“In our country, in Portugal, we must conclude that the democratic right is somehow condescending to extremism. At best, we can say that its position is too often opaque, too often ambiguous, too often labyrinthine.”, stated Joao Torres.
The Socialist Deputy Secretary General spoke at the conference “They will not succeed! The need to fight right-wing extremists!”, which took place today at ISCTE, in Lisbon, and was organized by the PS together with the European Foundation for Progressive Studies (FEPS) and the Karl-Renner Institute.
João Torres found it “disheartening to see the democratic political forces fail to raise a red line against the far right in Portugal”.
“We, in the PS, state it and the PS therefore guarantees full democracy, that is to say, it simultaneously guarantees political democracy, but also social democracy,” he referred.
Before an audience listened to by the President of the Assembly of the Republic, João Torres recalled that “50 years of democracy in Portugal” will be celebrated in 2024 and underlined that “history has already shown millions of Portuguese what it is like to live in obscurantism, in a totalitarian regime, persecutive and hostile to reality”.
“The best way democracy can defend and strengthen itself is by involving more citizens, through more and better information and pedagogy, through continued accountability, through greater transparency and through concrete solutions,” he defended.
According to João Torres, “Portugal is a good example to the world” of the success of democracies, since the democratic period corresponds exactly to “the period of greater economic and social development” of the country, which has “already almost a millennium of history”.
“Weapons, populists and far-right instruments have similar patterns in Portugal, Europe and the world. We must therefore close ranks: share experiences, embrace strategies and push our common designs,” he called.
The Socialist Deputy Secretary General said that “the Portuguese know they can count on the PS for this absolutely firm fight against extremism and the extremism of the far right”.
Source: DN
