On March 6th I saw a report on the program A Prova dos Factos, on RTP, about Mafalda Guerra Livermore, a Chega activist, girlfriend of that party’s councilor in the Lisbon City Council, Bruno Mascarenhas. In December, she was appointed member of the Social Services Administration of the Lisbon municipality. The RTP report said that Mafalda rented unworthy housing for immigrants and that it was being investigated in two investigations by the Public Ministry.
On March 7, I read that the mayor of Lisbon, Carlos Moedas, from the PSD, had dismissed you. I remember that Moedas had nominated her months before despite, according to Sábado magazine, another Chega councilor, Ana Simões Silva, having resigned from the party because of this appointment.
Also on March 7, I read that the president of Chega, André Ventura, defended Mafalda saying, unlike Moedas, that it was she who had resigned “in the name of transparency and integrity”, even though she knew, he argued, that what was broadcast by RTP were “false allegations”.
On March 10, I saw André Ventura turn directly to an RTP journalist and say this: “RTP is full of socialists, communists and blocistas. It’s time to put an end to that. (…) that’s exactly it: RTP is full of communists, blocists and people who don’t represent the country (…) if they are no longer representative, they can’t be on a public television channel that receives hundreds of millions of euros every year from taxpayers, because They are taxpayers who are also Chega voters, they are also PSDB voters and they deserve this change to be made.”
This behind-the-scenes alliance between PSD and Chega that Ventura explains for the “cleaning” of places under State supervision, which perhaps now involves the appointment of judges to the Constitutional Court, reminded me of the times when I attended Liceu Pedro Nunes, in Lisbon, when I was 13 years old.
The Students’ Association was dominated, in the post-25th of November period, by young people from the PPD, Sá Carneiro’s party, which was joined by young people who called themselves militants from MIRN, a proto-fascist organization led by Kaúlza Arriaga, a soldier loyal to Salazar.
I remember that when these elections were held, the MIRN boys were at the door of the polling station, displaying sticks, ratchets, sticks, brass knuckles and spring-loaded knives. One of them walked me to the voting table, peering over his shoulder to see where I was voting. I only escaped being beaten because I voted blank and because one of the young people from the PPD was my classmate and told the others that I was a “nice guy”.
A few days later there was an event by the Union of Communist Students nearby and I saw this group gather at the school armed with their weapons. They went to that UEC rally to “throw a punch” and shouted this phrase: “UEC! UEC! The hunt for the commie has opened.”
On March 12th I read that EGEAC, a Lisbon City Council company politically controlled by Carlos Moedas, decided, without explanation, not to reappoint the director of the Museu do Aljube Resistência e Liberdade, the communist activist Rita Rato, despite the much praised and extraordinary work done there…
Professional quality doesn’t matter, if you’re a communist, you’re screwed. As André Ventura explained, Chega and PSD returned in the aftermath of the Hot Summer and opened the hunting season for the commune – which will include, as he said, the “cleansing” of socialists and blocistas.
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