Yesterday, I wrote about some of the troubling changes taking place here in Brazil. Today, it’s Good Friday, so I thought I’d focus on some of the good things that are happening. While it is certainly true that there are reasons to be fearful, I am of the opinion that there are even more reasons to be cheerful and that, in a few years, things might just work out all right.
It had to happen
Brazilian politics has been in a terrible state for a long time now. Despite the introduction of ‘ficha limpa’ (‘clean record’), which sought to allow only people with no criminal past being able to stand for election, there has been no wholesale change. Indeed, as I quoted yesterday, up to 60% of politicians are currently being investigated for some sort of criminal action.
The system has to change, and the only way it would be changed is from the outside. Perhaps it has taken so many corruption scandals and so much indignation, coupled with an economic recession, public health scares and lingering resentment over the World Cup and Olympics for Brazil to reach a point of no return. If it doesn’t change now, it never will.
An interesting development from one of the protests a couple of weeks ago was when a couple of opposition politicians tried to join the protest and were told in no uncertain terms that they were not welcome, that they were as much a part of the problem as the government. In the past, I have said that the only people worse than the government are those trying to replace them, if other people realise this, then maybe there is hope yet.
In a further, encouraging, development, Wednesday saw the release of a document from Odebrecht, a huge construction company that has just agreed to provide evidence on behalf of the state. This document included a list of the politicians they had bribed and included names from all across the political spectrum. My hope is that this helps to reinforce the idea that it is the system which is corrupt, that the system corrupts all those it comes into contact with and it is this system that needs reforming, not the individuals who happen to be in power at the moment.
Strong Institutions
While there are arguments to be had over the limits of judicial power, the fact that the judiciary is able to take a stand is encouraging. The JP were given increased powers, resources and autonomy early on in Dilma’s first term, and it is exactly these powers that are being used against her and the previous regime. A strong judiciary, as well as a free press, access to social media and strong social movements should help keep future presidents in check as well as preventing a military takeover.
The end of impunity?
Influential people might just end up in a place like this
People are going to jail. This might not seem such a big deal in other countries, but here in Brazil rich, influential people have, until now, rarely ended up behind bars. So far, it has been businessmen, but I am fairly certain that in the not-too-distant future some bug name politicians are also going to find themselves doing porridge.
This is something to applaud. Future politicians and businesspeople are going to have to think twice before they engage in bribes again, or at least make sure there is no evidence of what they are doing so they can’t be caught.
Political discussions
I was in a queue in a supermarket last week for an awfully long time. This is not news as supermarkets are notorious for taking an age to take you money. The interesting thing on this occasion, though, was as I finally got to the checkout the cashiers were all talking amongst themselves about politics. I heard jokes about Lula, updates on what Dilma had just said and looks of derision about Cunha.
When I was out last Friday night, it seemed that no bar room chat could go more than 15 minutes without it coming back to politics.
Most of my classes have, at some point in the last week, been dominated by politics. I haven’t been the one to bring up the subject for fear of alienating some of my students, but they have all listened to what I had to say and either agreed or respectfully offered a different opinion.
For me, to hear politics being discussed by so many people in so many different contexts can only be encouraging and long may it continue.
A lack of violence
While there have been isolated outbreaks of violence, there hasn’t been any large-scale violence at all. This reminds me of the way in which Brazil made its transition to democracy from military dictatorship in that there was relatively little violence and bloodshed, especially compared to other countries in Latin America.
Weak Military
There have been a number of calls for the military to step in a take power. I’m not sure f these calls are just from a vocal minority or are just being publicised by the government to highlight the threat of a coup. I am not a Brazilian military expert, by any means, but from what I have been told, the military has been so underfunded over the last 20 years that they are now pretty much incapable of staging a coup, never mind running a country that would then be in all kinds of trouble. There is also no appetite from other countries to support a military coup (yes, I’m looking at you USA).
On the whole, taking yesterday’s reasons to be fearful and today’s reasons to be cheerful into consideration, I am genuinely optimistic about the future path of Brazil. There are potential roadblocks and dead ends that we could take, however, it couldn’t continue as it has been over the last few years. As this video makes clear, Brazil’s government is falling aprt…and it’s good news?
The Head of the Heard 
Reblogged this on msamba.
Good to know 🙂