Brazilian congress votes to impeach PT President Rousseff [Archive]

blindpig

04-26-2016, 12:29 PM

The Constitutional Coup-Color Revolution Two-Step In Brazil
Mon, Apr 25, 2016'The Others' Alliances, Brasil, Global Surveillance, Hybrid WarsBy Andrew KORYBKO (USA)

The Constitutional Coup-Color Revolution Two-Step In Brazil
Brazil is in the midst of a prolonged regime change operation, as documented step-by-step by Pepe Escobar in his articles for Sputnik, RT, and the Strategic Culture Foundation. The author’s intent isn’t to get into the situational specifics of each and every detail behind the US’ techniques, but to provide a general overview of the strategies that are at play and their contribution to Hybrid War theory. Brazil is an important New Cold War battleground not just because of its institutional multipolarity, but particularly because of its role in China’s One Belt One Road global vision. The Chinese announced last year that they plan to build the Twin Ocean Railroad between Brazil’s Atlantic Coast and Peru’s Pacific one in order to facilitate transoceanic trade between the two BRICS members by enhancing Brasilia’s transcontinental trade capability. Because this mega project is located in the US’ own hemisphere, the “Monroe Doctrine”-obsessed Exceptionalists accelerated their existing regime change plans for Brazil with the intent of overthrowing its government and replacing it with a pro-unipolar quisling.
Many observers are scratching their heads wondering how to properly describe what they’re witnessing in Brazil, and while there’s certainly visible evidence of a Color Revolution, it would be inaccurate to describe it solely through the prism of this definition. At the same token, while it’s been likened to a Hybrid War, it only fits the ‘conventional’ informational/economic aspects of this term, too, and doesn’t really satisfy the regime change perquisites of a phased transition from a Color Revolution to an Unconventional War (or at least not yet). Similarly, while there’s definitely a ‘constitutional coup’ going on, it’s also not entirely this form of regime change, either. Rather, there are elements of all three strategies at play, and they interact in a unique dynamic that might represent the unveiling of a new patterned approach that aims to subvert leading multipolar states. What’s important to point out is that the entire plot was set into motion as a result of valuable intelligence that the NSA had gained about Brazil’s top company and later weaponized into a regime change catalyst, meaning that practically every country in the world is potentially vulnerable to this sort of asymmetrical destabilization.
The “Anti-Corruption” Inquisition

The key vehicle in exerting pressure on President Rousseff isn’t the Color Revolution movement, itself an outgrowth of the “Cashmere Revolution” and the return of which the author warned about last summer , but the ‘constitutional coup’ attempts that are being orchestrated to remove her from power. It’s worthwhile to remember that these are built upon an “anti-corruption” investigation that, as Pepe Escobar has repeatedly pointed out, are one-sided and only target the ruling party. It was revealed in September 2013 as part of the Snowden Leaks that the NSA had been spying on Petrobras , the company at the heart of the ‘constitutional coup’ scandal, which in turn raises the possibility that the US had obtained ‘compromising’ information on the alleged corruption activities of key ruling party executives and was waiting for the right time to weaponized it.
It shouldn’t be seen as coincidental that the “Car Wash” ‘anti-corruption’ investigation began nearly half a year later in March 2014, which was the run-up to the 6th BRICS Summit in Fortaleza, Brazil that summer. During that major international event, the multipolar leaders committed themselves to creating the alternative financial architecture that would later become known as the BRICS/New Development Bank and officially instituted one year later in Ufa. At the time, “Car Wash” wasn’t big enough to derail any of this, but it also wasn’t meant to be an immediate bombshell. Instead, it can be conceived of as a ticking time bomb that was preplanned to go off at a future date, whether or not Rousseff would have even remained in office by that time. The reader should remember that she barely won reelection that fall, and if she hadn’t, then it would have been the “opposition” that could have been implicated or discretely blackmailed with the threat thereof.
An anti-coup rally in Brasilia, March 2016
An anti-coup rally in Brasilia, March 2016
After all, “Car Wash” is a one-sided anti-corruption scandal that purposely neglects targeting any opposition parties and is aimed solely at the ruling class, regardless of whichever one they might have been. In the case of Rousseff and her Worker’s Party, they’re targeted for regime change, whereas the Brazilian Social Democracy Party of her 2014 election rival would have been targeted for blackmail in order to keep it in line with American strategic precepts for the country. One way or another, after having initiated the ‘Car Wash” inquisition, the US was going to exploit it however it could in order to attain and then maintain its hold on power over the Brazilian political establishment. With Rousseff winning reelection while the investigation was still ongoing and nowhere near ‘conclusively’ finished, it was inevitable in hindsight that it would be used as a weapon for toppling her government and initiating a ‘constitutional coup’.
‘Constitutional Coups’ And Color Revolutions

Once Rousseff was implicated (most ‘convincingly’ in the court of public opinion) for her alleged involved in “Car Wash”, the embedded pro-American regime change elements in Brazil’s government sprang into action in initiating the ‘constitutional coup’ proceedings against her. By itself and nakedly presented as a one-sided ‘anti-corruption’ inquisition, the ‘constitutional coup’ had no semblance whatsoever of domestic or international ‘legitimacy’, which necessitated a dramatic move in order to ‘justify’ it. This was the role that the nascent Color Revolution ended up playing, since without tens of thousands of people in the street, there could be no pretense of ‘democracy being served’ by her indictment. Instead, the US’ hand in all of this would be even more obvious than during Latin America’s last ‘constitutional coup’ in 2012 Paraguay. Additionally, Brazil isn’t Paraguay – it’s a leading multipolar power and a nation many times larger than its landlocked neighbor, and carrying out a regime change there requires more ‘finesse’ and ‘public relations’ manipulation in Brazil than it ever would in Paraguay.
Therefore, the Color Revolution itself is inconsequential in pressuring Rousseff’s government or enacting any leadership concessions from her whatsoever. The entire regime change operation against her is driven by the ‘constitutional coup’, which itself is being disguised by the Color Revolution that has attracted the ‘normative’ attention of most of the world’s pro-unipolar media. This can be proven by the copious media coverage given to the thousands of people who are protesting against her and rallying around a giant inflatable yellow duck compared to the considerable lack of attention being given to the NSA’s role in catalyzing the entire Petrobras ‘anti-corruption’ inquisition in the first place. Clearly, the reason for this is that the US is engaging in a concerted effort to shift the international dialogue over the issue from the origins of the political crisis to the ‘normative legitimacy’ of Rousseff’s rule, strongly implying that the Color Revolution protesters have somehow invalidated her democratic and legitimate reelection and more than ‘normatively’ compensate for the shady ‘constitutional coup’ dealings that are being employed against her.
A Heightened Risk Of Hybrid War

At the moment, it looks like the ‘constitutional coup’-Color Revolution two-step might succeed in removing Rousseff and replacing her with Vice-President Michel Temer, who had actually been practicing his post-coup address to the nation in a recently leaked speech. Should this happen, then there wouldn’t be any reason whatsoever for the US to intensify its regime change operation into a Hybrid War by prompting an Unconventional War, but it might unwittingly happen that Rousseff’s supporters take to arms in the event that she’s overthrown. If this transpires, then the country would definitely be thrown into a low-level Hybrid War, albeit one in which this development uncharacteristically occurs after the US is successful in its mission and not beforehand, which in any case would take a course which is impossible to accurately predict at this time.
However, considering just how beloved the left wing is to millions of destitute people in Brazil and taking a cue from their armed comrades in Venezuela, leftist individuals might form militias in order to protect against any forthcoming coup. Remembering the astonishing rate of crime that already exists inside of the country, it’s foreseeable that anti-coup activists/insurgents could easily procure whatever weapons they might need in order to create a destabilizing stir. Furthermore, UNASUR has hinted that it wouldn’t recognize Rousseff’s possible impeachment, which might grant an added degree of normative support to any militias that agitate on her behalf.
On the other hand, if the regime change process isn’t proceeding apace around the time of the Summer Olympics in Rio and something or another happens to derail it (e.g. the Senate doesn’t vote to continue the impeachment process), then there’s a chance that the US might encourage right-wing terrorism against the government. This would seek to provoke an international incident that destabilizes the Brazilian government even more than it already is, precisely at the moment when it would need the best media coverage that it can get and when it’s most vulnerable to a flurry of unipolar media condemnation against it. Looked at from another angle, if the plot against Rousseff succeeds by that time, with or without the advent of any anti-regime change rebels, then some countries might choose to boycott the Olympics in order to show solidarity with the legitimate government that was illegally deposed of. This wouldn’t change any facts on the ground, but it would be a strong and symbolic statement of support that might encourage whatever nascent armed resistance movement there might be by that time.
Concluding Thoughts

