“Comrades, just one more week remains. Let us raise our heads and do what needs to be done with great strength, but also with all the tenderness you can muster. Each and every one of you, each and every one of us,” called out the deputy during an address at the Bouça Residents Association in Porto.
Marisa Matias remarked that the country is living in “a moment of urgency,” where everyone is needed to engage in a “difficult struggle” against ongoing inequalities, emphasizing that the solution to the nation’s problems “does not lie in hatred, division, aggression, or attacking the poorest.”
The challenges in people’s lives, she argues, “are not exacerbated” because “there are individuals in our country who build our houses, produce our food, catch the fish we eat, care for our elderly, and do not speak Portuguese,” in a bid to counter anti-immigration rhetoric.
The former presidential candidate from 2016 and 2021 further asserted that people’s lives “are not more difficult because there are trans individuals who want to use a certain restroom, nor because there are those who identify with a different pronoun,” or because “there are people with pink or purple hair or who wear lace or sheer clothing with the complete freedom everyone should have.”
“Our lives are more challenging because this increasing difficulty serves the interests of the wealthiest,” she critiqued.
“To the growing attacks on those who have less, we respond with empathy from here. To hatred against immigrants, LGBTI individuals, people with disabilities, racialized individuals, and increasingly against free women, we respond with solidarity and a flower in hand. To all, we respond with rights. We respond with the future. We respond with a better life,” she emphasized.
The beginning of the former MEP’s speech was marked by an alert concerning the situation in Gaza, with Marisa Matias highlighting that Israel “continues to have the backing of many governments, including the Portuguese.”
“One day there will be an investigation into the role of European governments in this genocide, but on that day, it will be recorded who never remained silent. Yes, Palestine will prevail, sooner or later, Palestine will prevail,” she insisted.
The BE launched a new type of campaign action today, a sort of rally in the form of a cultural festivity, set to be replicated in Lisbon on Sunday. At the Bouça Residents Association in Porto, various booths featuring food, art, and traditional games were set up.
On the day of a derby that could determine the winner of the national football championship between Benfica and Sporting, a television was set up in the adjacent café for viewing the match, where Mariana Mortágua joined in.
Moments before the speeches, former BE national coordinator and MEP Catarina Martins highlighted the difficulties facing culture in the country and called for more investment. Wearing a scarf symbolizing the Palestinian cause, a Keffiyeh, she also drew attention to the situation in Gaza.
This action included several prominent BE figures, such as founder Francisco Louçã, who is also a candidate in this legislative election for Braga, and former deputies José Manuel Pureza, Moisés Ferreira, and Filipe Pedro Soares, who was also the parliamentary leader.
In the last legislative elections in March of last year, BE elected five deputies, two from Porto: Marisa Matias and José Soeiro. This time, Marisa Matias once again leads the list for the district, followed by Adriano Campos in second place and Isabel Pires in third. The BE elected its first representative from Porto in 2002, three years after its founding.
[Updated at 7:09 PM]
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