TheRedAnarchist23
9th April 2013, 23:47
Welcome to the Portugal thread! Where I post information about the sovereign Portuguese Republic!
Introduction
The Portuguese Repoublic encompases continental Portugal and the autonomous regions of the Azores and Madeira.
The capital of Portugal is Lisboa, it is the largest and most populated city of the nation.
Portugal is a parliamentarist democratic republic.
Our president is Anibal Cavaco Silva, and our prime minister is Passos Coelho.
Our assembly of the republic is composed of one chamber with 230 seats. It is a big building with a relatively small open area in front of it. This makes it a great place for demonstrations.
The government is elected every four years, and the president is elected in every five years. The seats in the assembly of the republic are distributed using the D'Hondt method (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/D%27Hondt_method). (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/D%27Hondt_method)
Geography
Continental Portugal is in the southeastern tip of the european continent, just west of Spain.
It has a mediterranean climate, where the temperatures often reach 40ºC during the Summer, and 10ºC in the winter.
Continental Portugal is divided into north and south by the river Tejo. The north is mostly composed of mountains, and it is more green than the south. The south is mostly composed of hills, except for the region of Alentejo, which is the most flat region of the country, and also the most yellow region in the country.
Even though Lisboa is situated north of the Tejo, it is considered to be in the south part of the country, this is probably related to the differences in accent between the north and the south.
The most populous areas of the continental Portugal are the coast. The interior of the country is underdeveloped and it has the highest crime rate.
Lisboa is the largest and most populated city in the country, with a population of 500 000 people. The district of Lisboa is also the most populated, with about 2 000 000 people.
History
Portugal declared its independance from the Kingdom of Léon and Castilla in 1139, and was rekognised by the king of Léon and Castilla as an independant kingdom in 1143.
After conquering the lost christian lands from the Arabs, in a period known as the "Reconquista" (reconquest), Portugal had nowhere else to go. It was surrounded by Spain, so it had no more room to conquer by land. And so the portuguese decided to begin exploring the seas, in search for good trade. In this period of discovery, Portugal would discover the archipelagoes of the Azores, Madeira, and Cabo Verde, colonize Angola, Moçambique, and Brazil, and discover the way to India around Africa.
This was the only period in portuguese history where the country was relatively well.
The heirless king of Portugal decided to go on a mad crusade in the east, in 1578, and never returned. The legitimate heir to the throne of Portugal was now the king of Spain, because of the way the royal families of Portugal and Spain related. So the king of Spain was now also the king of Portugal. He decided to create an Iberian Union, where Portugal and Spain would be separate countries with the same king. Eventualy Portugal was absorbed into Spain, and lost a lot of its power.
In 1640 there was a coup which restored the independance of Portugal.
In the 1800s Portugal was a mere puppet of the UK, and so had to participate in its wars. This resulted in the invasion of Portugal by Napoleon, where the royal family feld to Brazil. In the end the french were kicked out of Portugal, and Brazil was given independence.
In 1828 there was a succession crisis. One of the prentenders to the throne wanted to continue the absolute monarchy, so his suporters were called the absolutists, and the other pretender wanted to create a constitutional monarchy, so his supporters were called the liberals. In the end the liberals won, and there was constitutional monarchy in Portugal.
In the very early 1900s, the people lost hope in the monarchy, which had only brought them to misery. In 1908, the king and heir prince are shot by two gunmen. In 1910 there is a revolution that ends the monarchy. Thus began a very unstable period in portguese history known as the First Republic. In the 16 years that the first republic lasted there were 7 parliaments, 8 presidents, 39 governments. In this period nationalism began to grow. In 1926 there was a military coup that ended the first republic, and began the period known as the military dictatorship. In 1933, with the creation of a new constitution, and Salazar's rise to power as prime minister, there began the period known as "Estado Novo" (new state), which was a fascist regime.
In 1974 there was a military coup, and subsequent revolution, which ended fascism in Portugal. Thus the third portuguese republic was formed as a parliamentarist republic. There were attempts to create socialism in Portugal, but these failed, and with the big state propaganda working against the socialists, the vulnerable portuguese people, who had never lived in a "democratic" republic before, did not see the need for socialism. Today the revolution of 1974 is still seen as a failed socialist revolution.
Politics
There are five large parties in Portugal:
PS - Partido Socialista (socialist party), who are mostly social-democrats, pro-troika, center-left. The only ones who call them left-wing are the rightist parties.
PSD - Partido Social-Democrata (social-democratic party), who are mostly neo-liberals, pro-troika, center-right. They are one of the two rightist parties of Portugal.
