Soares, political legend

So, it was a little bit emotional to listen to Mario Soares, he is really one of the true legends of the post-war social democratic movement in Europe. He is truly one in the gang with Olof Palme, Bruno Kreisky, Francois Mitterrand, Willy Brandt and the others. Our new SSF-president, Magdalena Streijffert, got the chance to ask him a question. She asked about Europe’s way forward after the non and nee in France and the Netherlands but his reply was only about Olof Palme. They went on a trip to Tanzania together sometime in the seventies, Palme apparently never stopped talking about the terrible apartheid regime in South Africa and they became friends for life. Now Soares is running to become president of Portugal again (see entry below) and I asked a Portuguese comrade if his age (born in 1924) was controversial. The reply I got is that the only thing that could be controversial would be if the party did not support his candidature. Anyway, the political power in Portugal lies mainly in the parliamentary system and the socialist PM José Socrates and most naturally a Fred Perry progressive blogger is hoping for a socialist victory in January. (Needless to say, Soares is the one to the right in the picture, and the guy to the left is my friend Giacomo Filibeck, president of ECOSY).