The Republic of Nobility – Opinion – SAPO.pt

Still the installation and its fragments. Still the consequences of Antonio Costa and the marriage of convenience. The cynical attitude of the political parties in the handling of sensitive files has always been there: from the imposition of the leaders to the complicit silence of the grassroots. I remember well, in the years after the formation of the Left Alliance, hearing the Socialist mayors, indignant about the arrangement with their “old enemies” the Communists, admit that they had received orders from Largo do Rato to treat the CDU with a lace fist. .

This is not the time to disturb them. Unsettle them. Subject them to critical scrutiny, as voters expect. Let them untie the knot between two historically feuding parties. The opposition can wait. I remember being told that the authoritarian management of some chambers of the PCP – the PEV is a fiction created by Álvaro Cunhal, politically and sociologically irrelevant today – did not deserve a more vigorous challenge because of the directives from the socialist leadership that the National Accord should not be troubled by “local issues”.

I will not forget the indignation of these socialists in the Setúbal region, which left sad red fingerprints, both then and today, as the Socialist Party conveniently wished. For those people, Costa deserved the most derogatory nicknames. Even so, they did not agree, unanimously or break the guidelines conveyed by the voices of the Mendoza Mendes brothers (Ana Catarina and Antonio).

The PCP wants it, the PCP can, the PCP commands it. In the city of Seixal, where I have lived for almost thirty years, the Socialist Party (PS), the only force of relevant strength in the alternative, has ceased to be in opposition since 2015. The Socialist Party is no longer in opposition, under the orders of Costa and a bloc that does not exist outside the ambitions of its former leader.

The local PS tried to denounce the long-standing abuses of the communists with the Festa do Avante!, but it went to his head and ended up being self-defeating. The local public authority tried to expose administrative negligence and abuses in public contracts, but was ignored. He wanted to put forward a high-profile candidate to unseat Joaquim Santos, but ended up giving in (so that everything in the city government remained the same).

For these reasons, I was surprised to read last Friday the Expresswhich posed a dark and undeniable hypothesis: “Costa no Seixal?” The Costa in question was “Jr.” The name was Pedro, the profession was Son. No matter how hard I tried, I knew nothing of the boy’s biography beyond the presidency of a committee appointed by the Socialist Party, led and trained by my father, and a commentary show shared with a friend and former university classmate (who almost ended up committing seppuku for another political party). That was it.

The youngest Costa was invited to be the candidate of the old communist stronghold. Yes, the same stronghold that was neglected by his father. Yes, the same stronghold where the Socialist leadership vetoed the name that could have brought down the Communist Party of the Philippines. Yes, the same stronghold with which, as we know it, it has no connection or even the slightest affinity.

A few years ago, in this damned aristocratic republic that is mixed with a degenerate monarchy, the government of Costa Sr. was beset by cases of endogamy one after another. Today, the post-Costa old PS does not hesitate to throw the name of Costa Jr. in the 12th most populous municipality of the country, without any parchment recognizing the name of Costa Jr. except by blood ties – and some of the nonsense he spreads in social networks, such as the recent one in which the data sent by Russian protesters to the Moscow authorities were whitewashed. All I have to do is write that I don’t even know who Fernando Medina is…

Nonetheless, Seshal is currently facing numerous problems due to the actions and inactions of several state executives (of different skin colors, of course), as well as nearly 50 years of neglect by the iron fist of communism.

For years we have witnessed mutual accusations between the government and local authorities, while new hospitals have not been launched (as well as successive state budgets). For years the quality of teaching has been significantly declining (obviously the responsibility is shared). For years poverty and exclusion have been worsening in neighborhoods like Jamaica, Quinta da Princesa or Cusena. For years security has been an unavoidable problem, yet no one has the courage to address it. For years private investment has been viewed with suspicion, unless it helped fill the gaps in communist management. As the Socialist Party has always pointed out, local authorities have been suffering from a democratic deficit for years, and the Costas have never cared.

It was the people of Seixal who paid the price for the peace that Costa Sr. bought from the Communists. If “Little Costa Rica” offers nothing more than respect for the legacy of our ancestors, or a non-aggression pact in the name of a third country strategy, or a test of poverty frenzy, no thanks. If you are a candidate just because of your name, I admit that this trick will bear fruit. Just don’t come to Pedro Nuno Santos and talk to us about equal opportunities.