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

Mon Mar 14 10:31:56 CET 2011

Why not in Spain?
The situation is quite similar. Riots, social dissatisfaction, not creative solutions from the traditional Systems (political parties, trade Unions, etc.), apathy, young people just complaining. What is the point of no return?
  ----- Original Message ----- 
  From: George Papanikolaou 
  To: Michel Bauwens 
  Cc: P2P Foundation mailing list ; orsan at tie-netherlands.nl 
  Sent: Monday, March 14, 2011 10:10 AM
  Subject: Re: [P2P-F] Portugal is awakening to the P2P ethos

  The situation of Portuguese youth and economy are strikingly similar with the situation in Greece. Riots in Athens in December 2008 were the first mass mobilization of precarious educated young people. Although the recent decisions of the EU summit postponed the bankruptcy of the country, the economic receipt is not leading anywhere except from partly rescuing the establishment. As in Portugal precarious youth and unemployed are expected to lead any true reaction. 

  George 

  ???? 14/03/2011 04:05 ??, ?/? 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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