As I’ve noted before, the Brazilian media has portrayed the anti-Dilma/anti-PT/pro-impeachment protests as a case of the Brazilian people taking to the streets, with the implication that “Brazil” (and thus, the citizens of the nation) and the current administration are diametrically opposed. (That much of the international media relies on Brazilian media for its own understanding of the situation does not help.) Just a reminder that there are divergent views, and that not all Brazilians are in favor of impeachment, even if they are discontent with Dilma and the current political climate, here is a (non-exhaustive) list of people who have taken to the streets to either oppose impeachment and support democracy, and/or support Dilma.
- Doctors
- Teachers (whom parents then threaten for suggesting the attempt to remove Dilma may not be constitutional)
- University professors in Brazil
- University professors in the international community
- University students (at a University famous for its historical conservatism and its support in 1968 for the military dictatorship, no less)
- Millennials
- Residents in the (generally-poorer) periphery of São Paulo
- Members of Congress
- Social Movements
- 250,000 people in the streets of São Paulo
- Brazilians overseas
Again, this does not mean that all of those people support Dilma and/or the PT. What it does mean is that the calls for impeachment, and those in the streets demanding Dilma’s removal from office, is not necessarily representative of all voices in Brazil; there are many dissatisfied with the current political and/or economic situation who still understand that, even presidents who are unpopular but have not been charged with crimes should serve out their term of office for the sake of democratic stability and legitimacy. That doesn’t mean that Dilma still won’t be impeached – indeed, the likelihood of impeachment is looking more probable every day – but that many are still opposed to it and view it as a partisan charade that will harm Brazilian institutions and society.
Reblogged this on msamba.
This impeachment is really the Brazilian right-wing lashing out and throwing a tantrum because they haven’t held the presidency in 14 years (even though they have a lot of power in Congress). They have never accepted the PT administrations to be legitimate, especially now that they rely so heavily on votes from the Nordeste. They explained away Lula’s 80% approval ratings as people being “ignorant” and “uneducated”. There’s a lot of ugly racism and classism on the pro-impeachment side.
Of course, there are also regular people who legitimately disagree with the government and are genuinely worried about the corruption on the pro-impeachment side. But what they’re doing is deeply misguided, there was no need to impeach Dilma in order to advance e.g. a different economic agenda. She was ready to make loads of concessions right after her inauguration because she wanted to avoid a protracted fight with Congress. The opposition decided they’d rather fight an all-out war instead. Why?