CDS-PP - Centro democrático social - partido popular (democratic social center - people's party), who are mostly conservates, pro-troika, rightists. They the most rightist party in portuguese politics. They always coalition with the PSD.
PCP - Partido Comunista Português (portuguese communist party), who are democratic socialists, anti-troika, leftists. They are the biggest leftist party in portuguese politics. They call themselves marxist-leninists, but their politics do not go beyond democratic socialism. They advocate for the end of rightist policy in Portugal, and support the workers' movement. They are somewhat influencial, but not as much as the PS.
BE - Bloco de Esquerda (left-bloc), who are democratic socialists, anti-troika, leftists. They are the other big leftist party in Portugal. Their politics are not as extreme as the ones of the PCP, but they are willing to cooperate, and even coalition with the PCP if asked.
These five parties are the ones who have seats in the Assembly. There are more parties, but they don't get results above 1% in elections, with the exception of the PCTP-MRPP (portuguese workers communist party - reorganised movement of the party of the proletariat), who are maoists, and have a bit above 1% votes in elections.
Here is the seat destribution in the Assembly of the Republic:
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/b6/Parliament_2011-2015.png
PS - pink
PSD - orange
CDS - blue
PCP - red (and green because of an ecologist party who coalitions with them)
BE - dark red
The PCP runs for elections coalitioning with an ecologist party, who have 2 seats in the assembly because of it. Their coalition is called CDU.
Since the PSD and the CDS coalition, they have absolute majority in parliament, and can thus aprove any measure they want, even if the other parties all vote against. The only way their laws cannot be aproved is if the president vetoes them, or sends them to the constitutional court, where they will be either aproved or not aproved by judges.
The problem is the president was part of the PSD, and has pro-troika politics. He will never veto anything from the PSD.
There are two big worker's unions in Portugal, the CGTP and the UGT. The UGT (general workers union) are known as traitors for agreeing with the measures of the troika. The CGTP (general confederation of portuguese workers) are the main workers union, who organise many demonstrations and strikes. In the great demonstration of 2 of March, which was organised by the people, not the CGTP, 1,5 million people attended (out of 10 million).
The CGTP has much more support and power than the UGT, but the UGT is in favour of the PS and the government, so they have the support of the capitalist media.
There is also a new socialist movement growing called the MAS (alternative socialist movement), who are actual marxist-leninists who split from the BE. They attend the demonstrations, but they have no real power.
In portuguese demonstrations there is not nearly as much violence as in Greece. The only place where there is violence is in front of the assembly of the republic. In the last demonstration there, the people charged the police guarding the assembly, but did not manage to break them. Then there were about 20 people throwing rocks at the police. Sometimes firecrackers are used by protestors, but never molotov cocktails.
The people begin to see the need to protest, especialy after 2 of March.
The old people are the majority in portuguese population. They decide the elections. Unfortunately many old people are extremely influenceable, and will only vote for PS or PSD. This does not mean all old people are like that, I have seen many in demonstrations.
Since the revolution of 1974 (because before that you could not say it, it was censored), we know we are in crisis. This time they say it is the debt. The PSD blames the PS's social-democratic spending, while they were in government, for the debt. The debt is the excusse they give to make their cuts. They say we made the debt and that we must pay it, and that not paying it is "following the easy path". When the PS was in power, the PSD said the debt had to by payed, while the PS maintained that the debt had to be managed. The old people thought the debt had to be payed, and so they voted for PSD. The PSD shows their gratitude to the old people by cutting their pensions.
The strongest left-wing movement is the one associated to the PCP, and their youth organisation, the JCP. The CGTP also has the capacity to mobilise many people to demonstrations. The anarchists are a noticeable presence in Portugal, but we have no organisations beside the AIT, who do not make themselves be seen. It is like the AIT tries to hide from people, instead of showing itself.
Today, because of the troika and their colaborators, the people live in poverty. Our real unemplyment rate is above 20%, and many people are in underemployment. The minimum wage is only of about 400€, which is not enough to pay for all the bills and food. People who graduate from university cannot find work, and those who can recieve a crappy wage which is not enough for anything, so they must live with their parents. No worker today can hope to buy a house.
The nationalists are way weaker than any of the other movements. Anywhere you see a nationalist phrase or symbol, you need only to wait for a few days to see it painted over and the word "ANTIFA" appear next to it. The nationalists are much less organised than the anarchists.
There is, however, much room for nationalism to grow in Portugal. There are many leftist nationalists today, and as the movements begin to grow more radical, the right will be more nationalistic and will atract those leftist nationalists to it.
