What is happening in my country is seriously worrying me and the fact that I currently live abroad does not and should not reduce in any way the impact the recent events have on my life. Portugal was never seen as a booming economy, as an exporter or goods, or as a technology and innovation hub. We have a fairly old fashioned economy, still very based in production of a few basic products but above all based on services.
I felt the need now to write about what is worrying me. I really don’t know right now what is going to happen in the near future, and that is what is worrying me. I am no psychic but most of the times one can predict what will happen in a country in the coming couple of years. In Portugal that is a very difficult hunch right now. Here in Brussels I have heard a lot of people in the past few years expressing concern about the economic situation in Portugal and what may happen to us – what they don’t know is that we have always been in a crisis! Since I remember I hear in the news that our economy is not doing very well and that we risk collapsing. Even after joining the EU, when we experienced a short but real economic boom, there were alarms about the lack of structural reforms and the cement-based economy. So this new “crisis” shouldn’t be new or alarming, just another one. But this time it feels different.
Greece and Ireland. I’m the first to admit I know nothing about economy or finance. I don’t know why the Greek economy collapsed or why the Irish had to be bailed-out. I am actually embarrassingly proud that my country was not the first to go down the drain, even the Celtic Tiger went down before we did! But it’s becoming very clear that is a matter of time until us too have to be rescued by the IMF and the EU. Again, I’m not sure about two things: rescued from what?! And rescued by whom?! The media at home don’t bother explaining what the loan packages would include, that’s too complicated, they focus their attention on the catchy titles of “IMF will own us” or “Portugal will be ruled from Brussels”, etc. People at home don’t seem to be that afraid of any international intervention, or at least not afraid of the consequences of it. It’s more a pride thing, no one likes having others coming and telling us how to do things!...
Yesterday there was a general strike in Portugal. According to Unions, 3 million people went on strike. I will not write now about my opinion on this strike or my position on the benefits of it. My point here is just one: shouldn’t there be political consequences from a general strike where 3 million out of 10 million protest against the government?! The government said last night that the numbers were fake – according to the government only 20% of people went on strike (quite different from the 80% put forward by Unions). What this tells me is that the government is lying. Really, 20%?! I can’t help but feel like these reactions are comparable to those of an authoritarian government where the leader gets elected by 98% of the population! The same day the strike against the proposed austerity plan was taking place, the government announced that the reductions of salaries would have one exception: companies where the majority stakeholder is the state! Please, don’t these people have ANY sense of reality? How can you ask all of the population to accept tax increases and wage reductions and then allow an exception for “yourself”?!? From a distance and from reading the news and following the statements of the prime-minister and his ministers I honestly get the feeling that it’s all a big joke. The government must be taking the piss!
The example came a couple of days ago from Ireland. The government announced the entrance in the country of international help (IMF+UE). Then it announced an austerity plan and budget that will make life much more difficult to the Irish population but that seems necessary. And then the government resigned. That is the only decent and honourable thing to do! The mistakes have been done, the solution, even if temporary has been found, now accept your responsibilities and resign! Allow the people to assess the government’s work and performance – reward it or punish it – by calling for elections. When 3 million people protest against a set of policies, against a certain political orientation, against the plans for the future, it seems obvious to me that people want change!! I’m not saying the opposition will do better, I’m not campaigning for any party, I want this to be clear. All I’m saying is that there should still exist honour and sense of responsibility in politics, that politicians have to be held accountable for their decisions and that ultimately the people must have a saying about their own future. Right now that is not the case in my country. The usual excuse to keep things as they are is that the markets need stability. Markets?! Stability?! 3 million people went on strike because of the current situation, I don’t want it to continue/stabilize! And neither do them!
Enough of using scapegoats, enough of coward attitudes. Portugal must change and must do it now! Portugal must take its future in its own hands! All we need is to believe more in ourselves, we can do it too, and I feel that moment is coming soon!
ANC, Brussels, 25/11/2010
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