Inês wakes to her phone buzzing with messages from the housing collective. The president is speaking at the Assembleia today—another veto message, another confrontation with AD. Four years of this: the constant battle, the exhausting hope, the victories that feel like defeats.
She voted for Catarina with joy in 2026, one of the millions who made history. A Bloco president. A woman who understood housing, precarity, the struggle. The inauguration felt like revolution. What followed was... something else. Important, but different from expectations.
The morning commute brings familiar sights: eviction notices on doors, "For Sale" signs on buildings, the housing crisis continuing despite four years of presidential advocacy. Catarina speaks about housing every week. The government ignores her. Parliament overrides her vetoes. The crisis persists. Inês has learned that moral witness isn't the same as power.
At the NGO where she works, colleagues debate the presidency's impact. "Discourse has shifted," argues Joana. "Housing is a national priority now." True—everyone talks about it. "But nothing's built," counters Marco. "Prices keep rising." Also true. The gap between rhetoric and reality hasn't closed.
Lunch brings updates from activist networks. A squatting collective is being evicted—despite the president's explicit support, despite media attention, despite everything. Catarina will condemn it tonight. AD will proceed anyway. The pattern is familiar.
The afternoon protest at Rossio draws a decent crowd. Smaller than 2026, when hope was fresh. Inês recognizes many faces: the same core activists, aging slightly, tireder. Some have emigrated. Some have burned out. The permanent mobilization that Catarina's presidency demands is unsustainable for humans. Even inspired humans.
A BE organizer speaks about "building power for the next phase." The party has grown during Catarina's presidency—youth engagement is up, membership is up. But converting sympathy into legislative seats requires more than a sympathetic president. It requires organization, money, time. Things always in short supply.
Dinner with her girlfriend brings honest conversation. "Are you happy?" Sara asks. Inês considers. Happy that her values are represented at the highest level? Yes. Happy that it's made a difference? Less certain. The presidency has proven that power concentrated in government, not Belém, shapes policy. A lesson learned through four years of frustration.
The evening news shows Catarina's speech. Passionate, articulate, righteous. Every word Inês believes. The parliament's response: another override, another rejection, the same dynamic. Government proceeds regardless.
Before bed, Inês writes in her journal. "Is moral witness enough?" The question haunts her. Four years of a president who says everything right, while housing becomes more impossible, healthcare deteriorates, young people leave. The system resists even when the highest office dissents.
But then she remembers: what would these four years have looked like under Ventura? The raids, the rhetoric, the fear. Catarina didn't solve anything—couldn't solve anything from Belém alone. But she held space. She kept fighting. She proved another Portugal is imaginable.
Is that enough? Inês doesn't know. She'll show up tomorrow anyway.