Some 300 figures from culture, sport, science and academia have signed a manifesto supporting the appointment of Pedro Nuno Santos as prime minister, warning that Portugal cannot take a “leap in the dark”.
“We can neither jump into the darkness nor go back. Fundamental rights and social gains are never permanent or irreversible. Everything that has been achieved may even be taken away from us,” says the manifesto in support of the PS general secretary. .
Among other persons, the document to which Luz’s agency had access was signed by Alice Vieira, Daniel Sampaio, Eduardo Barroso, Francisco Seixas da Costa, Graça Morais, Irene Pimentel, Joana Vasconcelos, Joshua Rua, Laurent Filipe, Lena d’Agua. Lito Vidigal, Manuela Machado, Maria de Medeiros, Maria do Seu Guerra and Miguel Lobo Antunes.
The list of subscribers also includes Richard Zimler, Rosa Mota, Ruy Vieira Neri, Teresa Salgueiro, Thiago Guedes and Vital Moreira, for whom the next elections will take place “at a national, European and international time marked by serious dangers and threats, which provide even greater responsibility for the choices made and their consequences for the individual and collective future.”
“At this time of great moral, civic and political demand, the signatories of this manifesto feel it is their duty to publicly express a clear position on what is at stake in this election. In their natural diversity of opinion, they do so out of an imperative of conscience and with independence of judgment, but therefore based on their democratic convictions and the defense of national interests,” they justify.
According to the signatories of the text, during the reign of the PS led by António Costa, they “faced dramatic situations such as the pandemic and the impact of wars on the economy, people’s lives and the international environment.”
“Succeeding the PSD and SDS governments during the Troika period, which imposed unprecedented social austerity measures, the Socialist Party governments changed a political climate that had been marked by enormous tensions, promoting civil coexistence and social peace, and abolishing the prevailing austerity policies. in the name of repeatedly expressed aggressive neoliberal ideological beliefs,” they claim.
Signatories of the manifesto believe that the “change of direction” of the PS government “guaranteed the country successes that are today recognized at the national and international level.”
“All the alternatives to change that are now presented as possible are not capable of fully and structurally responding to the challenges the country faces. In many areas, and especially in those most important to a democracy like ours, they are in fact a failure. In good conscience, we cannot allow the enemies of democracy and our freedoms to jeopardize our common future.
In the current circumstances, however, we express our support for the PS and its candidate for Prime Minister, Pedro Nuno Santos,” the manifesto reads.
Author: Lusa
Source: CM Jornal
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