(Excerpts)
We would like to begin by greeting all the militants and sympathizers of the Party, all democrats, all men, women and youth who, through their effort, creativity and work, can be justly proud of having been the great builders and creators of another edition of the “Avante!” Festival, - the great festival of the communists, a unique festival of the Portuguese democracy that we helped to conquer and defend inch by inch, a festival of the youth, a magnificent festival of art and culture, a great festival where brotherhood and tolerance are expressed and where are affirmed the great humanist causes of freedom, democracy and socialism and the ideals and convictions of a party entirely devoted to them, our Party, the Portuguese Communist Party.
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A year and a half of regression
After a year and a half of Government by the PSD and CDS-PP coalition led by Durão Barroso, there cannot be the least doubt on the profoundly wrong, unfair and devastating character of the policy and action of this government.
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The true and rigorous portrait that this year and a half of governing by PSD and CDS-PP gives us is not only – and this merely would be motive enough for condemnation – the application of a vast set of measures that are unfair, serious and offensive to the interests and living conditions of the population.
But above all, the portrait of a government which, at the same time, carried out a brutal and shameless global offensive, from the furious policy of dilapidation of public property to attacks against essential elements of political democracy, from the destruction and privatisation of the public systems of social security and health to the liquidation of other public services, from the very mischaracterization of a public administration worthy of the name to the rabid and unparalleled aggression against the rights of the workers and their representative organisations through the labour package, - is engaged in the destruction of important advancements, privileges and conquests that the Portuguese achieved during the last three
decades. In short, it is engaged in a revengeful squaring of accounts with the 25th. April, its values, heritage and the best hopes that at the right time it let to blossom in our fatherland.
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30 years after the 25th. April, Portugal continues distant from the levels of some European countries but now, with iys government, the time has finally come.
(…) most of the things that the present government says are lacking are exactly those that, at different times, the previous PSD governments, namely those by Cavaco Silva, proclaimed to have done and managed, from Portugal in “the front bunch”, to “Portugal of success”, and Portugal
“ which was in fashion”.
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(…) it is not the fault of the 25th. of April, but perhaps in great measure because (…) in 27 years of constitutional governments, the PSD was 18
years in the government of the country, first in alliance with CDS, then allied with PS, later alone and now once again allied with CDS.
The country is not PSD’s and CDS-PP’s clientele
Also during this summer, while the social conditions of many Portuguese were worsening, while many workers went on vacations without knowing if they had their jobs waiting, while unemployment and labour precariousness continued to spread, the government materialized, to improve its image, a propaganda campaign ending in Oporto. (…) A government which has given the working country a regressive labour code, the liquidation of the universal social security, a diminution of real wages, and, a short while ago, tentatively tried to manipulate the minimum wage, mistakes PSD’s clientele for the nation that works and suffers the daily difficulties of a policy of social injustice.
Faced (…) with a demonstration by workers about to loose their jobs and wages, Durão Barroso, (…) in a typical posture of a recycled leftist,
commented: “This is not the time for class warfare in the industries …”.
We know that this government would like to see the workers surrender, renounce, abstain from protesting against a wrong and unfair policy. But the workers and the populations do not remain quiet nor lower their arms in the presence of injustices and liquidation of rights.
It is time for the Prime Minister to acknowledge that the Portuguese and the workers have rights enshrined in the Constitution and in law, conquered with the 25th. April.
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The Prime Minister cannot judge the Nation through the profits of the banks and the bankers, the oligarchy and the PSD’s clienteles who benefit from his policy, while the workers and the middle classes tighten the belt.
(...) lulled with the propaganda campaign, while the land was already burning, the Prime Minister had time for a Council of Ministers in Oporto, where he announced old and irrelevant measures to face unemployment.
It was only four days later that he realized that the land was burning, and only on the following Sunday he discovered that the situation was out of control.
