Os Espaços Entre Nós | The Spaces Between US - Photojournalist

Visitors take photos of a calvary composed of several illuminated granite crosses at the entrance of the village of Ludares during winter religious festivities in this Trás-os-Montes village in Portugal.

PERSONAL NOTES: Given the current times and my expectation of a strict separation between church and state, I have conflicting feelings about the role of religion in social affairs in Portugal. While on the one hand, I find the aesthetic and folkloric aspects of religious festivities in my country alluring, I can't help feeling threatened by the implicit prevalence of christian tradition as reference and a powerful mediator in the Portuguese social and political spheres.

Catholicism remains a strong social binding factor in Portugal and religiousness is a factor taken into consideration by a large part of the population when voting, being the two last presidents, of deep religious and conservative affiliation, an example.

Apart from this, religion and catholicism have traditionally been instruments of misogyny and patriarchy.

As an example, judicial authorities have, especially in cases of domestic and gender violence, resorted to religion as justification for light sentences given to the aggressors. An appeals court in Porto confirmed suspended sentences to an ex-husband and an ex-lover who teamed up to kidnapped and beat their ex-wife and lover with a nail-spiked club.The judges justified the ruling by stating that the two men were likely driven to assault the woman by the victim's adultery, that the Bible says that 'an adulteress should be punished with death’. “Adultery by a woman is a very serious attack on the honor and dignity of a man", the judges wrote of their ruling.

But this was not the first time that one of the judges made such a ruling. In the year prior to the case above, the male judge annulled a prison sentence in an assault case because the victim had committed adultery and so, according to the judge, lacked credibility.

As another example of religion's weigh in national issues, the church also continues to play one of the most important roles in the national social safety net through its charity Santa Casa da Misericórdia, a powerful role that, should belong to the state alone and be separated from a specific — in this case religious — group.

—THE SPACES BETWEEN US: Personal Notes On An Almost Peaceful Society —

[O ESPAÇO ENTRE NÓS: Um Relato Pessoal Sobre Um País Quase Pacífico]

PORTUGAL

Since the election of a socialist government in 2015 and until it's reelection in 2019, analysts had described how Portugal has been a somewhat rare oddity amidst Europe’s tilt to the right: contrary to the international trend and despite subtle unsettling winds blowing through its streets, Portugal has managed to remain politically moderate. The country was one of only a handful of European Union member countries without far-right representation in its national parliament.

Until it’s 2019 legislative elections, that is.

With the election of one MP of the nationalist-conservative xenophobic party “Chega!” (“Enough!”), this is the first time a far-right party garners representation in Portugal's parliament since the end of the Salazar's fascist dictatorship in 1974. Then the question being asked became: how did this happen?

Portugal had been listed by the Global Peace Index in 2019 as the 3rd most peaceful country in the world and has managed to stay mostly politically moderate. However, the reasons behind this may have more to do with an austerity wary population than with social tolerance. After years of painful liberal conservative-led economic austerity during the 2010-15 financial crisis, the Portuguese elected a socialist government in 2015. Despite this, Portugal is not immune to the international tilt to the far-right.

This is to say that whatever polarised feelings exist in other countries, and which have allowed the far-right to take root, they also exist in Portugal. The difference has been perhaps timing and a greater weariness of a return to not long gone economic austerity than of refugees, immigrants or minorities. In reality, the peaceful and warm Portugal of Instagram travel posts and glossy economic recovery articles coexists with a less visible country where deep seated discrimination exists, is personal and in most cases escapes institutional scrutiny, where violence is intimate and the distance between people and lack of compassion is palpable, hinting at burgeoning cracks: shop owners place ceramic frogs in their shops because it is believed Gypsies avoid frog images; landlords advertise properties as unavailable for residents and citizens of African and Brazilian origins; LGBTQ youth are targeted in violent attacks; women are killed by men in staggering numbers: violence against women reached unprecedented numbers last January, when 10 women were killed by men, a staggering rate for such a small country.

“The Spaces Between Us” is an essay shot over the years due to my observation that “peace” cannot simply mean the absence of warfare or the number of progressive laws as per the most liberal trends. What I seek to convey is that when it comes to interpersonal relations not institutionally mediated, the street in Portugal has yet to catch up. In it I express my worry that any society, even such a supposedly peaceful one like Portugal, bears in itself the dormant seeds for the resurgence of the far-right that, under the right conditions, can eventually take root. Not knowing which direction my country would follow at a historic crossroads for most countries, I felt the need to document the wind blowing in the streets in Portugal as it recovered from economic strife amidst an international appetite for the far-right.

“The Spaces Between Us” became especially relevant in the aftermath of Portugal’s 2019 legislative elections so as to understand Portugal beyond its surface and how the far-right finally managed to obtain parliament representation in a country that has somehow managed to keep itself moderate despite its numerous cracks and the international tilt to the right.

Sara, 28 y/o, pauses during her reading of a statement at a vigil organized by rights groups to show support for her after she suffered a violent homophobic attack in which she was severely injured. Porto, December 17, 2014

Just days before, at this same square and after a long night of work as bartender at a local pub in Porto (Portugal), Sara was beaten up by her taxi driver after she bid farewell to a girl friend with a kiss on her lips.

NOTES: People usually advise taking a taxi home at night so as to ensure security and so did Sara. Little did she know the danger she was trying to avoid was actually driving the taxi. Two other drivers waiting for customers witnessed the attack, did not intervene or helped Sara in the aftermath of the aggression. She was afterwards taken to a hospital by a emergency medical team.

Minority rights groups and progressive sections of the civil society showed solidarity. However, the general population either blamed the victim or questioned her credibility, among other similar reactions: "beating is too much, but she shouldn't have disrespected a working man by kissing another girl in such manner"; "she must have done something to deserve it, couldn't be just the kiss"; "if he beat her, he must have felt very offended, no man beats a woman like that without motive"; Apart from these, there was also the spreading of "theories" like one in which she is the driver's lover who wanted to wreck his family, leading him to “punish her”.

