CORK, FROM TREE MOUNTED TO COSMOS IS THE MOTTO OF THE EXHIBITION IN THE CENTRAL SPACE OF THE PARTY

Why is it organized in the Central Space of the Avante Celebration! Of 2019 an exhibition about Cork, which intends to show the cork oak, the tree mounted, the bark taken every nine years to the cork, cork and its industrial and commercial transformation? What about get cork products to be known, from the most traditional to the most innovative and technological? And to value the workers who, over the centuries, worked the fields and the tree mounted, especially the corkscrews and the industrial workers, always the most active and dynamic fighting for a better life and a better world? That’s because the PCP values the national production and the work of the Portuguese.

As much as the governors have never properly defended and valued the cork oak and cork production, Portugal has the largest cork oak area in the world, over 720,000 hectares, which corresponds to about 35 percent of the world total. Furthermore, it is the first producer (with more than 100 thousand tons per year) and world cork transformer. Exports contributed about 1 billion euros to the trade balance and the sector employs thousands of workers, either in the cork oak or in industry.

Cork is a natural product with unique characteristics: floating, sealing, insulating, lightweight, odorless, durable and elastic, recyclable and environmentally friendly. It is, therefore, capable of multiple applications and uses, from the most common - and well-known corkage of the finest wines, to traditional and modern clusters, utensils, accessories and furnishings (tarros, pots, hives, benches, wallets, shoes, tennis , belts, hats, floor and wall coverings, Norwegian knives and fishing rods around the world), to the innovative furniture designs, surfboards and kayaks of the spacecraft that roam the Cosmos. More recently, research has advanced in the use of cork cells to fight cancer.

Cork tree and cork oak, typical of the western Mediterranean area, protect the territory from the effects of winds, droughts, heat and rain erosion, as well as sequestering carbon. They are also sustenance of biodiversity, as they constitute the habitat of a very rich and diverse flora and fauna.

The large cork oaks are located in the Alentejo, Algarve and Ribatejo, but there are cork trees and cork oaks throughout the continental territory, especially in Trás-os-Montes. In Aguas de Moura, municipality of Palmela, is the Whistler, or Matchmaker, an exceptional 235-year-old specie, classified as the 2018 European Tree.

In the show will be valued the cork workers - agricultural workers, who take care of the land, animals and the cork oaks; cork pullers, a hard and difficult seasonal profession practiced for centuries with art, knowledge, mastery and respect, much respect for the tree; and the cork workers, who choose, prepare and transform cork into semi-finished and finished products -, who support an industry that migrated from South to North: from Silves, São Brás de Alportel, Sines, Grândola, Seixal, Cova da Piedade, Barreiro, Moita, Montijo, Vendas Novas and Portalegre to Santa Maria de Lamas, Vila da Feira.

The Communist Party prides itself on having a historical relationship with workers in this sector, whether agricultural or setter, who played a prominent role in various struggles during the dictatorship, particularly in the 1962 strikes over the eight-hour journey in the countryside. As for the industrial workers, they were a vanguard detachment in the struggles of the First Republic, and later resisted fascism: in the strikes of 1932; at the 1934 general strike against the fascism in trade unions; in 1940, 1942, 1946, 1961 and 1962, facing the worst fascist repression and death itself, as happened to Cândido Capilé, in a demonstration in the streets of Almada in late 1961.

After the April Revolution, the cork workers continued to be in the front line of the fight for the advancement of conquests and in their defense, for jobs, rights and wages.

The exhibition will thus reflect all this huge and rich history, but also the work of the present times, with growing scientific and technical advances that are not only able to solve ancestral problems that affected and devalued cork, but also project more creative and innovative applications of cork, which allow us to foresee a future of recognition and appreciation of this traditional Portuguese product.

The political component of the issue will also be present. It will particularly be remembered that the Communist Party has always organized and directed the workers' struggle for better working and living conditions - including cork workers - and has made numerous proposals in the National Parliament and in the European Parliament in defense of the cork tree, of the cork oak and appreciation of cork.