(…) Durão Barroso, as Prime Minister, is not responsible for the carelessness of the PS and PSD governments that preceded him in managing the
forest policy nor for the climatic conditions, but he is responsible for not having taken measures approved by the Parliament, he is responsible for the budget cuts which affected the actions of combat, prevention and vigilance. (…) Expressing our entire and deep solidarity with all those affected
by the forest fires, from this rostrum of the “Avante!” Festival, we want to publicly guarantee that, on our part, we shall do our utmost to see the populations duly compensated and to put into practice a new forest policy, based upon legislation already approved by a wide consensus, and the State intervening and assuming its responsibilities.
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Also during this period, the (…) Defence Minister, who does not solve any problem concerning his portfolio (…) accomplished two unprecedented
facts: the resignation of the Army Chief-of-Staff, who declared a loss of confidence in the Defence Minister, and a solidarity dinner attended by the previous holders of the post. As the PCP has said, this Defence Minister is a discredit to the Armed Forces and the country and a factor of instability in the military institution. Let us hope that the President of the Republic, as Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces, puts an end to these situations and activities.
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Contrarily to what the Prime Minister says, this government has great responsibilities in the serious economic and financial situation the country finds itself, and is particularly responsible for the deepening of crisis and the successive delays in the economic recovery. The policy of concentration of wealth and of a blind budgetary contraction and privilege to the financial and speculative activities, led the country into recession and is turning the country backward and not modernizing it as the government affirms with demagoguery.
We reaffirm: contrarily to Spain and Ireland, as Durão Barroso said while in opposition, instead of approaching, Portugal diverts from the European average. It is about time the government joins its voice to that of countries like France and Germany and demand a suspension of the Stability Pact. The serious economic situation, together with the tragedy of the forest fires, demands exceptional measures and supplementary measures of investment and support to the populations, which do not fit in with the Stability Pact. And warrant added and significant measures of support to Portugal from the European Union, well above the Solidarity Fund. It is also necessary that, at least, the expenses on investment and the
expenses on the support to the populations and municipalities most affected by the fires do not count for the deficit of the Stability Pact, given its exceptional character and dimension. Three or four decimal points do not hurt the financial “orthodoxy” of the “stupid” Stability Pact. Besides
the deficit, besides its control through manoeuvres and sale of property, there is the combat against recession, which is to say, the combat against unemployment and bankruptcies.
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This is a government that (…) wants to change the sick pay, to carry out the assault on minimum wage, on the rights of trade unions and workers’
committees, and wants to approve in a hurry the supplementary legislation to the infamous Labour Code, which penalizes the workers and the young generations. This is a government that in social security is guided by the interests of the private insurance companies. (…)
We are convinced that the workers and their organisations will not stand idly or renounce in face of this offensive against hard won rights. The struggle is the way. The struggle is a demand.
From here we wish to reaffirm to the Portuguese workers, to their Trade Union Central CGTP-IN, to the workers committees and social movements that the PCP will be at their side in all combats, all struggles, with their just aspirations and rights.
This is a government that wants more and more State for the great private interests and less State to serve the users. What is at stake in the so-called reform of Public Administration is the privatization of public functions and services. What is at stake is the subordination of the general interest in relation to the private interest, and whose negative examples were seen in the recent blackouts in New York, in the bankruptcy of British rail (…)
The Prime Minister, by affirming that he is going to transfer ownership of what he calls the State’s “accessory functions”, announced his joining a program of belated thatcherism, whose disgraceful consequences to the users and the public in general are well known today.
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The PCP stands by an efficient and efficacious Public Administration, and reaffirms its solidarity and support to the struggle of the workers for a democratic Public Administration, at the service of the people and the country.
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(…) Durão and Portas have to be held responsible politically and ethically, for their policy of concentration of wealth and pauperism of the working masses.