The normalisation of homophobia and transphobia are far from being a phenomenon characteristic of older generations or less educated segments of the population. According to a 2018 study by two Portuguese universities, three out of five students say they have heard homophobic comments from university professors.

Data from 2017 collected by non-profits indicates that out of 188 cases registered by victims, witnesses or support services, two were instances of extreme physical violence, three were sexual assaults, four were violent assaults.

The real numbers remain unknown. Many of the victims avoid filing a complaint for fear of reprisal by the aggressor, social stigmatisation, trauma or skepticism about authorities' ability to investigate complaints or suspected unwillingness to properly address complaints by LGBTQ.

Relatives, friends and residents of my home city of Vila Real gather for a vigil at the entrance to the building where Nélia Moniz (49yo), a well known beautician, lived and where her 14-year-old son found her dead from multiple stab wounds, along with the corpses of the two family dogs. The author of the crime was Nélia's former romantic partner Adolfo Pinto, who committed suicide after killing Nélia. Nélia was cherished by family, friends, neighbours and customers who attended the vigil in her memory. Vila Real, March 19, 2018

In January 2019 alone, ten women were killed by men — partners, ex partners, male family members —, a percentage higher, for example, than in Brazil. Some had repeatedly sought help and protection from police. Quoting data from the country's Directorate-General for Justice Policies in its 2018 report, Amnesty International revealed that the number of sentences in cases of domestic violence is residual when compared to the number of cases registered with the police. Courts in Portugal are notoriously lenient in their rulings in gender violence cases and even when there are clear warnings, authorities are consistently negligent in the protection of victims and prevention of such crimes. One example of judicial leniency was a case that made headlines after British tourist and survivor of rape while vacationing in Portugal, Kate Juby abdicated her anonymity in hopes of helping change the Portuguese legal system after seeing her attacker walk free from court laughing, with four-and-a-half year suspended sentence and ordered to pay 2000 Euros in compensation (which Kate donated to the Portuguese Association for Victim Support).

NOTES: One of the things that stood out to me the most in the events surrounding Nélia's killing and that, for me, mirrors a large part of my society's misguided priorities and that also shines a light onto the larger framing to Nélia's death, was shown in a part of her daughter's painful speech, addressing the people, mostly women, at the vigil.

Apart from thanking the presence of those at the vigil and making a heartfelt homage to her mother, her young daughter, in her early twenties, felt obliged, in face of rumours and reports by sensationalist press, to tearfully "set the record straight" about the nature of her deceased mother's relationship with the killer. Crying and visibly moved, she pleaded that her mother Nélia was not the clandestine mistress of the killer, as many claimed. Misogyny and a culture of sexism are so internalized and ingrained here in Portugal that it comes to the point that the daughter felt obliged to clarify that, even though the killer was in the process of divorcing his wife in Liechtenstein, he was in a legitimate and publicly known relationship with Nélia. This, because the girl was pressured by a public opinion that otherwise dictated that Nélia, her deceased mother, would have "had it coming" should she be a mistress, a "homewrecker".

After her speech some of the women rushed to the heartbroken girl to comfort her and reassure that despite gossip or whatever nature of the relationship, not her mother, nor anyone, is responsible for the killing, except for the killer. While she agreed, she said she was distraught about "the spreading of lies" and relentless gossiping about her mother's killing.

In similar circumstances and ten years prior to Nélia's killing, her killer's twin brother shot dead his soon to be divorced wife and then committed suicide back in 2008.

Nélia was the second woman killed in that week of 2018 in Portugal. Two days before her death, Vera Lopes (29yo), was stabbed 80 times by her male partner. From January 2018 until December 2018, 25 women were killed in Portugal by their current or former partners. Between 2004 and 2016, 526 women were victims of femicide in Portugal.

The result of one of the largest weapons seizures in the northern Portuguese region of Trás-os-Montes is displayed at the headquarters of the Judiciary Police of my home city of Vila Real. According to the Judiciary Police [PJ], the arsenal, enough to fill two trucks, was trafficked in the black market in the north of the country and the main destinations of this type of arms is generally petty and organised crime. The seizure was made in the context of ongoing investigations into other types of crimes, including several homicides in the region, where some of these weapons are believed to have been used. Vila Real April 7, 2016

NOTES: I've always asked myself what leads someone to kill another person. Not so much their personal or individual motives, but the more social aspects of the killing: what are the socially learned priorities that, under perceived or real threat, are so essential that lead a person to kill? Are we responsible?

Until 2017, firearms were the most common method in the killing of women. However, according to non-profit Women's Union Alternative and Response (UMAR), 2018's figures indicate an increase in the level of violence and suffering inflicted to victims in the moments before their deaths: "This year was the first year in which a firearm was used only in one situation while the other (killings) were all carried out by stabbing, choking. For the first time in 15 years, there is a more sporadic use of firearm in comparison to other methods, which are very brutal, like beatings, torture, which are extremely aggressive and brutal."

A butterfly rests on a tv screen where a news broadcast shows archive footage of Ana Paula Fidalgo [center], 39 years old, being interviewed for a morning show about her restaurant just little more than a year before being killed by her husband, also pictured being interviewed by her side [left].

A fruits and vegetables shop in Porto features, along its fruits, a clay frog (left) that, according to a recent popular belief, helps drive people of gypsy ethnicity away since, according to the belief, gypsies avoid figures of the frogs out of superstition. Porto, March 16 2016

NOTES: If on the one hand some of the shopkeepers, when asked about the reason for the practice admit that the clay figure is intended to drive away Roma people, on the other hand they reject the idea of being a racist initiative, claiming they are not racist: "I am not racist. But you know how they [gypsies] are ... ".

