Portugal for everyone; not for Portuguese people

The speech by Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa and Lídia Jorge on June 10th is proof that Portugal has to be for everyone, except for the Portuguese.

The self-determination of peoples, a document that Portugal defends, has the thesis that each people should be free to choose their future as a community and, when possible, have their own country. But it seems that this does not apply to the Portuguese, who are guilty of thinking that the country they created is theirs.

We need to remind the Portuguese people that they have every right to be the owners of their nation. That they do not need to feel like foreigners in their own country. That Portugal belongs to the Portuguese people. We have been told for a long time that it is a country for everyone, but they forget to include the founders in that “everyone”. We are being abandoned and neglected by those who should represent us and who, in truth, seem to be disgusted by us and our existence.

Without the Portuguese, there is no Portugal. We do not need to be ashamed of our identity and our history. Nor should we be afraid of wanting to take control of our country; of stamping our feet and saying that Portugal is ours and will be ours until the day we die.