 Welcome to Faces of DM, the DMTV segment of the DM25 YouTube channel that focuses exclusively on our members. Here you will meet the journalists and volunteers that joined our movement, that felt inspired by our political messages that got engaged in projects on the ground. My name is Nadia, I recently joined DM25 staff to coordinate TM Voice, the cultural and arts platform of TM25, and today I'm in Lagos with Jonathan Silva. Hi. Hi. Lagos is in the Algarve region in Portugal, and Jonathan is developing a project that wants to protect the clips that we are seeing behind us from construction. Hi Jonathan, can you please tell us why did you join DM25? Hi Nadia, thank you for having me. So I joined DM25 for the main reason because I could relate very well with the message of creating a true democracy. I believe that if we don't act to shape the world to the public interest, that inevitably other interests will shape the world, right, and those interests most of the time do not have the will of the citizens in mind. So yeah, I'm trying to make the world a better place by acting on what I feel should be acted upon. Can you tell us a bit about your story, your personal story? Yeah, sure. I grew up in Lagos. It was my hometown, right, and then at 18 I left. I went to study, then I worked in financial services for many years. I worked at the European Central Bank and investment company in London. And during the pandemic, I returned to Lagos. I actually lost my job during the pandemic. I contracted COVID-19. I was one of the first people to contract the disease here in Lagos. And I just felt that my life was at the new all-time low. But that rock bottom became the solid foundation where I rebuilt my life on. Because while I was sick lying in my bed, I looked at the market and used my financial expertise to actually capitalize on unique trading opportunities that I saw. And then I used my profits to create a non-profit organization to actually create this supportive community which helped me so much while I was sick. And how was Portugal when you came back? How do you feel politics are going? How economics are going in Portugal and especially in Lagos where you're living now? Sure. So Portugal is particularly affected by the pandemic because tourism is a big industry in this country. And moreover here in the Algarve region where I grew up. And the pandemic is going on this second year. Small businesses are closed. There's a curfew. You cannot go to another city during the weekend if you don't have a justifiable reason. So all of this is affecting small businesses. Only essential businesses can be open and only at limited times. So all of this is affecting the community as a whole. And the fact that the European Union is injecting massive amounts of money and liquidity into the system, it's not sustainable in my opinion in the long run because it will lead inevitably to inflation. And inflation basically will punish people through lower wages because if they have the same wages and prices go up, their standard living come down. So that's what could happen in the medium long term. So people will be worse off. And how did you come to know about this situation, about the cliffs in Lagos? Thank you for that question. So I'm very passionate about that issue. Before I left Lagos, all this area was open. There was no fences. So you could just walk and hike along the cliffs. And I used to do that frequently with my friends, with my dogs. So it was a very enjoyable path to walk. And when I arrived back from London, all of this area was actually fenced off. It was closed to the public. And after some investigation, I realized that it was actually owned by a private construction company there, a private company there. So all of these private companies basically fenced off this area from public access. And in my opinion, that is not the way it should be because this space, not only is it a local landmark, it's a natural heritage that should be for the benefit of everybody. Everybody should have access to these cliffs, which are called Costa doido cliffs, all the way to Ponte de Piedad. They're world famous. And it's not fair that only private companies have, or private interests in this case, have access to them. So this campaign basically, we seek to create a dialogue with the municipality to try to have an open discussion to what should be done here to have a sustainable infrastructure. For example, we propose creating only a pedestrian path, creating also a hiking route along the cliffs in a safe way with safeguards and all of that, and also a bike lane, maybe at the end of the cliffs at the very end where the lighthouse is, create like an open market for only local produce, a circular economy, greener economy, to incentivize the promote local businesses and create an open terrace with only a big sitting area so people can come sit and enjoy this wonderful view that we're enjoying here as well. And how is the DM25 helping you putting this whole campaign into place? Can you tell us a bit about this? Yeah, sure. So my campaign got chosen, selected for the campaign Accelerator program by DM25, and they are actually helping me with expertise, so I am in contact with a lot of experts from the DM25. Some of them are in Greece, some of them are in Porto, some of them are in Belgium. So in all these countries, and they are providing all their expertise on how to best tackle the situation in this campaign, create a petition, create an open letter, contact some influential people, so they are helping me basically to grass root and take this campaign off the ground. That's great. Yeah. And can you tell us a bit more about your NGO? So what are the plans that you have for the NGO, I know you have a house that you are rebuilding. Me and some other local people, we got together and we created an unprofit organization, it's called Soul Image, yeah. So it's in Portuguese, Associação sem Fins Lucrativos and basically we focus on two pillars, community and nature. On the community pillar, we seek to lift the spirits of those people in need and encourage the creation of this supportive community. We are doing that practically by creating a community center and that community center will function as a hub where people can come and develop cultural, creative, recreational, educational, social initiatives. So we imagine it to be a place where people can come and discuss ideas, movie nights for example as well, cultural gatherings, art exhibits, all of that. And on the nature pillar, we focus on improving and preserving natural heritage sites like this for the benefit of the community. Okay. So, can you tell us a bit more about how you got to know the situation, how could you find information on it and what struck you on this? Sure. So when I arrived back from London, the first thing that I saw were the fences, right? So this area that I used to hike was close to the public and then lately there was a big sign from the construction company saying that the land was for sale. Moreover, the sign said that the land was going all the way to the cliffs and the cliffs in Portugal, this is public domain, is maritime public domain. So immediately I discussed with some of my colleagues from my nonprofit and we realized this is actually not correct if they put the sign up saying that they're selling something that's not theirs for sale. And a few weeks later, actually the sign was covered up. I'm not sure if somebody complained or not or something, but the truth is the sign was covered up. Realizing, they must have realized that they could not sell something that was not theirs for sale. And do you think your campaign can have any success? Well, it depends on your definition of success, right? If the municipality opens a dialogue and a public consultation and then we the people have a say in deciding what's going to happen in this area, that's for me a success and it's a victory because then we get a vote in deciding what will happen to this area, right? If it in the end will be what we envision, that depends on the municipality and if it allows the people to have its voice. But what I know is that we the people, we need to have an active civic voice, we need to have a duty to make our voice heard. I find it very interesting that you, at the same time, you are an activist but with the background working with financial institutions. So can you tell us a bit how did you manage not to be influenced by the capitalist agenda and where did you find the activism in yourself and when did that happen? Sure, very good question. So I believe when I was working at the European Central Bank, I first realized that money is nothing but a tool because the European Central Bank, for example, uses money as a tool to shape not only the economy but shape society. It produces and prints, injects more money at will by buying government debt, right? And in that way they inject liquidity into a country and then in return they may make demands. For example, in 2008 they sent the IMF to Portugal and the Troika, right? And to impose austerity measures. So basically they were giving that liquidity to the country but on the other hand they were demanding austerity measures so they were shaping society. So I realized that money can be a tool and it is nothing but a tool. It's an imaginative construct of us. We give it value but money is nothing but an imaginative construct. And then I realized that this tool can and should be used to shape society to benefit the community as a whole. And that's where this activism comes from, to try and shape it to the public good and not only some, a few private interests. Great. And how do you think a DM25 can contribute, can keep on contributing to your own activism, to your projects? Yeah, sure. So my goal is to help create a better world through shaping it for the public good of the community, right? And DM can help by bringing me in touch and contact and to a network of people and bouncing off ideas of other people who have similar ideologies. That's basically I believe the main, the main benefit from being part of DM25 of having a community of people who want the best for the world. Thank you so much, Jonathan, to be on Faces of DM. I thank you very much. Yeah, nothing. And thank you for watching. Thank you.