Little guide to understand what is happening in Brazil (part I, for now)
Autor: Raul Suhett de Morais | Publicado: 2013-06-25T02:07:00+02:00

During the past 10 days, we have been living different times in Brazil. We have been seeing astonishingly huge demonstrations all over the country and the political consequences are starting to happen. As one can imagine, there are as many opinions as people involved in the process. Many of my friends from elsewhere in the world have been asking me what's happening and I reckon I should try to write down some bullet points about the situation so that my friends can have a general idea of it.


First of all, a brief disclaimer: although I will try to cover as many points of view as possible, I am a little too much leftist. Also, it's been a while I don't write anything serious in English, so I beg your compassion and understanding. If you have any doubt or consideration about what's written here, feel free to ask me or express your opinion on the comments section down there.

So... Let's begin.



The Inception

Buses and undergrounds' fares.

It all began with the rise on the buses and undergrounds' fares all over the country. Although there have been happening several demonstrations in many cities since late 2012, nobody paid too much attention until one specific demonstration was severely repressed by the police in São Paulo on 13 June. (Here it is important to highlight that things only get some attention when they happen in São Paulo or Rio de Janeiro and these earlier demonstrations were happening mainly in the North) The demonstration was organised by the Free-Pass Movement (MPL for its name in Portuguese: Movimento Passe Livre) and some thousand people were there. The police and the protesters engaged on a huge fight on the streets and it was when the media and the rest of the people got to know what was happening. On the days that followed, several demonstrations were organised in the biggest cities in Brazil.



Lost of focus and the Violence

The division of the left and the oportunity of the right.

When the movement got too big, reaching 1.4 million people on the streets of 120 cities on 20 June, the focus on the buses and undergrounds' fares was lost. People on the demonstrations were complaining about everything: against the corruption and the politicians; against the 2014 FIFA World Cup and its expenses; against several unthinkable laws that are about to be voted. People are very angry and the buses and undergrounds' fares were just the spark that started the fire. Also, what began as a clear left movement, with some political parties involved, grew up to be a little to the right, with the cries of “no political parties” and some innocuous messages such as “peace”, “no corruption”, and “the giant has arisen”.

Also as a consequence of the dimension of the demonstrations, and because of the organic characteristic of the movement, there was no control whatsoever over the protesters. In Rio de Janeiro, for instance, 300 thousand people walked peacefully through the city centre. Some very few people, however, took advantage of the anonymity of the situation and commited some common crimes, such as pillage and destruction of public furniture. Some even tried to invade the Ministry of External Relations, in Brasília.



The media coverage

Focus on the violence.

The media in Brazil is controlled by a few, very rich families. They are, mainly, of the centre-right and right and I can think of only one big magazine advocating on the left. They paid no attention to the demonstrations up to 13 June and even then they pictured the protesters as a gang whose only goal was to seed the terror and chaos. It was only after a reporter from the newspaper Folha de S.Paulo was shot in the eye by a policeman with a rubber-bullet gun that the media started to say that the vast majority of the protesters were pacific.

Nevertheless, the news kept on focusing on the few violent people who plundered shops and threw molotov cocktails, instead of talking about the hundreds of thousand people full of legitimate demands. It was saddening to watch the news after coming from a peaceful demonstration and see nothing but fire and covered faces on the TV. Even though the rerporters tried to show off as imparcial and reaffirm that the demonstrations were pacific, the images showed the opposite. It was very hard to someone who was not at the demonstrations to believe the protesters were well-intended.



Organisation

Organic and disperse.

In the beginning, the demonstrations were organised by the MPL and some other popular movements. Later, after 13 June, things got out of control and people were going to the streets just because they wanted to. It was very organic and very disperse. Because of that, the focus was lost, but the scale increased amazingly. There have been happening demonstrations everyday, everywhere, about everything. The spark of the buses and undergrounds' fares seemed to have shown to the people that the streets belong to them and that they should speak up.

Some “analists” complaint about the lack of focus and pragmatism of the movements. First of all, it all started as a leftist movement and one cannot ask for too much pragmatism of the left. Secondly, it is impossible to ask for one single demand for so much people together. Yesterday I went to the 2nd Popular Assembly in Belo Horizonte and only after more than 5 hours of discussion we were able to condense the demands of more than 3 thousand people into 10 priorities... Can you actually ask focus for the 300 thousand people at Rio de Janeiro last week?



Police repression

Too much and too wide.

One of the most discussed issues of the recent demonstrations is the action the police forces have taken. Since the beginning, they have been very tough and oppressive, to say the least. The lack of training of the Brazilian police is not news, but until now it was something the urban,&nbsp;middle class was not used to see. The violence and the lack of respect for the basic human rights were something experienced only by the poor citizens of the favelas and the outskirts of the big cities. But now the rubber-bullet guns and tear-gas are being used in the city centres against middle-class, urban, college-educated people. Yesterday's Popular Assembly had the attendence of favelas dwellers and one of them said “most of you have experienced repression today for the first time in your life; as a black, poor person, I have been experiencing this for my entire life”.

During the first big demonstration in São Paulo, the one on 13 June, more than 300 people were arrested and 100 out of them had no charges. Many of them were arrested because they were carrying vinegar (it is used to ease the effects of tear-gas) – thus some people called it the vinegar revolution.



2013 FIFA Confederations Cup &amp; 2014 FIFA World Cup

Scapegoats.

Brazil is currently hosting the 2013 FIFA Confederations Cup and will host the 2014 FIFA Wolrd Cup. Also, the city of Rio de Janeiro will host the 2016 Olympic Games. The money spent on these events is not forgotten and people on the streets and even on the stadia are carrying posters protesting against the expenses. The budget is exploded and the cases of corruption are too big to be hidden. Nevertheless, and this is absolutely my opinion, the rage against the big events does nothing but turning them into scapegoats. The problems we have now, we used to have before the events and will keep on having after them. The money spent on stadia (6biR$, 3biUS$) is 1% of what is invested on the health system, for instance. Of course the price of the tickets rose a lot since the stadia have been refurnished, but one may argue that all leisure activities (cinema, music shows, theatre, books) have risen absurdly too.



The Aftermath (for now)

Popular assemblies, new culture of demonstrations, Dilma's 5 points.

I don't know whether I can call it “aftermath” – actually, I believe I can't. But I do like the word “aftermath” and it's not everyday one has the chance to talk about the “aftermath”, so I'll use “aftermath” anyway. It's very, very early to assume anything – and everything is so confusing that it can (and may) change next week. But there are some things that are different from 10 days ago. First of all, the people are not afraid of going to the streets. I still feel it has to stretch out to the favelas and the suburbs and the outskirts, but it's a beginning. Secondly, I have experienced some popular concentrations I have never seen in Brazil. Yesterday's Popular Assembly is the best example of it. I felt like Puerta del Sol or Plaça Catalunya right after the 15M. And it seems people have learnt from the previous demonstrations around the world and are getting organised faster. It is very important to do so in order to not lose the thrill of the moment and to not let the opportunists gain terrain. The third point is the void of the rise on the fares and president Dilma's 5 points: Fiscal Responsability; Political Reform; Pact for the Health System; Pact for the Public Transport System; and 100% of the Oil money to Education. They are listening and worried.



Well... It's late and I've written too much. I'll try to keep you informed of the developments around here. I've been writing in Portuguese and you can try to catch something on previous posts.



contagem.late-at-night.where-the-hell-is-the-winter?.hopeful-of-better-days