In a speech in which he criticized capitalism, stating that “maximum profit tramples on many lives”, as well as politicians, companiesand “who wants to convince us that if someone stumbles next to us, they’re just going to let them fall and step over them”, Catarina Martins thanked Mariana Mortágua for the leadership of the outgoing coordinator during her mandate.
“Thank you, Mariana, for everything and so much”, said the presidential candidate and former BE coordinator.
Catarina Martins’ speech marked the second and final day of the 14th Left Bloc Convention, this Sunday, November 30, at the Pavilhão do Casal Vistoso, in Lisbon.
Still criticizing the system, the presidential candidate recalled that the “power” of the left “is knowing that it is when we hold out a hand to protect someone who stumbles beside us from falling, or when we are stumbling and someone takes our hand and holds us, in that moment when we hold hands, we take our eyes off the ground and look each other in the eye, and then there is hope, because there is empathy, there is solidarity, and that is the horizon line that moves us”.
Catarina Martins denounced that “the free, fair and supportive society of Article 1 of the Constitution of the Portuguese Republic has yet to be built” and that it will be necessary, once again, to “reinvent democracy and reinvent the country. Let us know how to listen and join forces against exploitation and indecency, let us know how to learn to multiply the best that we are”.
The former bloc leader ended up endorsing the name of José Manuel Pureza as the party’s next national coordinator.