Tiago Carvalho, Nuno de Almeida Alves, David Cairns and Ana Alexandre report on recent mass street protests in Portugal against the government’s painful austerity programme. These demonstrations, with the most recent instance estimated to encompass one million people across 40 towns and cities, have emerged as a consequence of longer standing social movements which have sought to overturn a broader trend within Portugese society towards the growth of precarious working conditions, where low pay is coupled with little employment protection

Alexandre, Ana

Cairns, David

Carvalho, Tiago

de Almeida Alves, Nuno

LSE Research Online

4/20/2013Mass anti-austerity protests in Portugal are emerging out ofsocial movements which have been fighting againstprecarious conditions in the labour marketblogs.lse.ac.uk /politicsandpolicy/austerity-political-mobilisation-and-culture-in-portugal/Tiago Carvalho, Nuno de Almeida Alves, David Cairns and Ana Alexandre report on recent mass streetprotests in Portugal against the government’s painful austerity programme. These demonstrations,with the most recent instance estimated to encompass one million people across 40 towns and cities,have emerged as a consequence of longer standing social movements which have sought tooverturn a broader trend within Portugese society towards the growth of precarious workingconditions, where low pay is coupled with little employment protection.On March 2nd the Portuguese people once again took to the streets in towns and cities across thecountry. These demonstrations were directed against the iron grip of austerity in which Portugal hasbeen held by the centre-right coalition government, itself having been increasingly squeezed by theIMF, European Commission and European Central Bank Troika during the last two years. The Marchdemonstration was organised by left-wing citizens’ groups from various sectors of the economy,encompassing a broad spectrum of people from different socio-economic backgrounds and agegroups, to call for the dismissal from office of the current government and new elections. It wasestimated by local media that at least one million people were on the streets in more than 40 townsand cities. In this post, we focus on observation of the young people we have been studying in ourethnographic case studies, conducted as part of the MYPLACE project, particularly PrecáriosInfléxiveis (Inflexible Precarious Workers) and the Assembleia Popular Barreirense (Barreiro PopularAssembly).Precários Inflexíveis was born as a social movement, with the aim of reversing the growth ofprecarious working conditions within the labour market. Although their chief concern is with youngpeople, the scope of their actions involves precarious workers of all ages. Precarity, especially amongyouth, has been one major theme of debate in Portugal, and can be defined by the lack or inexistence ofemployment protection, or even a contract, along with the obligatory low wages. While deregulation of labourmarkets is often cited as an economic necessity by economists and politicians, for young people themselves thiscan entail a period of insecurity which lasts well into adulthood. Therefore, this feeling of precarity and an inability toplan for the future pervades non-economic spheres of life, including thoughts of starting a family of one’s own.This movement started among the organisers of the Mayday demonstrations in 2007 and has its roots in priorstudent activism against some of Portugal’s traditional but personal degrading academic traditions, such as theinitiation rites foisted on students when entering university. In 2012, the movement evolved into a formal association,with a board of directors and members. The organisation continues to be horizontally structured with no hierarchiesin the process of decision-making.Their activities incorporate various types of actions contesting the political acceptance of precarity in the Portugueselabour market, which unites a diversity of workers alongside the unemployed and migrants. One of their mainobjectives is to “build a collective identity based on precarity”, so that people can begin to be aware of their status asprecarious workers who are not alone in this situation. This group is also focused on fighting the Portuguesegovernment’s austerity measures, which have exacerbated precarity and sustained mass youth unemployment, withthe eventual objective of building a new social order.Their actions focus particularly on four groups of workers: those in any kind of flexible temporary position, where this1/3can become a “permanent” situation; involuntary freelancers (known colloquially as “recibos verdes” or greenreceipt workers); employees of Temporary Work Agencies and other similarly employed temporary workers; andgrant holders (“bolseiros”) within tertiary education institutions. The association provides information, legal aid andan online simulation of how social security payments to the precarious workers are organised. More recently inassociation with a cultural group (crew hassan) they have opened a “Bar” (MOB) in one of the most frequentedareas for Lisbon nightlife (Bairro Alto) where they host debates, concerts and other cultural activities. This spacealso serves as a meeting point for various activists.The organisation combines formal and informal politics. In the first case, this includes contacts with the formalinstitutions of the Portuguese representative democracy and civil society (Parliament, Political Parties, TradeUnions), legislative initiatives such as the development of a citizens’ proposal for a “Law against Precarity” andfinally debates with guest speakers. In regard to informal politics, they convey their message through a constantpresence