The struggle for the new commons in the Brazilian free transit movement (original) (raw)
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The mass movements in June and July 2013 were the largest and most significant protests in Brazil for a generation, and they have shaken up the country's political system. They expressed a wide range of demands about public service provision and governance, and concerns with corruption. Their social base was broad, starting with students and left-wing activists and including, later, many middle-class protesters and specific categories of workers. The deep and contradictory frustrations expressed by those protests were symptomatic of a social malaise associated with neoliberalism, the power of the right-wing media, the limitations of the federal administrations led by the Workers' Party (PT), the rapid growth of expectations in a dynamic country, and the atrophy of traditional forms of social representation. This article examines the political dilemmas posed by those movements, and suggests constructive alternatives for the left.
Mass Protests under ‘Left Neoliberalism’: Brazil, June-July 2013
The mass movements in June and July 2013 were the largest and most significant protests in Brazil for a generation, and they have shaken up the country’s political system. They expressed a wide range of demands about public service provision and governance, and concerns with corruption. Their social base was broad, starting with students and left-wing activists and including, later, many middle-class protesters and specific categories of workers. The deep and contradictory frustrations expressed by those protests were symptomatic of a social malaise associated with neoliberalism, the power of the right-wing media, the limitations of the federal administrations led by the Workers’ Party (PT), the rapid growth of expectations in a dynamic country, and the atrophy of traditional forms of social representation. This article examines the political dilemmas posed by those movements, and suggests constructive alternatives for the left.
2019
This book aims to reconstruct the role played by left movements and organizations in Brazil from their process of renewal in the 1980s as they fought against the civil-military dictatorship, going through the Workers' Party's governments in the 2000s, until the Party’s dramatic defeat with a parliamentary coup in 2016. Henceforth, there have been attacks on social and political rights that severely affect the lower classes and reverted progressive policies on various issues. Through a historical reconstruction, this book analyzes how different left movements and organizations contributed to the democratization of Brazilian society, and how their contradictions contributed to the actual conservative turn. The essays also focus the development of Brazilian Left in the light of socialist politics and especially Marxism, both in terms of political organizations and theory. In this sense, the essays in this collection represent an effort to rethink some aspects of the history of the Brazilian left and how it can reorganize itself after the conservative turn.
Brazil's June Days of 2013: Mass Protest, Class and the Left
Latin American Perspectives, 2017
On June 17, 2013, Brazilians took to the streets in militant rallies and marches against transit fare hikes, poor-quality education and health care services, and the immense public investment in " mega-events " such as the 2014 World Cup and the 2016 Olympics. These massive demonstrations capped off a two-week series of demonstrations initially provoked by a 20-cent increase in bus, train, and subway fares in São Paulo. In the face of brutal police repression, the harsh opposition of politicians and the major political parties, and the clear bias of the mass media, the largely young and working-class protesters soon forced municipal governments in over 100 cities to revoke proposed fare increases. Explanations for the June Days and the ensuing political crisis, which have been the subject of fierce debates in activist and scholarly circles in Brazil, ignore the role of particular forms of capitalism, the adoption of neoliberalism by Workers' Party governments, and the changing forms and conditions of class struggle. No dia 17 de junho de 2013, brasileiros organizaram protestos e marchas contra o aumento de tarifas de transportes e o baixo nível de educação e saúde públicas, especialmente no con-texto em que o governo investia valores altíssimos em meg eventos como a Copa do Mundo de 2014 e as Olimpíadas de 2016. Essas marchas foram a culminação de duas semanas de ativismo inicialmente provocado por uma alta de R 0,20 nas tarifas de ônibus, trem e metrô em São Paulo. Diante de repressão policial violenta, veemente oposição de políticos e de nítida parcialidade da imprensa, os ativistas (majoritariamente jovens e trabalhadores de baixa renda) por meio dessas manifestações forçaram prefeituras em mais de 100 cidades a revogar os aumentos tarifários propostos. Explicações sobre os protestos de junho e a crise política que se seguiu, objetos de disputas acirradas em círculos acadêmicos e de ativistas no Brasil, desconsideram o papel que formas específicas do capitalismo desempenharam nesse processo, especialmente o neoliberalismo das administrações petistas, bem como as transformações na forma e condição da luta de classes.. On June 17, 2013, more than 2 million Brazilians took to the streets in more than 400 cities in militant rallies and marches against transit fare hikes, poor-quality education and health care services, and the immense public investment
The politics of contested urban space: The 2013 protest movement in Brazil
Journal of Urban Affairs, 2017
In June 2013, Brazil witnessed one of its largest protest movements in history when more than 1 million Brazilians marched on city streets to demand improve- ments to urban life. As the epicenters of protests, cities have become an important location for examining the demands, politics, and social change strategies of contemporary citizenship. In this article, we analyze the evolution of Brazil’s protest movement. Based on participant observation, archival research, secondary data, and thick description, we conduct a historical event analysis. By examining the narratives, practices, and forms that emerged in Brazil’s 2013 protests, we argue that contemporary urban citizenship is transformed in impor- tant ways in response to both global and local changes. Policymakers and planners need to be prepared to deal with the realities of urbanization, and we offer perspectives on how citizenship can better accommodate new growth and societal changes.
The MST-PT relationship is not a new phenomenon. Since its foundation, the movement was related to this party, which proved to be a useful strategy. But, once the PT conquered the government, this fruitful relation became ambivalent and even conflictual. Many analysts ask themselves, as the classic New Left did, if it is really possible to build a new society within the centralized state, if by conquering state power leftist parties are not, in the end, just playing the global system game, which they can only lose. The following questions will form the basis of the analysis: * The MST as a New Left Movement: Are there important differences? * How might we characterize the relationship between the MST and the different Brazilian governments during the history of the movement? * What strengths and weaknesses can be identified with regard to the MST's political relations? Does this relationship confirm, disprove or complicate classic New Left fears about collaborating with the State or adopting a reformist path?