Following the increase in the number of frogs at the entrance to the shops, filmmaker Leonor Teles, of gypsy descent, made a documentary entitled "The Batrachian's Ballad", addressing the phenomenon. The documentary was internationally acclaimed, having won the Golden Bear at the Berlin International Film Festival. Following the success and related press about the documentary and the phenomenon that inspired it, sales of clay frogs increased exponentially and frogs continue to guard the entrances in many shops.

Today the Roma community remains one of the few whose demonization is accepted and propagated in the so-called educated society, which includes intellectuals, and where stereotypes about gypsies seen as thieves, violent, lazy, beggars and dangerous continue to be articulated and perpetuated. A case dating back to 2012 illustrates the irony of the issue: in the southern city of Beja a young Roma man went to a property run by police officers to search for a job during olive harvest and was shot in the face by one of the agents of the PSP.

While a man rests [center], another [left] sweeps and cleans up an open area in the center of the northern Portuguese city of Porto where three Romani families had been living for 6 months. Porto, Portugal 2012

According to some of the families' members, Portugal has been, so far, relatively welcoming, or at least not physically threatening, in contrast with other countries. They say police and people around do not harass them as long as they are not accused of stealing and that they are left to live in peace. The families say however that the community in general and other non-nomadic Romanian immigrants face suspicion and sometimes harassment under accusations of theft.

Recep Ibrahim, the elder of this makeshift hamlet, worries that other people, who may be mistaken as belonging to this three families, may steal and that this could damage the good relations he has with the few Portuguese people he knows and even mean harm and forced displacement to him and the three families. He says he has steered the three families with an iron fist when it comes to how to make a living, saying they must first work in the markets and if this is not enough, that they can resort to finding other works if available and, as a last resort, to begging, which he says as become more usual than he would like. He says that stealing is absolutely forbidden under his eye.

However and although starkly below the minimum wage, most members of these families work. They make around 10 euros a day working for the Portuguese Gypsy community in clothes markets in the region, loading and unloading goods and assisting in other chores. The children do not go to school and at times are out begging for money with their mothers or older siblings. A nearby church and it's priest usually provide some help to the families in more difficult occasions. Recep Ibrahim says he is very fond of the priest and enjoys talking to him.

The families have been in Portugal, in different locations, for six years and sometimes make a five days bus journey from Portugal to visit their families in Romania, at the other edge of Europe.

In Portugal, they barely take shelter from severe winter weather with just tents made of blankets, domestic refuse, canes and plastic bags. Without running water or other basic living facilities, facing extremely cold wet winters and severe exclusion and discrimination, they say that, for the moment, they still feel better off in Portugal than in Romania or other EU countries, away from physical harm.

A foreign Jewish resident in Portugal, who has had a few brushes with incidents of anti-Semitism in Portugal, highlights with a flashlight a wall with racist and xenophobic writings against Brazilians and Romanians as well as with a swastika in the building where the local finance office is located. Vila Real, March 27, 2018

PERSONAL NOTES: This was an unsettling sight for my partner, who is Jewish and the descendant of Holocaust victims, especially in close vicinity of a public office.

The writings and the swastika have continued there at least until 2019, in a place where dozens of people pass by on a daily basis on the way to the finance office. With a significant Brazilian and Romanian immigrant community in Portugal, the presence of these writings is especially offensive.

But honestly, I expect nothing from the far-right. On the other hand, my being a leftist, exposes me to other more "colloquial" forms of anti-semitism. It is not uncommon for me to hear "the Jews control the banks/the US/etc" and so on, on casual political conversations when people don't know that my partner is of Jewish origin. Another unsettling realisation is that these comments usually come from highly educated people who do not see this as anti-semitism but rather as a matter of fact/an "uncomfortable truth", etc. While most justify their attitude on Israel's occupation of Palestine, the anti-semitic tropes usually uttered are the same old ones from when Israel didn't even exist.

Other times these highly educated individuals claim that Israel/Israelis are "evil" without parallel despite anyone, who pays minimum critical attention to history and current news, knows that unfortunately the country holds no special ranking in such category and doesn't lack in company. But the one thing that exhausts me almost as much it shames me is my knee jerk reaction of clearing out that my partner is an anti-occupation activist when speaking to leftists, as if reinforcing the tropes by highlighting the exception.

Another common situation is being told that the "fact" that Jews are good with money and are very smart is a compliment.

In a statement to Lusa News Agency, Secretary of State for Citizenship and Equality Rosa Monteiro pointed out studies conducted by the European Social Survey - a transnational survey organization, of academic nature, of which Portugal is a part - that show that "Portugal has higher levels of racism than the European average". On the other hand, Rosa Monteiro also pointed out that in Portugal "there is no openly xenophobic discourse on the part, for example, of politicians, contrary to what happens in other countries". This is somewhat reflective of my experience. While there is hardly an overt expression of racism as policy in Portugal, racism still permeates most informal social interactions. This in turn has helped maintain harmful stereotypes that have prevented minority groups, especially the black and Roma communities, from moving up in the social, economic and political ladder.

A police officer is seen during a police escorted visit by EDP electricity company technicians to the "6 de Maio" neighbourhood to cut illegal electricity connections, the only source of electricity for residents. Amadora, February 19, 2015

PERSONAL NOTES: The "6 de Maio" is one of many informal neighbourhoods where refugees and immigrants from the formers Portuguese colonies settled after the country's decolonisation period. Resident families face constant threat of eviction and house demolitions.

The Portuguese black community, that originates from the Former Portuguese colonies, continues to be one of the most severely discriminated against in Portugal.