Assessing the US’ regime change strategy against Rousseff, it’s evident that the NSA’s findings were used to spark the ‘constitutional coup’ proceedings that have been ‘normatively justified’ by the preplanned Color Revolution (a continuation of the so-called “Cashmere Revolution” of 2014). The protests have thus far not led to any degree of substantial pressure on the government despite their massive size, with the only agency of tangible anti-government force coming from the ‘legal’ inquisition that’s been launched against the Brazilian President. Nothing at this point indicates that the government is threatened by the street activists, although everything points to it being totally destabilized by the “Car Wash” conspiracy against it.
While no discernable Hybrid War traces can be found thus far (as in the author’s regime change definition of this concept), that doesn’t preclude any from popping up in the near future, whether led by anti-government right-wing terrorists or pro-government post-coup insurgents. There’s no guarantee that either will happen, but the possibility can’t be ruled out in general and must be prepared for by both sides. No matter what ultimately happens in Brazil, the regime change scenario currently underway there is emblematic of a new type of subversive interplay between the NSA, ‘constitutional coup’ actors, and Color Revolutionaries, and it might disturbingly foreshadow a coming trend of state-wide destabilization that could soon be rolled out elsewhere against other multipolar targets.
Andrew Korybko is the American political commentator currently working for the Sputnik agency.

http://orientalreview.org/2016/04/25/the-constitutional-coup-color-revolution-two-step-in-brazil/

Allen17

04-26-2016, 01:12 PM

The struggle - our struggle - is truly global. Solidarity with the Brazilian working class.

blindpig

05-06-2016, 08:10 AM

CTB National Political Council Resolution
May 5, 2016 | 9:28 pm
The CTB National Political Council gathered in Sao Paulo on 3 may 2016 with the purpose to analyze the political conjuncture and adopted the following resolution:

1- Brazil is going through a serious political moment and particularly dangerous for the Brazilian workers;

2- There is currently a coup d ‘état underway in the country, concealed by an impeachment process without any legal basis, which constitutes a serious threat to democracy, the national sovereignty, the CLT (Consolidation of Labor Laws) and the secular achievements of the working class;

3- The putschist conspiracy comes from afar, it was present in the 2013 and 2014 demonstrations (under the slogan “the World Cup won´t happen”), manipulated in order to create an environment of social chaos and to weaken and destabilize Dilma´s Government. The offensive was redoubled after the re-election of Dilma with the impeachment process led by a defendant in the Supreme Court;

4- A more comprehensive analysis of the reality suggests that it is not a movement restricted to our country, but a much more extensive conservative wave, that has as a background the economic and geopolitical crisis of capitalism and international imperialism hegemonized by the US. Recent electoral setbacks for the democratic forces in Argentina, Venezuela and Bolivia, as well as coups in Honduras (2009) and Paraguay (2012), are events that are part of the same phenomenon;

5-Here, as in other countries of our America, the union of the bourgeoisies and the local landowners with the international financial aristocracy, is captained by the US imperialism in a reactionary enterprise. Those are the same social classes who were behind the military coup of 1964. The unclear goals of the scammers appear between the lines of their government projects;

6-In the document titled “bridge to the future” (PMDB party) vice-president Temer promises the patronage to end with the CLT (Consolidation of Labor Laws), establishing primacy of the market over the law and imposing unrestricted and widespread outsourcing of the economy. It beckons a a tough fiscal adjustment, expansion of the DRU and consequently the reduction of the the already scarce resources for health, education and social programs; the end of the policy of valorization of the minimum wage, reduction of the social security benefits and the fixing of a minimum age for retirement. The right-wing PSDB party follows the same path with a letter of 15 points forwarded to the putschist vice-president. It was not without reason that the FIESP- Federation of Industries of the State of São Paulo, NCA- National Confederation of Agriculture and NCI- National Confederation of Industry and hundreds of business entities supported and sponsored the impeachment;

7- The foreign capital, and particularly the US (who remained silent about the coup, supporting it behind the scenes), would be rewarded with the delivery of the pre-salt oil, privatization (including Petrobras), and notably the change of foreign policy, which tends to turn his back on Latin American and Caribbean integration, sabotage of the MERCOSUR, the CELAC (Community of Latin

American and Caribbean States) and the BRICS, to restore the diplomacy of the former Brazilian president Fernando Henrique Cardoso. Therefore, the coup goes along with the US strategy to recompose its imperialist hegemony in the Americas and around the world;

8-By interdicting a democratic, patriotic and popular project that, rightly or wrongly, was being implemented in Brazil since 2003, the pro-coup Consortium intends to restore a neoliberal program that confronts the national interests and the social rights. The process that is taking over the Presidency is illegitimate and markedly anti-democratic. We should have no doubt that to impose the conservative agenda they will appeal to the criminalization of the struggles and the social movements, restricting democracy and increasingly resorting to authoritarianism. The undemocratic, anti-national and anti-popular character of the coup is obvious.

9-Before this reality, the CTB National Political Council guides the entire militancy and leadership of our class-oriented Central to intensify the efforts of enlightenment and mobilization of the bases to fight relentlessly against the scammers, in defense of democracy, the national sovereignty and the social rights. In this sense, it is necessary to organize in the trade unions and in the grass-root committees the defense of the CLT-Consolidation of Labor Laws, and to begin immediately the preparations for the national day of Fight and Paralysis on 10 may organized by the Brazilian Popular Front and People Without Fear Front. Only through great class struggles, will we be able to reopen the way for a new National Development Project with Democracy, sovereignty and valorization of work proposed by the CONCLAT (National Congress of the Working Class)

São Paulo, 3 may 2016

CTB* National Political Council (*Central of Male and Female Workers of Brazil)

http://houstoncommunistparty.com/ctb-national-political-council-resolution/

Dhalgren

05-06-2016, 09:25 AM

8-By interdicting a democratic, patriotic and popular project that, rightly or wrongly, was being implemented in Brazil since 2003, the pro-coup Consortium intends to restore a neoliberal program that confronts the national interests and the social rights. The process that is taking over the Presidency is illegitimate and markedly anti-democratic. We should have no doubt that to impose the conservative agenda they will appeal to the criminalization of the struggles and the social movements, restricting democracy and increasingly resorting to authoritarianism. The undemocratic, anti-national and anti-popular character of the coup is obvious.

This is why we cannot "vote" out capitalism - they won't go. We cannot make them "illegal" - they won't care. We cannot "regulate" them - they will ignore. The "national razor" is the only solution to capitalism. Appeals, like the one above, are undoubtedly true, heartfelt, and the crimes egregious. Also, there is a very real time limit on action to thwart these anti-peoples agendas. The problem is that no one with any capacity to use power cares, and those who care, cannot use any power.

This strikes me as one of our biggest obstacles - there is no working class organs to whom these appeals can reasonably be addressed. The only nation on earth that could reasonably be expected to stand against the US hegemony is China, and China, currently, is a 'black box'. All other nations on earth simply stand-by and watch and hope that the hegemon doesn't look their way.

I was speaking with a young neighbor the other day, about Trump and Clinton and the-US-in-the-world issue. And I described the military hold the US has on the rest of the world and how unreasonable it was. There was a shoulder-shrug. I said that the US would not like it if some other country had 200+ military bases in countries all over the world. The young person (almost thirty years old) said that only the US could be trusted like that. I laughed (she didn't) and said that the Nazis in WWII felt and said the same thing. She said that the US is not "Nazis". I agreed, and said I was making an analogy, that viewing actions from the intentions of the actors and not from the natures of the actors, showed that the actions were basically identical. The US wants to make the whole world a puppet to US power, that is just what the Nazis wanted.

Sorry, I hijacked the thread. These things have been roiling in my head for a couple of days. You can move or delete this so as to not to side-track the discussion.

blindpig

05-06-2016, 10:11 AM

This is why we cannot "vote" out capitalism - they won't go. We cannot make them "illegal" - they won't care. We cannot "regulate" them - they will ignore. The "national razor" is the only solution to capitalism. Appeals, like the one above, are undoubtedly true, heartfelt, and the crimes egregious. Also, there is a very real time limit on action to thwart these anti-peoples agendas. The problem is that no one with any capacity to use power cares, and those who care, cannot use any power.

This strikes me as one of our biggest obstacles - there is no working class organs to whom these appeals can reasonably be addressed. The only nation on earth that could reasonably be expected to stand against the US hegemony is China, and China, currently, is a 'black box'. All other nations on earth simply stand-by and watch and hope that the hegemon doesn't look their way.

I was speaking with a young neighbor the other day, about Trump and Clinton and the-US-in-the-world issue. And I described the military hold the US has on the rest of the world and how unreasonable it was. There was a shoulder-shrug. I said that the US would not like it if some other country had 200+ military bases in countries all over the world. The young person (almost thirty years old) said that only the US could be trusted like that. I laughed (she didn't) and said that the Nazis in WWII felt and said the same thing. She said that the US is not "Nazis". I agreed, and said I was making an analogy, that viewing actions from the intentions of the actors and not from the natures of the actors, showed that the actions were basically identical. The US wants to make the whole world a puppet to US power, that is just what the Nazis wanted.

