I have been meaning to blog about the recent protests in
Brazil for weeks but have been so busy and trying to keep up that I haven’t had
a chance. Finally, I am going to make
some time before they are gone from the news and the media has moved on to the
next news event-it might even be too late.
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| A protest we saw in Parnaíba |
The recent protests in Brazil started in São Paulo over an
increase in the bus fare. It may seem
logical with increased energy costs that a 10cent increase in bus fare is not out
of the ordinary. However, when you
realize that people in Brazil must pay every time they ride the bus and that
some people have to ride multiple buses to and from work/school everyday, you are
looking at a monthly cost of $82.46 on buses for a person who may only make $312.33 per month. That kind of impact is pretty significant.
Before going on, let me provide a little background
information. Brazil was “discovered” by
the Portuguese in the 1500’s and was a colony until 1822. Brazil was then ruled by a king, until
becoming a republic (meaning representative democracy) in 1889. In 1956 the capital was moved to Brasilia and
the entire city was built in 4 years.
Brazil suffered a military dictatorship between 1964-1985. While there was some torture, it was not
as extreme as that in Chile and Argentina.
Since 1985, Brazil has been back as a representative democracy
(republic.) Brazil has a federal
government just like the U.S. meaning that power is divided between the
national government and the state governments.
In 2002 President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva (Lula) began his first
term. He was from the Workers’ Party
(there are 27 different political parties in Brazil) and one of his main goals
was to close the gap between the upper class minority and lower class majority. During his terms he started a number of
programs to support the lower and middle classes and the middle class grew
significantly (by 40 million people between 2004 and 2010.) Lula was president for
two terms (in Brazil you can be elected for two terms and then re-elected later
as long as someone else is president in-between.) In 2010 Dilma (pronounced “Jilma”) Rousseff
became president of Brazil. She had been
Lula’s chief of staff and many people saw her as a place-holder so Lula could
run again in the future. At first Dilma
was very popular, and she continues to have high approval ratings; however,
there has been some new allegations of corruption during Lula’s tenure
and Dilma is associated with that to some degree because of her close
connection to Lula.
So back to the protests…On June 13 protests started in São
Paulo over the increase in bus fare.
Originally the protests were very narrowly focused. However, within just a few days the protests
had spread to cities all over Brazil. It
was interesting to observe from within Brazil because even many Brazilians were
surprised at how quickly the protests spread across the country. Quickly the mayor of São Paulo and the
governor of São Paulo state made an announcement that the government would
cover the increased costs of the buses and the fare would not be raised. This was interesting for me for several
reasons. On the one hand, it seemed a
smart move as the protests were gaining international attention and Brazil
didn’t want any negative publicity with the Confederation Cup going on. They were eager to show that they could
handle large sporting events in anticipation of the World Cup and
Olympics. However, lowering the price of
the buses seemed a bit dangerous in that once the protestors found they could
be effective at changing policy, perhaps they would continue to work toward
further change. It seemed as if the
rapid change in government policy might fuel the fire of the protestors.
It was exciting to be in Brazil for the next few weeks as
the protests spread. One Brazilian
headline read, “The Week that Changed Brazil” referring to the outburst of
protests between June 13-20. Protests
continued to erupt all over the country for many different reasons. As is always the case with protests, in some
cases they turned violent and there was some looting; however, most of the
protests were peaceful demonstrations.
Many Brazilians were quick to condemn the violence and distance the
protests from such activities. As the
protests expanded across the country, the goals became less clear and
consistent, yet some trends were apparent.
One common theme of the protestors was government corruption. With recent allegations of corruption during
Lula’s terms, Dilma’s close association with Lula’s policies, and observations
of wealthy politicians, many citizens of Brazilians were jaded with the
political system and the influence and concern for the average citizen. The protests were a way for them to have
their voice heard at the national and international level. Another theme was the budgeting of government
dollars. Many protestors were upset with
the fact that the Brazilian government was spending billions of dollars
building stadiums and sports venues while basic needs of the citizens, such as
education, health care and transportation, were underfunded. Protesting during the Confederation Cup when
millions of soccer fans around the world were watching games played in these
new stadiums presented a timely display for this disparity of funding. Another theme was that of taxes. As I mentioned in an earlier post about
Brazil, taxes in Brazil are very high and no one really knows how much
they are or how they are divided between city, state and national
government. People were concerned with
this and wanted more transparency. When
you have a lot of money coming in from taxes and concerns about corruption and
poorly budgeted funds, it seems logical that the citizens of Brazil demand more
information. A final trend was police brutality. People were concerned about corruption within the police departments and how the police interact with citizens, especially in poorer areas. The protests were an opportunity to display that brutality. There were protests held for many other reasons as well, but these were some of the underlying trends.