In its latest report for example, Amnesty International points to the reports of police brutality in the case of the 17 white police officers that went on trial accused of torture, kidnapping and fabrication of evidences against young blacks in the "Cova da Moura" neighbourhood, on the outskirts of Lisbon, in 2015. In May 2019 one officer was sentenced to 18th months jail time, seven others were handed suspended sentences after being found guilty of kidnapping and beating up six black youths. The nine others were acquitted. Racism charges were dropped by the court. Racism is not a prosecutable criminal offence in Portugal. Rights groups see these as lenient sentences, albeit unprecedented.

Manuel Morais, a police officer and long standing vice-president of the largest Police trade union in Portugal resigned after widespread calls for his resignation by other police officers after he acknowledged on tv that there is racism and xenophobia within the police.

However, this was not the first time Morais spoke of the subject. His master's degree in Anthropology, titled "Police Relations with Youth from Peripheral Neighborhoods", already presented his research on racism and xenophobia within Portuguese police. However, his statements on television, caused outrage among the police.

Meanwhile, the European Commission against Racism and Intolerance (ECRI), a body of the Council of Europe, presented a report on October 2018 which concluded that "the police [in Portugal] tolerates racism and that this hasn't been thoroughly investigated" and criticized the Portuguese State for "tolerating racism of the police".

The report also says the police in Portugal is "infiltrated" by elements who sympathise with hate speech, racist and homophobic speeches, expressing the fear that "some police officers sympathise with nationalist, extreme right and neo-Nazi groups. The European Commission recommended that an independent body be set up to investigate police violence and racism as it considers that the existing official bodies, which are supposed to investigate the complaints, are not independent.

One of forty participants in a march in homage to Portuguese fascist dictator Oliveira Salazar and organized by far-right movement New Social Order, waves a flag with the the deceased autocrat's image in front of the Portuguese parliament building in Lisbon, Portugal.

PERSONAL NOTES: While only a few dozens participated in the march, nostalgia for the fascist dictatorship lingers among sections of the population who do not necessarily identify with this particular brand of far-right and who seem themselves as moderate-right.

Contrary to the trend of the rest of Europe, far-right parties have remained almost residual in Portugal. On the one hand the resentment many feel towards the center-right for their austerity led government during the economic crisis in Portugal has lingered among the wider public. On the other, the constituencies targeted by more nationalist and far-right parties have remained loyal to the center-right due to conservatives tendency to adopt at least some of the most populist discourse that could otherwise lead some to veer to the far-right.

However, this might change. In a 2018 poll, 27% of those enquired say they would consider changing their vote for the far-right.

In January, Mário Machado, the leader of this ultra-right group who has a swastika tattooed on his harm, recently participated as a guest in a highly popular tv morning show to comment on whether "we need a new Salazar".

Machado, also the founder of a neonazi skinhead group in Portugal, served a total of 12 years prison sentence for inciting hatred and involvement in the racist murder of Cape Verdean Alcino Monteiro among other crimes.

A man climbs the stairs of the Lisbon subway towards a downtown square where the holiday that commemorates the peaceful revolution that overthrew the Portuguese fascist dictatorship of Oliveira Salazar in April 25th 1974. On the wall of the staircase a graffiti expresses rejection of new economic sacrifices required of the population during the years of the European economic crisis in Portugal, Greece, Spain and Ireland between about 2008 and 2014. 25 April 2012

NOTES: In 2012 many felt that the holiday, that commemorates the overthrowing of the dictatorship and implementation of democracy, had a bitter and somewhat ironic feel to it. The holiday was marked by protests against new austerity policies and what activists and analysts saw as a subsequent loss of sovereignty in favor of foreign creditors. With unemployment reaching 17.5% in Portugal and 26% in Greece, thus exceeding that of the United States during the Great Depression in the 1930s, Europe's southern countries experienced one of their greatest economic and social crises.

Everyone was depressed and deeply resentful. Walking in the streets and witnessing people's misery was painful. It is difficult to compose a complete picture of the social consequences of the years of austerity, one of the most difficult periods for the Portuguese population since it emerged from a fascist dictatorship in 1974. Due to the phenomenon of what is generally described here as "discrete poverty", an ethos imposed and interiorised in Portugal during one of the longest dictatorships in the world, as opposed to other countries affected by the crisis, personal and collective protests in Portugal against the government's management of the crisis remain relatively scarce despite the harsh economic difficulties experienced by the population.

One of the indicators that may help reveal the effects of austerity imposed in an already recessive economy was the increase in suicides that coincided with the period of economic crisis in the country. In 2016, according to data from the General Health Directorate Bureau (DGS), mortality by suicide was the highest recorded since 1989. The increase in unemployment, the repeated cuts in wages and pensions, and the loss of purchasing power are factors that can help explain the exponencial increase in cases of depression and suicide during the years of the economic crisis.

A person in situation of homelessness [center, barefoot], who wishes to remain anonymous, talks with charity volunteers after receiving a small meal. In addition to the meal, groups of volunteers like this one try to provide some emotional support and socialising. The population living in extreme poverty is very vulnerable and suffers from extreme social exclusion. Lisbon, September 21, 2012

NOTES: The economic crisis was a difficult time for both the country, collectively, but also for me individually. At that time I fell ill while working abroad. Having no medical coverage abroad, I had to return to Portugal to get treatment at the height of the crisis. During the 10 months I spent in Lisbon waiting for treatment I frantically searched for a job, only finding work after seven months in a customer service call center. During my time in Lisbon I looked to document the consequences of the crisis in Portugal. While accompanying volunteers, in their attempt to mitigate hunger and exclusion in the streets of Lisbon, I came to deeply understand how easy it is to find oneself isolated and homeless.

One of the specific things that I bitterly resent from that time was that even at the height of the economic crisis, even those who weren't in a much better economic situation, people would incur into generalisations about the homeless, claiming they were homeless due to drinking or laziness, thus implying extreme poverty is simply a matter of individual choice.