Sorry, I hijacked the thread. These things have been roiling in my head for a couple of days. You can move or delete this so as to not to side-track the discussion.

Ain't no hijacking, what you wrote would be appropriate for most threads in LBN. The 'exceptionalism' is so ingrained one might as well be talking to a wall. The US would not, could not, do all of the things we know it does, it is beyond the comprehension of too many. It is also one of Trump's prime assets.. I think this is somehow rooted in the elimination of 'class' from worker's vocabulary, which makes it easier for people to believe that the bosses are 'just like us'. And we would never do any horrible shit like that, no way. And if we are petty booj or of the aristocracy of labor(Appendix I ESA) and that if it did happen then they probably deserved it, or it was a mistake or there was a bad apple, anything except 'we' being responsible.

Speaking of Trump, someone on twtter said only 10% of his supporters make 30K or less, 58% make 50K or better. Have not been able to verify this, but 30K is considered 'good money' in these parts, about as much as you can expect to make putting together BMWs.(crazy)

There's a load of alienation out there but it is artfully distracted and misdirected. That there is no organized opposition doesn't help.

Dhalgren

05-06-2016, 10:44 AM

Speaking of Trump, someone on twtter said only 10% of his supporters make 30K or less, 58% make 50K or better. Have not been able to verify this, but 30K is considered 'good money' in these parts, about as much as you can expect to make putting together BMWs.(crazy)

You know, it is "crazy". The wage structure in this country is so fragmented, that there are even glaring differences within close-knit regions. Take north Alabama, in Huntsville, the wages are "relatively" high, but just thirty miles away in Arab (pronounced "A-rab") it pay scale is markedly lower. When there is talk about making $15/hr. the national base pay, folks around here go berserk - the workers, because they would get an automatic 6 or 7 dollar per hour raise, and the bosses because their profit margins would go out the window.

Birmingham has been trying to establish a minimum wage for Birmingham (an all black government) at 12 or 13 dollars, I think - not the full 15. The state legislature has just passed a bill saying cities cannot do that. No "slippery slope" down here! There is no Jim Crow in Alabama, any more, but we'd like to introduce you to our new guy, Melvin Crow. Completely different, don't you know?

blindpig

05-06-2016, 11:41 AM

You know, it is "crazy". The wage structure in this country is so fragmented, that there are even glaring differences within close-knit regions. Take north Alabama, in Huntsville, the wages are "relatively" high, but just thirty miles away in Arab (pronounced "A-rab") it pay scale is markedly lower. When there is talk about making $15/hr. the national base pay, folks around here go berserk - the workers, because they would get an automatic 6 or 7 dollar per hour raise, and the bosses because their profit margins would go out the window.

Birmingham has been trying to establish a minimum wage for Birmingham (an all black government) at 12 or 13 dollars, I think - not the full 15. The state legislature has just passed a bill saying cities cannot do that. No "slippery slope" down here! There is no Jim Crow in Alabama, any more, but we'd like to introduce you to our new guy, Melvin Crow. Completely different, don't you know?

$15/hr drives people nuts around here, only way they see it is that burger-flippers want to make as much as BMW workers, which they immensely resent. That $15 /hr at a highly profitable plant making luxury cars is ridiculously low doesn't occur to them and unions = communism = treason & hellfire.

I cannot imagine any place in the USA more resistant to class politics than the Upstate of SC. And I can't even get pissed off at these folks, just want to beat my head against a wall. It's like being a revolutionary in the 1870s Russian countryside.

blindpig

05-07-2016, 07:54 AM

Brazil Coup Watch: Impeachment Efforts Against Rousseff Faltering?
May 6, 2016 | 7:43 pm

http://cdn1.img.sputniknews.com/images/103659/56/1036595622.jpg
People demonstrate in support of Brazil's President Dilma Rousseff's appointment of Brazil's former President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva as her chief of staff, at Paulista avenue in Sao Paulo, Brazil
© Photo: Leonardo Veras

The lawmaker leading the charge against Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff was suspended by Brazil’s Supreme Court because of his own corruption charges.

On Friday, a special committee of the Brazilian Senate voted 15-5, recommending that President Dilma Rousseff face an impeachment trial for breaking budget laws. The vote advances the impeachment proceedings to a full vote by the Brazilian Senate on May 11, to determine whether to enact an impeachment trial. President Rousseff must garner at least 50% support in next Wednesday’s vote or she will be forced from office for 180 days.

The impeachment of Dilma Rousseff, championed by powerful opposition legislator Eduardo Cunha in the country’s lower-house of parliament, seemed all but certain 24 hours ago. Over two-thirds of the lower-house approved impeaching the Brazilian president for inflating economic reports and for a tenuous connection to the so-called Car Wash corruption investigation.

Earlier this week, the situation for Rousseff had further deteriorated, with Brazil’s chief prosecutor demanding an additional investigation into the president for obstructing the current investigation. The Car Wash investigation zeroed in on nationally-owned oil company Petrobras and leaders of Dilma Rousseff’s ruling Workers Party, including her mentor and former president Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva.

Rousseff’s political fortunes faltered after appointing da Silva as her chief of staff to shield him from a potential prison sentence for his involvement in the Car Wash scandal.

Popular opinion in Brazil reveals skepticism about the veracity of the impeachment proceedings and the allegations against da Silva after learning that the documents that triggered the investigation were provided to Brazil’s judiciary by the United States spy agency NSA, who accessed the information by illegally surveilling the Brazilian president, the Workers Party, and PetroBras.

Additionally, Brazilians consider the lead advocate for Rousseff’s impeachment proceedings, Eduardo Cunha, to be a notably corrupt politician. Cunha has been implicated in the recently-released Panama Papers, using offshore accounts to hide kickbacks and is also believed to have 23 additional offshore accounts in Switzerland.

Over the past 24 hours Cunha has been ordered to step down by Brazil’s Supreme Court as he is facing a criminal prosecution of his own, on allegations of corruption.

The possibility now exists that Brazil’s Supreme Court may move to nullify the earlier impeachment vote in the lower house, effectively terminating what some view as a coup d’état. The removal of Cunha provides new fodder for the Workers Party and Rousseff supporters that the impeachment is a political ploy.

On Thursday, Loud & Clear’s Brian Becker sat down with Brazilian journalist Victor Fraga to discuss the unfolding drama surrounding the governmental gamesmanship.

Will the coup against Dilma Rousseff succeed?

“There have been some positive developments recently, including the removal of Eduardo Cunha, the head of the lower-house of parliament,” opened Fraga. “Brazilians from both the left and the right have been asking for him to be suspended because he is involved in many corruption cases and they have found 23 accounts traced to him in Switzerland – he is considered a toxic figure in Brazil.”

Fraga explained that Cunha spearheaded the impeachment proceedings against Rousseff as a skilled political tactician, but is almost virtually viewed with a mixture of contempt and fear by colleagues. The ousting of Cunha serves both as a political boost and a potential escape for Rousseff, with Brazil’s Supreme Court expected to review the lower-house vote.

“A week ago people were counting the days [before Rousseff would be impeached], but now it is no longer certain, because the Supreme Court tribunal may step in and nullify the whole process now that Cunha has been suspended,” explained Fraga.

Fraga ultimately believes that the proceedings will not be invalidated by Brazil’s Supreme Court, but notes that the latest scandal may dampen the spirits of Cunha and Michel Temer’s right-wing supporters, who now fear a growing public opposition to the proceedings.

“There is so much popular pressure, the social convulsion, people are threatening to invade the senate, the students have invaded the Sao Paolo chamber already, demanding for corruption investigations, so now there is fear that people will rush into the senate – there is a lot of pressure and a lot of fear,” explained Fraga.

The journalist points to mounting anti-Workers Party rhetoric exploding from television-news outlets heavily aligned with right wing, pro-corporate interests. He referred to a characterization by acclaimed journalist Glenn Greenwald, that Brazil’s media outlets are more powerful than FoxNews, and even less reliable.

Yet even the omnipresence of corporate media and the emboldening of the country’s right-wing elites, through US intervention, may fail to overcome the reality that those who accuse President Dilma Rousseff of malfeasance are themselves corrupt.

The senate vote on May 11 will decide whether to suspend Rousseff for 180 days and advance impeachment proceedings. The once-certain vote now expects to come down to a one or two vote margin.

http://houstoncommunistparty.com/brazil-coup-watch-impeachment-efforts-against-rousseff-faltering/

blindpig

05-10-2016, 10:58 AM

Despair Brazil: This is a class war
March 23, 2016, 6:20 am

The judicial coup against President Dilma Rousseff is the culmination of the deepest political crisis in Brazil for 50 years.

Every so often, the bourgeois political system runs into crisis. The machinery of the state jams; the veils of consent are torn asunder and the tools of power appear disturbingly naked. Brazil is living through one of those moments: it is a dreamland for social scientists; a nightmare for everyone else.

Dilma Rousseff was elected President in 2010, with a 56-44 per cent majority against the right-wing neoliberal PSDB (Brazilian Social Democratic Party) opposition candidate. She was re-elected four years later with a diminished yet convincing majority of 52-48 per cent, or a difference of 3.5 million votes.

