Madeira News Blog

Today’s Diário is almost true to the letter of the ‘law’, which says that on the day before elections there should be no political activity and it should serve as a day of reflection, and only has one political story today, compared to an average of around 30 every day this week. The law specifies that candidates cannot go out on the streets pestering people, rallies are banned, and normally political propaganda posters have to be removed from the streets, and that last point is the subject of today’s article. Because of the close proximity of the local elections, the National Election Commission has decided to turn a blind eye to the fact that streets are still littered with posters, and would presumably just be replaced again on Monday if the law was enforced.

Anyway, I am going to have to break that rule with a true story* of an important, or rather unfortunate, political event that happened late last night here in Ribeira Brava. It was strange really, as I have already said that there have been no rallies or candidates visiting the town as far as I know, and even the number of posters could be counted on one hand. I think this town must have a reputation as a political ‘dead zone’, but last night that was all about to change.

It must have been around 11.30 pm, just 30 minutes before any political activity became illegal, when I entered a late night drinking establishment, and as is normal I did a quick scan of the joint before taking a seat at the bar. I recognised all of the faces, a dozen or so, except for one man in a grey suit sat at the far end of the bar from me. He looked like he had come straight out of a second hand car lot, with greased back black hair and a goaty beard (no no not goatee!), you know the sort. Anyway I greeted those nearest to me and ordered a soft drink (well it was certainly soft if one poked a finger in it), and quickly surveyed the joint, noticing a number of red objects on the bar and tables where people were sat. Some people had red baseball caps, note books, pens, pencils, and a few even had bright red oven mitts. Strange I thought, but the sight of my beverage arriving and the man in the grey suit getting off his stool and heading my way distracted my attention. I gave the barman a €5 note, and out of the corner of my eye I saw the grey suited man plonk himself on the stool next to me and put a large white carrier bag on the floor between us. I have no need for a second hand car, so I was already mentally practicing my "no speaking Portuguese" retort as I could see he was about to speak to me, and he did.

I will have to divert from the story at this stage, just to explain something highly relevant. My oven gloves at home have been in poor condition for some time now. It all started one time when someone else was using them, and a large black burn hole appeared on one hand (yes I know who you are, and I haven’t forgotten that you tried to hide the fact). After that things went downhill, and the stitching started working loose, and stains appeared that couldn’t be shifted however many times they went in the washing machine. For several years now I have been looking out for new oven gloves, you know the sort where both hands are joined together, but the only pair I saw cost 11.49 bl**dy Euros. I had seen plenty of ‘one handed’ oven mitts, but they just wouldn’t do the same job, and by the time I had brought two they would work out to be even more expensive. The best thing to do therefore was to minimise use of the oven, until the problem could be resolved, and as a result it hasn’t been switched on since last Christmas. Anyway back to last night …

The man spoke to me with forked political tongue, and pointed to his white carrier bag on the floor. What is it this time I thought, wet fish, lapas, overpriced undersized pyjamas, … but as a courtesy I looked down and peered into the bag to spot lots of red objects … type as previously described as littering the tables of the establishment at that precise moment. A deep stoop and a closer peer into the bag, and I could see red notepads with a white PS branded on the covers. It then suddenly dawned on me that this man was either a campaigner, or even an actual candidate for the PS socialist party, and that this was his bag of goodies to entice the wavering voters. Of course I am unable to vote in national elections, but clearly he didn’t know that yet, and I had to think quickly and slip on my best Portuguese tongue before my cover was blown, in order to acquire the maximum selection from that white bag, hopefully even a red oven mitt, or even two. Just then my change arrived from the €5 note, and I put out my left hand to receive it, and answered the man’s question with an equal measure of forked tongue, about how I was thinking of voting PS, but that I was still torn between them and the BE Left Block, who had a much catchier theme tune. A few seconds went by, and I couldn’t hold back any longer, and I spouted out "tem lá lutas". He didn’t understand, so I pointed with my right hand to my raised left hand, which was purely by chance clenched tightly as it still contained my change from the bar, and repeated "luta, luta", waving my clenched fist, not really being sure of the exact complete word for oven gloves. His expression changed, and at that point things started to go downhill. Anyway, to cut a long story short, as I wrestled him to the floor, a beer got knocked over soaking his grey suit, and as other customers heard the breaking glass, bodies came running over to pull us apart. Strangely though, it was as I had my hands around his throat that I suddenly remembered that the Portuguese word for ‘glove’ is in fact ‘luva’, and logically ‘oven glove’ would be ‘luva do forno’. ‘Luta’ means ‘fight’.

