Defending the ‘Bad' Constitution. the Indirect Effects of the Portuguese Cycle of Contention Against the Austerity

Under the bailout conditions imposed by the EU-IMF-ECB in 2011, Portuguese citizens have suffered drastic measures for containment of public spending. Moreover, the recent crisis has also implied a strong attack on the country’s Constitution. Written during the revolutionary period of 1975 and promulgated by a referendum in 1976, the Constitution continues to represent the values and rights won at the birth of Portugal’s democracy. While criticism of the Constitution - seen as ‘blocking necessary reforms’ - is not new, it now finds a new external ‘legitimation’. A recent report by JP Morgan, for instance, sees it as an obstacle to European integration, particularly through its ‘protection of labour […] and the right to protest if unwelcome changes are made to the political status quo’.  As elsewhere, Portugal has seen a strong reaction against both austerity measures and attacks on social and political rights. Alongside the emergence of ‘new new social movements’, it has witnessed the dramatic growth of traditional forms of actions, as strikes. Building on our earlier work charting protest trends in Portugal since 2010, this paper argues that while protest movements have encountered limited success in reversing or re-directing the effects of spending cuts, they have contributed to the political process by blocking efforts to change the Constitution and to prevent a greater part of the planned revocation of social rights.