Dilma’s second victory sparked a heated panic among the neoliberal and US-aligned opposition. The fourth consecutive election of a President affiliated to the centre-left PT (Workers’ Party) was bad news for the opposition, among other reasons because it suggested that PT founder Luís Inácio Lula da Silva could return in 2018. Lula had been President between 2003 and 2010 and, when he left office, his approval ratings hit 90 per cent, making him the most popular leader in Brazilian history. This threat of continuity suggested that the opposition could be out of federal office for a generation. They immediately rejected the outcome of the vote. No credible complaints could be made, but no matter; it was resolved that Dilma Rousseff would be overthrown by any means necessary. To understand what happened next, we must return to 2011.

http://thebricspost.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/03/enemies-placard.jpg
A protester holds a cardboard with the slogan “my enemies are in power” during an anti-government demonstration in Sao Paulo [Xinhua]

Dilma inherited from Lula a booming economy. Alongside China and other middle-income countries, Brazil bounced back vigorously after the global crisis. GDP expanded by 7.5 per cent in 2010, the fastest rate in decades, and Lula’s hybrid neoliberal-neo-developmental economic policies seemed to have hit the perfect balance: sufficiently orthodox to enjoy the confidence of large sections of the internal bourgeoisie and the formal and informal working class, and heterodox enough to deliver the greatest redistribution of income and privilege in Brazil’s recorded history. For example, the real minimum wage rose by 70 per cent and 21 million (mostly low-paid) jobs were created in the 2000s. Social provision increased significantly, including the world-famous Bolsa Família conditional cash transfer programme, and the Government supported a dramatic expansion of higher education, including quotas for blacks and state school pupils. For the first time, the poor could access education as well as income and bank loans. They proceeded to study, earn and borrow, and to occupy spaces, literally, previously the preserve of the upper-middle class: airports, shopping malls, banks, private health facilities and roads, with the latter clogged up by cheap cars purchased on 72 easy payments. The Government enjoyed a comfortable majority in a highly fragmented Congress, and Lula’s legendary political skills managed to keep most of the political elite on side.
Then everything started to go wrong. Dilma Rousseff was chosen by Lula as his successor. She was a steady pair of hands and a competent manager and enforcer. She was also the most left-wing President of Brazil since João Goulart, who was overthrown by a military coup in 1964. However, she had no political track record and, it soon become evident, lacked essential qualities for the job.

Once elected, Dilma shifted economic policies further away from neoliberalism. The Government intervened in several sectors seeking to promote investment and output, and put intense pressure on the financial system to reduce interest rates, which lowered credit costs and the Government’s debt service, releasing funds for consumption and investment. A virtuous circle of growth and distribution seemed possible. Unfortunately, the Government miscalculated the lasting impact of the global crisis. The US and European economies stagnated, China’s growth faltered, and the so-called commodity super-cycle vanished. Brazil’s current account was ruined. Even worse, the US, UK, Japan and the Eurozone introduced quantitative easing policies that led to massive capital outflows towards middle-income countries. Brazil faced a tsunami of foreign exchange, that overvalued the currency and bred deindustrialisation. Economic growth rates fell precipitously.

The Government doubled its interventionism through public investment, subsidised loans and tax rebates, which ravaged the public accounts. Their frantic and seemingly random interventionism scared away the internal bourgeoisie: local magnates were content to run Government through the Workers’ Party, but would not be managed by a former political prisoner who overtly despised them. And her antipathy was not only reserved for the capitalists: the President had little inclination to speak to social movements, left organisations, lobbies, allied parties, elected politicians, or her own ministers. The economy stalled and Dilma’s political alliances shrank, in a fast-moving dance of destruction. The neoliberal opposition scented blood.

For years, the opposition to the PT had been rudderless. The PSDB had nothing appealing to offer while, as is traditional in Brazil, most other parties were gangs of bandits extorting the Government for selfish gain. The situation was so desperate that the mainstream media overtly took the mantle of opposition, driving the anti-PT agenda and literally instructing politicians what to do next. In the meantime, the radical left remained small and relatively powerless. It was despised by the hegemonic ambitions of the PT.

The confluence of dissatisfactions became an irresistible force in 2013. Brazil’s mainstream media is rabidly neoliberal and utterly ruthless: it is as if Fox News and its clones dominated the entire US media, including all TV chains and the main newspapers. The upper-middle class was their obliging target, as they had economic, social and political reasons to be unhappy. Upper-middle class jobs were declining, with 4.3 million posts paying between 5 and 10 minimum wages vanishing in the 2000s. In the meantime, the bourgeoisie was doing well, and the poor advanced fast: even domestic servants got labour rights. The upper-middle class felt squeezed economically, and excluded from their privileged spaces. It was also dislocated from the state. Since Lula’s election, the state bureaucracy had been populated by thousands of cadres appointed by the PT and the left, to the detriment of ‘better-educated’, whiter and, presumably, more deserving upper-middle class competitors. Mass demonstrations erupted for the first time in June 2013, triggered by left-wing opposition against a bus fare increase in São Paulo. Those demonstrations were fanned by the media and captured by the upper middle-class and the right, and they shook the Government – but, clearly, not enough to motivate them to save themselves. The demonstrations returned two years later. And then in 2016.

The role of the bureaucracy

Now, reader, follow this: After the decimation of the state apparatus by the pre-Lula neoliberal administrations, the PT sought to rebuild selected areas of the bureaucracy. Among them, for reasons that Lula may soon have plenty of time to review and to regret, the Federal Police and the Federal Prosecution Office (FPO). In addition, for overtly ‘democratic’ reasons, but more likely related to corporatism and capacity to make media-friendly noises, the Federal Police and the FPO were granted inordinate autonomy; the former through mismanagement, while the latter has become the fourth power in the Republic, separate from – and checking – the Executive, the Legislature and the Judiciary. The abundance of qualified jobseekers led to the colonisation of these well-paying jobs by upper-middle class cadres. They were now in a constitutionally secure position, and could chew the hand that had fed them, while loudly demanding, through the media, additional resources to maul the rest of the PT’s body.

Corruption was the ideal pretext. Since it lost the first democratic presidential elections, in 1989, the PT moved steadily towards the political centre. In order to lure the upper-middle class and the internal bourgeoisie, the PT neutralised or expelled the party’s left wing, disarmed the trade unions and social movements, signed up to the neoliberal economic policies pursued by the previous administration, and imposed a dour conformity that killed off any alternative leadership. Only Lula’s sun can shine in the party; everything else was incinerated. This strategy was eventually successful and, in 2002, ‘Little Lula Peace and Love’ was elected President. (I kid you not, reader: this was one of his campaign slogans.)

For years the PT had thrived in opposition as the only honest political party in Brazil. This strategy worked, but it contained a lethal contradiction: in order to win expensive elections, manage the Executive and build a workable majority in Congress, the PT would have to get its hands dirty. There is no other way to ‘do’ politics in the Brazilian ‘democracy’.

Lava Jato (Car wash)

We only need one more element, and our mixture will be ready to combust. Petrobras is Brazil’s largest corporation and one of the world’s largest oil companies. The firm has considerable technical and economic capacity, and it was responsible for the discovery, in 2006, of gigantic ‘pre-salt’ deep sea oilfields hundreds of miles from the Brazilian coast. Dilma Rousseff, as Lula’s Minister of Mines and Energy, was responsible for handling exploration contracts in these areas including large privileges for Petrobras. The enabling legislation was vigorously opposed by PSDB, the media, the oil majors and the US Government.

http://thebricspost.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/03/rousseff-lula-red-salute.jpg
Brazil’s President Dilma Rousseff (C) waves to supporters from the home of Former President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva in Sao Bernardo do Campo, outskirts of Sao Paulo, Brazil, on March 5, 2016 [Xinhua]

In 2014, Sergio Moro, a previously unknown judge in Curitiba, a Southern state capital, started investigating a currency dealer involved in tax evasion. This case eventually spiralled into a deadly threat against Dilma Rousseff’s Government. Judge Moro is good-looking, well-educated, white and well-paid. He is also very close to the PSDB. His Lavajato (Carwash) operation unveiled an extraordinary tale of large-scale bribery, plunder of public assets and funding for all major political parties, centred on the relationship between Petrobras and some of its main suppliers – precisely the stalwarts of the PT in the oil, shipbuiding and construction industries. It was the perfect combination, at the right time. Judge Moro’s cause was picked up by the media, and he obligingly steered it to inflict maximum damage on the PT, while shielding the other parties. Politicians connected to the PT and some of Brazil’s wealthiest businessmen were summarily jailed, and would remain locked up until they agreed a plea bargain implicating others. A new phase of Lavajato would ensnare them, and so on. The operation is now in its 26th phase; many have already collaborated, and those who refused to do so have received long prison sentences, to coerce them back into line while their appeals are pending.
The media turned Judge Moro into a hero; he can do no wrong, and attempts to contest his sprawling powers are met with derision or worse. He is now the most powerful person in the Republic, above Dilma, Lula, the speakers of the Chamber of Deputies and the Senate (both sinking in corruption and other scandals), and even the Supreme Court Justices, who have either been silenced or are quietly supportive of Moro’s crusade.