Anyway we got separated, and after a few minutes of exchanging threats and insults, when the best I could manage was "I’m going to tell Uncle Bertie where you live" (which drew blank looks all around) the matter was eventually straightened out. But after all that, he didn’t have any oven mitts left. I did however get a nice pencil with a built in eraser, a pretty cr*ppy pen, and a PS notepad.

That was the night that politics in Ribeira Brava came ‘back to life’.

* Embellished in parts for heightened enjoyment

3 of the 5 headlines today are in Politics, so I will deal with those later.

(24th August). ‘Hospital ‘Seals’ Paediatrics – After the affair with the baby in the hospital nursery, those responsible reactivate the door code entry system’. Referring to the 3 month old baby who was found with a fractured arm and head bruising, but no one knows what happened, or are not saying more likely. The security door lock for the baby unit in Funchal Central Hospital has now been reactivated, making it necessary to enter a code to pass through the access door. The door lock was deactivated when work was going on, but according to the clinical director of Madeira’s Health Service Region (SESARAM), Miguel Ferreira, the system was only there to monitor staff movements, but has now been reactivated as a direct response to the baby being injured. The baby’s mother is still not allowed to visit, a situation that could last "indefinitely", and she says the measure with the door lock has come to late to prevent what happened. She denies any responsibility for what happened. An anonymous letter to the Diário on Saturday says that the mother was at the hospital on the day the baby got a broken arm, and that the mother didn’t enter through the reception.

In football : ‘Marítimo Mission Accomplished In The First Home Game At The Barreiros Stadium – With a scarce result, but fair, Marítimo give manager Carvalhal his second victory. In The Dragon stadium Nacional rushed themselves and lost 3 – 0 (to Porto)’. Nice one for Marítimo, but Nacional played well for over an hour, and it all went wrong when the referee gave an undeserved penalty to Porto for a handball, and then sent off a player. It just got worse from there.

‘Jardim do Mar ‘Isolated’ For Several Hours’. The village will be inaccessible most of today as the only access road is closed for cleaning of the rock faces close to the road. It is expected to reopen at 5 pm. 

‘Animals Poisoned In Ribeira Grande’. There is a rather grim looking picture of a dead dog and cat that were poisoned last week at their owners home in Machico. The culprit is unknown, but it seems that poisoned food was thrown into the back yard of the house, causing the death of the family pets. The owner called the police, and at the end he said he was disappointed with justice, that treats animals like objects rather than living creatures.

‘Coming Soon – New Traffic Rules – Innovations in the use of roundabouts and speed limits’. Pay attention to the new rules of the highway code, some of which will come into effect later this year, but with changes planned through until 2015. The National Strategy for Road Safety (ENSR) has thirty operational objectives which are divided into groups of ten, known as key actions, to be implemented from 2009 to 2015. Some of these key actions will result in amendments to the Highway Code and legislation, in particular, ‘Rules of the Road and the Regulation and Signalling of Traffic’. Not all the changes are known yet, but one of them will be the creation of 30 km zones, especially in urban areas. Also expected to change are the ‘safety distance’, circulation at roundabouts, variable message signalling, the rules around cycling, and a reduction in the permitted blood alcohol levels. Also to be reviewed are the systems and levels of fines for traffic offences. According to the Diário the rules have already changed once for the use of roundabouts, so hopefully the diagram will make it all crystal clear. What it says is that it is prohibited to travel in the outside lane of a roundabout, except in the stretch immediately preceding the intended exit.

UPDATE

‘Man Aged 75 Disappeared On Porto Santo – The elderly man didn’t return home after going fishing’. The resident of Porto Santo went missing yesterday, and his family raised the alert around midnight when he didn’t return home. The car of the man was found at Pedras Altas on the south side. Fireman and a group of forensic navy divers from Madeira have been mobilised to help in the search operation.

‘Jardim do Mar Complains About The Quality Of Water – Petition organised by the PS candidate warns of the harmful effects of chlorine’. Several dozen residents signed the petition, and "more did not sign for fear of possible political consequences", said the socialist candidate Sofia Canha, who took up the case of the drinking water with a intense taste of chlorine. The water problem is one thing, but not signing a petition about poor water quality because of fears of reprisals is pretty sad, or is it just BS from this candidate? I have heard similar stories many times before, about people with issues afraid to speak out, in fear that someone will come knocking on the door after dark. I wonder which political party could have installed such fears in Madeira’s democracy?

