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Greetings from Arcos de Valdevez. Yes, I recently moved to my new home, about 100 km from Porto in the country. Which delayed this newsletter. Apologies for that. This month has been a whirlwind of activity - almost all of it positive. It is estimated that 200 people showed up in Lisbon and Porto - for a total of 400 people - to celebrate No Kings Day events happening all over the world.
The energy was incredible as we sang resistance songs, listened to speakers from Democrats Abroad, Forward Together, and reconnected with friends old and new. Check out the pictures from the event in Lisboa courtesy of Forward Together. Estimates vary but back in the United States it is believed that over 10-11 million people attended similar No Kings Day events, putting us at the tipping point of over 3.5% of the population standing up and saying “no more” to this authoritarian regime.*
*I hesitate to call it a government … given what we now know about ICE and how they are disappearing people from our streets and shipping them to gulags offshore.
Many people are asking me what’s next. EVENTS Our focus here in Portugal right now is on hosting smaller resistance efforts that allow our members to connect person-to-person and also to reach voters living in Portugal. We are calling the first of these events “Resistance Picnics” and there will be two of them happening in early July. RSVP using the links below and we will send you details about when and where the events will be held.
At each event, you will have a chance to interact with our guest artist - Taran Brar - who is touring the EU with “Felon Don”. Come together with us to see this exciting piece of protest art, reconnect with friends old and new, and discuss the next phase of the resistance.
5things You Can Do You are probably familiar with 5Calls and many of you are using this application to good effect to call your congress people and senators and ask them to DO THEIR D@MN JOBS. Here in Portugal we are putting together a list of 5things you can do from here. Right now, our #1 objective has to be to defeat the Republican sponsored “Big Beautiful Bill” in the Senate. This bill is heinous as you can see by following these two links:
Hundreds of thousands of Americans will die for lack of access to medical care if this bill passes; moreover, this bill makes the regime stronger in incalculable ways. Defeating this bill has to be our number one priority right now.
We have also heard from some of you that calling congress from here has some challenges. Our new Marketing & Communications team has prepared this guide specific to Portugal:
The guide is geared towards experienced callers and newbies alike. Check it out and let us know what you think! It’s part of a new and experimental Substack that we will be officially launching in early July, 2025.
Sobering News While many of us here in Portugal marched in solidarity with peaceful protests around the world for No Kings Day. What we didn’t know was that there had been an unprecedented assault on our democracy in Minnesota. A politically motivated assassin shot and killed a former Speaker of the MN House and her husband in their home, after shooting and gravely wounding a sitting MN Senator and his spouse. Political violence has no place in a civil society and the violent political rhetoric and state sponsored violence against all citizens must stop. As a fellow Minnesotan, I honor these public servants who were brutally attacked for simply doing their jobs. Melissa and Mark Hortman will be remembered for loving and serving their community, and our healing thoughts go out to John and Yvette Hoffman as they fight to recover from their injuries. Our hearts are broken, but our resolve for building a better world is not. Until next time. Lynnette Shaw P.S. We condemn the illegal and unconstitutional bombing of a sovereign country. Talking points about the situation re Iran are available below:  DA Portugal |
