It’s just past nine in the morning. The meeting point is the Rato metro station in Lisbon. Catarina Martins arrives accompanied by her adviser. The step is hurried, in a few minutes he must already be in the Assembly of the Republic. As we go up the escalators to the street, Catarina Martins says, “I always take the subway, if I can. Today it’s a little different, because it’s Friday and there’s a plenary session in the morning.” And the topic is quite important, one of the banners of the Bloco de Esquerda in recent years: the decriminalization of medically assisted death.
On Rua de São Bento, Catarina Martins is not approached, but the looks are not indifferent – there are people who look suspiciously, others look and comment among themselves. It is one of the last days of Catarina Martins as block coordinator (the Convention is scheduled for May 26 and 27). What balance does it make? “I’m not very good at taking stock of myself [ri-se]. It would be weird”. But the bloc lost many deputies last January (the parliamentary group went from 19 to five)…”I’m pretty comfortable with it, I’ve had the best and the worst [resultados]. I think things should be discussed openly. And I think the bloc – and not just in the last ten years I’ve been in coordination – has played an important role in discussing the political alternative.in doing things differently, and that is very important”, he analyses. According to him, the future of the party will be positive. “We still have a lot of battle to win”, says the current coordinator and supporter of Mariana Mortágua for the succession.
And the schedule? “Today will be a more political day, tomorrow [sábado] we have street contact with the population of a neighborhood in Amadora and on Sunday we will be in Madeira to contact the population, my comrades, distribute leaflets and discuss our ideas.”
Halfway through, the leader of the Bloco de Esquerda makes one briefing of the day: plenary session in the morning, then a private lunch with two people – one of them was José Manuel Pureza, a former bloquista deputy. In the afternoon there is a meeting with Beatriz Gomes Dias, the bloquista counselor in the Lisbon Chamber. It will end late, already after 11 p.m., with a conference at party headquarters, where Manon Aubry, MEP from France Insubmissa will be.
Arriving at the General Assembly, Catarina Martins takes us to her office. On the table the newspapers of the day. The coordinator sits at the computer for a few minutes. The parliamentary leader, Pedro Filipe Soares, enters the room. Details have been adjusted for the debate starting in a few minutes.
It is expected that the Assembly of the Republic will reaffirm the diploma vetoed by the President of the Republic, forcing Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa to promulgate it – which it eventually did. “It’s an important day, medically assisted death finally becomes law in Portugal. It’s a big tolerance step. It’s been a long road. It is to promote society towards tolerance and respect’ she says visibly pleased.
10:00 am
The plenary session begins. Isabel Moreira, deputy of the Socialist Party and one of the faces who fought most for the adoption of the theme, intervened in the first place. Catarina Martins is the third to intervene, after Liberal Initiative deputy João Cotrim Figueiredo. In the intervention, he defends that the law should be approved “as it is”, recalls João Semedo – former blocking coordinator who was one of the founders of the movement “Right to die with dignity”, in 2015, which advocated the decriminalization of medically assisted dead.
The debate ends with the outcome that was already expected: the confirmation of the diploma by parliament, forcing its promulgation.
2:20 PM
After the private lunch, we will head to the Lisbon City Council building, located in the Baixa district.
We meet next to the office where we were in the morning. Apologies for the slight delay on arrival, five minutes after the agreed time. Catarina Martins enters the office to collect her suitcase. We decide how the trip to Baixa will be made. Like in the morning, we used public transport, this time the tram (“It’s Friday. Today it might be less busy. Usually it’s always this busy…”). Prayers are answered: the tram brings a few people, but it’s not too busy. I ask if he usually makes the route often. “If I go to Beatriz Gomes Dias, yes. I normally take the tram to Baixa on Fridays, when we meet,” he explains. And the meeting? “These are preparation and guidance meetings about the presence of the block in the room. We determine what to do, discuss, monitor.” Catarina Martins is recognized on the journey between São Bento and Baixa.
During the ride, he stops and talks to some young women sitting on one of the tram seats. They exchange impressions, in a good mood. Minutes later, still on the tram, the leader of the Bloco de Esquerda is approached by two women traveling together. They ask for a photo. Catarina Martins agrees, says she’s used to it. Is it often recognized? “I prefer to say that I interact with people,” he corrects, but confirms that it is good to do so, because he “feel the street”.
We leave when the tram arrives at Largo Luís de Camões, we walk the rest of the way down through Chiado. In front of a store, a popular Catarina recognizes Martins and stops her march. Take him by the hand and thank him for the fight and the battles he fights. The leader of BE thanks you. The response is emotional – “don’t thank me. Keep it up, fight. Thank you, my dear Catarina” – and the short interaction (seconds, maybe a minute) ends with a kiss on the Bloc leader’s hand.
The word: right is the Bloc’s greatest enemy. The term crops up throughout the day in various contexts, such as the debate on the legalization of euthanasia or the conference on the future role of the left.
Then we arrived at the building of the opposition councilors, on Rua do Ouro. We are received by Beatriz Gomes Dias, who then enters a room with Catarina Martins. The door closes, the meeting begins. There is now a break, for private appointments, until the evening. The meeting point is the Bloco de Esquerda headquarters.
8:30 in the evening
Rua de Palma, Lisbon. It’s been a long day – we’ve been on the street for almost 12 hours – but the last item on Catarina Martins’ agenda isn’t scheduled for another half hour, at 9pm. The wind makes itself felt. After the heat of the day, the night is cooler.
We enter Bloco de Esquerda’s headquarters and the room is already prepared: chairs are set up in an audience, opposite a table at the back of the room. Behind it is a blue panel that displays the links.net, BE’s party communication body. Slowly the room fills up.
In a few moments, Catarina Martins will enter the room accompanied by Manon Aubry (French MEP elected by França Insubmissa), Nathalie Oliveira (Portuguese-French MEP elected by the PS in the emigration circle), and by José Gusmão, one of the blocking MEPs [a outra deputada do BE no Parlamento Europeu é Marisa Matias]. The focus of the session is on the left and the role it can play in the near future in the face of threats such as populism or the far right.
The session begins. After the testimonials there is a question and answer session. It ends with applause. I then ask how the day was: “Tiring, but it ended with a very interesting debate. Manon [Aubry] He will be a big face of the European left in the future, I’m sure.”
Source: DN