Today’s main news story : ‘Bernardo Teaches Marketing To Jardim – The national politician makes use of the game of Nacional at the stadium of Zenit to promote Madeira in the Russian press, with the slogan ‘Madeira, Land Of Danny & Ronaldo’. The photo with the headline, which I assume is part of the advert, shows a stunning view of Madeira’s mountain scenery. The secretary of state for tourism is going to approve the Europa League second leg qualifying match between Zenit St. Petersburg and Nacional as an advertising opportunity to strongly promote our island. Bernardo Trindade responded to president Jardim, who was rude to him last week, by taking the initiative to promote Madeira, saying that the "gratuitous insult is the weapon of the weak, I respond with the effort". The campaign will run in three of the most prestigious newspapers, starting on the eve of the big match. Trindade says that the Russian market is a target for ‘Tourism of Portugal’ and that the football match fits perfectly into the strategy to promote Madeira and Portugal, with an investment of €10,000. If Nacional make it through to the next stage he says he will consider similar initiatives. Good old Bernie, always has an eye open for Madeira, but there again it is his homeland.

The main photo on the front page shows the back of the head of prime minister José Sócrates as he waves to a large crowd at Fonte do Bispo yesterday : ‘Abuse Is A Weapon Of The Weak – Sócrates came to say to thousands of socialists at Fonte do Bispo that he is counting on the Madeiran voters’. He didn’t come here "to give lessons on good manners", he came to defend the Government, present the PS manifesto, and ask the Madeirans for their vote. He didn’t mention the name of Jardim, but his direction was clear when he said "abuse degrades democracy and freedom, it is a weapon of the weak". The secretary general of the socialist party was certainly made welcome by the crowd, and the weak local leadership. "Welcome to Madeira! I am honoured with your presence", local leader João Carlos Gouveia did not conceal his joy at the presence of his national leader at the ‘Festival of Freedom’. The president of the PS-M wants Sócrates to come more often to Madeira, "as Prime Minister and a distinguished representative of the common homeland". Gouveia said that "nobody is the owner of Madeira and that "the Madeirans are civilized". The abuse, he said, "does not fall within the genetic framework of democracy".

In a second related article it says that José Sócrates came to Madeira with two firm objectives :  To mobilise for the elections, and to leave it very clear that he distances himself from the talk of Alberto João Jardim. It also says he came here to "defend what the socialist party does in government", but perhaps that one wasn’t such a firm objective as the other two. "I always counted on Madeira and who counts on Madeira always finds more than they counted on … Madeira never failed", stressed José Sócrates. What a load of political BS, as the PS have never had anything more than a slight foothold on Madeira. A statement like that here would label him a ‘graxista’, especially as until this year he had never visited since becoming prime minister.

Yet another article on the same matters : ‘Madeira is known for the "common insults of Alberto João" – Bernardo Trindade denounces the "shame" he brings to the Region’. He condemned the "insulting" that president Jardim thrives on as tarnishing the image of Madeira, and called for "cooperation and solidarity" with the government of José Sócrates. He called the recent PSD party rally on Porto Santo the "festival of insults that shame our land". The opening speech at yesterday’s PS rally referred to Jardim as the "Hugo Chávez of Madeira". An estimated 15,000 supporters attended the event. 

‘CDU On The Attack -The candidate for São Bento Isabel Cardoso says that between Sócrates and Ferreira Leite it’s the Devil’s choice’. The next in the series of Diário interviews with the ‘top of list’ for each party, and it’s beginning to look that each one will get ‘front page’ space, which is a bit of a drag. Although the communists are going through a good spell at the moment, the CDU candidate Isabel Cardoso doesn’t have any chance of a seat in the assembly of the republic, and she is not even Madeiran. The CDU party share of the vote in all the elections in the last 5 years has been between 3.3 and 5.5%, except for the European elections this year when it achieved 6.65%.

RIGHT TO REPLY (today 1.32 pm)

‘Sócrates came to Madeira to "do the usual number, to play the victim" – Jardim considers that the ‘Festival of Freedom’ "in terms of political and programmatic content for this region, was zero". The president of the Regional Government and leader of the PSD Madeira, Alberto João Jardim, said that the secretary general of the Socialist Party, José Sócrates, came to Madeira to "do his usual number, that is playing the victim". Jardim interrupted his €10 a day holiday on Porto Santo to speak to the media about the PS rally yesterday in Calheta. "I had challenged the previous day in Porto Santo, the secretary general (Sócrates) of the PS to clarify certain issues and he said nothing, however he did his usual number, that is to victimize himself and say that the others are incorrect and rude" he said. "What he (Sócrates) did to Madeira and what everybody knows, that it is the PS behind a far-right organization who’s been insulting and slandering everyone". The president of the PSD-M concluded that for José Sócrates "there’s no water to wash himself with". Apparently the rally yesterday did not actually mention the name of Jardim. Thanks to you Uncle Bertie, I am now back on the right track. I was actually briefly taken in by José and his henchmen into believing you were on occasions rude to other politicians, but now I realise it must be the media misinterpreting your complimentary views on your political colleagues.