This is, in fact, a government that can boast of having enabled the highest rates of profit by financial and banking capital (51 banks increased in this first semester their profits by 3,2 % and already have government’s promise of new tax exemptions), of having undertaken the most significant reductions of real wages and the highest increase in unemployment, mainly affecting the youth, young women, and the numbers of unemployment of university graduates continue to rise. We are also convinced that the class associations, the workers in general, the youth and the JCP, (Portuguese Communist Youth) will not refrain from combating this policy firmly and with determination.
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This is also the government that has filled the ears of the Portuguese with propaganda affirming that, now, Justice is equal for all because it investigates and accuses both a public figure or a common citizen.
But where are the lawsuits concerning money laundering, the privatisations, and great economic power? A public figure and economic power do not mean the same.
The judicial system has class distortions that have been long identified, and can be seen in the social composition of the criminal population and in the scandalous and very convenient “prescriptions”.
And the government persists in the objective of a greater control over the magistratures and criminal investigation (…) just as it continues to under finance and to promote the privatisation of Justice (…)
On our part, we are and shall be against this policy and always demand that the investigations go all the way, that all justice is done, whoever is hurt.
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This is, in short, a right-wing government, reactionary, that sinks the country, a government that offends the rights of the workers and of women, whom we greet for their struggle for social, sexual and reproductive rights and for their intervention in equality. A government that has a policy of social regression, a policy that mutilates democracy and the Constitution of the Republic in all spheres of national life. And this is a central issue, which has to be present in the intervention and in the convergence and unity in action, of all democratic forces. (…)
From here we renew the affirmation of our deep engagement in the advancement of a convergence among all forces opposing the government (…)
In this last year and a half, on our part, we do not despise any opportunity to progress in this direction, but truth demands that one should say that the complicity of PS with the right, in the laws on political parties and their financing, showed that on many matters the PS did not yet draw the right conclusions from the wrong options that marked its governing.
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The situation is not solved by cabinet shuffles, with the substitution of a minister, as defended by the PS. A tyre with a manufacturing flaw is not corrected by retreading. The issue is the global policy that has led the country into recession and compromises its future. (…) It is necessary to put an end to this reactionary policy, of backwardness and regression.
The central issue is that the country urgently needs a different policy.
(…) On our part, we would like to make it quite clear that we work and struggle with conviction and assumingly so that, with the increase of discontent and popular struggle and within the framework of the normal functioning of the democratic regime and its institutions, this government is defeated and substituted as quickly as possible and as early as possible.
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For an Europe of social progress, peace and cooperation
The importance of our qualified and highly meaningful intervention in the European Parliament is all the more increased, as we are entering a phase in which they, quietly, aim to impose on the country and the Portuguese, a so-called European Constitution, with the subordination of the Constitution of the Republic and when it is common knowledge that with the enlargement, if no changes are made in the set course, Portugal will be the country most harmed. So, it is time to remind that the elections for the European Parliament take place in July of next year, and that the disinterest of the workers and the men and women of the left in these elections would only help those who in Portugal and in Europe lead and impose right-wing policies.
The revision of the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) as well as the proposals for liberalisation of fishing in the access to our Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) have met, and continue to meet with our total rejection. (…)
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(…) we challenge the Prime Minister to speak with transparency on Portugal’s negotiating strategy concerning the negotiations that will take place during this month in Cancun, namely in relation to the liberalisation of textiles and clothing. It is necessary that the Portuguese get to know if the government has any strategy of its own or if it is purely and simply going to hand over the interests of Portugal to the negotiators of the European Union.
And later on do not tell us that Portugal can no longer do anything. What is at stake is too important to be carried on in the silence of the offices or
among the bureaucrats in Brussels.
We shall continue our combat, inside the European Parliament and out of it, with determination, together with other left and progressive forces, against the so-called democratic deficits, for the levelling on the top of the social conquests, for the materialization of the principle of “economic and social cohesion”, for a different course in European integration, for an Europe of peace, justice and social cooperation.
Another world is possible
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We are among those who affirm that another world is possible, not with a few retouches and a few trinkets on capitalism, but with social transformation, with socialism.
