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<DIV><FONT size=2 face=Arial>Why not in Spain?</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=2 face=Arial>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?</FONT></DIV>
<BLOCKQUOTE
style="BORDER-LEFT: #000000 2px solid; PADDING-LEFT: 5px; PADDING-RIGHT: 0px; MARGIN-LEFT: 5px; MARGIN-RIGHT: 0px">
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial">----- Original Message ----- </DIV>
<DIV
style="FONT: 10pt arial; BACKGROUND: #e4e4e4; font-color: black"><B>From:</B>
<A title=georgepapani@gmail.com href="mailto:georgepapani@gmail.com">George
Papanikolaou</A> </DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>To:</B> <A title=michelsub2004@gmail.com
href="mailto:michelsub2004@gmail.com">Michel Bauwens</A> </DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>Cc:</B> <A
title=p2p-foundation@lists.ourproject.org
href="mailto:p2p-foundation@lists.ourproject.org">P2P Foundation mailing
list</A> ; <A title=orsan@tie-netherlands.nl
href="mailto:orsan@tie-netherlands.nl">orsan@tie-netherlands.nl</A> </DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>Sent:</B> Monday, March 14, 2011 10:10
AM</DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>Subject:</B> Re: [P2P-F] Portugal is
awakening to the P2P ethos</DIV>
<DIV><BR></DIV>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. <BR><BR>George <BR><BR>Στις 14/03/2011 04:05 πμ, ο/η
Michel Bauwens έγραψε:
<BLOCKQUOTE
cite=mid:AANLkTimnfgfcwnEmQF0tpkVF++uTHEf03FBFCXZKT9pS@mail.gmail.com
type="cite">Dear Miguel,<BR><BR>this is a heartening message, and I have
seen your name around in forwarding material on p2p quite a few
times,<BR><BR>is it possible to republish your letter here on the p2p
blog?<BR><BR>Michel<BR><BR>
<DIV class=gmail_quote>On Mon, Mar 14, 2011 at 12:20 AM, Miguel Afonso
Caetano <SPAN dir=ltr><<A href="mailto:miguel.a.caetano@gmail.com"
moz-do-not-send="true">miguel.a.caetano@gmail.com</A>></SPAN> wrote:<BR>
<BLOCKQUOTE
style="BORDER-LEFT: rgb(204,204,204) 1px solid; MARGIN: 0pt 0pt 0pt 0.8ex; PADDING-LEFT: 1ex"
class=gmail_quote>Greeting, dear all from Portugal. I know haven't
participated in any<BR>way in this list yet but the fact is that generally
there is not much<BR>happening in a true P2P-sense around here for me to
contribute<BR>anything of relevance to the list. Until yesterday. I
thought that my<BR>fellow citizens were generally extremely apathetic,
individualistic<BR>and subservient. But yesterday this changed with the
occurence of a<BR>mass demonstration against precariousness and
unemployment that<BR>gathered almost 300,000 people in Lisbon's biggest
avenue. Read the<BR>Washington Post and Reuters' reports here:<BR><BR><A
href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2011/03/12/AR2011031202958.html"
target=_blank
moz-do-not-send="true">http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2011/03/12/AR2011031202958.html</A><BR><A
href="http://www.hindustantimes.com/Massive-rallies-in-Portugal-as-more-austerity-planned/Article1-672787.aspx"
target=_blank
moz-do-not-send="true">http://www.hindustantimes.com/Massive-rallies-in-Portugal-as-more-austerity-planned/Article1-672787.aspx</A><BR><BR>Spanish
newspapers El Pa�s and El Mundo also mentioned the rally:<BR><BR><A
href="http://www.elpais.com/articulo/internacional/Decenas/miles/portugueses/manifiestan/precariedad/mayor/concentracion/margen/partidos/elpepuint/20110312elpepuint_18/Tes"
target=_blank
moz-do-not-send="true">http://www.elpais.com/articulo/internacional/Decenas/miles/portugueses/manifiestan/precariedad/mayor/concentracion/margen/partidos/elpepuint/20110312elpepuint_18/Tes</A><BR><A
href="http://www.elmundo.es/elmundo/2011/03/12/internacional/1299954717.html"
target=_blank
moz-do-not-send="true">http://www.elmundo.es/elmundo/2011/03/12/internacional/1299954717.html</A><BR><BR>Some
photos and videos:<BR><BR><A
href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/bloco_de_esquerda/sets/72157626125803349/show/"
target=_blank
moz-do-not-send="true">http://www.flickr.com/photos/bloco_de_esquerda/sets/72157626125803349/show/</A><BR><A
href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q7PpsTOqYLA" target=_blank
moz-do-not-send="true">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q7PpsTOqYLA</A><BR><BR>It
was fabulous, it was huge! Never in my 35-years of existence in<BR>this
country ever had I seen something so spontaneous,<BR>non-hierarchical,
bottom-up and leaderless as this demonstration.<BR>Traditionally, all
major "civic" events in Portugal have been<BR>organized by political
parties, unions or the Church with promotional<BR>aid by the mainstream
media.<BR><BR>Not this one. It all emerged from Facebook, in an almost
bottom-up<BR>fashion. Some left-wing parties have naturally tried to
co-opt the<BR>movement, associating themselves with the protesters,
providing<BR>propaganda, etc. But all-in-all it was a unique moment. I
sincerely<BR>hope this can be the start of something really big, inclusive
and<BR>participative :) Civil society around here is still very
incipient.<BR>Since April 25 of 1974, The State has gorged all the
economy's<BR>resources and now that it is buried in debts, the biggest
opposition<BR>party wants to privatize everything and sell all the assets
that<BR>weren't already sold to the huge corporations who have profited
from<BR>privileged ties with the current ruling government by way
of<BR>public-private partnerships to fund the construction of
numerous<BR>highways, bridges or high-speed trains. With the
enormous<BR>consolidation of the economy that has been going on, no wonder
people<BR>have no jobs or have to live in perpetual precariousness! And
still,<BR>there are some critics who dismiss the complains of the
protesters,<BR>accusing them of lack of self-esteem, spirit of
entrepreneurship or<BR>even of having chosen a wrong educational
path.<BR><BR>Sure, there was some recycling of the icons and ideologies of
the<BR>April Revolution, specifically its communist and marxist
roots:<BR>"comrades" here and there, lots of complains and no
consistent<BR>alternatives to present for the future of the society.
People still<BR>have a very na�ve perspective of the State's role. But to
sum up: I<BR>think this is the right moment to spread the P2P ethos here
in<BR>Portugal. Leaderless movements like this one are inherently open
and<BR>syncretic. Thus, they can be partially appropriated by
organized<BR>institutional agents; however they cannot be totally co-opted
by them.<BR>Otherwise, they become closed. I estimate that there will be
even more<BR>massive demonstrations before people realize they will need
to<BR>organize between themselves in practical terms in their daily
lives<BR>and not to expect everything from the
government.<BR><BR>Best,<BR><BR>--<BR>Miguel Caetano<BR><BR><A
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