Anti-austerity protests in Portugal

Movimento 12 de Março (12 March Movement) or Geração à Rasca ([ʒɨɾɐˈsɐ̃w a ˈʁaʃkɐ], Portuguese for struggling generation) took place in more than 10 cities of Portugal against austerity, the economic crisis and labour rights (Manifest). They were the biggest events since the 1974 Carnation Revolution and organized without political parties or trades unions support.

A Facebook event and a blog, created by a group of friends: Alexandre de Sousa Carvalho, João Labrincha and Paula Gil, were the starting point.

A number of musical acts in Portugal had been involved in protest actions against the austerity measures at the beginning of the crisis. Music addressing Portugal's political situation became a part of local and national political protest narratives, that found music playing an important role in protests in Portugal—as they have since the Portuguese Revolution culminating in the 25 de Abril coup in 1974.

Among this music, was included traditional Portuguese music and instruments including gaitas, flautas, rhythm sections, and brass music. The organizers of Geração a Rasca, put out a general call for musicians to appear in the procession, and also included personal invitations to some of the musical acts to perform.

Various protest songs addressing the precarious situation in Portugal during the crisis were performed in Portugal. Deolinda's song "Parva Que Sou", which talks about precarious working conditions for Portuguese youth, in particular qualified university graduates, became an inspiration for some of the protesters.

Other inspiration for the protests came from Homens da Luta, a comedian duo that won the Festival da Canção with a song about the "joy of the struggle", emulating social protests of the 1960s.

Around 300,000 people gathered on 12 March 2011 in Porto and Lisbon alone. Events also occurred in several other Portuguese cities, Funchal, Ponta Delgada, Viseu, Braga, Castelo Branco, Coimbra, Faro, Guimarães and Leiria. Several Portuguese emigrants also gathered in front of the embassies of their country of residence to protest in Barcelona, London, Berlin, The Hague, Madrid, Lubliana, Luxemburg, Brussels, Maputo, New York, Copenhagen and Stuttgart.

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Wikipedia