in the public sphere with their website and weblog, along with mock auctions held at the doors of theSocial Security agency and different types of flashmobs.Precários Inflexíveis Invade a Call Center appealing to a General StrikeThe other group we are studying is a smaller group (the initial group and contacts with several others is situated inBarreiro1, one of our fieldwork sites for MYPLACE and a post-industrial district with a strong tradition of workers’activism). This group started at the end of 2011 after several public demonstrations and several public assembliesnear Lisbon, with two or three people trying to bring the idea to Barreiro. They held their first assembly in Decemberof 2011 and stopped in March 2012, continuing their activities in other ways. In our most recent interviews, theystated that although their activities are less regular than in the past they are still able to sow the seeds of activism inBarreiro. Their objective was to experience “Grassroots Democracy” in an informal and horizontal organisation,opposing austerity measures, but also experiencing forms of squatting. Nowadays, their most active group is to befound at the local allotment that revolves around a social project that tries to involve the local community, with afocus on environmentalism, experimentalism, local activism and occupation.What is particularly interesting about this group is its embeddedness in the Barreiro context. The group emergedhere and is connected with a network of cultural and political groups, constituted by small groups of people thatshare certain goals, which in turn creates and reinforces a sense of community. In this way we are able to observehow the industrial past, as a political legacy, is being recreated inside a more globalised context, with new meaningsand cultural forms.These two groups are close in some aspects, although their engagement and public visibility are different. We canfind similarities in the level of higher education achievement, interest in politics, strong connection with culturalactivities (normally it is a very important activity for most, if not all, and that is why the recreational spaces we find inour ethnographies are so important as they serve as locales for both political and cultural activities). Most individualsbelong to several groups and are engaged with various causes relating to areas such as the environment, youth, thestruggle against austerity, unemployment and inequality. This is not a surprise since previous research in Portugaltends to show that the groups who participate actively share this profile, which is rooted in historical and socio-economic background patterns. The project will therefore help us to sketch how this most prominent group ofcitizens organizes itself in a context of crisis involving collective action in Portugal.2/3Returning to the March 2nd demonstration,preparations began at the end of last year,with the announcement of the date made atthe beginning of 2013. This date was chosenbecause the organisers knew that the Troikarepresentatives would be in Portugal andnew austerity measures announced. Wewere able to observe the intimate details ofthe preparations at MOB, which served asheadquarter for meetings, drawing ofbanners, painting of placards, etc. (not onlyfrom the group but also a group of studentsthat have a strong connection with thegroup) and, also, after the demonstration, beamong the most active demonstrators whomet there to celebrate. We were able toobserve a lot of activists, from differentgenerations, engaged in these activities. InBarreiro the members of the grouporganised the display of posters around the city, the distribution of pamphlets and a group at the demonstration,although not part of the organisation as was the case with various members of Precários inflexíveis.Note: This article gives the views of the author, and not the position of the British Politics and Policy blog, nor of theLondon School of Economics. Please read our comments policy before posting.About the AuthorsTiago Carvalho is part of the Portuguese team team in the European Commission funded research projectMYPLACE (“Memory, Youth, Political Legacy and Civic Engagement”), based at the Centre for Research andStudies in Sociology at ISCTE-IUL. His main research interests are social classes, citizenship, youth and culture.Nuno de Almeida Alves  is co-leader of Portuguese team in the European Commission funded research projectMYPLACE (“Memory, Youth, Political Legacy and Civic Engagement”), based at the Centre for Research andStudies in Sociology at ISCTE-IUL. His main research interests are knowledge society, education, youth andinequalities.David Cairns is co-leader of Portuguese team in the European Commission funded research project MYPLACE(“Memory, Youth, Political Legacy and Civic Engagement”), based at the Centre for Research and Studies inSociology at ISCTE-IUL. His main research interests are in the area of youth, migration and geographical mobility,and most recently, the impact of the economic crisis. Ana Alexandre is part of the Portuguese team team in the European Commission funded research projectMYPLACE (“Memory, Youth, Political Legacy and Civic Engagement”), based at the Centre for Research andStudies in Sociology at ISCTE-IUL. His main research interests are youth and sociology of work and organization.3/3

Mass anti-austerity protests in Portugal are emerging out of social movements which have been fighting against precarious conditions in the labour market

Mass anti-austerity protests in Portugal are emerging out of social movements which have been fighting against precarious conditions in the labour market

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