Lula’s appointment

Petrobras has been paralysed by the scandal, bringing down the entire oil chain. Private investment has collapsed because of political uncertainty and the politically-driven investment strike against Dilma’s Government. Congress has turned against the Government, and the Judiciary is overwhelmingly hostile. After years of sniping, the media has been delighted to see Lula fall under the Lavajato juggernaut, even if the allegations are often far-fetched: does he actually own a beach-side apartment that his family does not use, is that small farm really his, who paid for the lake and the mobile phone masts nearby, and how about those pedalos? No matter: in a display of bravado and power, Moro even detained Lula for questioning on 4 March. He was taken to São Paulo airport and would have been flown to Curitiba, but the Judge’s plan was halted by fear of the political fallout. Lula was questioned at the airport, then released. He was livid.

In order to shore up her crumbling administration and protect Lula from prosecution, Dilma Rousseff appointed Lula her Chief of Staff (the President’s Chief of Staff has ministerial status and can be prosecuted only by the Supreme Court). The right-wing conspiracy went into overdrive. Moro (illegally) released the (illegal) recording of a conversation between President Dilma and Lula, pertaining to his investiture. Once suitably misinterpreted, their dialogue was presented as ‘proof’ of a conspiracy to protect Lula from Moro’s determination to jail him. Large right-wing upper-middle class masses poured into the streets, furiously, on 13 March. Five days later, the left responded with not quite as large demonstrations of its own against the unfolding coup. In the meantime, Lula’s appointment was suspended by a judicial measure, then restored, then suspended again. The case is now in the Supreme Court. At the moment, he is not a Minister, and his head is posed above the block. Moro can arrest him at short notice.

Why is this a coup?

Because, despite aggressive scrutiny no Presidential crime warranting impeachment proceedings has emerged. Nevertheless, the political right has thrown the kitchen sink at Dilma Rousseff. They rejected the outcome of the 2014 elections and appealed against her alleged campaign finance violations, which would remove from power both Dilma and Vice-President Michel Temer, now the effective leader of the impeachment drive (and strangely enough, this case has been parked). The right simultaneously started impeachment procedures in Congress. The media has attacked the Government viciously, neoliberal economists ‘impartially’ beg for a new administration ‘to restore market confidence’, and the right will resort to street violence as necessary. Finally, the judicial charade against the PT has broken all the rules of legality, yet it is cheered on by the media, the right and even by the Supreme Court Justices.

And yet, the coup de grâce is taking a long time coming. In the olden days, the military would have already moved in. Today, the Brazilian military are defined more by their nationalism (a danger to the neoliberal onslaught) than by their right-wing faith and, anyway, the Soviet Union is no more. Under neoliberalism, coups d’état must follow legal niceties, as was shown in Honduras, in 2009, and in Paraguay, in 2012.

Brazil is likely to join their company, but not just now: large sections of capital want to restore the hegemony of neoliberalism; those who once supported the PT’s national development strategy have fallen into line; the media is howling so loudly it has become impossible to think clearly, and most of the upper-middle class has descended into a fascist odium for the PT, the left, the poor, and blacks. Their disorderly hatred has become so intense that even PSDB politicians are booed in anti-Government demonstrations. And, despite the relentless attack, the left remains reasonably strong, as was demonstrated on 18th March. The right and the elite are powerful and ruthless – but they are also afraid of the consequences of their own daring.

There is no simple resolution to the political, economic and social crises in Brazil.

Dilma Rousseff has lost political support and the confidence of capital, and she is likely to be removed from office in the coming days. However, attempts to imprison Lula could have unpredictable implications and, even if Dilma and Lula are struck off the political map, a renewed neoliberal hegemony cannot automatically restore political stability or economic growth, nor secure the social prominence that the upper-middle class craves. Despite strong media support for the impending coup, the PT, other left parties and many radical social movements remain strong. Further escalation is inevitable. Watch this space.

http://thebricspost.com/despair-brazil-this-is-a-class-war/#.VzHvKYQrLZa

blindpig

05-12-2016, 11:45 AM

Brazil: what now?

At the time I write only missing hours for the media-judiciary coup-parliamentary state in Brazil is consummated or Paraguayan Honduran style. No matter that most intellectuals, artists and social movements have demonstrated against for weeks that no prestigious personality in Brazil or in the world, has supported.

Brazil: what now?
Most Brazilian Senate approve this morning, despite lacking legal basis, impeachment or impeachment against President Dilma Rousseff. She should insist, it has not committed "crimes of responsibility" requirement set by the Constitution to open impeachment. The procedure is so obvious and outrageously grotesque that even the fetid OAS and its pendulous Inter-American Commission on Human Rights have demurred. No, of course, with the devotion and zeal of its secretary general for serving the imperialism against Venezuela.

Assuming that the president had committed the offense that he is charged, it would not be a small administrative offense does not warrant a measure of the magnitude of the taken, according to eminent lawyers say Brazil. Protagonists of this heinous plot and decadent: a House of Representatives and a Senate whose majority is formed by freeloaders and ignorant, not representatives of the interests of their constituents but big business. Sean those of agribussines , advocates of the arms industry and private security companies, or the picturesque and obscurantist brotherhood of Pentecostal pastors and activists.

Almost all linked to large multinationals such as Monsanto and Syngenta or giant financial empires like George Soros, Goldman Sachs and others of the same ilk, managers with the complicity or Washington- sponsored by coups, civil wars and demolition countries.

You have to add a batch of venal judges and Federal Supreme Court to serve exceptions, who better pay them. Another decisive force, this other real coup staff is integrated nationally by the multimedia network Globo, the magazine Veja and the newspapers O Estado de Sao Paulo and Folha de Sao Paulo . Internationally, much of the media mafia has participated in the lynching of Dilma, Lula and the PT governments but steal the British Financial Times and The Economist , and the US The Wall Street Journal . Their names say it all.

It should be a little history. The neoliberal government of Fernando Enrique Cardoso to Lula left a deep economic crisis, runaway inflation, astronomical public debt, rending the social fabric, disarticulation of the state and deepening inequalities and injustices abysmal afflicting the country for centuries; one of them, the unjust distribution of land. Another, an electoral law that prevents people's participation. For the union and for Dilma has been very difficult to govern.

To advance its social agenda have maintained an alliance and reconciled with sectors and bourgeois and convenencieros parties and in those conditions faced fierce onslaught on the right and the great oligarchic press who tried to unseat Lula in 2005. Nevertheless, management PT has been revalidated by voters in three consecutive presidential elections, including the very harried re-election of Dilma in 2014, with a tighter margin than earlier but up to the very respectable figure of 54 million votes, more than three million on his Aécio Neves rival.

Faced with the fait accompli of the coup, much remains to be done. There will fight as said Joao Pedro Stedile and Lula and all the leaders of the Landless Movement, Brazil Popular Bloc, Brazil without Fear the labor union CUT, the UNE and interesting Survey of Youth. The putschists lack of consensus except for the elite and the fascist sector of the middle class.

We must make good use of the 180 days in the Senate to complete the trial on Dilma. Persuade mass mobilizations the number of senators needed to impose his acquittal in the final vote. Open a national debate on the monstrosity ongoing and the draft desired country, able to lead to the defeat of the coup but also a Constituent Assembly, agrarian reform, political reform and media law, to allow a large widening of democracy .

http://www.telesurtv.net/bloggers/Brasil-y-ahora-que-20160511-0004.html

Google Translator

Dhalgren

05-12-2016, 01:14 PM

At the time I write only missing hours for the media-judiciary coup-parliamentary state in Brazil is consummated or Paraguayan Honduran style. No matter that most intellectuals, artists and social movements have demonstrated against for weeks that no prestigious personality in Brazil or in the world, has supported.

Of course the point of this statement is missed even by the person making it. It doesn't matter what "intellectuals, artists and social movements" do or think - if none are backed by class oriented masses. "(N)o prestigious personality in Brazil or in the world" mean fuck-all to events orchestrated by the ruling class of the hegemon.

This should be a wakeup call to everyone, everywhere, that no state, regardless of its size, prosperity, or strength is immune from the empire. Ignore this fact or fail to act upon its knowledge at your own peril. No one is likely to get a better warning than this.

blindpig

05-12-2016, 05:00 PM

Brazil's Dilma Rousseff: Impeachment is a coup

http://www.aljazeera.com/mritems/imagecache/mbdxxlarge/mritems/Images/2016/5/12/a8c1405d7a5d4f2bb35353b658a527be_18.jpg
Defiant president addresses nation after Senate suspends her for 180 days launching probe for breaking budget laws.

