The second programme in the series dedicated to the European Parliament focuses on Portugal. Our guide was Rui Tavares, a Portuguese politician and a Member of the European Parliament. He was elected in 2009 for the Left Bloc. In June 2011, Tavares became an independent within the The Greens European Free Alliance group. He is also a writer, an interpreter, a journalist and a blogger. In spite of spending most of his time in Brussels and Strassburg, where he is an activist fighting for tolerance and human rights, he is able to succinctly express what is happening in his homeland and why, for the first time in forty years, people have taken to the streets so as to peacefully express their dissatisfaction. He is of the opinion that the first victim of the crisis is culture, and thus artists. Rui Tavares started with the words: 'Dziekuje bardzo', meaning: 'Thank you very much', which he learnt in the European Parliament thanks to prof. J. Buzek, the former President of the European Parliament, who often repeated these words to other Euro Parliamentarians. When asked, why a person so deeply involved in culture decided to enter politics and to become a Euro Parliamentarian, he answered:
'I really like the Polish sociologist and philosopher, Zygmunt Bauman. He wrote a very interesting book some years ago, 'Legislators and Interpreters'. We have legislators, and we know them, these are typically members of parliament. I am more interested in the second part, regarding the interpreters. I think that it is important that intellectuals be involved in the world of politics. I think, that generally, it is important for everyone to be involved in that world. People nowadays are not involved enough in politics. They leave everything to the politicians, and then complain that things aren't the way they like. In my opinion, this is the wrong way about it. Each one of us should be politically active and also be conscious of one's mistakes and know how to correct them.'
How to take things into one's own hands? Like many other
EU countries, Portugal is going through difficult times and for this reason this is a topic which is of particular interest to the Portuguese.
Rui Tavares spoke of these problems: 'Portugal has become a victim of an experiment. I would say a perfect victim. Troika, meaning the presiding and future presidency, the Chairperson of the European Commission and The High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy together undertake all decisions as the Troika. They make recommendations regarding the economy, which are binding, but in truth are meaningless. You have to comply with them, but they do not lead to debt reduction because they suffocate the economy.
If the economy is suffocating, the inflows from taxation decrease. In turn, when the inflows from taxation decrease, the governments must raise taxes in order to fill the hole in their budgets. This is a vicious circle. And if some of the listeners want to say that this is due to corruption or not paying taxes, I will say-No! This is not true. That's not how it is. We pay our taxes, but the overall economic activity is decreasing.
How did the Portuguese citizens react to this difficult situation?
'The people did what they could, all by peaceful means. They took to the streets, demonstrated, wrote petitions to the parliament. They organised open debates. All this was done to find out more about the debt and its structure. I'm of the opinion, that the opposition in Portugal received a social mandate, but it seems not to have brought the desired results. Just recently a new report by the IMF has been published. It says the older generation in Portugal, is at higher risk of poverty than in other member states.
This means, that according to the IMF, the Portuguese pension system
is ineffective. And of course, that the pensions are too low, 200 to 300 Euro, and these are continuously being cut further.
Up to now, the Portuguese citizens have been quite patiently tolerating all this. There hasn't been any violence in the streets. The activities of the opposition have been peaceful. However, this is bound to change. All this reminds me of what prof. L.Kolakowski said about hope and hopelessness. I think the Polish people know this feeling of powerlessness from the communist days. We are experiencing this today, even though times are different, and more and more people are emigrating.'
This meeting, with Rui Tavares, was the entry point to further talks and meetings concerning topics such as the Lisbon manifestations. At that point, another one was being announced for the following day.
Adriana Bakowska, a Portuguese resident for the past 3 years, was a guest of the Channel 3 of the Portuguese Radio.
In her opinion, the most important problem of that country is the fact that the crisis has affected nearly everyone there. It is the main topic of discussion of the Portuguese during family and social meetings. Portugal at the moment is worse off than Poland.
