On 23–24 April 2026, Lisbon hosted “Unarchiving Democracy: Youth, Post-Colonial Memory and the Portuguese Democratic Path”, bringing together participants to engage with democratic memory through personal testimonies, expert contributions and historically significant sites. Voices such as Aurora Rodrigues, Susanne Sellnar and Maria Inácia Rezola, alongside discussions led by Luís Loureiro de Amorim and others, connected lived experience with broader reflections on dictatorship, democracy and colonial legacies. The event highlighted that democratic memory is shaped through active engagement, critical dialogue and the continuous re-examination of the past.

A dynamic workshop in Leiria explored how historical archives can be reinterpreted to challenge racism today, bringing together an international group of participants to connect past narratives with present social realities.

Portugal’s contribution draws on the country’s peaceful democratic transition and the end of its colonial empire. Through engaging with historical archives, testimonies and memory practices, participants explore both dominant and marginalised narratives of Portugal’s recent past—from resistance to dictatorship and struggles for rights to the complex legacies of colonialism and post-colonial migration.

By linking these historical experiences to contemporary challenges such as structural racism, social exclusion and the rise of far-right narratives, the Portuguese Local Path uses a participatory approach known as “unarchiving democracy”. Archives become living civic spaces for dialogue and reflection, encouraging participants to see democracy as a shared, ongoing responsibility rather than a closed chapter of history.