Rui Cunha Viana’s Audio Message

The Lisboner Rui Cunha Viana settled in Montreal with his wife Maria de Lourdes and their three children in 1968. There he became the president of the progressive Movimento Democrático Português (MDP) and the director of the newspaper Luso-Canadiano, which made him a prominent member of the anti-Estado Novo opposition in Canada and in the transnational “external front.” Along with his anti-fascist activism and commitment to social justice, Rui’s main passion was writing. Along with writing for the Luso-Canadiano and other organs of the Portuguese opposition in exile, Rui also wrote theatre plays and the lyrics for an operetta composed and performed by members of the MDP and the Viana family. During his first years in Canada, Rui and his family occasionally recorded audio messages on a tape recorder to send to his father, Augusto, who lived in Lisbon. In this message, Rui and Maria de Lourdes talk about one of his plays, his writing, how much they missed home, and how they came to appreciate it deeply after leaving it.