At that a time, unemployed and suffering from depression, it was my family who supported me. However, an unsettling feeling remained with me: had it not been for my family to help me out, I could have easily have been one of those living in the streets.

People going through hardships tend to isolate themselves out of depression, hopelessness and shame. The longer one remains isolated in a vulnerable situation the easier is to fall, unsupported and unnoticed, into indigence. Isolated and stunned, I understood that had I become homeless I would probably also end up drinking. Not out of a whim but because I don't feel especially stronger than the next person as to not engage in the few means of socialisation homeless people end up cultivating with the only people, apart from volunteers, that engage with them: other homeless people who are likely to drink to alleviate their pain. I understood that people's incapacity for empathy allowed them to generalize the reasons for homelessness in a kind of self fulfilled prophecy, without ever empathising or understanding the processes behind it. I still resent that time as it became clear to me that, within what I understood as my own society, and in situations of generalised crisis, most people will lack empathy and solidarity. This period caused a deep sense of social distrust in me that has been revived with the recent resurgence of neo-fascist movements across Europe. Should we be next in the wave of affected countries, the lack of solidarity and empathy among us that will allow for its resurgence, will be unsurprising to me.

It is estimated that there are around 4,400 homeless people in Portugal. Far from originating only in situations of economic hardship, the phenomenon of homeless people has multiple and varied causes ranging from personal and social crises, to illness, among many other situations. Eurostat data for 2017 indicate that although the European Union is one of the richest regions in the world, 117.5 million people, or 23.4% of the population, are at risk of poverty or social exclusion. In Portugal, one in four people live in poverty or social exclusion.

A pile of cardboards makes up the bed of a homeless person in the Portuguese capital. Lisbon. April 26, 2012

The economic crisis that was felt between 2009 and 2015 caused unprecedented levels of unemployment and widespread precariousness only seen in portugal before it emerged from the fascist dictatorship of António Oliveira Salazar in 1974. Many of the people affected ended up living in the streets.

At the same time, and since then, even the streets have become less and less accessible to the population. Public and commercial spaces are increasingly being repurposed to serve tourism as a way of stimulating the economy. However, the emergence of more and more expensive "gourmet" businesses catering to tourists, staffed by underpaid locals who cannot afford the services they promote, make them symbols and a symptom of a country rendered inaccessible to its own population.

While on the one hand the economy has recovered and is investing more and more in tourism, on the other, access to housing is increasingly at risk due to a growth in real estate speculation and investment in short rentals for tourists, which are much more profitable. With this pushing housing prices to soar means a that severe housing problem, fanned by low wages, has brought the economic crisis back for thousands of families.

NOTES: The economic crisis was a difficult time for both the country, collectively, but also for me individually. At that time I fell ill while working abroad. Having no medical coverage abroad, I had to return to Portugal to get treatment at the height of the crisis. During the 10 months I spent in Lisbon waiting for treatment I frantically searched for a job, only finding work after seven months in a customer service call center. During my time in Lisbon I looked to document the consequences of the crisis in Portugal. While accompanying volunteers, in their attempt to mitigate hunger and exclusion in the streets of Lisbon, I came to deeply understand how easy it is to find oneself isolated and homeless.

One of the specific things that I bitterly resent from that time was that even at the height of the economic crisis, even those who weren't in a much better economic situation, people would incur into generalisations about the homeless, claiming they were homeless due to drinking or laziness, thus implying extreme poverty is simply a matter of individual choice.

At that a time, unemployed and suffering from depression, it was my family who supported me. However, an unsettling feeling remained with me: had it not been for my family to help me out, I could have easily have been one of those living in the streets.

People going through hardships tend to isolate themselves out of depression, hopelessness and shame. The longer one remains isolated in a vulnerable situation the easier is to fall, unsupported and unnoticed, into indigence. Isolated and stunned, I understood that had I become homeless I would probably also end up drinking. Not out of a whim but because I don't feel especially stronger than the next person as to not engage in the few means of socialisation homeless people end up cultivating with the only people, apart from volunteers, that engage with them: other homeless people who are likely to drink to alleviate their pain. I understood that people's incapacity for empathy allowed them to generalize the reasons for homelessness in a kind of self fulfilled prophecy, without ever empathising or understanding the processes behind it. I still resent that time as it became clear to me that, within what I understood as my own society, and in situations of generalised crisis, most people will lack empathy and solidarity. This period caused a deep sense of social distrust in me that has been revived with the recent resurgence of neo-fascist movements across Europe. Should we be next in the wave of affected countries, the lack of solidarity and empathy among us that will allow for its resurgence, will be unsurprising to me.

It is estimated that there are around 4,400 homeless people in Portugal. Far from originating only in situations of economic hardship, the phenomenon of homeless people has multiple and varied causes ranging from personal and social crises, to illness, among many other situations. Eurostat data for 2017 indicate that although the European Union is one of the richest regions in the world, 117.5 million people, or 23.4% of the population, are at risk of poverty or social exclusion. In Portugal, one in four people live in poverty or social exclusion.

A view from the balcony of my house shows firefighters and a police forensics team below, collecting the body of a person who committed suicide by jumping off the bridge above my house and was found below in the river Corgo river in Vila Real de Trás-os-Montes [Portugal]

NOTES: This is one of the most common places in my home city where suicides take place, usually by jumping from the bridge above my house.

Being this a small city, boredom and hopelessness seem to have coexisted in equal doses. For fear that I might fall into the trap of drug abuse and suicide, my parents sent me, at 16 years old, to do high school in Porto, the second biggest Portuguese city. One year after my move to Porto, two of my friends, one being one of my closest, committed suicide. They were two of many others that before and after that time took their lives.

With several cases of severe mental illness and psychiatric disorder in my family, I came to understand that the social stigma surrounding mental illness and the lack of state measures to treat patients and support families, will continue to destroy and take lives around me.

