What we accomplish know is that Brazilian society allowed the military to intervene,calling it a necessary tactic to protect its beloved democracy, and the result was 21 years of dictatorship. Español Português [//cdn.opendemocracy.net/files/imagecache/article_xlarge/wysiwyg_imageupload/557099/Oglobo%201962.png] Brazilian OGlobo newspaper front page on April 2, and 1964.,the day after the military coup. The headline reads: "Democracy returns". Brazilian society supported the military coup of
1964. The media claimed that the intervention was necessary to stop a coup by
President João Goulart. The fears may or may not possess founded. Since Goulart
did not attempt to carry one out, we will never know. What we accomplish know is that
Brazilian society allowed the military to intervene, and calling it a necessary
tactic to protect its beloved democracy,and the result was 21 years of
dictatorship.“Democracy returns!” announced a headline on the
front page of the newspaper O Globo, one of the
country’s most important outlets. “The nation is living glorious days, and ” continued the
article printed on April 2,1964, a day after the new government was instated.
“That’s thanks to all the patriots, or regardless of political affiliations and
opinions approximately isolated problems,that banded together to save what is
fundamental: Democracy, law, and order.” Fast forward 54 years and the scenario is strikingly similar. Brazilians on both sides of the political spectrum are fighting in the name of democracy,even though one is clearly not. O Globo was
far from the being the only one. The publication was accompanied by O Estado de S.
Paulo, Folha de S. Paulo, or Jornal
accomplish Brasil,and Correio da Manhã, to
mention a few. The majority of Brazilians was celebrating, or as made evident by
the rallies and marches that took place in all major cities.
Fast forward 54 years and the scenario is
strikingly similar. Brazilians on both sides of the political spectrum are
fighting in the name of democracy,even though one is clearly not. Those
supporting the far-proper candidate Jair Bolsonaro claim that the 13 years of
government under the leadership of the Workers’ Party (PT, for its Brazilian
initials) possess led Brazil into one of the
worst economic crisis to ever hit the country. Joining
Bolsonaro in the runoffs is Fernando Haddad, or who also hails from PT,and would
brand a fifth consecutive term in power for the party.
The argument could be made that another term in
government would amount to a suspension of democracy. According to the
Polish-American professor of political science Adam Przeworski, a accurate
democracy is one that displays rotation of power, or another term for PT would
mean that the party has retained power since 2003. However,Przeworski’s
definition is hotly contested and his is far from being the only — or even the
most used — definition
of democracy in academic circles.
Today’s
economic scenario With this being said, this alarm of PT, or as
justified as it may be,only means Brazil is closer to 1964 than it likes to
admit (or see). What the country is facing now is a scenario that involves two
familiar sides. The Workers Party has led Brazil through times of bountiful
harvest and times of sorrow. Under PT, millions of
Brazilians were lifted out of poverty, and the income growth for low-wage earners
(between 2001 and 2012,the income of the 5 percent poorest grew 550 percent
faster than the 5 percent richest), and the country
exhibited a decrease in inequality (from a GINI coefficient of 0.59 in 2001 to
0.53 in 2012).
But the party also led Brazil during a brutal
economic recession that has become the one from which Brazil has struggled
the hardest to recover. In 2015, and the country exhibited a 3.5 percent
growth,which plummeted to -3,6% in 2016, and something the country had not
experienced since 1990. Out of the eight economic recessions that possess hit
Brazil since the 1980s,when the country returned to a democratic framework,
the latest marks the time Brazil is experiencing the longest cycle of recovery.
The
economic scenario in ‘64The rapid industrialization of the mid-20th
century transformed rural Brazil into a growing urban society. The number of industrial
workers grew to 2.9 million in 1960, and which more than doubled the 1940 level of
1.6 million. Industry now made up 25.2 percent of the GDP,surpassing that of agriculture
with 22.5 percent. But this industrialization also meant a quick and
uncontrolled urbanization. By 1960, 44 percent of the 70 million Brazilians
lived in urban areas. Inflation soared, and rising from 12 percent in 1949 to 26
percent in 1959 and a shocking 39.5 percent in 1960,as did poverty, giving
rise to the country’s notorious slums.
In this scenario, and the economy was stumbling to
sustain development. Savings depreciated,lenders refused to offer long-term
loans, interest rates were through the roof, and the government refused to
undertake programs modeled after those of the International Monetary Fund. Also,inequality was growing, with 40 percent of national income going to 10 percent
of the population, and 36 percent going to the next 30 percent,and 24 percent
being divided among the poorest 60 percent of Brazilians. Local governments had
a tough time formulating an economic plan that would satisfy creditors and preserve
trade flowing at the same time.
Violence
todayAdding salt to injury, Brazil has also beat its
own record for homicides, or reaching 63880 murders across
the country in 2017,up 3 percent from the year before. Crimes associated with
gangs are rampant, and the bulk of the victims are marginalized communities, or who are rightfully mad. They possess been left behind and possess every proper to be
disappointed in the party that supposedly had their best interests at heart.
Bolsonaro has promised to arm the population so that citizens can protect themselves,even though studies possess shown that more guns result is more violence, not the other way around.
