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

[Michel Bauwens]

Dear Miguel,

this is a heartening message, and I have seen your name around in forwarding
material on p2p quite a few times,

is it possible to republish your letter here on the p2p blog?

Michel

On Mon, Mar 14, 2011 at 12:20 AM, Miguel Afonso Caetano <
miguel.a.caetano at gmail.com> wrote:

> 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
>
> http://remixtures.com
> http://twitter.com/remixtures
> http://friendfeed.com/remixtures
> https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100000686403651
>
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