News from the Chair
July/August, 2025 Newsletter
Greetings from Arcos de Valdevez where I’m busy settling into my new home. This month’s newsletter celebrates people having the courage to stand up and say the unthinkable out loud.
As I See It
Folks, in my humble opinion, we’ve crossed the red line. The U.S. is officially in authoritarian territory. Now is the time when all lovers of democracy - regardless of where they live or political party affiliation - have no choice but to come together to resist the regime and protect our democracy.
In response, Democrats Abroad Global has declared this summer the “Summer of Resistance” and in that spirit, the highlight of the month was our July 5&6th get togethers at the Democrats Abroad Resistance Picnics in Porto and Lisbon. The picnic was well attended by around 150 people at each location. This was a time to build community, dance to oldies, and take a selfie with #TacoTrump and featured the Guest Artist Taran Brar, who created this piece of resistance art.
Source: This picture and others from the Lisbon event courtesy of Forward Together.
The energy was incredible as we sang resistance songs, listened to speakers from Democrats Abroad, Forward Together, and reconnected with friends old and new.
The Importance of Art in the Resistance
Art not only brings people together, but through comedy and satire creators can say things that are routinely censored out of traditional media.
What do Stephen Colbert, South Park, and the acclaimed artist Amy Sherald have in common?
Source: Left Amy Sherald - Hauser and Wirth; Right: bluestork / Shutterstock.com
They all speak truth to power and have experienced censorship under this administration.
Degrees of Freedom
What is going on in U.S. arts and entertainment got me thinking about the degrees of freedom we have to resist from Portugal.
Unlike our friends and loved ones who reside in the United States, we have the freedom to resist with little fear of ramifications. I am a queer white woman who can pass for straight.
Source: https://equaliteach.co.uk/the-next-chapter-for-white-privilege/
Living here, my status as an immigrant gives me a privilege that goes well beyond white privilege.
The privilege to show up, say what must be said out loud, fight loudly, without having to face down masked ICE agents, as one young woman recently did in Chicago, where she used her body to block an ICE vehicle from leaving a Chicago courthouse.
As immigrants living in Portugal, we have the freedom to resist … a freedom that is now getting scarce in the United States.
Plan how you will spend your time and energy moving forward accordingly. Step up. Organize a resistance event yourself.
Or participate in resistance efforts organized by your hub leaders here at Democrats Abroad Portugal. Connect with them to tell them what kind of resistance activities you feel would have the most impact.
Energizing Yourself and Others for the Fight Ahead
Source: NPR
To help energize people for the fight ahead, we strongly recommend you set up or join a “Resistance Circle” also called a “Resistance Roundtable”. This is like a book club except the material you’ll be reading and discussing has been hand picked to ‘raise your consciousness’ and energize you for the fight against fascism as it takes hold in this country.
You'll find the article on our new Substack. Please do join and read. It's free and a great way to get your resistance muscles geared up!
For other concrete ways you can make your voice heard, feel free to check out the rest of our substack. Subscribing is free and if you use the Substack app be sure to follow us for timely notes.
Governor Whitmer says the quiet part aloud
Worth your time: this interview with Gretchen Whitmer, the Governor of Michigan (D).
In this interview with Scott Galloway (love him or hate him, he brings the goods!) Governor Gretchen Whitmer that states like hers do not have either the resources or the mandate to put checks and balances on federal misuse of power. Her primary role is to work with other states experiencing the same challenges with this regime so as to protect the citizens of her state from incursions on their freedoms, economic stability, and civil rights.
Just like us, in this video she is asking: where is Congress? When will they do their jobs? In our eyes, just for asking that question, she is a hero of the resistance.
To get the full interview and a transcript, go to our substack.
Your right to vote from overseas could be under attack!
Yet another reason to keep your membership with Democrats Abroad Portugal current and to encourage other immigrants from the U.S. to join Democrats Abroad.
Source: ACLU.
“The GOP is really trying to make it more difficult, if not impossible, for Americans to vote when they’re living abroad,” Martha McDevitt-Pugh, International Chair of Democrats Abroad, told Democracy Docket. “They’re actively trying to rip away the right to vote from American citizens.”
Has Portugal changed its rules regarding immigration? What does that mean for me?
The answer is yes, with more pain for the ultimate gain: an EU passport. Portugal seems to be on a path to make becoming an actual citizen of Portugal one additional test (citizenship) and 5 more years more difficult. The path to permanent residency remains unchanged at 5 years, although the word permanent is a bit of a misnomer as in fact you need to renew your residency every 10 years.
Source: vista.pt. Note this should not imply any endorsement of this service by DAPT.
This handy chart details the rights and responsibilities for immigrants to achieve permanent residency versus citizenship.
News that scares us to death
Now that the “Big Ugly Bill” (BuB) passed, the tRump regime is beefing up ICE with $45B to build out more concentration camps like Alligator Alcatraz.
Additionally, the regime just made being homeless or mentally ill illegal via an executive order. Think about that. This is exactly what Hitler did in 1933. So you have to ask yourself? What would I do if I was a German who immigrated to Portugal in the 1930s. Would I sit back and let the regime round up the unhoused and mentally ill? For what purpose?
Undoubtedly, the plan here is to round up the unhoused and mentally ill and incarcerate them. And we know the effort is not likely to stop there. Now is the time to write or call your governor, the attorney general of your state, congress people, and senators and tell them that this is (one of many) steps too far.
This news is so new that 5Calls and Resistbot have yet to provide a call script. Get your talking points off our substack.
Until next time.
Viva the resistance!
Lynnette Shaw
Chair, Democrats Abroad Portugal
P.S. We are looking for volunteers to help us produce our substack and other communications. If you want to make a big difference to the growing resistance movement from Portugal please do consider volunteering. Writers and art directors/creatives and folks with social media chops are urgently needed.
DA Portugal
https://www.democratsabroad.org/