Katarina Martins says renunciation of xenophobia and hatred is ‘the bare minimum of decency’

Bloco de Esquerda (BE) coordinator Katarina Martins, in response to the statements of the SDP President Luis Montenegro this Saturday, called the rejection of xenophobia and hatred “the minimum of decency”.

“Democracy must say no to xenophobia, it must say no to hate politics, it must say no to racism, and that is the bare minimum of decency,” the BC head said on the sidelines of an animal rights march in Lisbon.

Katarina Martins commented on the position of the social democratic leader, who, in an interview with CNN Portugal, denied that the PSD could enter into agreements with the government or have support for “racist or xenophobic, opportunistic or populist policies or politicians.”

The BE coordinator believed that the right “has nothing to say to the country” and, therefore, “always talks about its relations with the president of the republic or between different parties.”

“When people say they can’t afford a house, what does the right say? The same as the government. When people say they can’t pay the supermarket bill, what does the right say? That it will do what the government does.” “The government and therefore cannot talk about the country, it talks about something else,” he said.

The BE leader recalled that “the president of the republic has already ruled out” the scenario of early elections “for the moment” and considered it better to discuss “what is really on the table”, for example, to put animal welfare already in this revision of the Constitution, which is now taking place.

This was the motto of the Animal Protection March, which brought together about 300 activists in Lisbon, during which the coordinator Blok de Esquerda stressed that next week the Assembly will host the first discussion on the inclusion of animal protection. Republic in the Constitution.

“This is a very important civilizational step, people are faced with news, for example, about a law criminalizing the cruelty to companion animals, and that the Constitutional Court overturned some sentences because it considered that a forecast of a constitutional principle was needed. this protection,” he said.

Raising the issue of the Constitution of the Portuguese Republic is “important” also for BE “so that this law on cruelty to companion animals can be made more effective and not questioned”.

And also, as I have already said, for progress “in the fundamental questions of civilization”, in which “the torture of animals cannot be the spectacle it remains, for example, in bullfighting, with public support and under the supervision of children” or the transport of live animals, ” dying a terrible death.”

“Something that is absolutely unacceptable in our country and that needs to be clearly promoted, other countries in Europe no longer do this kind of thing, and Portugal still does,” he stressed.

Katharina Martins believes that a two-thirds majority in the Assembly of the Republic can be found this time, so that animal welfare becomes part of the Constitution.