However much propaganda, deceit and announcements there may be, the truth is that Portugal is no better off and life for the majority is worse.
Rising prices and the cost of living, low wages and pensions, the deterioration of public services, and difficult lives in stark contrast to the record profits of economic groups and multinationals – this is the real Country.
Almost three months after the storms that ravaged the Country and destroyed the lives and holdings of thousands of people, life is worse for those who are desperate for the support that is always promised but which stubbornly fails to materialise.
It was all going to be quick, the support was going to arrive immediately, this time it was going to happen, but just as with the forest fires, there were many promises, yet the reality is the same as ever: waiting and despairing, and once again, the people and the local authorities left to fend for themselves.
Thousands of homes in need of repair, hundreds of businesses struggling to resume operations, roads and paths impassable and without conditions, infrastructure and equipment requiring urgent investment.
Economic groups are seeking to shirk their responsibilities, insurance companies have responded late and in a limited manner, and the reality is that, almost three months on, power and communications have still not been restored everywhere.
Life is harder for those relying on the National Health Service.
April 1st. – seems like a hoax, but it is true, a truth that has been going on for far too many years.
At the Cacém Healthcare Centre, at 7 am, hundreds of people are queuing.
The first ones arrived the day before, in an attempt to get a ticket.
The few who managed to get one will have an appointment in the next three months; everyone else, if they wish and are still able to, should return on July 1st. to try their luck again.
There is a shortage of doctors, nurses and healthcare technicians in the National Health Service, and babies continue to be born in ambulances because services have been shut down.
Life is harder for those waiting for appointments or surgery, and for the thousands who still do not have a family doctor.
Life is becoming increasingly difficult for those who can no longer afford the cost of medicines or treatments, and for those who have to take out loans to deal with a health problem.
Life is worse for all those left to foot the bill for the war.
For the war of aggression waged by the US and Israel against Iran, which the PSD, CDS, Chega and IL have supported from the outset and into which they have dragged Portugal by loyally turning Lages into a base for a criminal war
The PSD, CDS, Chega and IL – who support the war – are therefore also responsible for the sharp and rapid rise in the cost of living, in housing, food, energy and cooking gas, and for all the consequences this has on everyone’s lives.
A litre of diesel now costs 50 cents more in Portugal – a brutal increase, and as always, a very rapid one.
An increase that the vast majority of workers, farmers, business owners and the general public are feeling the pinch of like never before, whilst there are those who are making millions from speculative margins – margins that the Government, but also Chega and IL, never want to touch.
And they may well all try now to brush the dust off their coats, but they cannot escape their choices and responsibilities, and they can be sure that they will be judged by all those who are always left to foot the bill for their decisions
If only they had the courage not to drag Portugal into this and to condemn the war; if only they had the courage to assert Portugal as a sovereign Country committed to peace; if only they had the courage to stand up to those who profit from the war; if only they had the courage to take measures to keep prices in check – then today’s reality would not be the same.
They talk, they promise and they make announcements, but deep down what they are really doing is looking after the lives and the wheeling and dealings of the rich and powerful, those who think they have Portugal in their hands, yes, those very people, who live in the shadow and at the expense of public resources, tax benefits and exemptions, subsidies and the favours of a State they so apparently contest, yet cannot do without; for that dozen or so economic groups that raked in 10 billion euros in profits last year and for those who revolve in their orbit, the Country is indeed better off, but they always want more.
Hence the determination to impose a labour package that burdens those who work and are already facing difficulties today, at the outset with access to a home to live in.
They want a new labour package that retains all the negative aspects that already exist today and changes in the legislation for the worse.
The workers, the people and youth have put up with a great deal, but they will not tolerate everything and will not accept even greater precariousness, even more deregulation of working hours, or further attacks on their rights and wages.
There is a growing sense in society of a demand for change towards progress, rights, social justice, peace and a fair life; this is the path that must be taken, and it is to this that the PCP is committed.