Lisbon is currently experiencing a profound contradiction: it sells itself to the world as vibrant and cosmopolitan, while pushing those who inhabit it out. For some, it has become a financial asset, when it should be the place where life happens.
The city is facing a process of transformation, with recent times being critical. Under the leadership of Carlos Moedas, it has been promoted as a “city of the future”, focused on international events involving technology, unicorns and digital nomads. Lisbon was transformed into a product. This narrative – which reflects political choices – puts the urgent needs of the population in the background.
Historic neighborhoods have become tourist showcases, and housing – a constitutional right – an inaccessible luxury. In the name of “urban rehabilitation”, thousands were expelled, exchanging neighbors for guests and homes for temporary accommodation. This process was not inevitable; it was an option. The liberalization of rent, the lack of regulation of local accommodation and the surrender of the real estate market to speculative logics have created fertile ground for gentrification. And every time “economic dynamism” is invoked without recognizing who gets in the way, a part of the city’s soul is erased.
At the same time, public services, space and urban hygiene are degraded, while the helplessness of homeless people and migrant populations grows, and a security discourse is normalized that solves little and excludes much.
Despite everything, Lisbon resists.
There are movements that fight against evictions; promote cooperativism; citizens who mobilize for the right to quality public transport; whoever defends the city’s natural heritage, whoever demands more participation.
At a time when political discredit and civic discouragement are growing, one frequently hears “My vote doesn’t change anything”, it is urgent to remember that democracy cannot be sustained without participation. It is the moment when everyone has the same weight in deciding the collective direction: what policies we defend, what future we choose. These are choices – and political choices are made at the ballot box. When we stop voting we cede that power to others. And, in the silence of abstention, we hand over the decision to those who choose to act for us.
We are at the end of another municipal campaign. Across the country there are candidates who go out of their way to explain to the electorate – theirs and the potential – the reasons why they should vote for A and not B. The call for a “useful vote” is repeated.
It is useful to participate in the life of the city, in the neighborhood, in associations. It is useful to vote without constraints, choosing political projects capable of transforming reality, representing the direction we want.
Lisbon needs this change of direction – with courage, empathy and collective vision. We need a city that welcomes, instead of expels. A city for the 99% of the population and not for the privileged 1%. Listen, instead of imposing.
In a time of speeches that normalize exclusion and hatred, every conscious vote counts. It is a brick built against intolerance — an affirmation that we believe in a fairer, freer and more egalitarian city.
On election day, don’t stay at home. Go vote. Because your voice counts. Always counted. And it will continue to count if you use it.
Independent councilor, Citizens for Lisbon, at CML