Rousseff has been replaced by vice president Michel Temer [Paulo Whitaker/Reuters]Rousseff has been replaced by vice president Michel Temer [Paulo Whitaker/Reuters]
Brazil's President Dilma Rousseff has addressed the nation in a defiant speech from outside the presidential palace, calling Senate's decision to suspend her for 180 days "a coup".

Rousseff, 68, has been in office since 2011 and her suspension came hours after the Senate voted 55-22 to put her on trial, a decision that ended more than 13 years of rule by the left-wing The Workers' Party.

Rousseff said on Thursday what hurt her most was her understanding that she was "a victim of a legal farce and a political farce".

The rise and fall of Brazil's first female president
"When an elected president is suspended because of a crime she hasn't committed, the name we give is not impeachment but a coup," Rousseff said.

"I may have made mistakes but I did not commit any crime. The coup d’etat threatens to undo true victories of [the] last decade."

She said she was proud to be the first woman to be elected president in Brazil and pledged to not give up the struggle against "the coup".

"I have fought my entire life for democracy, I have had many victories," she said, in reference to her youth fighting Brazil's military dictatorship. "The struggle for democracy has no date and no deadline."

The party rose from Brazil's labour movement and helped pull millions of people out of poverty before seeing many of its leaders tainted by corruption investigations.

Al Jazeera's Latin America Editor Lucia Newman, reporting from Brasilia, said the speech was extremely emotional and very dramatic with Rousseff's voice shaking at one point.

"The president is going to her supporters outside the palace hugging them as she prepares to leave the office for who knows how long," she said.

Newman said Rousseff's trial was more of a political one than a technical one.

"What she is being accused of is something that many presidents have done in the past. But they didn't do it when the country's economy was in deep recession," she said.

Rousseff's replacement

Rousseff will be replaced by vice president Michel Temer for the duration of a Senate trial that could take up to six months.

As suspended head of state, Rousseff can continue to live in her official residence, have a staff and use an air force plane.

Rousseff dismissed her cabinet, including the sports minister, who is in final preparations for the Rio Olympics that take place in August, Brazil's Official Gazette showed.

The central bank governor, who has ministerial rank, was not included in the decree.

Fireworks rang out in cities across Brazil after the vote that followed a 20-hour session in the Senate.

Police briefly clashed with pro-Rousseff demonstrators in Brasilia during the vote, but the country was calm early on Thursday, with scattered celebrants in Sao Paulo and other cities draping themselves in Brazil's green, yellow and blue flag.

http://www.aljazeera.com/news/2016/05/brazil-dilma-rousseff-impeachment-coup-160512142444759.html

blindpig

05-13-2016, 09:04 AM

Soft Coup” Finds Soft Target in Brazil
Submitted by Glen Ford on Tue, 05/10/2016 - 21:48

http://blackagendareport.com/sites/default/files/styles/image-400x300/public/Glen_Dilma.jpg?itok=m2C1xJgo

A Black Agenda Radio commentary by executive editor Glen Ford
Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff, of the Workers Party, although free of personal corruption, is being hounded out of executive power by yelping packs of thoroughly corrupt political hyenas.” This “soft coup” is led by former partners in the national legislature, where the Workers Party holds less than one-sixth of the seats. But the debacle is a lesson for those leftists that think they can finesse and bargain their way to a social revolution.

“Soft Coup” Finds Soft Target in Brazil
A Black Agenda Radio commentary by executive editor Glen Ford
“The scandal exposed the entire system as pervasively corrupt – but only Rousseff and her party are in the crosshairs.”

If the Brazilian politicians that are clamoring to impeach President Dilma Rousseff were opposed to corruption, they would impeach themselves, since 60 percent of them are facing some kind kind of corruption charges. Rousseff is personally squeaky clean. Her nominal offense was manipulating budget numbers so that her government could continue programs to help the poor after the bottom fell out of economy because of the global economic slowdown. But, the actual charge against Rousseff almost never came up when the lower house of the Brazilian legislature voted to impeach her, which is why the Speaker of the lower house briefly ruled the impeachment null and void – and then reversed himself less than a day later, clearing the way for the Senate to put Rousseff on trial and remove her from office.

Dilma Rousseff’s Workers Party and its allies on the left like MST, the Landless Workers Movement, call the impeachment drive a “soft coup,” and see the long arm of the United States at work. In 2013 Rousseff stood at the United Nations General Assembly, in New York, to denounce the Obama administration for spying on her. The U.S. spymasters didn’t get anything on Rousseff, who is clean, but they dug up plenty on the giant Brazilian state oil company, Petrobas, which is at the center of a web of corruption involving billions of dollars in bribery and payoffs to politicians and businessmen affiliated with a whole range of Brazilian political parties, including, of course, Rousseff’s Workers Party. The scandal exposed the entire system as pervasively corrupt – but only Rousseff and her party are in the crosshairs.

Disintegrating Alliances of Convenience

The Brazilian Left says it will take the battle “to the streets” and mobilize internationally to defeat the “soft” legislative coup. But, sympathizers outside of Brazil must wonder, How did it come to this? How did a party that, since 2002, has won majorities of the national vote even after the economy turned sour find itself being hounded out of executive power by yelping packs of thoroughly corrupt political hyenas?

The Workers Party had a huge national following, but it makes up only about 15 percent of the country’s legislature. Early on, its charismatic leader, “Lula” da Silva, made alliances with parties to his right, at the state and national level. The more the Workers Party became enmeshed with its capitalist partners-of-convenience, the further it moved from its grassroots support. The Workers Party embraced neoliberal austerity when times got rough, and shared cabinet positions and campaign funds with its erstwhile rightwing friends. This relationship was apparently reflected in the realm of corruption, as well, with a host of parties sharing in the feast. All the while, the deeply reactionary and vicious Brazilian ruling class, which controls the monopoly media, awaited its chance to destroy the Workers Party, even at the risk of economic and social chaos. This “soft coup” could turn very, very hard, very quickly.

The Left hangs by a thread in Brazil, has been ousted in Argentina, and is halfway out the door in Venezuela, because the power of the capitalists in those countries remained intact. Capitalism is the ultimate corruption, that never quits until it is stamped out.

For Black Agenda Radio, I’m Glen Ford. On the web, go to BlackAgendaReport.com.

http://blackagendareport.com/soft_coup_brazil

Nailed it. Marriages of convenience, if necessary for the people's succor, should be conducted with hyper vigilance and retired as soon as the immediate goal is obtained or realized out of reach.

The capitalists class will not go quietly into the night and to expect that might happen without the violence with which they have maintained their rule is, in the end, idealistic.

blindpig

05-13-2016, 10:12 AM

CP of Brazil, Luciana Santos: Fight for democracy, defeat the coup in the Senate [En, Pt]

Friday, 13 May 2016 14:45 Communist Party of Brazil E-mail Print PDF
Luciana Santos: Fight for democracy, defeat the coup in the Senate [En, Pt]

May 12th, 2016.

Soon after the announcement of the results of the voting on impeachment opening against President Dilma Rousseff, the national president of the Communist Party of Brazil (PCdoB), Luciana Santos, issued a note considering the removal of Dilma of the Presidency as shameful and outrageous act.

May 12th, 2016 goes down in history as the scenery of a shameful and outrageous act. The majority of the Federal Senate, ripping the Constitution, approved the admissibility of impeachment without a legal basis. As a result, President Dilma Rousseff, elected with more than 54 million votes, is out from her office without having committed any crime. The Brazilian Senate will judged her. Arbitrarily, they put the president out her post and she takes a country project, a development cycle that substantially reduced the social and regional inequalities.

Vice President Michel Temer, who joined to the conspiracy and became one of its leaders, will enter by the presidential palace through the back door, by imposing a real "indirect election". He will usurp the presidential chair and will lead an illegitimate government.

Given this reality, a new stage of democratic and popular resistance is beginning, as challenging as imperative: reinvigorating the mobilization to defeat the coup in the judgment of the Senate and oppose tenaciously to the illegitimate government of Temer. This government comes armed with a savage neoliberal program, representing a political throwback, regression of rights and degradation of national sovereignty.

From this May 12, with an injured democracy, the country will experience a period of great uncertainty and will experience a tense and unprecedented situation: the confrontation between two political and social blocks having on the one hand, President Dilma Rousseff holding a legitimate mandate but illegally away and on the other, vice president Michel Temer, enthroned by a coup.

Along this reactionary journey, the first woman to occupy the post of president of Brazil faces a lot of hate, intolerance and prejudice. In face of these aggressions and on the risk in democracy, President Dilma has struggled tirelessly and showed politics courage. In this way, she will put herself like a leader of the popular mobilization to preserve democracy, defeat the coup and defend the achievements of the period of Lula and Dilma governments.

Despite the victory, the actors of coup let the masks dropped down and accumulate losses inside and outside the country. Since the infamous session of the House of Representatives on April 17, through the debates and votes that just happen in the Senate, the impeachment process will reveal exactly what it is: the contemporary face of the old coups that victimized democracy in our country.

