IMF [ FMI ]

“The city is deserted,

And someone wrote your name everywhere:”

[“Ouvi dizer” | Ornatos Violeta]

This could be the very beginning of this article =)

A few days ago I was amazed by the way Oporto welcomed the IMF [FMI in Portuguese] intervention, then I found out more of this all over the downtown.

I just felt like photographing them and bring it all back to you.

Along with the obvious irony and sense of humor came an intrusive reflection about the public opinion’s generalized idea of “the enemy”.

Politics aside, allow me to be honest, the fact is: we were in serious trouble and we needed help. After years and years getting money from the EU we are not at the development level we were supposed to be [economic and social trouble] and some public institutions were on the verge of failing to pay their bills and employee’s wages [financial trouble].

Imagine you have spent all your savings, your parents’ allowance and the creditors are about to knock on your door. You have no money so you ask your older brother for a loan. Isn´t it fair enough that with your spending track record he might want to be sure you are not going the same way to assuring you’re back on track spending each Euro thinking about tomorrow’s liabilities?

It’s not that I enjoy to loose almost half of my Christmas complement to my wage or worse, that I might feel indifferent to daily stories of people loosing their jobs because consequent cuts on public spending. Far away from that. I just believe the first step to our recovery lies on assuming our part on how did we come to this.

As far as I’m concerned I do believe in Portugal, I do believe in the portuguese people, their guts and resilience capability. Let's face this together...

“Whether you prevail or fail,

endure or die,

depends more on what you do to yourself

than on what the world does to you.”

Jim Collins

=)

PF