António Guterres, who is a former Portuguese prime minister, said that the world is “witnessing forms of violence that we are not accustomed to,” such as the propagation of anti-Semitism messages online, incitement to violence and hatred by neo-Nazi organisations, massacres in synagogues and profanation of Jewish cemeteries.


“All this must lead us to understand that the horror of the Holocaust is not enough to kill this kind of expressions of hatred, of racism, of violence,” Guterres said.


Guterres spoke to Lusa on the sidelines of a presentation of “Beyond Duty” exhibition at the UN headquarters in New York, which was co-organised by the Permanent Mission of Portugal with the UN and pays tribute to diplomats who saved Jews during the World War II genocide.


The growth of populist speech is even more worrying, he said, if this movement is associated with nationalism or “when it has hidden, even, some aspects that are memories of ancient expressions of the time of World War II and Nazism.”


He did not comment on the current situation of increasing violence and populism in Portuguese-speaking countries, such as Brazil, Angola or Mozambique, saying: “I do not think that the Portuguese-speaking world is particularly affected, but of course, surveillance is needed everywhere.”


Guterres argued that “we must be alert, and we must do everything in order to triumph with the values of tolerance, mutual respect, peaceful coexistence between communities, among human groups, among civilisations because only then can the world live in peace.”