House of the Students of the Empire (CEI)

During the years of the Second World War, students from the colonies came together in “houses” of their own: the first, the House of the Students of Angola, was founded in Lisbon on 1 December 1943.⁵ The regime feared they would become breeding grounds for nationalism and merged them into one, under the authority of the Ministry of the Colonies and the sponsorship of the Portuguese Youth (Mocidade Portuguesa), to foster the spirit of “imperial unity”.¹ The House of the Students of the Empire was made official on 3 July 1944, on the proposal of the Minister of the Colonies, Vieira Machado; it later had branches in Coimbra and Porto.²³

The project failed almost at once. In 1945, at a general meeting at the Liceu de Camões, the members removed the board appointed by the ministry.⁵ Many joined the MUD Juvenil (Youth Movement of Democratic Unity) in 1946 and drew closer to the Portuguese Communist Party (PCP).¹ In 1952, with an elected board close to the MUD Juvenil and the PCP, and after the members of the India section refused to sign a motion supporting the Government against Nehru, the regime imposed on the House an administrative committee run by the Portuguese Youth, which lasted until 1957; another was appointed in December 1960.²

Amílcar Cabral and Luís Cabral, Agostinho Neto and Lúcio Lara, Marcelino dos Santos and Joaquim Chissano, Alda do Espírito Santo and Miguel Trovoada passed through here — founders and leaders of the liberation movements of Angola, Guinea and Cape Verde, Mozambique, and São Tomé and Príncipe.¹ The House also welcomed the writers Alda Lara, Orlanda Amarílis and Lilica Boal, and from the anti-colonial circle that grew up around it came the Mozambican Joana Simeão, of the Mozambique Liberation Front (FRELIMO).⁵⁴ Some of these students also met outside the House, at the Centre for African Studies.³

The House’s publications and its bulletins, Mensagem and Meridiano, lie at the origin of the African literatures in Portuguese: they published Viriato da Cruz, Luandino Vieira, Pepetela, José Craveirinha and Rui Knopfli.¹ The Mozambican poet Noémia de Sousa also published in Mensagem.⁷

During the 1962 academic crisis, the House joined the academic mourning strike (luto académico), its duplicating machines served the propaganda of the students’ associations and its premises hosted meetings of the RIA, the Inter-Association Meeting. On 28 May, a riot police lorry was photographed from the balcony.¹ Following a lead, the PIDE entered the building, seized files, books and magazines and questioned the board at length, starting with the president, the Angolan Carlos Ervedosa.²

In 1965, a year when censorship tightened, the Minister of National Education dissolved the House, on the pretext that it was not attached to any school. The PIDE questioned the board, moved into the buildings, confiscated files, books and furniture and removed everything that identified the association.² The closure came in September.³⁵ In 1992, when Jorge Sampaio was mayor of Lisbon, the City Council set a commemorative plaque into the pavement in front of the building. The building has been completely renovated and painted yellow.³