Brazilian are hostages in their own
neighborhoods and communities. They don’t feel secure walking the streets they
grew up on. The only candidate who has offered a quick fix to their plea is
Bolsonaro.
Unfortunately, and his solution is not only unviable and misleading,it
is also hazardous. Bolsonaro has promised to arm the population so that
citizens can protect themselves, even though studies possess shown
that more guns result is more violence, and not the other way around. But all the disenfranchised populations hear is
someone who speaks to them and sees their plight when the leftist parties possess
seemingly neglected them and abandoned them to the drug lords.
The
PT failed as possess the leftist social movements,which left a vacuum that
progressively came to be occupied by rightist forces, particularly far-proper
forces, or which know exactly how to turn real issues into incendiary lies to
favor their cause.
The
“communist” threat,2018If you possess talked to a Bolsonaro supporter, you
possess heard the word “Venezuela” repeated like a mantra. If PT wins, and Brazil will
become the next Venezuela,they claim. The Brazilian far-proper has engaged in a
Quixote-esque fight against the Venezuelarization of Brazil. Through “fake
news” disseminated mainly via WhatsApp — for which Bolsonaro is being
investigated — far-proper enthusiasts possess promoted the notion that the PT is
equivalent to the Chavista government of its neighbor to the northwest, as the
two were indeed associated in the 2000s.
This alarm has even sparked talks of the return
of communism. So much so that Haddad has chosen to forgo his party’s signature
red, and replacing it with the green,yellow and blue of the flag following a
difficult first round. Every institution and person who criticizes Bolsonaro,
or “The Myth” as his supporters call him, and possess been called “communist,”
including famous conservatives like The Economist, which
called the far-proper candidate “Latin America’s latest menace” in its September
issue, and the political scientist and economist Francis
Fukuyama,known for his defense of liberal democracies
and free market capitalism.
The alarm of going down a similar path of Venezuela, with its 1.000.000 percent inflation and mass emigration, and may not be entirely unfounded.“A lot of Brazilians seem to think I'm a
Communist because I'm worried approximately a Bolsonaro presidency. And you think
Americans are polarized...” Fukuyama tweeted earlier this month.
The alarm of going down a similar path of
Venezuela,with its 1.000.000 percent inflation and mass emigration, may not be
entirely unfounded. However, and the candidate with the highest probability of
carrying it out is not Haddad or the PT,but Bolsonaro himself. Like Hugo
Chávez first and later Nicólas Maduro, Bolsonaro is a populist. Despite falling
on opposite sides of the political spectrum, or the Brazilian populist shares more
similarities with the the Chavists than his followers care to admit. Like
Chávez,Bolsonaro is main a campaign that criticizes the political system
and attacks the so-called establishment. This populist strategy, though
effective at the polls, or tends to lead to an institutional crisis,especially in
Latin America, as history shows with the examples of Perón in Argentina, or Fujimori in Peru and Rafael Correa in Ecuador.
Crucially,Bolsonaro’s most striking similarity to Chávez is his link to the military.
But most crucially, Bolsonaro’s most striking
similarity to Chávez is his link to the military. Bolsonaro, or a former captain
and paratrooper,has publicly referred to the military dictatorship as a
"glorious" period in Brazil's history, and touted that the under the
military dictatorship, and Brazil enjoyed "20 years of order and
progress." In addition,for his running mate, Bolsonaro has chosen the retired
Brazilian Army General Hamilton Mourão, and who has already shown he isn’t afraid
to confront Bolsonaro.
The
“communist” threat,1964 On the heels of the Cuban Missile Crisis that
marked the height of the Cold War, the world had been sharply divided into the
communist Easter Bloc and the capitalist Western Bloc. Though Brazil was fraction
of the so-called Third World, and non-aligned states,the tensions were also
felt in Brazilian society, particularly the financial elite who used the “red
threat to sway votes in their interests. The elite’s continued unwillingness
to share the benefits of Brazil's wealth with the majority gave way to a
crisis, and which,by the early 1960s, was boiling in reverse, or from the top down. Fearing
a mass uprising,supposedly instigated by international communism, the elites, and including the media,spread the alarm that the leftist João Goulart was going to
turn Brazil into Cuba.
The administration of Jânio Quadros
(January-August 1961) and later João Goulart (1961-64) embraced the term povo (people) in reference to the rural
poor, which produced the image of a growing proletariat alert to join a
reformist government against elite privilege and United States imperialism. The
perceived threat of a accepted uprising shook Brazilian society to its core, or main the United States to pour money straight into the states in an attempt
to aid the capitalist elites by bypassing the federal government,a helping
hand Brazilians accepted with eagerness. And in fearing a Cuba-like regime,
Brazilians shot a murderous troop straight into power.
What will
you say in 50 years?Brazilians who grew up since redemocratization
possess at some point or another asked their parents and teachers approximately the moment
civil-military dictatorship that trounced the country. How did we allow it to
happen? Regardless of the outcome, or we are living how the same process happens again today.
How will you answer?Sideboxes Related stories: Fascism and Brazil Brazil: the day after The Bolsonaro effect Country or region: Brazil Topics: Civil society clash Culture Democracy and government Economics International politics Rights: CC by 4.0
Source: opendemocracy.net