(10th August). ‘Ex-Leader Predicts Bad Results For PS-M’. Duarte Caldeira expects the worst outcome for the socialist party. A founder and former parliamentary member of the PS-M, he spares no criticism of the party leadership. He fears that the elections scheduled for the months of September and October are going to stay as bad memories for Madeirans, as the worst result ever in the history of the party. "The PS is in a sorry state " he said. At a parliamentary level, he singles out just two politicians of any value, the rest of the group he says consists of "a bunch of incompetents". Nothing like sticking the knife in when the party is almost already dead. Uncle Bertie and the cronies must be laughing their socks off.

‘Quotas: Inequality Or Justice? – After the elections, the country will see if the parity was a sham or the beginning of a new era’. Whether you agree or not with the mandatory requirement that a third of electoral lists are women, the law of parity has at least achieved one purpose : preventing the masculine status quo continuing to clash with the entry of women in politics. Invited to ‘give a face to a party’, the women mastered the opportunity to prove their abilities. So say some of the candidates heard by the Diário. No one says it openly, but there are those that suspect that once the elections are over, that one will come to see the ‘distancing’ of the ‘imposed candidates’ in the favour of male candidates more desirable for the party structures. There is nothing in law, once the elections are over, that forces the top politicians to show equality in the allocation of portfolios and the top jobs in politics. The election rules themselves require that there cannot be more than two consecutive male candidates on the lists. In a country where female participation in political office is very low, and gender discrimination of women continues at many levels, the past few months have brought ‘to light’ complaints within political parties on the difficulty of finding enough women. Never before has it been seen in Portugal, so much interest in the inclusion of  ‘ladies’ on the electoral lists, and at the time of submitting the official lists, some parties are keen to shout publicly about their pride in fulfilling the law of parity. A female candidate in Santa Cruz said "The law is good in a society that still discriminates, because in some cases it could guarantee women an opportunity to prove their capabilities".  In contrast, the number three candidate for the PSD in Machico (also a woman) disagrees with the imposition of seats for women on electoral lists, but admits that it is an effective way to ‘open the political doors’ to the female sex. It’s a really interesting long article on the subject, which left me a little surprised that women in politics didn’t especially support the law of parity, and a controversial comment was made was that women candidates would be more attractive on the posters and political propaganda, and that might make a party more attractive to a voter. Well I will be voting in the local elections, and although I am open minded at present (particularly as my vote will be a waste of time anyway), I will be looking out for the parties that have women placed at exactly number 3, 6, 9 etc. on their lists, and not casting my votes in those directions.

‘JPP want everything in Santa Cruz’. Rework the policies, support investment and reset priorities. These are some objectives that a Group of Citizens ‘Juntos pelo Povo’ (Together for the People) delineate for Caniço. Carlos Costa is the political representative of the JPP, and stresses that the movement is banking on "getting everything" in Santa Cruz. "Our intent is to win all the parish elections together with the municipal council (câmara) and the municipal assembly", he said yesterday. The candidates led by Filipe Sousa were outside of the church in Caniço to present some of the proposals of the movement, when it challenged the delay in implementation of some urbanization plans in the area. I wish you all luck, I really do, but the snag of course is if successful on the scale outlined, where will you turn for money and government support … the social democrats in regional government of course. That means Santa Cruz will probably be number 11 on a priority list of 11 regions, and the reality is you will have less and achieve less than with the status quo. I love to see democracy at work … thanks Uncle Bertie.

In another sort of related article : ‘Independents In Santa Cruz ‘Seen’ As Socialists – Two years after leaving the PS, they continue as socialists on the câmara website’. Filipe Sousa (mentioned above, and now in the JPP) abandoned the PS-M socialists two years ago, along with two other PS councillors, but the câmara (mostly PSD) left them as socialists on the official website, with photographs and all. Those concerned were appalled by the situation but nothing changed. The Diário contacted the President of Santa Cruz last week on the subject, but he refused to make a statement on the matter. However, the inside whisper was that "there were more important things to be done". Miraculously the website has now just been changed.

"In The Truth The People Don’t Know" – Fransisco Dias Challenges Jardim to clarify the future of the marina of Lugar do Baixo’. The socialist candidate to the council of Ponta do Sol takes up the theme, challenging Jardim to "clarify exactly" the future of that undertaking. "When Dr. Alberto João Jardim came to Ponta do Sol last week he said that the people knew what was going on in the marina of Lugar do Baixo, but in the truth the people don’t know, but they want the matter clarified". He recalls that when the matter was raised by his party PS-M in the legislative assembly about why there were discussions going on in private, without a public tender, the question was ‘flunked’ by the socialist democrats.