The streets and cafes were quiet in Porto this morning. We sat for breakfast in a deserted cafe that yesterday was buzzing and the waiter explained the country was on strike and with no transport, no people. Luckily we had a car and drove around Viana do Castelo, just to the north of Porto, visiting the beaches and the basilica on the hill above the town. A forest of eucalypts surrounded the Sacre Coeur inspired church.
We came across a public demonstration by the strikers against Government austerity. The organisers had set up a podium in the town plaza in front of the fountain where seagulls were having a drink.
They spoke to over a hundred supporters who held placards and waved red flags. We sat in the shade of cafe umbrellas and drank a beer and took bets on which of the seven organisers on stage would faint first in the heat as a man, he sounded like a politician, spoke for a long time in a loud voice. Only the true believers gave him their full attention and waved their flags and cried in unison as he rallied them. Many older listeners headed for the shade of the buildings and began to talk among themselves. No-one fainted and the speech ended with some stirring music and the crowd burst into song and some pumped their fists into the air.
The rally ended with the playing of the National Anthem and most sang along quite loudly and with gusto. Under the cafe umbrellas, a lady with a heavily lined face and thick red hair gave her seated companions a disapproving look and they stood with her until the music finished.
The keys on the iphone were making too much noise for the man in the green trousers to hear the anthem or for that matter any of the speeches and even after the crowd had headed home with their placards and flags over their shoulders, he still stared into his toy.
Afterwards, we shelled roasted peanuts and drank a beer celebrating the freedom of workers to strike in Portugal, a country that had a Fascist dictatorship until not all that long ago. Don’t teachers in Queensland have to ask the Government if they can strike for better conditions?