Europe In Revolt: The Deferred Portuguese Revolution

FEATURING CATARINA PRINCIPE – The European Commission this week decided against fining Portugal and Spain for incurring government budget deficits. The decision was made in part because of Britain’s decision to exit the EU and because anti-austerity movements across Europe are feared to be destabilizing the continent.

Portugal has a budget deficit of 4.4% and, like Greece, Spain, and many European nations, it has been rocked by political instability for several years now. In fact there has been a common theme across Europe with social democratic parties failing to anticipate popular sentiment and finding themselves losing to conservatives.

Catarina Principe, social movement activist from Portugal. She is a member of Bloco de Esquerda (Portugal). She writes for Jacobin magazine and is the co-editor of a new anthology called Europe in Revolt. Her essay in that book is called The Deferred Portuguese Revolution.