[P2P-F] Portugal is awakening to the P2P ethos

[Miguel Afonso Caetano]

Greeting, dear all from Portugal. I know haven't participated in any
way in this list yet but the fact is that generally there is not much
happening in a true P2P-sense around here for me to contribute
anything of relevance to the list. Until yesterday. I thought that my
fellow citizens were generally extremely apathetic, individualistic
and subservient. But yesterday this changed with the occurence of a
mass demonstration against precariousness and unemployment that
gathered almost 300,000 people in Lisbon's biggest avenue. Read the
Washington Post and Reuters' reports here:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2011/03/12/AR2011031202958.html
http://www.hindustantimes.com/Massive-rallies-in-Portugal-as-more-austerity-planned/Article1-672787.aspx

Spanish newspapers El País and El Mundo also mentioned the rally:

http://www.elpais.com/articulo/internacional/Decenas/miles/portugueses/manifiestan/precariedad/mayor/concentracion/margen/partidos/elpepuint/20110312elpepuint_18/Tes
http://www.elmundo.es/elmundo/2011/03/12/internacional/1299954717.html

Some photos and videos:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/bloco_de_esquerda/sets/72157626125803349/show/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q7PpsTOqYLA

It was fabulous, it was huge! Never in my 35-years of existence in
this country ever had I seen something so spontaneous,
non-hierarchical, bottom-up and leaderless as this demonstration.
Traditionally, all major "civic" events in Portugal have been
organized by political parties, unions or the Church with promotional
aid by the mainstream media.

Not this one. It all emerged from Facebook, in an almost bottom-up
fashion. Some left-wing parties have naturally tried to co-opt the
movement, associating themselves with the protesters, providing
propaganda, etc. But all-in-all it was a unique moment. I sincerely
hope this can be the start of something really big, inclusive and
participative :) Civil society around here is still very incipient.
Since April 25 of 1974, The State has gorged all the economy's
resources and now that it is buried in debts, the biggest opposition
party wants to privatize everything and sell all the assets that
weren't already sold to the huge corporations who have profited from
privileged ties with the current ruling government by way of
public-private partnerships to fund the construction of numerous
highways, bridges or high-speed trains. With the enormous
consolidation of the economy that has been going on, no wonder people
have no jobs or have to live in perpetual precariousness! And still,
there are some critics who dismiss the complains of the protesters,
accusing them of lack of self-esteem, spirit of entrepreneurship or
even of having chosen a wrong educational path.

Sure, there was some recycling of the icons and ideologies of the
April Revolution, specifically its communist and marxist roots:
"comrades" here and there, lots of complains and no consistent
alternatives to present for the future of the society. People still
have a very naïve perspective of the State's role. But to sum up: I
think this is the right moment to spread the P2P ethos here in
Portugal. Leaderless movements like this one are inherently open and
syncretic. Thus, they can be partially appropriated by organized
institutional agents; however they cannot be totally co-opted by them.
Otherwise, they become closed. I estimate that there will be even more
massive demonstrations before people realize they will need to
organize between themselves in practical terms in their daily lives
and not to expect everything from the government.

Best,

-- 
Miguel Caetano

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