Patterns of protest in Portugal show the relationship between the 'old' politics of labour and ‘new’ anti-austerity movements

The financial crisis of 2007-08, and the subsequent Eurozone crisis ushered in a Europe-wide era of lowered public spending. This, in turn, created a wave of protests about the iniquities of spending cuts, unemployment, and public services reduction. Guya Accornero and Pedro Ramos Pinto look at protests in Portugal – one of the worst affected countries – and show a complicated relationship between traditional political actors such as unions, and new social and protest movements.