Portuguese Communist Party leader speaks about upcoming election while in Paris

Crowd participating in the June 6th mobilization of the
Communist Party to launch the ongoing election campaign

 Adrien Welsh

“Eles comem tudo e não deixam nada/ They eat everything and leave nothing” says the song by Zeca Afonso. The singer-songwriter also wrote “Grândola Vila Morena”, which became an anthem during the Portuguese April Revolution. These words are probably the best description of the situation the people of Portugal are currently living in. The title of this song is “Os Vampiros/ The Vampires”, referring at the time it was written to the capitalists who kept Portugal under the rule of a fascist dictatorship until 1974.

Although the country was able to overthrow the Estado Novo regime and adopt one of the most progressive constitutions in Europe (thanks largely to the Communists), Portugal, along with Greece, is one of the European countries most affected by austerity programs imposed by the Troika. The European Union, the European Central Bank and the International Monetary Fund are the new vampires who “eat everything but don’t leave anything” for the people.

More than 128,000 people from Portugal chose to leave their country in 2013, and their number keeps increasing year after year. More than 1.5 million Portuguese have decided to live in France. That is about 15% of the total population currently living inside Portugal.

Struggle heats up in Portugal

The Central Committee (of the Communist Party of Portugal) cannot fail to stress as a significant aspect of the evolution of the national political situation, the magnitude and historical significance of last 11 February demonstration, at the Terreiro do Paço Square, in Lisbon. A demonstration that is an unequivocal expression of the increasing dissatisfaction with the present course of the country and a clear sign of the significant erosion of the social base of support of the government. A demonstration that represents a new phase in the struggle against the right-wing policy in Portugal.... At a time when the ruinous consequences for the country and its development brought by the application of the Pact of Aggression emerge clearly, the struggle for its rejection constitutes a national imperative, a patriotic objective indispensable to defend the dignity and living conditions of the Portuguese and national sovereignty.


Read the full statement here.