Introduction
The Portuguese Repoublic encompases continental Portugal and the autonomous regions of the Azores and Madeira.
The capital of Portugal is Lisboa, it is the largest and most populated city of the nation.
Portugal is a parliamentarist democratic republic.
Our president is Anibal Cavaco Silva, and our prime minister is Passos Coelho.
Our assembly of the republic is composed of one chamber with 230 seats. It is a big building with a relatively small open area in front of it. This makes it a great place for demonstrations.
The government is elected every four years, and the president is elected in every five years. The seats in the assembly of the republic are distributed using the D'Hondt method (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/D%27Hondt_method). (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/D%27Hondt_method)
Geography
Continental Portugal is in the southeastern tip of the european continent, just west of Spain.
It has a mediterranean climate, where the temperatures often reach 40ºC during the Summer, and 10ºC in the winter.
Continental Portugal is divided into north and south by the river Tejo. The north is mostly composed of mountains, and it is more green than the south. The south is mostly composed of hills, except for the region of Alentejo, which is the most flat region of the country, and also the most yellow region in the country.
Even though Lisboa is situated north of the Tejo, it is considered to be in the south part of the country, this is probably related to the differences in accent between the north and the south.
The most populous areas of the continental Portugal are the coast. The interior of the country is underdeveloped and it has the highest crime rate.
Lisboa is the largest and most populated city in the country, with a population of 500 000 people. The district of Lisboa is also the most populated, with about 2 000 000 people.
History
Portugal declared its independance from the Kingdom of Léon and Castilla in 1139, and was rekognised by the king of Léon and Castilla as an independant kingdom in 1143.
After conquering the lost christian lands from the Arabs, in a period known as the "Reconquista" (reconquest), Portugal had nowhere else to go. It was surrounded by Spain, so it had no more room to conquer by land. And so the portuguese decided to begin exploring the seas, in search for good trade. In this period of discovery, Portugal would discover the archipelagoes of the Azores, Madeira, and Cabo Verde, colonize Angola, Moçambique, and Brazil, and discover the way to India around Africa.
This was the only period in portuguese history where the country was relatively well.
The heirless king of Portugal decided to go on a mad crusade in the east, in 1578, and never returned. The legitimate heir to the throne of Portugal was now the king of Spain, because of the way the royal families of Portugal and Spain related. So the king of Spain was now also the king of Portugal. He decided to create an Iberian Union, where Portugal and Spain would be separate countries with the same king. Eventualy Portugal was absorbed into Spain, and lost a lot of its power.
In 1640 there was a coup which restored the independance of Portugal.
In the 1800s Portugal was a mere puppet of the UK, and so had to participate in its wars. This resulted in the invasion of Portugal by Napoleon, where the royal family feld to Brazil. In the end the french were kicked out of Portugal, and Brazil was given independence.
In 1828 there was a succession crisis. One of the prentenders to the throne wanted to continue the absolute monarchy, so his suporters were called the absolutists, and the other pretender wanted to create a constitutional monarchy, so his supporters were called the liberals. In the end the liberals won, and there was constitutional monarchy in Portugal.
In the very early 1900s, the people lost hope in the monarchy, which had only brought them to misery. In 1908, the king and heir prince are shot by two gunmen. In 1910 there is a revolution that ends the monarchy. Thus began a very unstable period in portguese history known as the First Republic. In the 16 years that the first republic lasted there were 7 parliaments, 8 presidents, 39 governments. In this period nationalism began to grow. In 1926 there was a military coup that ended the first republic, and began the period known as the military dictatorship. In 1933, with the creation of a new constitution, and Salazar's rise to power as prime minister, there began the period known as "Estado Novo" (new state), which was a fascist regime.
In 1974 there was a military coup, and subsequent revolution, which ended fascism in Portugal. Thus the third portuguese republic was formed as a parliamentarist republic. There were attempts to create socialism in Portugal, but these failed, and with the big state propaganda working against the socialists, the vulnerable portuguese people, who had never lived in a "democratic" republic before, did not see the need for socialism. Today the revolution of 1974 is still seen as a failed socialist revolution.
Politics
There are five large parties in Portugal:
PS - Partido Socialista (socialist party), who are mostly social-democrats, pro-troika, center-left. The only ones who call them left-wing are the rightist parties.
PSD - Partido Social-Democrata (social-democratic party), who are mostly neo-liberals, pro-troika, center-right. They are one of the two rightist parties of Portugal.
