International Viewpoint - online socialist magazine

In the face of climate catastrophe, Portugal mobilizes vote against the far right

Jorge Costa — 2026-02-10T07:07:34Z

António José Seguro was elected President of the Republic of Portugal on Sunday with 67% of the vote, comfortably beating the neo-fascist candidate he faced in the second round, André Ventura (33%).

- IVP613 - February 2026 / Portugal

New neofascist advance in presidential elections

Jorge Costa — 2026-01-21T10:46:38Z

“The reduction in the electoral strength of the left is an invitation for activists to reflect on the fragmentation of this camp. In the downward spiral of the last three years, the only time the left has made its mark on the public debate to contest popular opinion was during last December's general strike, called jointly by the CGTP and UGT against the new labour laws that the government wants to impose.”

- IVP612 - January 2026 / Portugal, Far Right

The general strike demonstrates that struggle can open up paths for the left

Jorge Costa — 2025-12-18T09:48:33Z

“The general strike, the first since the days of the Troika, was called by the two main trade union confederations, CGTP and UGT, which has only happened in half of the ten general strikes held since the end of the dictatorship.”

- IVP611 - December 2025 / Portugal, Trade unions/workplace organizing

Building an anti-liberal left in Portugal is difficult but necessary

Jorge Costa — 2025-10-07T10:39:07Z

Portugal is experiencing a significant shift to the right, particularly visible in the results of the last parliamentary elections. These difficulties are caused by the effects of the global crisis on the country.

- IVP609 - October 2025 / Portugal

Is Wagenknecht's nationalism the left's new compass?

Jorge Costa — 2025-01-06T19:45:50Z

Recent elections [November 2024] in three German Länder have revealed the rise of a new political movement, the Bündnis Sahra Wagenknecht (Sahra Wagenknecht Alliance - BSW). The result of a split from the left-wing party Die Linke, the BSW claims to be countering the far-right Alternative für Deutschland (AfD) on the issue of migration policy. Does the BSW's orientation represent a left-wing alternative or the crumbling of a certain left?

- IVP600 - January 2025 / Germany

“Left Bloc: ‘We provide a solid political reference point to the workers and social movements' ”

Jorge Costa — 2023-08-04T19:16:17Z

In this wide-ranging interview, Costa covers developments in Portuguese politics since the Socialist Party (PS) was returned to government in 2015, the Left Bloc's changing relation to it, the rise of the far right in the form of Chega! (Enough!), the Bloc's relations with the Portuguese Communist Party (PCP), and the challenges facing the party as it returns to growth with an influx of a generation of younger activists.

- IV583 - August 2023 / Portugal, New parties of the left

After a year of absolute majority, first wave of mobilizations in Portugal

Jorge Costa — 2023-03-03T14:13:35Z

A year after the Socialist Party (SP) won an absolute majority in the Portuguese parliament, the political situation has been altered by the popular struggle.

- IV578 - March 2023 / Portugal, Trade unions/workplace organizing

Lessons from the Portuguese non-model

Adriano Campos, Jorge Costa , Maria Manuel Rola — 2018-07-01T07:46:27Z

In this short contribution we discuss the conditions for the Portuguese “non-model”, since the circumstances are so peculiar that no generalization is possible, and explore the experience of the Left Bloc during the two and half years of the government that replaced the right-wing troika consulate in Portugal (2011-2015).

- IV522 - July 2018 / Portugal

40 years after the Carnation Revolution

Jorge Costa — 2014-04-24T23:42:34Z

On the eve of April 25, Portuguese society was smouldering from contradictions accumulated in half a century of dictatorship. At the heart of these contradictions was a war that lasted thirteen years, to hold on to the African colonies of Angola, Mozambique, Guinea, Cape Verde and Sao Tome and Principe. This conflict conditioned the whole of national life, because of the social suffering caused by the mobilization of two hundred thousand men, a tenth of the working population (a human cost equivalent to twice that of Vietnam), because of the wave of migration driven by hunger and the war, and because of the impossibility of a military solution, the only one contemplated by the regime.

- IV471 - April 2014 / Portugal, Historical events and figures

Starting anew with the Left Bloc

Alda Sousa, Jorge Costa — 2012-04-04T17:18:30Z

This article was first published in the book "New Parties of the Left: Experiences from Europe" from Resistance Books in 2011.

- Building new parties of the left / Portugal, New parties of the left, Debate section