Seixal, Portugal – The Avante festival, a huge political-cultural event in Portugal, brought together more than 100,000 people for three days of joyful celebration and revolutionary solidarity from September 4-6.
Avante, which means “forward,” is one of several annual summer festivals in Portugal. But this one has a big difference – it’s organized by the Portuguese Communist Party (PCP). Imagine going to a music festival but everyone calls each other “comrade” and there are red flags, hammers and sickles, keffiyehs and symbols of mass struggle and revolution all around. That’s Avante.
This year was the 50th annual Avante festival; it began in 1976, not long after Portugal’s right wing dictatorship was overthrown and the PCP was unbanned. Avante has continued every year since then.
This year’s Avante featured music by a wide range of over 30 artists on multiple stages, ranging from Portuguese pop star Carolina Deslandes to hip hop/soul artist Carlāo to feminist punk group Anarchicks to a performance of Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9. There were also 10 theater performances, nine movies, 27 sports activities, 12 book presentations, dozens of kids’ activities, food highlighting culture from around Portugal and the world, and more than 70 panels and discussions on Portuguese politics and international solidarity.
At Avante, you could spend your whole three days just listening to live music. You could just focus on trying food from different regions of Portugal and from countries around the world. You could spend all three days going to panels featuring communist and progressive speakers on a wide range of political topics. Or you can do all of those things.
At Avante there are booths set up by the PCP’s branches from each region of Portugal, which they decorate with revolutionary murals and where they sell their region’s food and crafts.
The Portuguese Communist Youth (JCP) had their own section at Avante with constant programming for young people, mural painting, food, and a spirited youth march throughout the festival grounds on Sunday.
In the international section, there were communist and workers’ parties from around the world promoting their literature as well as food and crafts from their countries. Particularly noteworthy was the strong presence of revolutionary parties from former Portuguese colonies, like Angola’s MPLA, Guinea Bissau’s PAIGC, Cape Verde’s PAICV, Mozambique’s FRELIMO, as well as Brazil’s Communist Party (PCdoB) and Workers Party (PT). Also present were the Communist Parties of Cuba, Vietnam, China and Laos. Many communist parties were also present from European and Latin American countries.
The massive scope of the festival makes it impossible to attend everything; each person can only take in a fraction of what’s going on. Organizing the festival is a massive undertaking; the PCP and Portuguese Communist Youth (JCP) and volunteers from across the country worked for months to plan and set everything up for the festival.
People pour in from all over Portugal on chartered buses, public trains and buses, and cars. Some people also come from Spain and other European countries that aren’t too far from Portugal. For people who can’t afford the cost of hotels or who like to camp, the PCP provides a sprawling campground for people to set up tents during the festival. The campgrounds were packed, with mostly young people.
International solidarity was a huge theme at Avante this year, with a particularly sharp focus on solidarity with Cuba and Palestine. Throughout the weekend, many performers and speakers denounced U.S. imperialism’s devastating blockade on Cuba and expressed deep solidarity with the Cuban government and people. Cuba’s leader Miguel Diaz-Canel sent a solidarity video message that was shown during Avante’s closing rally on Sunday evening, where he firmly stated Cuba’s preparedness to resist U.S. imperialism, and he also expressed gratitude for the solidarity they receive from the PCP and the people of Portugal. The crowd roared its approval at the end of the speech.
Palestine solidarity was also a big theme this year. Palestinian flags and keffiyehs were everywhere, and many performers and panelists emphasized the need to continue and deepen solidarity with the Palestinian liberation struggle.
At the closing rally of the festival, PCP Secretary General Paolo Raimundo spoke to a sea of people waving red flags, saying, “We are here for the good of humanity, alongside all of you, for the revolutionary overcoming of capitalism – the great necessity of our time. Here we stand, confronting the beast of war and the capitalist system that promotes and feeds upon it – that system of exploitation, oppression, aggression, hunger, misery, corruption, fascism, and environmental destruction…Respond through the daily struggle, just as you do in this festival that’s yours; transform that dream into reality, and take into your hands this new world that is waiting to be won.”
The closing rally was closed out by singing the Internationale and the crowd joyfully dancing to Carvalhesa, the theme song for the Avante festival.
The wide range of performers and artists and the huge turnout to an explicitly communist festival make it clear that the Portuguese Communist Party is a major cultural and political force in the country.
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