Photo: Dominique Soguel.
The Christian Science Monitor shows a Portuguese fishing vessel captain with two of his Indonesian deckhands, March 8, 2024.
The Christian Science Monitor does a great job of finding stories about humans treating other humans with respect, even kindness. Such stories do exist. Why other media outlets don’t spend much time on them is anybody’s guess. They seem to think that anger is what people want, but why do they think that?
Dominique Soguel writes that many in Portugal are giving a welcome to migrants rejected elsewhere. They know it’s in their mutual interest. A far-right party is trying to change that, but so far harmony, says Soquel, is winning.
“Among the warehouses of one of Portugal’s oldest ports, conversations are flowing among the men sorting their fishing nets. But not without the help of Google Translate.
“The fishers at work include not just Portuguese people but also Indonesians. Thanks to a local ship captain who ventured east to solve labor shortages, Póvoa de Varzim sees a steady supply of deckhands from Indonesia, and now they account for half of all crew mates.
“And while an influx of Muslim migrants into a traditional vocation like fishing is the sort of event that would be potentially inflammatory elsewhere in Europe, in Portugal it seems to be working out without much fuss.
“ ‘The Indonesians are quite well integrated in the community,’ says another ship captain, Manuel Marques. ‘We were never against their culture. We did not ask them to change a single thing. We tried to make things as easy for them as if they were at home.
‘We do need them, and we know it. There is a mutual respect.’ …
“ ‘We also have a place to worship here, like a mosque,’ says Wahono Lucky, an Indonesian fisher. ‘I tell my boss that I don’t eat pork – I eat meat, chicken, rice, pasta, but no pork. Muslim, Christian, it’s never a problem here.’ …
“ ‘We are the only country in the European Union that allows people to come to Portugal without a job,’ notes journalist and professor Paulo Agostinho. ‘We are one of the biggest entry doors for Europe, and we are having problems with Brussels because of that. But Portugal does not have an immigration problem.’
“People from former colony Brazil make up about a third of the migrant population. Citizens of the Community of Portuguese Language Countries are also well represented, benefiting from facilitated residency procedures. In recent years, migration from India, Pakistan, Nepal, and Bangladesh has ticked up.
“Not all of Portugal’s South Asian arrivals are integrating smoothly. In the agricultural fields of Póvoa de Varzim, the sense of harmony that is palpable portside is elusive.
“Lazaro Morgado, a foreman overseeing a quartet of Indians planting seeds, clearly prefers working with a Brazilian, with whom he shares a native tongue. ‘It is complicated for the Portuguese to work with the migrants,’ says Mr. Morgado. ‘Sometimes they don’t know the procedure, and it is hard to explain. And sometimes they don’t obey the Portuguese worker even though at the end of the day, the Portuguese one is the one directly accountable to the boss.’
“Two Indian workers say they paid exorbitant sums – about €14,000 ($15,200) – to visa consultants to get here. ‘Not all Portuguese like migrants,’ notes Hardy Singh, one of the Indian workers, citing experiences of job and housing rejections on account of his ethnicity. ‘But our boss here is good.’
“Back at the port, Mr. Marques wants the Indonesian crews to stay. That’s why he – like other shipowners in the area – houses the workers in apartments scattered across the community and invites them for barbecues. The Indonesian fishers also get minimum-wage contracts and a paid-for trip home for vacation.
“ ‘Some Portuguese don’t make as much as them because they are on contract, while we only get paid if we go to sea,’ laments Tomas Postiga, an older fisher. But he grasps the importance of Indonesian workers to keep the traditional community afloat and prefers them to workers of other nationalities. Religious differences are not a problem. ‘Some are religious. Some are not. It changes nothing,’ stresses Mr. Postiga. …
“For Masrura Rashid, [Portugal’s Moorish quarter] is simply home. She arrived here six months ago, after studying engineering and wandering in the lush tea gardens of Sylhet, Bangladesh. Her father moved to Lisbon first, obtaining the right to family reunification. Now she works at her uncle’s travel agency.
“In a street rich in halal butchers and supermarkets, Ms. Rashid does not especially stand out. Donning traditional Muslim attire that fully covers her face, she is keen to learn Portuguese. ‘It’s easy here,’ she shares. ‘The weather, the environment, the people, it’s all good.’ “
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