What was apparent being in Brazil as these protests
developed was the influence and voice of young people and social media. Within only a few days, students at high
schools in Teresina were asking us what we thought of the protests and inviting
us to join in the protest being held in town.
By June 20 there were efforts coordinating protests in cities all over
Brazil. People were excited and
animated. One student at Integral, the
private high school where Alex teaches, was eager to explain how the government
is corrupt and the people have no choice but to protest. The evening of June 20th we met
with students in Alex’s conversational English class (they were mostly around
university age) and they were interested in knowing what we thought of the
protests and what we would protest in our own country (what an insightful
question for someone in a second language!)
A short clip from a small protest in Teresina
I thought a lot about my own opinion of the protests (in
part because everyone kept asking me about it!)
On one hand I was impressed with the involvement and interest of the
younger generations. I teach government
and try to encourage my students to get involved in civic action. In a democracy it is exciting anytime people
choose to take action.
The death of democracy is not likely to be an assassination from ambush. It will be a slow extinction from apathy, indifference, and undernourishment. -Robert M. HutchinsHowever, at the same time, as the protests continued to expand around the country, my impression was that without a clear goal (such as the original protest to lower the bus fare) it would be difficult to effect meaningful change. When we discussed the protests with classes I would always ask what exactly they hoped would result from the protests. There was never a specific or focused answer. It sometimes felt as if the idea of protesting itself was the important thing, just having their voices heard. In these situations it reminded me somewhat of the Occupy Wall Street movement as protests expanded around the United States in 2011, but the goals were not clearly organized or defined. I wondered if the Brazilian protests would fizzle out much like the Occupy movement did, or if they would continue with victories like the lowered bus fare.
When all of the TGC teachers reunited in Salvador we shared our various experiences with the protests. Everyone had encountered or discussed them in
some way in their host city.
Here are some quotes from Brazilians as we discussed what
was happening:
“People caring enough to stand up for something is good.”
“People are easily influenced by social media and feel they
can have a voice.”
“It’s fantastic that the voices of young people are being
heard.”
“The protests give the people a voice and show that the
people have power.”
“We need better schools and hospitals more than we need new
FIFA stadiums.”
“Don’t you have similar protests in the U.S.?”
“The people are stronger than the police.”
“Protesting has worked in Brazil in the past, it is the way
for the people to be heard.”
This last quote really stuck with me. I kept wondering, if concerned with
government corruption, why not just elect new politicians? I thought about how I teach my students about
the many ways people take action to effect change in the United States: at the national
level, the state level, the local level, through the legislative branch, media,
special interest groups, court system, etc.
I continued to ask people in Brazil in what ways they could effect
change, could they contact a national representative, or talk with a local
government official? The consensus
continually seemed to be the only way to really effect change in Brazil was by
protesting.
The protests continued through the Confederation Cup, which
ended in Rio on June 30 (Brazil won. J) However, since the Cup ended the protests
seem to have died down significantly.
There were still a few focused protests, one strike-type protest by
truck drivers, and one by medical professionals for better medical facilities,
but overall the large scale, nation-wide coordinated protests seem to have died
down. I’m anxious to see whether people
continue to act on their frustrations to effect changes in the government
system, or whether the protests will fade away now that international media has
moved on from the Confederation Cup and back to instability in Egypt. Only time will tell whether or not the
headline is true and the protests really did change Brazil. However, I think one lasting impact will be
the increased involvement and political activity on the part of the youth of
Brazil. Getting involved in political
activity when in high school or college will certainly lead to greater
political involvement later in life. I
am excited to see how that involvement influences policy in Brazil.
If you’re interested in reading more, here are a few
articles about the protests from major news outlets:
How Brazilian Protestors are Using Twitter This is a really interesting technological analysis
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| A tile work we saw in a church in Salvador. The inscription said "The unity of the people is insurmountable" |
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