Portugal as a Strategic Target

For the far right, it is the weak link through which it can carry out its attack on the European Union

.

29 August 2019 (Wall Street International)* —  A series of recent events has unveiled increasingly disturbing signs that far- right internationalism is turning Portugal into a strategic target.

Clear illustrations of such signs include the recent attempt, by some intellectuals, to play the card of racial hatred in order to test existing divisions both on the right and the left and thereby influence the political agenda, the international meeting of far-right parties in Lisbon in August, and the strike called by the newly created National Union of Dangerous Goods Drivers, to take place at the same time as the Lisbon meeting.

There are several reasons for these developments. Portugal is the only European country with a left-wing government that is about to complete a full parliamentary term and will be soon going through a new election process, as well as the only country where no far-right party has ever won a seat in parliament.

Is Portugal so important as to deserve such strategic attention? Yes, Portugal is indeed important because, from the point of view of the international far right, it is the weak link through which it can carry out its attack on the European Union.

Thus, the main goal here is to destroy the European Union and send Europe back to being a continent of rival states, where nationalisms will be free to flourish and social and racial exclusion will lend themselves more easily to political manipulation.