National action movement

By the mid-1980s, the situation in Portugal had stabilized after the revolutionary upheavals. The political process has entered the mainstream of multi-party democracy. There was a regular change of power within the framework of legal procedures. The struggle was fought between the center-right liberals and the center-left social democrats . An economic upsurge was also indicated.

Radical political forces, extremely active a decade earlier, either recognized the democratic order or were marginalized. The Communist Party was integrated into the parliamentary system. The Maoist People's Democratic Union and the Trotskyist Revolutionary Socialist Party , although they put forward radical slogans, generally acted within the framework of the rule of law. The far-right terrorist organizations - the Liberation Army of Portugal , the Democratic Movement for the Liberation of Portugal , like the Maria da Fonte movement , have long ceased their activities. The ultra-conservative Independent Movement for the National Reconstruction of General Caulza di Arriaga was defeated in the election and in fact left the stage.

At the same time, the political tradition of Portugal and sharp social contradictions continued to generate extreme right-wing trends, albeit in marginal social sectors. Attempts to structure them in the form of a “Nationalist action” ^{[1] were} made as early as the turn of the 1970s and 1980s. External factors also contributed to this: neo-fascist activity in Italy , Spain, and France. The ground for chauvinism and racism was also created by labor migration from the former Portuguese colonies.

The National Action Movement ( MAN ) arose in 1985 as the "cultural and political movement of popular revolutionary nationalism." The founders were Jose Luis Paulo Enriques, Vitor Santos, Alexander Freire. Luis Enriques ^[2] , previously an activist of Christian-Democratic youth, broke with the centrist movement because of his salazarist views and ties to football “ ultras ” ^[3] came to the fore.

The symbolism and rhetoric of the organization left no doubt about its neo-fascist character.

A capitalist society that ignores spiritual energy and higher ideals has given rise to another type of materialism - Marxist society. These opposing systems are based on oppression. But on the horizon appears the Third Way - nationalism, cleansed of individualistic errors. After the liberal democratic revolution of 1789 , after the Marxist revolution of 1917, it was the turn of the third revolution, in the name of which we are acting ... Our time has come. Non-conformist youth will form a revolutionary elite and national consciousness based on solidarity. The Portuguese are awakening to the national liberation struggle, they believe in our revolution.
Manifesto of the National Action Movement ^[4]

The movement sharply criticized Marxist totalitarianism , liberal capitalism, and the Yalta system as a "collusion of capitalism with communism." A typically fascist slogan was put forward: Nem Capitalismo! Nem Comunismo! Terceira Via! Por Portugal! “Neither capitalism nor communism is the third way in the name of Portugal!” In this ideology, there was a strong influence of the Western European “new right”, in particular, the French neo-fascist Jean-Gilles Malyarakis , who at one time was a member of MAN ^[5] .

The system ^{[6] of the} Portuguese Third Way was formulated by MAN ideologist Antonio José di Brito as a synthesis of Mussolini’s early fascist romanticism, Salazar’s corporate structures, Catholic traditions and revolutionary syndicalism .

Up to 5 thousand people joined the movement - a considerable number for Portugal. The participants were recruited mainly from working youth and young unemployed. The most popular MAN was in the industrial districts of the Greater Lisbon agglomeration. In addition, the movement enjoyed significant support in the traditionally right north , especially in Braga and its environs .

MAN's activity was not so much in ideological research and advocacy, as in power actions against political opponents and African migrants. Observers anxiously noted obvious sympathy for neo-fascists in the army and police:

Skinheads do our job - finish off blacks, anarchists, communists and homosexuals ^[7] .

A series of violent crimes is associated with the National Action Movement. On October 28, 1989, skinheads killed Jose Carvalho, Trotskyist activist of the Revolutionary Socialist Party ^[8] . The reason was the conflict over the inadmissibility of neo-fascists at a concert organized by the Trotskyists. In 1991, a group of ultra-right militants were convicted of this murder for various terms of imprisonment ^[9] . However, the immediate killer, 20-year-old at that time Pedro Grill, managed to escape from prison. A few years later he voluntarily surrendered to law enforcement agencies, for which he received a reduction in time ^[10] .

Also in 1989, an English actor was attacked (before the Carvalho assassination), then - Spanish tourists and Angolan migrants.

Clashes increased during football competitions. The most resonant incident occurred on January 3, 1993 , when Nazi symbols were raised during the Belenensis - Benfica match ^[11] .

June 10, 1995 - on the national holiday of Portugal Day - skinheads launched a large-scale attack on Africans living in Lisbon . Twelve people ended up in hospitals with severe injuries, one from Cape Verde died ^[12] . Fifteen skinheads led by Mariu Mashadu were arrested and convicted. The Constitutional Court decided to ban the National Action Movement as an extremist and racist organization.

After serving a prison term of 4 years and 3 months, Mashado became the recognized leader of the Portuguese neo-Nazis ^[13] ). In 2004 - 2008, he led the skinhead group National Front . MAN has actually transformed into the Hammerskins Portugal movement.

In 2010, Mashadu was again convicted of a number of crimes - robbery, kidnapping, illegal possession of weapons - and sentenced to 7 years in prison ^[14] . He characterized his persecution as political repression. He was released in May 2017 , after which he again joined the radical right-wing policy ^[15] . In early October, Mashadu was deported from Sweden , where he arrived to attend the international conference of the European ultra-right ^[16] .

The far-right trend is currently represented in Portugal by the National Renewal Party ( PNR ). Created with the participation of MAN activists, the party occupies extremely nationalist positions, upholds traditional values, requires restrictions on immigration, a tough fight against corruption, and opposes Marxist and liberal tendencies. In 2013, PNR strongly defended the memory of Canon Melo ^[17] , the leader of Portugal's right-wing anti-communists in the mid-1970s. The political genesis of the PNR is often associated with MAN, party chairman Jose Pinto Coelho was accused of links with the far right - although the party operates only in the legal field and takes more moderate positions.

In this context, the “Skneyhead” National Action Movement seems to be the connecting link of the Portuguese extreme right tradition - from Salazarism through the far-right underground of the mid-1970s to a law-abiding, though radically “politically incorrect” PNR.