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A conference of European far-right parties in Lisbon

In Lisbon is scheduled to take place this Saturday, August 10, 2019, a conference of different extreme right European parties. An event that provokes a protest movement.

of our correspondent in Lisbon,

This Saturday morning, the venue of this conference of the European far right was always kept secret. It should be revealed during the day but the secret is obviously part of the strategy of the organizers of this conference. We know that this conference must bring together leaders of far-right parties from several countries, including France, Germany, Italy, Spain, Poland and Bulgaria.

This conference is organized by the Portuguese movement New Social Order ( Nova Ordem Social ), whose blog announces the participation and intervention of the French Yvan Benedetti, former leader of the group of extreme right (dissout) The French work.

Mário Machado , the founder of New Social Order, knows perfectly well the media field. This is a real operation to make noise, around this movement clearly fascist, whose leader is suspected to be the mentor of the Portuguese Hammerskins , the most radical of the extreme right.

Opponents call for anti-fascist demonstration in Lisbon

A group of some 60 organizations (half of them foreign) called for a rally in the center of Lisbon on Saturday afternoon to protest the openly xenophobic and racist rhetoric spread by these far-right groups and groups. The Communist Party, the Left Bloc, the far-left party, and the Book party on the left of the Socialists support the rally.

A petition is also circulating. The organizers want to prevent the holding of the far-right conference by invoking Article 46 of the Portuguese Constitution. This article prohibits meetings of racist organizations or fascist ideology. But the idea of ​​prohibition divides because for some it questions the freedom of expression consecrated in the same constitution. Portuguese democracy is only 45 years old and this freedom of expression and assembly is sacred to the Portuguese.

Não há nenhuma "maturidade democrática" compatível com o fascismo eo racismo! pic.twitter.com/CyeKXsBenf

The objective of the far-right party is mainly propaganda

The legislative elections will take place on October 6, 2019, and Mario Machado, the neo-Nazi leader of the New Social Order, intends to take advantage of the political scene. In a country where the far right has never been able to elect deputies since the democratic revolution of 1974, some want to take advantage of the good scores achieved by these far-right parties in France, Germany, Italy, and even now in Spain, whose democratic history is close to that of Portugal.

The appearance of clearly populist and xenophobic parties or coalitions in the European elections last spring shows that Portugal is no longer quite impervious to these views. Machado who served a prison sentence for extortion carries a tattooed swastika on his arm. Today, he hides his tattoos under the sleeves of his shirts well, but Machado has not changed his ideology. Only the method has changed, the danger is intact.

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