A Portuguese revolutionary song from 40 years ago is haunting the bailed-out country’s government. Anti-austerity protesters are hounding senior officials by loudly singing at public events a celebrated tune from the 1974 Carnation Revolution. They have managed to silence some of their targets, including the prime minister when he was trying to give a speech in Parliament.
After winter weather discouraged street protests and with strikes petering out amid falling income, dissenters in Portugal have formed civic movements which have come up with new ways of retaliating against their leaders’ unpopular policies.
“There’s a broad feeling of powerlessness” among aggrieved Europeans, says Antonio Costa Pinto, a political scientist at Lisbon University’s Institute of Social Science. “With few resources, (the civic movements) can make a big impact.”
Photo: Reuters
照片:路透
The recent mischief is needling politicians who are viewed as deaf to appeals for less hardship. “It helps achieve an aim, which is to grind down the government,” said Costa Pinto.
Protesters recently sang the folk song Grandola, Vila Morena (Grandola, Dusky Town) from the public gallery when the prime minister was addressing Parliament, forcing him to stop and wait for them to finish.
(AP)
一首來自四十年前葡萄牙革命的老歌,現在正緊追著這個獲紓困國家的政府不放。反撙節政策示威者透過在公開活動中高唱這首源自一九七四年康乃馨革命的名曲來騷擾政府高官。他們已成功讓部份目標官員噤聲,包括試圖在國會中發表演說的總理在內。
在冬季天候不利街頭示威,收入銳減又導致罷工潮逐漸消退後,葡國異議民眾開始形成公民運動,他們想出新的報復手段來對付政府領袖所推出的不得人心政策。
里斯本大學社會科學研究所政治學者平托表示,忿忿不平的歐洲民眾心中「有一股普遍的無力感」。「在缺乏資源的情況下,(公民運動)可以產生強大的影響力。」
最近這波惡作劇行動的目標,就是要刻意騷擾那些被認為完全無視人民要求減少苦日子呼聲的政客。「這種行為有助於達到一個目標,那就是弄得政府不堪其擾,」平托說。
示威者最近就在總理正準備在國會發表演說時,從旁聽席上高唱《格蘭杜拉,昏暗之城》這首民謠,迫使總理暫停發言,直到民眾唱完為止。
(美聯社/翻譯:俞智敏)
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