The contradictions involving collusion that supports Temer, the illegitimacy and weakness of his government, anti-popular and anti-national measures that he will have to adopt, the decisive battle that he will suffer from democratic and popular forces may produce a deadlock with serious consequences. All this can take a group of senators to conclude that there is no solution to the crisis out of democracy.

Therefore, the PCdoB reiterates the proposal of a referendum on direct presidential elections. We are convinced that the Brazilian people – from the top of its sovereignty – should decide on the best way for the country can overcomes the crisis and restore democracy.

This battle for a plebiscite increases the possibility of conquering the votes necessary to the acquittal of President Dilma because she is discussing with a group of senators who advocate the proposal from the anticipation of the presidential elections and meets strong popular will. In addition, the flag of plebiscite gives a perspective, new energy to democratic and popular resistance to confront the illegitimate Temer government.

Democratic and popular forces, institutions that support democracy, such as universities, jurists, attorneys, intellectuals, artists and so on. All of us have the challenge, from now, to strengthen the mobilization of our people and broad sectors of society to defeat the coup in the Federal Senate.

Let's face strongly the challenges of this new stage of the struggle against the coup, let´s amplify our forces, embrace with enthusiasm the agenda of the Front Popular Brazil, the People's Front Fearless and multiple democratic acts to rise the people, workers and broad progressive sectors so that in the end, democracy wins!

Brasília, May 12th, 2016

M.P. Luciana Santos

National President of the Communist Party of Brazil – PCdoB

Translated by Maria Helena De Eugenio for www.resistencia.cc

http://www.solidnet.org/brazil-communist-party-of-brazil/cp-of-brazil-luciana-santos-fight-for-democracy-defeat-the-coup-in-the-senate-en-pt

There it is again:

Democratic and popular forces, institutions that support democracy, such as universities, jurists, attorneys, intellectuals, artists and so on. All of us have the challenge, from now, to strengthen the mobilization of our people and broad sectors of society to defeat the coup in the Federal Senate.

Wtf kinda CP is this? Fight the fight in the Senate? Fat chance, and if ya do succeed what kind of debilitating deals have you cut to win? Perhaps it is presumptive of me, not having a full understanding of Brasil, but take this to the street!

Dhalgren

05-13-2016, 10:45 AM

The Left hangs by a thread in Brazil, has been ousted in Argentina, and is halfway out the door in Venezuela, because the power of the capitalists in those countries remained intact. Capitalism is the ultimate corruption, that never quits until it is stamped out.

Nailed it. Marriages of convenience, if necessary for the people's succor, should be conducted with hyper vigilance and retired as soon as the immediate goal is obtained or realized out of reach.

The capitalists class will not go quietly into the night and to expect that might happen without the violence with which they have maintained their rule is, in the end, idealistic.

Right. Right. And, right.

The "marriages of convenience", however, never work "for the people's succor". I think that the least "idealist" stand is the one taken by the KKE: No joining with anti-peoples parties. No compromise on anti-worker issues. Stand as a wall against all capitalist actions.

It is true that some actions taken by the capitalists may be beneficial to workers in some way, for some time, but the price for these benefits are always too high and the benefits never pan-out. When a bourgeois government present s a plan for the benefit of the people, run from it as fast as you can - or take it, while giving nothing in return. Anything we have or anything we ever get, is by our own blood and sweat - capitalists have never "given" anything to anyone, especially to workers.

I am afraid that our Brazilian brothers and sisters may have to do more than "take it to the streets".

blindpig

05-13-2016, 11:12 AM

Right. Right. And, right.

The "marriages of convenience", however, never work "for the people's succor". I think that the least "idealist" stand is the one taken by the KKE: No joining with anti-peoples parties. No compromise on anti-worker issues. Stand as a wall against all capitalist actions.

It is true that some actions taken by the capitalists may be beneficial to workers in some way, for some time, but the price for these benefits are always too high and the benefits never pan-out. When a bourgeois government present s a plan for the benefit of the people, run from it as fast as you can - or take it, while giving nothing in return. Anything we have or anything we ever get, is by our own blood and sweat - capitalists have never "given" anything to anyone, especially to workers.

I am afraid that our Brazilian brothers and sisters may have to do more than "take it to the streets".

It is true that these arrangements never work out for the people in the end, but sometimes contingency might force one's hand and necessitate focus on that 'middle' between beginning and end. Tricky business and the never ending danger of working within the booj political system. KKE has avoided this at the cost of some support from the impatient and it will work out in the end, but in the meantime....

blindpig

05-14-2016, 08:18 AM

Washington’s ‘Fingerprints’ All Over Rousseff’s Impeachment
May 13, 2016 | 8:44 pm

http://cdn4.img.sputniknews.com/images/103685/49/1036854900.jpg
Demonstrators take part in a protest demanding the resignation of Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff, on March 13, 2016 in Porto Alegre, southern Brazil
Washington’s ‘Fingerprints’ All Over Rousseff’s Impeachment

© AFP 2016/ JEFFERSON BERNARDES
16:21 13.05.2016Get short URL

Dilma Rousseff’s impeachment has dealt a heavy blow to Brazil’s democracy, giving the country’s corrupt neoliberal elite free reign, experts say, adding that the case has all the earmarks of a “color revolution.”

Brazil’s young and vibrant democracy is under threat as an unelectable corrupt neoliberal political elite have taken the reins of power from President Dilma Rousseff of the Workers Party (PT), prominent American journalist, lawyer and author Glenn Greenwald warns in his recent article for The Intercept.

“As someone who has lived in Brazil for 11 years, it’s been inspiring and invigorating to watch a country of 200 million people throw off the shackles of a 21-year-old right-wing (US/UK supported) military dictatorship and mature into a young, vibrant democracy and then thrive under it. To see how quickly and easily that can be reversed — abolished in all but name only — is both sad and frightening to watch,” Greenwald writes.

http://cdn1.img.sputniknews.com/images/102441/58/1024415872.jpg

The journalist recalls the history of Brazilian elections, calling attention to the fact that since 2002 Brazil’s left-of-center Workers Party (PT) has enjoyed overwhelming public support, while its main political competitor, the Brazilian Social Democracy Party (PSDB), was eating PT’s dust.Although PSDB and its sponsors have poured big sums of money into defeating former Brazilian president Lula da Silva and then his successor Dilma Rousseff, they have repeatedly failed.

“In sum, PT has won four straight national elections — the last one occurring just 18 months ago. Its opponents have vigorously tried — and failed — to defeat them at the ballot box, largely due to PT’s support among Brazil’s poor and working classes,” Greenwald notes.

“So if you’re a plutocrat with ownership of the nation’s largest and most influential media outlets, what do you do?” he asks.

Predictably, Brazilian tycoons threw their weight behind their candidates, “who could never get elected on their own,” and exploited their media outlets to incite unrest in the country.

As a result, “deeply unpopular” Michel Temer of the Brazilian Democratic Movement Party (PMDB) party — PSDB’s ally — has assumed the position of Brazil’s interim President, following Dilma Rousseff’s impeachment.

http://cdn4.img.sputniknews.com/images/103805/82/1038058220.jpg

While accusing Rousseff and her party members of corruption, Temer “is awash in corruption” himself, Greenwald notes.”Accused by informants of involvement in an illegal ethanol-purchasing scheme, he was just found guilty of, and fined for, election spending violations and faces an 8-year-ban on running for any office,” he writes.

However, Temer “will faithfully serve the interests of Brazil’s richest: he’s planning to appoint Goldman Sachs and IMF [International Monetary Fund] officials to run the economy and otherwise install a totally unrepresentative, neoliberal team,” the journalist stresses.

It begs the question of who is actually behind the recent Brazilian political turmoil.

Closely monitoring the political developments in Brazil American political analyst Eric Draitser noted in his March article for Mintpressnews.com that the protest movement brewing in the country has Washington’s fingerprints all over it.

“The right wing is the driving force of the protests… Two of the principal groups responsible for organizing and mobilizing the demonstrations are the Free Brazil Movement (MBL) and Students for Liberty (EPL), both of which have direct ties to Charles and David Koch, the right-wing, neocon, US billionaires, as well as other leading figures of the far right, pro-business neoliberal establishment,” Draitser underscored.

He remarked that the right-wing, pro-US elements inside and outside Brazil “are particularly angered at the Worker’s Party and, more broadly, the left.””This is not because of corruption — though corruption undoubtedly remains a problem — but because of the ascendance to power of political forces representing working class and poor Brazilians,” the US political analyst emphasized.

Political analysts Pepe Escobar and Andrew Korybko echoed Draitser in their analyses for Sputnik and OrientalReview.org.

“This sorry saga has nothing to do with corruption, allegedly the key motive behind the sprawling, two-year-old, initially NSA spying-fueled Car Wash investigation. It’s all about dirty political opportunism,” Escobar wrote in his April article entitled “Why the Coup in Brazil Should Fail.”

