Tag Archive for: xenophobia

Brazilians

‘We hope a presidential candidate who includes everyone, will win’

The year 2025 was marked by setbacks in immigration issues, says Ana Paula Costa – president of the Casa do Brasil (Brazil’s House) in Lisbon – to newspaper Público. ‘We had a very difficult year in terms of narrative, legislation and integration of immigrants, not just for the Brazilian community.

‘Attacks of xenophobia and racism were unfortunately mainly directed to Asians and Roma but of course, the Brazilian community – being the largest in terms of numbers (nearly half a million Brazilians i.e. circa 5% of the Portuguese population) – was also greatly affected by this rhetoric’, she adds.

‘The impact of the rhetoric – in particular by André Ventura, chairman of the far-right party Chega – is direct on public services, on the way people are treated on a daily basis, on their rights and access. Immigration has been highly politicized in public discourse, and in a very negative way.’

In 2022, the Commission for Equality and against Discrimination (CICDR) reported that cases of xenophobia against Brazilians had increased exponentially, with reports of confrontations such as ‘it’s not my problem if you don’t know how to speak Portuguese’, ‘Brazilian women come here to steal our husbands’ and ‘you don’t understand anything, you’re stupid.’

A study by the Francisco Manuel dos Santos Foundation, published in 2024, indicated that five out of ten Portuguese citizens want the Brazilian presence in Portugal to decrease.  

With the presidential elections later this month, Costa hopes that the Portuguese will elect someone who ‘values the rule of law, respects people and includes everyone in his mandate, as this is fundamental for democracy.’

In her assessment, the changes to the Foreigners Act (Lei de Estrangeiros) and the proposed amendments to the Nationality Act (Lei da Nacionalidade) have a clear objective of reducing the influx of immigrants. ‘The centre-right government demonstrates this on the argument of immigrant deregulation and lack of administrative capacity.’

‘But immigration was not deregulated,’ she explains! ‘Since the 1980’s we have had immigrant regulations in Portugal. And from an administrative capacity point of view, what happened is poor public administration, as is reflected in other public services, such as social security, health, housing and education, where there has been no investment over the years to enable people to exercise their rights, such as the right to obtain a valid residence permit in time.   

‘In fact, this is a much bigger issue: there has been no investment whatsoever in the immigration service, and last year this has created huge administrative problems, especially in the transition from the Foreigners and Borders Service (SEF)to the Agency for Integration, Migration and Asylum (AIMA).’

So, less bureaucracy in public services, more recognition of the importance of immigrants, better regularization of immigration, less hate speech, and more jobs, political awareness, respect for fellow citizens and protection for women.
That’s the 2026 wish list of Brazilians in Portugal.


Happy New Year          Feliz Ano Novo             (Pic Público/Sapo)



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Scapegoats

Crime by immigrants hasn’t increased. Crime against them has.

The idea that an increase in immigration brings more crime is a myth! This concludes the sociologist Catarina Reis Oliveira, who analyzed the data on crimes published by the police authorities and crossed them with the immigration figures.

In an analysis made at the request of the newspaper Público the result is clear: in municipalities with the highest absolute number of foreigners, crime has decreased. On the other hand, the ratio of crimes per number of residents is lower in the municipalities where the immigrant population has the most impact.  

Municipalities where the immigrant population has a significant impact on the resident population are Vila do Bispo (immigrants represent 44% of the total population), Odemira (42%), Lisbon (29%) and Porto (14%).

If there were a direct relationship between immigration and crime, it would be expected that the increase in foreigners would be directly reflected in an increase in crimes recorded. However, ‘nothing more wrong,’ concludes the researcher.

Odemira – where almost half of the population originates from South Asia to work in agriculture – has over the last decade a lower proportion of crimes than that verified for the whole country, also distancing itself from the proportion of crimes recorded by total residents in Lisbon and Porto, municipalities that have a much lower impact of foreign residents.

In Odemira, in ten years, the proportion of crimes per inhabitant hardly changed (from 3.2 crimes per 100 residents in 2011 to 3.4 in 2023), whereas immigration skyrocketed. The data are much lower than in Lisbon and Porto, where the ratio last year was, respectively 5.9 and 5.8 crimes per 100 inhabitants.

What this analysis reveals is that ‘alarmist discourse is not supported by numbers’. In municipalities where the immigrant population hasn’t increased, crime has grown. In contrast, in places like Odimira, where the weight of immigrants is much higher, ‘crime numbers remain stable, even below the national average’.

The researcher concludes that ‘this deconstruction of the myth is essential to combat prejudice and hate. What really worries is the effect of this fallacious discourse, which is fostering an increase in violence against this vulnerable population.’


Enjoy the week          Approveite a semana               (pic Público)




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Democracy

‘After years of EU support, Portugal is still a backward country’

What is the state of Portugal’s democracy in the year that centre-left prime minister António Costa took over the European Chairmanship and centre-right president Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa was re-elected on a second term in office with a clear 61% of the votes.  

The PM holds the most executive power.The directly elected president has a more deliberative role as a warden of the constitution and head of the armed forces. The president also has the power to delay legislation, dissolve parliament and call for new elections. He or she ratifies international treaties, calls referendums and declares states of emergency.

Since it’s return from dictatorship to democracy in 1974 (Carnation Revolution), Portugal has a stable parliamentary democracy with a multiparty system and regular transfer of power between the two largest parties, the Socialist party (PS) and the Social democrats (PSD).

A new, anti-immigration and far-right party Chega ( ‘Enough’ ), however, is on the rise. Representing only 1% of the electorate in the 2019 elections – sufficient to gain a first-ever seat in Parliament – its leader André Ventura became third in the recent presidential elections with 12% of the votes, just behind the socialist veteran Ana Gomes.

Ventura’s performance makes clear that he has emerged as a political force in Portugal and in this year’s upcoming municipal elections his ultranationalist and xenophobic party – by many viewed as fascist – is looking like a serious popular choice.

International studies praise the country for its political freedom and civil liberties. The Freedom House Research Institute in Washington DC ranks Portugal 10th globally and the Varieties of Democracy (V-Dem) Institute at the University of Gothenburg even 7th. Higher than say the UK or Germany but lower than the Scandinavian countries.

Portugal legalised abortion in 2007 and same-sex marriage in 2010. Parliament voted in January this year in favour of euthanasia, bringing the new law a step closer.

Although domestic violence remains a problem, perhaps the most serious concern is corruption involving bankers, judges and high ranking politicians. Other democratic worries include abusive conditions for prisoners, persistent racism – especially with the uniformed forces – and discrimination of the Roma.

On the Global Democracy Index 2020 – drawn up annually by the Economist – Portugal fell from a ‘full’ to a ‘flawed’ democracy, mainly due to restrictions imposed by the pandemic, a reduction in parliamentary debates and lack of transparency in the spending of EU recovery funds.

According to European Commissioner for Cohesion and Reform Elisa Ferreira, Portugal is still a backward country. In an online debate she emphasized that the billions to help the country recover from the coronavirus pandemic must be radically different from the past. ‘It has to be much more environmental, more digital and much more socially balanced’, she stated.

She further pointed out that the GDP per head in Portugal is extraordinary low. and that ‘no matter how much Lisbon grows, the rest of the country is too far behind to allow Portugal to take off.’

Stay healthy                          Fique saudável            (pic Público/Sapo)



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