Government
U-turn on bus fares fails to stem wave of unrest as millions of
Brazilians take to the streets in 100 cities in the biggest protests so
far.
Burning
cars in Rio. Violent clashes between police and protesters in Salvador.
Security forces desperately trying to keep the angry masses out of
Congress and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Brasília. A riotous mob
looting stores in Porto Allegre. But also smiley faces and a festive
atmosphere in São Paulo and dozens of other cities, as people finally
encountered each other in the public sphere again — struggling for the
right to be heard and for the dignity of ruling their own destiny.
Struggling, in other words, for real democracy.
These
were just some of the images emerging from Brazil on Thursday night as
the country witnessed yet another explosion of popular outrage following
Monday’s groundbreaking and historic demonstrations. With millions
marching peacefully in over 100 cities,
Thursday’s protests were most certainly Brazil’s biggest in decades.
What started over an increase in bus and metro fares last week has now
exploded into a spontaneous and furious feast of democracy. And clearly
the government has no clue how to handle the situation.
Photo: Rio de Janeiro, 20/06/2013
Just
as it became commonplace to say that the Turkish protests were not just
about a park, it is by now already a cliché to note that Brazil’s
protests are not just about the 20 centavos increase
in the fee of bus and metro tickets. Last week’s violent police
crackdown on the mostly peaceful bus fare protests appears to have
opened Pandora’s Box, allowing a wide range of long-repressed grievances
to come pouring out. The government’s announcement on Wednesday that
the bus fare increases would be reversed thus did little to stem the
unrest.
Throughout Brazil, millions
are now expressing their outrage over the country’s crumbling
infrastructure, rising inflation, poor public services, vast inequality,
violent crime, widespread police brutality, rampant political
corruption — and a government that seems more concerned about pleasing
private investors and pumping billions worth in taxpayer money into
useless World Cup stadiums than meeting the needs of its own people. As
most protesters see it, the ruling Workers’ Party has long since sold
out to the dictatorship of the markets.
Photo: Recife, 20/06/2013
“There’s been a democratic explosion on the streets,” Marcos Nobre, a professor at the University of Campinas, told the New York Times on
Wednesday. “The Workers Party thinks it represents all of the
progressive elements in the country, but they’ve been power now for a
decade. They’ve done a lot, but they’re now the establishment.” One of
the activists confirmed
this analysis, arguing that the protests are ultimately targeted at
“politicians who do not represent us”, leaving the people with only one
alternative: to take to the streets en masse.
Meanwhile,
the autonomy of the protesters places President Rousseff in a difficult
position. According to a Datafolha poll, 84% of the protesters do not
back any political party. While this does not necessarily make them
revolutionary anarchists, it does show that there is something deeper at
play than just frustration with the government itself: the real
frustration here is with the failure of the system of representation as
such — a theme that has kept coming back from the European anti-austerity protests and the worldwide Occupy movement to the Taksim uprising.
Photo: Rio de Janeiro, 20/06/2013
But
while the general pattern of the protests in Brazil shows an
unmistakable similarity to the ongoing uprising in Turkey, we have to
recognize that the context in which the two are taking place is
radically different. Turkey is ruled by a megalomaniac and increasingly
autocratic Islamist madman who in recent weeks has displayed an undeniable tendency
towards the fascistic and the delusional. The protesters are Erdogan’s
natural enemy; he knows they will never vote for him again so his only
concern is with their violent repression.
The same cannot be said of Rousseff, a former Marxist guerrilla, who has been forced to praise
the protests and push state governors into reversing the measures that
initially sparked the unrest. Realizing that last week’s police violence
served as a major catalyst for the movement, she has urged restraint on
the side of the police and has tried to start a dialogue with
protesters. But the leaderless and diffuse nature of the movement makes
such a dialogue practically impossible, leaving the government dazed and
confused about how to handle the unrest.
Photo: Salvador, 20/06/2013
Earlier this week, a live poll
on a major commercial TV station showed — beyond any doubt and to the
dismay of the presenter himself — that the vast majority of Brazilians
do not only agree with the protests but with the riots as well. Another Datafolha poll found that 77% of the population
is in favor of the protests. With such a stellar approval rating,
Rousseff — who is standing for re-election next year — can hardly be
seen cracking down on the demonstrators. Even if she wants to, she
simply cannot be seen pulling a Tayyip-style move.
But
while Rousseff’s precarious position provides the movement with
opportunities, it also implies dangers. The greatest threat is that
business interests, through their control over the commercial media,
will try to use the left-wing protests for their own political goals and
to further destabilize the position of the Workers’ Party. As one
organizer puts it,
“we are criticizing the government from the left, and we want nothing
to do with those anti-government or right-wing movements. That could be
their last strategy to try to rid us of influence.”
Photo: Brasília, 20/06/2013
And
so the future of the budding real democracy movement in Brazil remains
wide open. One of the immediate outcomes may in fact well be similar to
the ones in Greece and Spain: the ultimate discrediting of the Workers’
Party leading to its defeat in next year’s elections. But while the
return to power of the right would by no means improve the situation in
social and political terms, this possibility should not be read as a
reason for despair. If anything, the ongoing protests show that — even
if Brazil’s “socialist aristocracy” may long since have caved in to
neoliberal orthodoxy — the radical aspirations of Brazil’s massive
population are now more alive than ever.
If
anything, the ongoing protests in Brazil are an awakening from a long
slumber. At long last, the giant has risen. Millions of bodies are now
resonating to the rhythm of rebellion, mustering all their strength to
collectively challenge the oppressive institutions and sham democracy of
the capitalist state — and to re-affirm the dignity of the
long-forgotten masses. As Latin America’s biggest country explodes in a
furious feast of democracy, one thing is clear: the global wave of
struggles that kicked off in 2011 is now more alive than ever.
Photo: São Paulo, 20/06/2013
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