The 46th Avante Festival organized by the Portuguese Communist Party (PCP) concluded with a resolve to build a just, fair and developed country. The three-day festival was held at Amora in the city of Seixal from September 2-4 and attended by thousands of people from all parts of the country as well as from other parts of Europe. Multiple exhibitions, book fairs, concerts, cultural sessions, sports events, film shows, seminars, and discussions were organized on issues revolving around politics, culture, youth, history, women’s and working class rights, ant-fascist and anti-imperialist struggles, peace, local development and housing rights, waste management, climate change, and the ongoing cost of living crisis.
Cadres from fraternal communist parties and their youth wings across Europe put up their stalls as part of the fest. The festival concluded with a massive rally on Sunday, September 4, which was addressed by PCP General Secretary Jerónimo de Sousa.
The PCP has been organizing the Festa do Avante (Avante Festival), named after the party’s publication Avante (Forward), since 1976. From the 1990s, the festival has been conducted at a ground bought by the PCP in Amora, using money generated through a fundraising campaign. This year’s fest had special events organized to celebrate the birth centenary of renowned Portuguese writer and PCP member José Saramago and the 80th birth anniversary of musician and communist Adriano Correia de Oliveira. Cadres from the PCP and the Portuguese Communist Youth (JCP), as well workers of the Avante newspaper actively worked to coordinate the numerous events organized as part of this year’s festival.
While addressing the rally on Sunday, Sousa called on the participants to contribute to the struggle of workers and common people, for a better life and for the development of the country.
He said, “We are a party with an unmistakable identity, the reason for its existence, its strength and its irreplaceable role. Always with the workers and the people, always with national sovereignty and independence, always with internationalist principles, we are and will be the Portuguese Communist Party.”
