Since March 12th, when large demonstrations spread throughout the country and brought over 500.000 people out on the streets of several cities, initial disbelief has turned to hope among activist groups.

Initially organized by a group of four friends - with different political views but a common idea that the situation had become unsustainable - the March 12th protest reached people across the political spectrum from left to right. It reached people who had never really thought about politics, and people who had become accustomed to not trusting political parties. Building up to the big demonstration day, the discussion on the Facebook page of the event showed that experienced activists and newcomers to political work had a great deal to share. Established movements and groups are mobilising opposition against austerity and cuts imposed by the government on one of the most socially unequal countries in the EU. Allied to this, thousands of people that have become aware of the importance of political mobilisation in their everyday lives are now beginning to act.

New movements and groups appear almost every week. The May Day movement — dedicated to organizing the annual protest march on May 1st — organised several assemblies leading up to this year’s event, and found that this year’s assemblies have been the biggest since the founding of the movement in 2007. In the build-up to May 1st the movement engaged in some spectacular happenings; activists enacted sending the IMF away at Lisbon airport the same day as the representatives arrived; they subsequently pretended to have been invited to the negotiations, and spread the news on some mainstream media and held a press conference at the end of the fake meeting. At this hoax event, they listed the progressive labour-related measures the IMF should have advocated in Portugal; fighting work precarity and illegal forms of work, investigating responsibility for the crisis and forcing those found responsible to pay for the losses, cutting the wages of millionaire managers and not the average workers’, as well as keeping the National Health Service untouched.

Two main groups organizing against precarity politics, and involved in the May Day movement, are Precários Inflexíveis and FERVE. They campaign against illegal employment practices, provide legal advice to precarious workers taking action against their employers and protect the worker’s anonymity - when needed - while taking the cases to the mainstream media. They have been working together with the organisers of March 12th to gather sufficient citizens’ signatures to present a Citizens’ Law Initiative (whenever a petition signed by more than 35.000 citizens is presented, it must be discussed and voted upon in Parliament. This initiative, if passed, will provide the authorities with the power to take direct legal action against employers whose workers are exploited through illegal forms of contract (fake green receipts — where the worker is presented as an independent worker; fake internships and so forth). Under current legislation, ACT — the legal authority for working conditions — investigates a company and produces a report, which can then be used by the worker to present a case in court. Evidently, precarious workers can rarely afford to pursue these cases in the courts as the labour laws, which would guarantee their contract, do not apply for them.

Since March, the demonstrations, protests and assemblies have multiplied. CGTP - the biggest unions’ confederation in Portugal - followed up the Workers’ Day march with a national demonstration on May 19th against the IMF’s measures. A demonstration was also held on May 15th, inspired by the Spanish “Democracia Real, Ya!” (Real Democracy, Now!) that has spread to several other countries. After May 19th, and for twelve days, this group occupied one of the central squares in Lisbon: Rossio, camping outside and leading daily popular assemblies. The camping ceased on May 30th, but general popular assemblies take place every Saturday. People with substantially different political views are now working in groups with common grounds. The most widespread feeling in Rossio during these last few weeks is that people don’t feel represented by the political system: while the reasons that lead to this feeling may be different, this very strong common idea has been the strength of the movement. Some focus on how the democratically elected government is in thrall to financial elites and bankers (or banksters). Others focus on the democratic deficit in the system political parties and elections.

This diversity of ideas and beliefs is the evident richness of this gathering, but also, obviously, a source of tension and conflict within it, leading to mutual accusations of manipulative intentions or desire for political control. It remains to be seen how these tensions will develop. Nevertheless, the movement has spread to other cities, and in Porto a key site of resistance have been established in the Fontinha main square.The group that organized the March 12th protest has established the M12M movement (http://movimento12m.wordpress.com/) as a platform for different protest groups. On an assembly on May 14th several new and informal protest groups came about, all of which identify with the original Manifesto of March 12th (http://geracaoenrascada.wordpress.com/manifesto/english/). In other ‘austerity’ countries, the working poor are designated as ‘thousand eurists’ — those who earn only 1000 euros a month. In Portugal they’re called the ‘five hundred-eurists’, a label that doesn’t even take into account that the minimum wage is even lower. To quote from what has become known as The Precarious Generation Manifesto (http://geracaoenrascada.wordpress.com/manifesto/english/):

We, unemployed, “five hundred-eurists” and other underpaid workers, disguised slaves, sub- and term-hired, fake independent workers, intermittent workers, trainees, scholarship holders, working students, students, mothers, fathers and sons of Portugal.

We, who have up to now been complacent with the conditions laid upon us, stand here, today, to contribute to a qualitative change in our country. We stand here, today, because we can no longer accept the situation that we have been dragged into. We stand here, today, because every day, we strive hard to be deemed worthy of a dignified future, with stability and safety in all areas of our lives.

We protest so that those responsible for our uncertain situation – politicians, employers, and ourselves – act together towards a rapid change in this reality that has become unsustainable.

In this spirit of resistance, anonymous, situationist actions are occurring. Empty road signs were procured in Lisbon, and appeared with IMF-style instructions on them. Debates, meetings and round-tables of all sorts have been happening nearly every day, some organised by ATTAC (mostly on alternative financial measures), Unipop (political systems and ideas, forms of activism, concepts and strategies), M12M and the April 25th Association (about deepening democracy, democratic models and societies, activism). Portugal has seen such rich mobilization on political and economical issues since 1975, a year after the Revolution, when on November 25th a counter coup was successful and put an end to the revolutionary process.

Allied to this, international awareness and solidarity are increasing, especially in Spain, Italy and Greece, and the police violence in Lisbon - and Barcelona before that – has been globally reported and demonstrations of solidarity have been made in several cities and countries. Within Portugal, mainstream media give little or no publicity to these events, except when they can show them to be associated with violence. Restricted levels of internet use mean that social networks, while important, cannot be relied upon for a broad mobilization. The extent of this restriction was thrown into sharp relief by the outcome of the elections on June 5th. Despite the growing awareness of how the problems faced by Portuguese society cannot be solved by more of the same, general anxiety resulted in the right and centre-right coalition coming to power, and pledging complete obedience to the European Commission, the IMF and the ECB.