While the country sells an image based on the concept of “saudade”, or “longing”, depression and psychiatric illness remain misunderstood as well as factor of exclusion and discrimination.

According to the report "The Portrait of Health", published in April 2018 by the Portuguese Ministry of Health, "the results of the study on the prevalence of mental illness in the Portuguese adult population suggest that we are the European country with the highest prevalence of mental illness", with cases of depression and anxiety disorders increasing in 2017.

According to the Director General of Health Francisco George, at the presentation of the Report of the National Program for Mental Health 2017, prevalence of suicide in Portugal has remained stable, with around 1,000 cases a year: “in every 100 thousand inhabitants the probability of ten committing suicide remains unchanged".

Despite the numbers, mental illness however, remains a taboo and people suffering from it are highly stigmatized and severely excluded, leading many not to seek treatment.

Data from the National Institute of Statistics published in 2017 shows that in the previous nine years, suicide was the the cause of death of 9645 people in Portugal.

Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa is seen live on a newscast through a television set in a home in Vila Real de Trás-os-Montes the day after his inauguration as current President of the Portuguese Republic.

PERSONAL NOTES: A center-right conservative politician, law professor, tv personality and a practicing Catholic, Rebelo de Sousa is a widely cherished, popular and influential figure in national politics. I hold mixed feelings about him mostly, because I know there could be worst. Much worst.

Rebelo de Sousa practices a brand of proximity politics that could be described as 'populism-light', as opposed to his predecessor who, despite sharing the same political stance, was much less popular due to his very formal, and almost aristocratic, attitude towards the population.

Nonetheless, Rebelo de Sousa has publicly expressed his conservative views on issues of self-determination and personal liberties such as euthanasia, abortion and sex change. In May 2018 Rebelo de Sousa exercised veto power to prevent the approval of legislation that would allow changing the mention to gender and name changing in the civil registry from the age of 16 without a medical report. Meanwhile, at the European level, it was announced that from 2021 identity cards will no longer make reference to the gender, until now "male" or "female", of its bearer.

In another instance, and as parliamentary debate was ongoing on proposals to legalize assisted death, Rebelo de Sousa said he was considering vetoing the decriminalization of euthanasia should it be approved in parliament.

However, in a welcomed move, Rebelo de Sousa publicly criticised what was widely condemned by rights groups as a biased ruling by judges in Porto who resorted to the bible as justification for light sentences in a case where an ex-husband and an ex-lover teamed up to kidnapped and beat a woman with nail-spiked club. The judges, one of which is a woman, justified the ruling by stating that the men were likely driven to the assault by the victim's adultery, and that the Bible says that 'an adulteress should be punished with death’. “Adultery by a woman is a very serious attack on the honor and dignity of a man", the judges wrote in their ruling.

My mom, sick with flu, refuses to stop toiling in our Vila Real de Trás-os-Montes home, always optimist despite her endless struggles to take care of a sibling of mine with acute and permanent medical needs.

PERSONAL NOTES: My mom keep an unshakeable faith in Christianity and the church despite her woes. I never really quite understood how.

We sometimes argue about it, especially because the church advocates against abortion and says it is “pro-life” while, at the same time, it usually favors parties that lack social answers to those who are born and fall into disadvantage, such as our family member who is disabled.

At the same time, I know her faith is what has kept her going in her endless struggles. She says it is faith that inspires her to help others, regardless of creed or origin, and she is one of the kindest humans I’ve met. One day my dad told me he met the husband of a former neighbor and that the man mentioned that if it hasn’t been for my mom’s help, his wife would not have her retirement pension. I’m sure the political parties that she feels that represent her beliefs are far from what she is and that they act opposite to what she’d do. Conservative parties, who usually appeal to a very pious section of the population in a overwhelmingly catholic country, usually also espouse xenophobic and homophobic views, which stand in direct opposition to what my mom feels.

Mário Gonçalves [46yo] prepares to pose for the local press in front of the entrance to the court where he was supposed to submit his candidacy for mayor of Vila Real with left-wing party "Left Block". Mário, a psychologist and university teacher, who is also tetraplegic, wasn't able to do it personally due to the lack of accessibilities in the district court building for people with reduced mobility. Instead, a representative of Mário's, filed his candidacy on his behalf for the 2017 local elections. Vila Real, August 10 2017

NOTES: Apart from a deeply ableist culture where people still exclaim things like "poor him" and "God bless you" when passing by a person with some kind of physical condition in the street, the reactions to my friend Mário's candidacy were similarly appalling. As an example, one of the comments in an online segment about his candidacy wrote: "if he can't even climb the stairs to the court on his own, how does he expect to run the municipality?".

One of Mário's running tickets was a "more accessible city" for people with reduced mobility, an ageing population and people with young children with proposals for friendlier urban infrastructure as well more modern and adapted public transportation. As a likely reaction to this and missing the point, the center-right candidate also announced measures for a "more accessible city" by promising a thousand more car parking spots.

Three stray dogs rest next to a building. When abandoned or when fleeing abuse, dogs tend to seek the socialisation and safety of a group. Although there is increasing social concern for the well being of cats, dogs, hamsters, sometimes bulls and wildlife, abandonment and ill-treatment of pets also remains nonetheless a widespread problem in Portugal. At the same time, concern for the survival and well-being of animals exploited for direct and indirect human consumption remains practically residual. By contrast, there is wide social conformity in maintaining cultural customs, traditions and habits that involve the oppression, exploitation and death of farmed animals both for human consumption and entertainment. Vila Real, September 8, 2016

NOTES: After becoming a reporter I quickly understood I can't control much of what happens around me or around the world. The only thing I can control is my participation in those situations in which I am the oppressor. Because of this and inspired by human rights activists and political dissidents, who see the struggle against oppression as a principled one, regardless of the nature of victims and the oppressors, I became a vegan.

