The No Frills Podcast, by Leah Pattem, is a direct, on-the-ground line to what people are really thinking and feeling.
Across Portugal, housing protests have come under police attack, and the right to occupy public space is under threat. In the second episode of The No Frills Podcast, I travelled to Porto to meet activists, to try and understand how the city got to this point, and how police violence is only strengthening the fight back.
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On Halloween night, police attacked peaceful housing protesters in Porto for the third time in just two weeks. Their demand was simple: that the government address the cost of living crisis that is making it impossible for young people to afford a home. But as police violence escalates beyond levels ever seen in the country’s living memory, many fear the spotlight is intentionally being diverted away from the right to housing, and towards the dismantling of the right to protest.
The scenes in Porto and Lisbon echo a wider wave of demonstrations across Europe, from Spain and France to Italy and Albania. But something about the movement in Portugal seems different. Protesters have, until now, remained remarkably peaceful – locking arms, standing their ground and singing songs, even as police respond with batons, tasers and dogs. They maintain that this is the best way to keep the attention on housing, but with attacks becoming increasingly violent, how much longer can these protests remain peaceful?
From the dismantling of rent controls following Portugal’s Carnation Revolution to mass local depopulation and the explosion of tourism, Porto’s housing crisis has actually been in the works for decades. For a generation raised in the shadow of the financial crisis, the promise of a better future has all but disappeared.
I meet Francesca, a 24-year-old activist who was beaten during the Halloween police attack, and hear why she refuses to stop coming to the Praça de Dom João I square, where the housing protesters established their encampment. I also meet housing activists, Ruben and José, and listen to older generations who remember Portugal’s dictatorship, and what it means to fight for the rights we should always have had.
Because, despite what the headlines tell us, this movement isn’t just about young people. It’s about all generations sharing political knowledge and storytelling, and the power of reclaiming public space through art, music and culture.
Listen now to the sounds of Porto and the voices of the people fighting for its future – from those who lived through its past to those determined to shape what comes next.
Credits
Interviews with Francisca Xica Santos, a 24-year-old housing activist, Ruben Sousa from Porto’s housing union Habitação Hoje!, and José Arnaud, an academic whose work focuses on social movements in Portugal.
Sound recording locations in Porto: The Luís I rail bridge, Espaço Cultural Jubilant, and the symbolic encampment on the square of Praça de Dom João I.
Research, interviews, recording, production and visuals by Leah Pattem.
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