Podcast
Divided between Political Science and Environmental Engineering, Margarida Valença didn’t take long to realize that her path lay elsewhere. From early curiosity to the first party disappointments, through journalism based on values, she is the guest of this episode of O Tal Podcast, where she talks about politics, religion, concerns and the importance of questioning certainties. Discover your story here
Political Science or Environmental Engineering? Divided between the two degrees, Margarida Valença only needed three months to discard the second option. Despite her interest in Biology, Chemistry or Physics, the guest on this episode of “O Tal Podcast” says that the course did not spark her passion. “I left and went looking for a job for Amnesty International in ‘face-to-face’, which are those people who are on the street and talk to people to attract donors”. The experience, he says, brought him good conversations, and skills that he sees as valuable for journalism, an activity that became a path during his studies in Political Science.
Born curious, Margarida has been looking for answers to multiple concerns for a long time.
“I went to a convent school from the first to the fourth year. It was a very important driver for me to start questioning the world.”
From the outset, the journalist notes that when she started studying at a non-Catholic school, she was “stunned when she realized that, after all, people didn’t all believe in God”.
Did she find ‘permission’ there to free herself from religious beliefs?
“I feel like there are a lot of things to learn about religions, and I try to be a person who seeks out. I really like the principles of Hinduism, for example. It’s a religion that can find validity in all religions.”
The questions are accentuated in politics, a topic to which she has always been exposed at home, and which she sought to deepen with party connections.
“I wanted to join the Socialist Youth. I wanted to be involved in some way, I didn’t really know how. I thought there was a set of values there that I identified with.”
A year after moving forward, Margarida retreated, feeling that “I was going to a lot of events, but I wasn’t doing anything concrete”. Disillusionment did not demobilize her, but rather redirected her to Livre. This time, however, it was journalistic and party practices that proved to be conflicting.
“Even if she’s not in the politics section, and going to parliament, she’s everywhere.”
The finding does not, however, fuel claims of neutrality. “I think that a journalist is not a person who should be disconnected from opinions, nor from doing journalism with values”.
Idealist by nature, Margarida emphasizes that when she decided to embark on a journey into the world of social communication, it was with the aim of doing things in line with what she idealizes.
The same impulse guided the party experience, from which several lessons were drawn.
On the one hand, the journalist observes that “a party is made up of a lot of toxicity, of all the discussion, exchange, conflict”. On the other hand, Margarida suggests that parties do “a lot of reflection” on the way they reach people, while she herself ponders her reflections.
“An exercise I’ve been doing lately is writing on the computer, sometimes for an hour, to understand what I think and feel. Because sometimes it’s a confusing thing, when we’re immersed, and around us many people have a lot of certainties.”
At the opposite end of this amalgam of certainties, the journalist remembers how she began to question what she herself believed in.
“I started reading things by more liberal authors and more Marxist authors, and trying to fit in.” With what impact?
Listen to the full episode here.
is a specialist in Education and Social Intervention. She works as an educator, trainer and speaker, with more than 20 years of experience in Portugal, England and Angola.
is the founder of the network and author of the series of children’s books ‘Força Africana’. She is also the presenter of the TV program “Rumos”, broadcast on RTP África.
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