For any of you who are familiar with the black market, a store in Halifax, and the buskers which come to Halifax every year. During a stay in Lagos Portugal I encountered just the thing I am referring to. It was a protest of sorts which brought people from all walks of life to band together for one single cause. It was a sign of union between street performers, gypsies, hippies, and what all North Americans call run of the mill people.
The protest was due to the fact that a local market that has been running for more then ten years, was shut down by the police. This market was held every weekend on a plot of land that is used for recreation. The vendors at the market don't pay any sort of fee to set up a stall, people who want to contribute to the community come sell and trade the things they need. Keeping in mind that most of Portugal is suffering right now due to the economic down turn that is reaping havoc on most if not all of Europe.
Over the many years this market has been running, the people who sell knew that one day it would come to and end, but what they didn't know was that it would come to a dramatic, hurtful end. Sometime last month while the market was set up the police showed up with guns and brut force, expecting problems from the people. Don't underestimate people's reactions to things was the mentality of the police. The police came in confiscated all the goods being sold, and fined each person whom was selling products.
What you have to understand is the people selling at this market strictly rely on that income alone. They are a community of people whom have chosen a lifestyle of simplicity, meaning they construct, bake, cook, and grow everything they sell, including and not limited to repairs of any types of things you can imagen that needs to be repaired.
To see the population of this community band together in a show of pride, and defiance of local authorities was quite the experience. The people are so down to earth and generous, they would give you the cloths off their back if you were in need. Their mentality towards life is if you can't afford to pay for the item in which you seek, they are more then willing to trade with you. For example if you needed bread but couldn't afford it, but knew how to repair a bike then the two parties would come to and agreement to do a trade. Bread for manual labour.
The protest was not necessarily an act of uprise but just a general show of unity between the community members sticking up for what they believe is right. If the police just showed up without so much as a warning to shut something down in North America people would not stand for such an act. But this is where North American culture and Portuguese culture differs, they just take what happens and deal with it the best way they know how, which is to just bow down to authority. I'm not saying they should have caused a problem but something should be done. To come in without warning, claim that what they are doing is illegal only for the sheer fact that the government isn't getting a piece of the action if you please. There is no fee in which the vendors have to pay, which means the people who run the town are not seeing any of the benefits of such a thing.