CDS-PP - Centro democrático social - partido popular (democratic social center - people's party), who are mostly conservates, pro-troika, rightists. They the most rightist party in portuguese politics. They always coalition with the PSD.
PCP - Partido Comunista Português (portuguese communist party), who are democratic socialists, anti-troika, leftists. They are the biggest leftist party in portuguese politics. They call themselves marxist-leninists, but their politics do not go beyond democratic socialism. They advocate for the end of rightist policy in Portugal, and support the workers' movement. They are somewhat influencial, but not as much as the PS.
BE - Bloco de Esquerda (left-bloc), who are democratic socialists, anti-troika, leftists. They are the other big leftist party in Portugal. Their politics are not as extreme as the ones of the PCP, but they are willing to cooperate, and even coalition with the PCP if asked.
These five parties are the ones who have seats in the Assembly. There are more parties, but they don't get results above 1% in elections, with the exception of the PCTP-MRPP (portuguese workers communist party - reorganised movement of the party of the proletariat), who are maoists, and have a bit above 1% votes in elections.
Here is the seat destribution in the Assembly of the Republic:
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/b6/Parliament_2011-2015.png
PS - pink
PSD - orange
CDS - blue
PCP - red (and green because of an ecologist party who coalitions with them)
BE - dark red
The PCP runs for elections coalitioning with an ecologist party, who have 2 seats in the assembly because of it. Their coalition is called CDU.
Since the PSD and the CDS coalition, they have absolute majority in parliament, and can thus aprove any measure they want, even if the other parties all vote against. The only way their laws cannot be aproved is if the president vetoes them, or sends them to the constitutional court, where they will be either aproved or not aproved by judges.
The problem is the president was part of the PSD, and has pro-troika politics. He will never veto anything from the PSD.
There are two big worker's unions in Portugal, the CGTP and the UGT. The UGT (general workers union) are known as traitors for agreeing with the measures of the troika. The CGTP (general confederation of portuguese workers) are the main workers union, who organise many demonstrations and strikes. In the great demonstration of 2 of March, which was organised by the people, not the CGTP, 1,5 million people attended (out of 10 million).
The CGTP has much more support and power than the UGT, but the UGT is in favour of the PS and the government, so they have the support of the capitalist media.
There is also a new socialist movement growing called the MAS (alternative socialist movement), who are actual marxist-leninists who split from the BE. They attend the demonstrations, but they have no real power.
In portuguese demonstrations there is not nearly as much violence as in Greece. The only place where there is violence is in front of the assembly of the republic. In the last demonstration there, the people charged the police guarding the assembly, but did not manage to break them. Then there were about 20 people throwing rocks at the police. Sometimes firecrackers are used by protestors, but never molotov cocktails.
The people begin to see the need to protest, especialy after 2 of March.
The old people are the majority in portuguese population. They decide the elections. Unfortunately many old people are extremely influenceable, and will only vote for PS or PSD. This does not mean all old people are like that, I have seen many in demonstrations.
Since the revolution of 1974 (because before that you could not say it, it was censored), we know we are in crisis. This time they say it is the debt. The PSD blames the PS's social-democratic spending, while they were in government, for the debt. The debt is the excusse they give to make their cuts. They say we made the debt and that we must pay it, and that not paying it is "following the easy path". When the PS was in power, the PSD said the debt had to by payed, while the PS maintained that the debt had to be managed. The old people thought the debt had to be payed, and so they voted for PSD. The PSD shows their gratitude to the old people by cutting their pensions.
The strongest left-wing movement is the one associated to the PCP, and their youth organisation, the JCP. The CGTP also has the capacity to mobilise many people to demonstrations. The anarchists are a noticeable presence in Portugal, but we have no organisations beside the AIT, who do not make themselves be seen. It is like the AIT tries to hide from people, instead of showing itself.
Today, because of the troika and their colaborators, the people live in poverty. Our real unemplyment rate is above 20%, and many people are in underemployment. The minimum wage is only of about 400€, which is not enough to pay for all the bills and food. People who graduate from university cannot find work, and those who can recieve a crappy wage which is not enough for anything, so they must live with their parents. No worker today can hope to buy a house.
The nationalists are way weaker than any of the other movements. Anywhere you see a nationalist phrase or symbol, you need only to wait for a few days to see it painted over and the word "ANTIFA" appear next to it. The nationalists are much less organised than the anarchists.
There is, however, much room for nationalism to grow in Portugal. There are many leftist nationalists today, and as the movements begin to grow more radical, the right will be more nationalistic and will atract those leftist nationalists to it.