks to the bringing about of the idealized cultural change, or maybe a century too old, should we consider the opportunities lost in complying with the republican ideal and the national intents that we did not dare to achieve, possibly because we were unable to unite in backing the essential, becoming lost in our dissent, in details and trifles, without the ability to harness the grandeur of our collective duty and common benefit.

It will never be too excessive to revisit the thoughts of the most notable figures that were at the genesis of our Republic in order to better propound the values of republican ethics and citizenship.

Running the risk of leaving out some of the primary figures, I cannot resist recommending the thoughts and actions of Teófilo Braga, António José de Almeida, António Sérgio, José Relvas and Guerra Junqueiro, men whose ideals and public intervention deserve my deep respect and admiration, doe to their indifference to perquisites, to the coherence of their ideas and actions and, mainly, by their Statesmanship, the correct and proper use of public assets and of the common benefit.

This exercise of the permanent recall of the original ideas of those republicans that fought for a better, fairer and more harmonious Portugal, for a State that would always be at the service of the public and common benefit, and for a political regime in which freedom of speech and choice, as well as Democracy, were inalienable values, should be frequently practised by all, but especially by those who are empowered with transient duties to conduct the affairs of public institutions, and with the political governance of local and national communities.

In my 17 years of age, possibly marked by a tenuous experience of life and a vision of the World only based on books and other sources of information at my reach, I call upon my fellow citizens who, just as I am, are young of age, to embrace the republican ideal, making it the ideal of public life, measured by the values of a participative citizenship that considers Justice, Equality, Fraternity, Social Solidarity and Public Action as a civic mission whose final aim is the Common Benefit.

There is only one way for this republican objective to be fully achieved – Quality education and learning for all, preferentially free, obligatorily strict and demanding, for both teachers and students, thus becoming more stimulating and a source of human and social development.

I appeal to all politicians, men and women of Science, to the intellectuals, academicians, teachers, educational institutions of all grades, parents’ and guardians’ associations and to students also that they jointly rethink the model of schools and universities that we currently have available in Portugal, maintaining all that does not require change nor should be put at issue, but to ponder what can be improved and deepened, in order that learning covers all that must be known, valuing to the utmost limits the potential of creative energy that exists in all those who are of learning age and/or have the wish to learn.

The school we have is not as bad as what some wish to show, but if we reflect on an improved basis, without fear of criticism and assuming a constructive attitude, both schools and universities could evolve for the better, as areas for the training and education of citizens, allowing them to acquire for their personal and collective lives, the knowledge and working tools that will provide them with the best guarantees for inclusion and for social and professional integration.

Work, responsibility and honour are equally republican ideals that are merged into an acute ethical conscience, intrinsic to some of the greater figures of the first Republic that led the pursuit of such ideals to the ultimate consequences.

It would be beneficial if the national community should place their thoughts on the lives and work of such persons as were the pioneers of the republican movement and not fear adopting their example of life and widom as a model, whose coherence, consistency and validity continue fully valid in our current times.

Should we be able and want to be demanding, if we do not renounce participating in the life of the local community in which we live and in that of the national community where we belong, if we are responsible and constructive critics, if we do not fear work or fear to feel proud of Portugal, of its History and of our cultural heritage and if we do not fear to exist, then why should we fear the future?...

Let us embrace with confidence and determination the republican ideals and the Portugal of the future shall be a Portugal of hope...

I end by thanking God. the family and the Country where I was born!...

Long live PORTUGAL!...