In Portugal the treatment of pet animal is still disturbing to say the least. So to even speak about not breeding, oppressing and killing non pet animals is seen as all sorts of things: eccentricity, luxury, self-harm, snobbishness, and so on.

But back to pet animals and as not to be "too controversial: In rural areas, although the problem of pet animal abuse is of a distinct nature, it is especially serious, presenting itself in multiple forms. One of the recurring phenomena is that of dogs used for hunting. After each hunting season, the number of abandoned dogs increases exponentially, since many are abandoned by hunters to avoid the financial burden of feeding them until the next hunting season. Many are also abandoned after being injured during hunting by pellets, bullets or broken limbs during hunting, thus avoiding the costs of veterinary treatment. Other dogs get lost during hunting or flee from abuse. In cases where dogs are kept from one hunting season to the next, many suffer deprivation of food, socialization, adequate comfort so as, according to tradition, to stimulate the hunting instinct and aggression on the dogs. As for dogs used to guard property and farmland, they are also known to be isolated, often living all their lives in chains, deprived of adequate food, shelter and exercise.

To make matters worse, when cases of animal cruelty are reported to authorities, particularly in small localities, in many cases the competent authorities are reluctant to act. Sometimes because they are unaware of the law, or are not sensitive to this type of situation and to the subsequent enforcement of the law or, due to the size of localities, the agents are acquaintances, friends or relatives of the suspects, thereby avoiding the enforcement of the applicable legislation. Still, rural police opened five criminal investigations every two days in 2017 for abuse and abandonment of pets. In all, there were 924 crimes, 157 more than in the previous year.

A man scavenges for discarded electronics to resell in a recycling container at the parking lot of a mall in the northern city of Vila Real, Portugal.

With analysts warning of another looming financial crisis, many fear Portugal could once again be engulfed by social strife, this time in what is being described as a potential “perfect storm” as current political trend sees european democracies veering to the right, even in the absence of a major economic crisis.

Portugal, for its part, has managed to stay moderate. After years of painful conservative-led economic austerity, the country elected a socialist government in 2015. At the same time the economy has been recovering and Portugal's socialist government is seen as responsible for it. Predictions say it is unlikely that the right will be brought again to power in the near future as Portugal has not yet forgotten the hardships bestowed by the conservatives’ management of the 2010-15 economic crisis in Portugal.

However, analysts warn that a new international financial crisis could lead to unpredicted and worrying consequences at the social level.

A demonstrator marches with a torch in Lisbon, during one of the few large scale demonstrations against austerity measures during Portugal's economic crisis.

NOTES: Possibly due to the phenomenon of what is generally known in Portugal as "ashamed poverty" — an ethos imposed by the fascist dictatorship of Oliveira Salazar and interiorised by the population —, personal and collective protests in Portugal against the government's management of the crisis remained relatively scarce despite the harsh economic difficulties experienced by the population and as opposed to other countries affected by the crisis. This was coupled with a misplaced attitude connecting sacrifice, quiet sufferance and stoicism with virtue. All of this culminated in scapegoating the common people who supposedly spent more than they should have, were lazy and who supposedly caused the crisis rather than banks recklessness and government management. This in turn, caused many to distance themselves from protests, significant dissent or solidarity, indifference and even hostility towards those suffering the most from the crisis and austerity measures as well as to those organizing to fight them. All of this made for a bitter wake up call for me. It made me see my compatriots with completely different eyes and to set the bar very low when it comes to the expectations of collective solidarity in times of crisis.

With analysts warning of another looming financial crisis, many fear Portugal could once again be engulfed by social strife, this time in what is being described as a potential “perfect storm” as current political trend sees democracies veering to the right, even in the absence of a major economic crisis. Analysts warn this can lead to unpredicted and worrying consequences at the social level.

Protesters remove stones from the pavement in front of the Portuguese parliament to throw them at the building and riot police guarding it during a protest against the implementation of further austerity policies on an already depressed economy and against the loss of sovereignty in favor of the directives imposed by foreign creditors of Portuguese debt. Demonstrators demanded that the Portuguese government consult its constituency instead of abiding by its creditors' and private companies. 14 November 2012

NOTES: Portugal became known internationally, among other things, for the peaceful revolution that overthrew the fascist dictatorship of Oliveira Salazar in 1974. However, frustration with the government during the years of the economic crisis culminated in some protests and clashes with riot police in a country where such mass public displays of discontent events remained rare nonetheless.

During the crisis that affected Portugal along countries such as Greece, Spain and Ireland, the then incumbent Portuguese conservative government — along with less vulnerable sections of the Portuguese population —, sought to distance Portugal from Greece in an attempt to convey an image of "good student" to international creditors in comparison to Greece. However, such attitude towards the most vulnerable European country at the time was seen by the more vulnerable population as lacking in solidarity and as an arrogant attitude of the government towards Greece.

Men watch a quarter-finals match between Portugal and Czech Republic during the 2012 UEFA European Championship at a café in Lisbon.

Austerity policies and budget cuts have caused rising numbers of unemployed and cuts in pensions. Registered unemployment among active population reached 18% in 2013.

On football:

[ “When I was in high school I asked myself at one point: "Why do I care if my high school's team wins the football game? I don't know anybody on the team, they have nothing to do with me... why am I here and applaud? It does not make any sense." But the point is, it does make sense: It's a way of building up irrational attitudes of submission to authority and group cohesion behind leadership elements. In fact it's training in irrational jingoism. That's also a feature of competitive sports.”

― Noam Chomsky ]

A homeless, seemingly ill person has a meal [right] while lying on the floor of a bus stop in downtown Lisbon, where a commuter [left] waits for a bus. Behind the bus stop, residents and tourists eat at a gourmet market promoting national products such as wines, sausages, traditional pastry and handicrafts.

