“At the White House, we have a ‘Trumpist’ far-right government. In São Bento, we have a ‘Rampismo’ government. Luís [Montenegro] has been working for 600 days to normalize far-right politics in Portugal. He attacks the security of the home, the salary, the school, and the hospital,” criticized the Bloco de Esquerda member expected to replace Mariana Mortágua in Parliament at the end of the year.
Fabian Figueiredo promised to battle against “the slope into which Portuguese politics has transformed”, stating that “the future does not have to be a fright.”
“At this convention, we recognize what we need to do better, what we did wrong, but we will hold our heads high. We will leave this convention to elevate politics in Portugal, to build unity in the general strike, to ensure that in Portugal we discuss what matters, the salary, the home, the school, so that the left wins the street, the voice, the conscience, and the hearts of the Portuguese people,” he said.
Another former parliamentary leader who spoke in the afternoon at the major BE meeting was Pedro Filipe Soares, who argued that the mobilization against the labor legislation proposed by the government “changed the political debate.”
“André Ventura may try to make posters, talk about burqas, even walk naked through Chiado, but now he no longer pulls the general strike from the center of the debate,” he said, noting that this shows that when “topics that reach the social majority” are discussed, the BE can “have social support.”
According to the Bloco member, during the troika period, “the country took to the streets because the Bloco moved,” asserting that “this party that some say is moribund made a difference in people’s lives.”
“To those who stubbornly want to call us moribund and dead, we are here to say now that we have unraveled their tricks, now that we know who even the communication media bosses that pamper the far-right are, we will not let go of them and are here to give more space to the left in the country, because this left also depends on the Bloco de Esquerda,” he promised.
José Soeiro, former deputy and current leadership member, stated that the BE should leverage the general strike scheduled for December 11th as momentum.
“The big challenge is continuity, is not only to seize the opportune moment of the strike but to be capable of an intervention that surpasses the hit and run, that is inscribed over time beyond militant zapping or media gaps,” he appealed.
For this to happen, Soeiro warned of the need to “overcome the operational pitfalls” that the BE “has maintained” and “correct mistakes.”
Addressing José Manuel Pureza, who is expected to assume the role of coordinator on Sunday, Soeiro praised his “sensitive and ecumenical intelligence.”
“We will help, we shall be more, I know well,” he concluded.
Earlier, João Curvêlo, a Bloco candidate for leadership, also acknowledged errors and cautioned that “a left closed in on itself is little more than a self-help group.”
Additionally, Miguel Cardina, a leadership member, had called for “more internal breathing” and described Pureza as “the patient architect of the BE.”
