I would say that the defeated parties will first have to ask which country we have in 2022. Leave for a moment the beaten phrases, and, without betraying your ideological vision, rethink the speech and give priority to aspects that are even inscribed in your program, perhaps in need of clarification..
In the last days of January 2022, the Moon was in a waning fourth. On February 1, at 6:49, our natural satellite enters New Moon and enters a new lunar cycle.
For the Chinese, a new year begins. We will find in asian peoples a strange articulation with nature and with natural cycles, articulate this patent in fascinating animism present in almost all Asian religions.
From January 31 to February 6 is a week of vacation for most Chinese. The festivities last for 16 days, with celebrations throughout China.
In Europe, lunar cycles almost go unnoticed, but in Portugal, a new year is also announced.
Elections were held for the Portuguese on January 30, with surprising results even for the winning party. Portuguese voters gave a left-wing majority to parliament but an absolute majority to the Socialist Party.
The country had a bulging eye without wanting to believe in itself.
Two years ago, in the 2019 elections, the Socialist Party began to govern with the support, now of the parties to its left, the Left Bloc (BE), the Communist Party (PCP) and the Ecologist Party "The Greens" (ENP), now with the punctual support of the Social Democratic Party (PSD).
With the non-approval of the Budget for 2022, parliament was dissolved, and new elections took place. And the parliamentary landscape has changed profoundly.
There is a majority left, with PS, PCP, BE and still "Free". With more than half of Socialist MPs, the remaining parties now have the lowest MPs since 1975. The "People Animals and Nature" also reduced its parliamentary participation to its leader.
On the right, a former party born with the revolution of 1974, the Social Democratic Center (CDS), disappeared from parliament. The PSD came in second, in a deep existential crisis. A young party called the "Liberal Initiative" has emerged that believes in the values of economic liberalism and also in a less conservative view of social life. The big shock for much of the country was the sharp rise of the CHEGA party, the Portuguese version of the far-right that proliferates across Europe.
On election night, television shows images of the press room of each party, with the leaders speaking, accepting defeat or singing victory. But there are also images that show the faces of the militants, now sad or euphoric. And the question is, "Who are these Portuguese?" Or a question that goes deeper, who is the Portuguese who review themselves in these parties?
But the big question we're going to have to answer from today, February 1, 2022, the first day of Lua Nova, is what country are we, the Portuguese people?
In an exercise of distancing, it is necessary to ask the extent to which the new parliament sociologically represents a different Portugal, very different from Portugal in 1974, but also a different Portugal at the beginning of the 21th century. There may even be, in February 2022, a Portugal reasonably different from the country of a decade ago.
The governing stability will be assured, and the Socialist Party will be pacified around its leader, António Costa. The "Livre Party" is exuberant, with Rui Tavares, a left-wing historian who believes deeply in the dynamics of a left-wing Europe.
The remaining parties will "close to taking stock", rethink strategies, and review their Portuguese role in the political landscape.
I would say that the defeated parties will first have to ask which country we have in 2022. Leave for a moment the beaten phrases, and, without betraying your ideological vision, rethink the speech and give priority to aspects that are even inscribed in your program, perhaps in need of clarification.
There is a different country, and it is not just due to the pandemic. For the Chinese people, a new year begins at the beginning of Spring. We, the Portuguese, should fill the chest with air leave, as lamentations behind and that take on a new cycle begin in this rectangle by the sea.
A new moon is always a period of quiet reflection.
Let's reflect and ask, "What country is this we have?"
Let's find out.
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