The shameful war in Iraq is a clear example of the aggressiveness of imperialism, of hypocrisy, of manipulation of information, of war, of conquest and occupation to put their hands on the oil and to domination over the region. But the occupation did not bring either peace or democracy. The violence and disorganisation are present in the daily lives of the Iraqi (…) confirming that a true solution for the future of Iraq calls for the end of foreign occupation and the establishment of the sovereignty of the Iraqi people.
Until now, neither Bush nor his partner Blair, with the tenebrous David Kelly issue on his hands, nor the Portuguese government have told us the whereabouts of those weapons of mass destruction, which were the main excuse for war. The Portuguese government echoed this gross lie and continues to owe explanations about those arms to the Portuguese and the country. We shall continue to demand the proofs and the explanations.
Despite the facts, the declarations of Paul Wolfowitz and Hans Blix on the falsification of the reports by the American and British secret services, the Portuguese government continues to escape its responsibilities and is willing to involve Portugal, even more, in this war of occupation, by sending National Republican Guard forces to Iraq. (…)
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The Prime Minister may aspire to the sublime honour of spending a week-end at the Bush ranch, just like those great democrats Aznar and Berlusconi, but he cannot compromise Portugal of April in an occupation of domination and plunder, nor condone an illegitimate war. (…) There is also no a posteriori decision by the UN to legitimise a preventive war, a war at the service of the interest of the oil companies and the Anglo-American imperialist domination.
From this rostrum we wish to express our solidarity to the peoples in struggle and a very solidary word to the martyred Palestinian people.
The PCP will continue to hold the government to account, to condemn terrorism and state terrorism, to condemn the occupation, the plunder of Iraq and imperialism, and to fight for peace, cooperation and sovereignty of the peoples.
The PCP- with the workers and the people
This has been a very demanding year for our Party. At the forefront of the combat against the right-wing offensive, with the confirmation of its coherence and determining role among the workers and the populations, our Party also did not forgo the conclusions of our National Meeting and of the National Conference, strengthening the Party’s own initiative and trying to answer the great concern of links to the concrete realities, the workers and the population in general.
We are today in a condition to affirm that we also attained the objective of recruiting two thousand new members till the Avante! Festival, most of them under 30 years, which proves the capacity of attraction to our ideals and project and the possibilities of increasing our influence among the youth.
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We keep the objective of reinforcing the Party’s organisation and intervention in the companies and workplaces, the increase of the influence among the working class and the workers and among other social strata.
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We are a great force that annoys because we intervene, denounce, show that there are alternatives, has no fear nor bows to the great money lords, that makes no pacts with the right-wing policy. That is why the PCP is the main target of the most reactionary forces. The attempts to weaken and liquidate us are continuous. But they will have no luck. Behold the example of this Festival. How many times had we to change sites, building everything anew so that it could be held, until we bought this land? Also in the Assembly of the Republic the right tried to hurt the Avante! Festival, beginning from 2005 on, through the Law on Party Financing (…) But to their regret the Avante! Festival will not only continue but will be the most important political and cultural event in our Country.
Also in relation to the Law on Political Parties, with the unacceptable complicity of the PS, they tried to hit the PCP and hurt the fundamental values of freedom of association and self-government by the parties, colliding with the, undisputed, consolidated and respected principles in the legal order after the 25th. April 1974.
We shall continue to demand the respect for the basic principle of respect for the sovereign will of the members of a party and to repudiate the imposition on other parties of “a single model” traced upon PSD’s and PS’ options.
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Let no one be deceived, we are the Portuguese Communist Party which from this magnificent Avante! Festival guarantees to all Portuguese men and women, the male and female workers, justly worried, angry and revolted with this situation, that it will do its utmost to defeat this government, it will do its utmost for the country to have a new policy, a left alternative at the service of a Portugal of progress and justice, a policy that answers the problems of the country, deepens democracy in all its aspects and defends national sovereignty and independence.