PERSONAL NOTES: Here in Portugal, most people think that being "tolerant" means welcoming tourists well or being liked abroad during student exchange programs.

The Portuguese black and Roma communities, continue to be the most severely discriminated against in Portugal. Systemic and social racism have kept these communities from moving up the social and economic ladder and it has kept them in the periphery of social and political life.

I once sat on a bus stop in downtown Lisbon at 5.30 am on my way to the airport. Everyone at the bus stop, except for me, was black. They had come from faraway peripheral areas and from other cities across river Tagus via ferry. They were waiting for a bus to take them to their jobs, mostly as manual laborers such as cleaners and cooks, elsewhere in the capital.

Most people here also think that being racist is only, but only, when someone says the words "I'm racist because I don't like the color of their skin". Everyday racism is not acknowledged as such. It is, instead, seen as just people being "pragmatic". People also think that racism is not racism when it is "backed" by what they believe to be grounded arguments, statistics, examples, anecdote, tradition, stereotypes, etc when it comes to minority groups.

Rights groups fighting racism are seen as the ones being racist for speaking about race and for "sowing division".

Dois agentes da polícia vigiam uma festa popular onde duas trabalhadoras de etnia cigana vendem brinquedos e balões. Vila Real de Trás-os-Montes, 8 de Julho de 2017

O Conselho da Europa apresentou a 2 de Outubro de 2018 um relatório em que, apesar de apontar vários aspetos positivos sobre a situação geral no país, conclui que "a polícia [em Portugal] tolera racismo e que as denúncias não são investigadas a fundo". O documento critica o Estado português por "tolerar racismo da polícia". O Conselho mostra-se ainda preocupado com o que conclui ser uma infiltração da extrema-direita na polícia pública e a presença de elementos no corpo policial que simpatizam com discursos de ódio, racistas e homofóbicos.

O Conselho Europeu recomenda a criação de um organismo independente que investigue a violência policial e o racismo. "A Comissão para a Igualdade e Contra a Discriminação Racial (CICDR) não é independente, salienta a ECRI que manifesta igualmente dúvidas quanto à independência de entidades como a Inspeção-Geral da Administração Interna (IGAI) ou o Alto Comissariado para as Migrações (ACM), com competências para receber queixas, investigar e propor sanções, mas com dependência direta do Executivo".

The leader of far right movement New Social Order fronts a group of forty participants in front of the Portuguese parliament building during a demonstration held in homage of late Portuguese fascist dictator Oliveira Salazar. Lisbon, February 1st 2019

João Pais do Amaral, deputy president of the "National Renewal Party" [PNR], a small ultranationalist far-right party, confronts and threatens a Portuguese-Palestinian protester after the latter booed the marchers and called those participating in it “racists” and “fascists”. Police intervened in defense of Amaral and of the march, describing it "as legal and orderly", after which they forcibly removed the protester.

NOTES: Teenage participants of the march threatened to follow and attack me and a bystander for taking photos of the altercation. They also told me “you journalists are getting fucked in the ass by the jews”.

Some former members of the party served sentences for racial discrimination and violent crimes, including involvement in the murder of José Carvalho, a leader of the left wing party PSR, and the racist murder of young Cape Verdean Alcino Monteiro, and of involvement with armed extreme far-right nationalist and neo-Nazi groups such as the Portuguese National Front and Hammerskin. In recent years, and as the PNR tries to position itself in mainstream politics, the party has expelled members with known connections to these groups.

Contrary to the trend of the rest of Europe, far-right parties have remained almost residual in Portugal. On the one hand the resentment many feel towards the center-right for their austerity led government during the economic crisis in Portugal has lingered among the wider public. On the other, the constituencies targeted by more nationalist and far-right parties have remained loyal to the center-right due to conservatives tendency to adopt at least some of the most populist discourse that could otherwise lead some to veer to the far-right.

However, this might change. In a 2018 poll, 27% of those enquired say they would consider changing their vote for the far-right.

A monument located in the Empire Square of Porto, in honor of the Portugal’s "colonizing effort" of the overseas territories that Portugal occupied between the XIV and XX centuries, is defaced with red graffiti spelling the word “oppressor”.

NOTES: The widespread prevalence of monuments commemorating Portugal’s colonial past throughout the country, demonstrates lack of sensitivity, to say the least, towards Portugal’s problematic past and to the Portuguese black communities from the former colonies.

Delirious, self-complacent myths prevail among the general Portuguese population such as Portugal as the “benevolent colonizer” or the “non racist colonizer” when compared to the other colonizing powers.

This is symptomatic of a prevalent lack of collective and individual self-criticism in Portugal.

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A obra, que foi concebida e executada por Sousa Caldas e Alferes Alberto Ponce de Castro para a Exposição Colonial no Palácio de Cristal em 1934, apareceu pintada com tinta vermelha nas mãos da figuras representadas e com palavras como “opressor”.

Numa altura em que se questiona a pertinência de uma perspetiva nacional sobre a colonização em que, segundo a crítica, prevalece o perpetuar sistematizado de mitos luso-tropicalistas e racistas em Portugal sobre o papel português na história das nações que colonizou e das populações escravizadas, monumentos como este têm sido alvo de protestos pela sua permanência em espaço público.

Num relatório publicado pelo Conselho da Europa em Outubro de 2018 é recomendado a Portugal "repensar o ensino da história e, em particular, a história das ex-colónias". O mesmo relatório defende que o "contributo dos afrodescendentes, assim como dos ciganos, para a sociedade portuguesa deve ser tratado" nos manuais escolares, sendo que os livros dos alunos portugueses devem passar a abordar a violência de Portugal contra os indígenas das colónias.

VIOLETA SANTOS MOURA

VIOLETA
SANTOS MOURA