The Portuguese have been spoiled by the former years of easy money from the EU, easy earnings and economic growth. And now, suddenly, this flow of money has been cut off. Now they must tighten their belts, they also stopped receiving the 14th salary. There are also cuts to unemployment benefits for the unemployed. After these first cuts, people took to the streets. This doesn't happen a lot in this country.
We have here two types of manifestations: those organised by the opposition and labour unions, as well as independent ones, for e.g. organised via facebook. The latter drawing record numbers of people. Sometimes it's like a big picnic.
Instead of a banner, I have with me a piece of paper- an invitation- for people who would like to understand what is really happening-says a participant of one such demonstration- it is the address of a website, which explains where the deregulation of the financial system came from. This manifestation won't change anything, but it shows how dissatisfied the society is, and the sentiment, that the more we save and sacrifice to pay off those debts, the more our economy is faltering.'
I don't think that our manifestations will likely turn into riots- says another participant of the manifestation- there's no need for that. Violence would detract from our rights and our arguments. The Portuguese, above all, are a peace loving nation.'
Gabriela Pienias, an artist from Katowice, came to Lisbon to study. She fell in love with the city and its people, so she decided to act. Social protests became a theme for a series of artworks. She portrays the main problems of modern Portugal. Problems connected with politics and the things that the Portuguese have to deal with on daily basis. Once finished, she presents her works in public space and invites passersby to comment...What has come of that?
'I was really hoping that people would start speaking of their problems. I thought that sometimes crises are also good, because if there were no crises, we wouldn't look at things critically. And if there is a crisis, then people start doing something. Thinking of their political and social situation.'
Francisco Tavares, not related to R.Tavares mentioned earlier, is an actor. However, in the Portuguese theatre not much is happening of late, there is no money for new, interesting shows and plays. For that reason, with his girlfriend, Gosia Satalecka, decided to open, right in the heart of Lisbon, a hostel. Each room is dedicated to a different painter. How did it come to this, that today, byt the river Tag, it's better to be a small entrepreneur than an artist? It's a business that works.
We try to find the answer together.
Artists in Portugal are completely state dependent in terms of financing their projects, and they were the first to experience the crisis, with the greatest cuts in budgets being the cuts to culture and arts.
We definitely need to complain less, cry less, and do more, irrespective of whether there is money or not. I know I need to start with myself', said Francisco Tavares.
In the second part of the programme, Rui Tavares spoke about why the Portuguese are leaving their country.
'People are voting with their feet and are leaving for Brazil or Angola...and these are people that we invested in. They were educated and qualified here.
Portugal was once on the number one position when it comes to the number of Ph.D.s, and these people are now everywhere except Portugal. All of this is causing a polarisation within the society. On the one hand we have the elderly who are a burden on the social system, because there aren't enough young, economically active citizens who would work for economic growth.
On the other hand, we have a generation of people in their middle age, with lower qualifications than those of the younger population. They are a part of this economically active group and we should ensure their education. But there isn't anyone here, who could achieve that in a country, which quite recently still was doing so well. Whose language is the 5th most popular in the world, and 3rd in Europe, right after English and Spanish. We are a very hospitable nation, we have no problem in receiving immigrants. There is no xenophobia to speak of and we're a safe country. We know how to receive and welcome people, and not how to throw them out.'
Rui Tavares also spoke of how the crisis touched culture.
'There are many problems, which are experienced for example by small publishing houses. Large publishing houses are focusing on winning other markets, especially in Brazil, Angola and Mozambique. Also theatre groups and film studios are fighting for survival. However, if one goes now to Lisbon, or to other cities, you will find that the world of culture is the only one that is trying to stand up to the crisis and give people hope.
Theatre groups now are forced to work in different conditions. They can't afford to rent stages, so they perform on the streets. They open independent bookstores, which are at the same time a venue for public debates. We are doing our best to try and support the Portuguese culture with EU funds- but it's not easy in these hard times.
