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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 moz-do-not-send="true"
href="mailto:miguel.a.caetano@gmail.com">miguel.a.caetano@gmail.com</a>></span>
wrote:<br>
<blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin: 0pt 0pt 0pt
0.8ex; border-left: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204);
padding-left: 1ex;">
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 moz-do-not-send="true"
href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2011/03/12/AR2011031202958.html"
target="_blank">http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2011/03/12/AR2011031202958.html</a><br>
<a moz-do-not-send="true"
href="http://www.hindustantimes.com/Massive-rallies-in-Portugal-as-more-austerity-planned/Article1-672787.aspx"
target="_blank">http://www.hindustantimes.com/Massive-rallies-in-Portugal-as-more-austerity-planned/Article1-672787.aspx</a><br>
<br>
Spanish newspapers El País and El Mundo also mentioned the
rally:<br>
<br>
<a moz-do-not-send="true"
href="http://www.elpais.com/articulo/internacional/Decenas/miles/portugueses/manifiestan/precariedad/mayor/concentracion/margen/partidos/elpepuint/20110312elpepuint_18/Tes"
target="_blank">http://www.elpais.com/articulo/internacional/Decenas/miles/portugueses/manifiestan/precariedad/mayor/concentracion/margen/partidos/elpepuint/20110312elpepuint_18/Tes</a><br>
<a moz-do-not-send="true"
href="http://www.elmundo.es/elmundo/2011/03/12/internacional/1299954717.html"
target="_blank">http://www.elmundo.es/elmundo/2011/03/12/internacional/1299954717.html</a><br>
<br>
Some photos and videos:<br>
<br>
<a moz-do-not-send="true"
href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/bloco_de_esquerda/sets/72157626125803349/show/"
target="_blank">http://www.flickr.com/photos/bloco_de_esquerda/sets/72157626125803349/show/</a><br>
<a moz-do-not-send="true"
href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q7PpsTOqYLA"
target="_blank">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 naïve 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>
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</blockquote>
</div>
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</blockquote>
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