Both Escobar and Korybko dub what is going on in Brazil a “hybrid war.”

“At the moment,” Korybko wrote on April 25, “it looks like the ‘constitutional coup’-Color Revolution two-step might succeed in removing Rousseff and replacing her with Vice-President Michel Temer, who had actually been practicing his post-coup address to the nation in a recently leaked speech.”

The analyst’s prognosis came true. On May 13 Brazil’s interim President Michel Temer addressed the Senate saying “Together we can overcome this moment of great difficulty. It is urgent to calm the nation and unify the nation, create a government of national salvation.”

There is something really fishy about Temer. To justify the analysts’ suspicions WikiLeaks tweeted on May, 12:

“Brasil’s #Dilma ousted in parliamentary coup; new pres [president] is US embassy informant Michel Temer”

WikiLeaks released two US diplomatic cables which contain Temer’s detailed report on the prospects to defeat the Brazilian leader Lula da Silva in the 2006 presidential election.

“Federal Deputy Michel Temer, national president of the Brazilian Democratic Movement Party (PMDB), believes that public disillusion with President Lula and the Workers’ Party (PT) provides an opportunity for the PMDB to field its own candidate in the 2006 presidential election,” the cable, sent on January 11, 2006 to US Secretary of State, read.

There are serious suspicions that the current development in Brazil traces back to Washington. The whole affair looks strikingly similar to the other “regime change operations” launched by the US policymakers.

However, the major problem is that the new interim government poses a threat to Brazil’s democracy.

“Whatever damage PT is doing to Brazil, the plutocrats and their journalist-propagandists and the band of thieves in Brasilia engineering this travesty are far more dangerous. They are literally dismantling — crushing — democracy in the world’s fifth-largest country,” Greenwald writes.

“It’s also an important lesson for anyone, in countries all over the world, who blithely assume that things will continue as is or that they’re guaranteed stability and ongoing progress,” the journalist warns.

http://houstoncommunistparty.com/washingtons-fingerprints-all-over-rousseffs-impeachment/

blindpig

05-14-2016, 08:23 AM

International Financial Interests Sought to Topple Brazil’s President

© REUTERS/ Ueslei Marcelino
03:34 14.05.2016Get short URL

The political plot to topple Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff was orchestrated by powerful financial interests from outside the country, Brazil’s Network for Social Justice and Human Rights Director Maria Mendonca told Sputnik.

http://cdn4.img.sputniknews.com/images/103958/03/1039580350.jpg
WASHINGTON (Sputnik) – On Thursday, the upper house of the Brazilian parliament voted 55-22 to open impeachment proceedings against President Dilma Rousseff after she was accused of concealing the country’s budget deficit ahead of the 2014 re-election.

“It is a scandal. It is so clear that what is happening in Brazil is a state coup against democracy,” Mendonca, who is also a professor in the international relations department at the University of Rio De Janeiro, said on Friday.

Rousseff was suspended for 180 days and her office was assumed by Vice President Michel Temer.

However, Temer had strong ties to overseas financial interests, Mendonca said.

“Under President Rousseff, Brazilian law kept domestic petroleum prices low and prevented major international corporations from trying to gain control of the vast deep sea oil reserves discovered within Brazilian territorial waters deep under the Atlantic Ocean.”

Those foreign interests want increased access to those reserves, Mendonca insisted.

“We are now seeing the establishment of a neo-liberal government much more friendly to foreign investment and offering a dramatic turn in foreign policy.”

Mendonca said supporters of democracy in Brazil were disappointed that the US government had failed to condemn the toppling of President Rousseff.

“We would like to see a stronger position from the Obama administration.”

Mendonca said the erosion of Rousseff’s position had started with attacks by powerful international speculators that rapidly drove the previously healthy Brazilian economy into crisis.

“Apparently there was a speculative attack from foreign interests that created instability and then the media controlled by big business interests bombarded the country with wild accusations of corruption by the president and her government.”

This crisis gave a misleading view of Rousseff’s economic record, Mendonca explained.

“The economy in Brazil was going well under President Rousseff. We had full employment and a lot of investment in health education and other social areas,” she argued. “Then suddenly Brazil became the target of speculators [and] interest rates had to be doubled to keep capital in the country.”

Yet the political establishment that had opposed the personally honest Rousseff had well-known records of corruption while she did not, Mendonca asserted.

“If the same criteria used against her were used against state governors, 16 of them would be impeached,” she claimed. “They all used the same mechanism to cover a budget shortfall.”

Mendonca expressed skepticism that Interim President Temer could retain power for long.

“Temer is incredibly unpopular. He’s already naming a new cabinet, which is highly legally questionable. He’s moving a right-wing agenda to cut education and healthcare and abolish the culture ministry.”

Temer has also been implicated in a corruption scandal involving state-owned oil company Petrobras.

http://houstoncommunistparty.com/international-financial-interests-sought-to-topple-brazils-president/

blindpig

05-14-2016, 09:33 AM

The reactionary offensive of imperialism
colonelcassad
13 May 20:40

http://blog.clickgratis.com.br/uploads/t/Tocha/369773.jpg

In addition to http://colonelcassad.livejournal.com/274 7543.html

the WikiLeaks: Acting President of Brazil, was US "embassy informant"

The Acting President of Brazil Michel Temer is engaged in providing political information, the National Security Council and the US military, according to the WikiLeaks. "The new president of Brazil Temer was US embassy informant and US Military Intelligence" , - said in a statement in the official Twitter of the portal. In particular, it is noted that Temer expounded his views on the situation in the party and the upcoming presidential elections, the US government representatives. Earlier it was reported that the Acting President of Brazil, formed a government.

http://www.gazeta.ru/politics/news/2016/0 5/13 / n_8629655.shtml - the required documents of 2006

in Venezuela, where the US arms of the opposition as well try to dislodge the incumbent president Chavistas Maduro little earlier as well noted that the coup in Brazil dealing US hands. Responsibility for the temporary dismissal of Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff is in the United States.

http://rusnext.ru/sites/default/files/styles/node_pic/public/maduro_venesuela.jpg?itok=XYViz9BU

This said Thursday night on national television, the Venezuelan leader Nicolas Maduro.
Earlier in the day, official Caracas issued a sharp condemnation of the impeachment of Rousseff procedure. "I have no doubt that this coup attached invoice" Made in the USA ", - said Maduro -. It is part of the heritage, which intends to leave President (US), Barack Obama in Latin America, to do away with the progressive, democratic trends. " According to the President, to complete the" first stage of the coup "aimed at that" to divide Brazil. "
" Those who are pulling the strings of power in the north clearly understand that Brazil, the South American power, our older sister, is of great importance for the region and the world rate, "- said Maduro.

http://tass.ru/mezhdunarodnaya-panorama/3 278,101 - zinc

In a similar vein, commented on the situation and in other Latin American countries.

https://rpcdn.ruposters.ru/newslead/c/c30377a7dc6227bc58e19c73440b3ce8.jpg

suspension of Dilma Rousseff as president of Brazil is a "parliamentary and judicial coup" . This opinion was expressed on Thursday, Bolivian President Evo Morales . "We condemn this attack on democracy and economic stability in Brazil and the region", - he also wrote on his page on Twitter.

Http://tass.ru/mezhdunarodnaya-panorama/3 277845 - zinc

http://nuestrapatriagrande.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/04/DANIEL-ORTEGA.jpg

Nicaraguan authorities on Thursday expressed solidarity with Dilma Rousseff and named her temporary dismissal of the president of a blow to Brazil's democracy. this is stated in the statement of the President of the Central American republic of Daniel Ortega. "We are indignant and disagreement followed the ugly and anti-democratic process that has cast a shadow on the seriousness and strength of institutions in that sister country " - stated in the document.
According to Nicaragua's leadership, we are talking about "political and legal mockery", the center of which were "all the same actors: the imperial eagle, its local henchmen and the way the common good, invincible power of peoples who continue to dream and fight".

Http: //tass.ru/mezhdunarodnaya-panorama/3 277,817 - zinc

Removal of the President of Brazil Dilma Rousseff from the post of a "parliamentary-legal coup d'etat disguised as law." this is stated in a statement released on Thursday in Havana, the island government. "in essentially, it is a cleverly prepared layer of the oligarchy of this country with the support of the big reactionary press and imperialism with the aim to reverse the political project of the workers' Party, to overthrow the legitimate government and seize power, they could not get in the elections " , - stated in the text of the government document . "What is happening in Brazil - the reaction of the counter-offensive of imperialism and the oligarchy on the revolutionary and progressive governments (countries), Latin America and the Caribbean, which threatens the peace and stability of nations" , - said in a statement.

http://tass.ru/mezhdunarodnaya-panorama / 3 277 684 - zinc

in general, the trend is clearly visible US associated with the desire to correct the situation in Latin America in its favor.

https://d1ox703z8b11rg.cloudfront.net/uploads_image/3965b91d-7e6f-4de2-839d-e80c858f350c/83fc15b244b82449dcb4b31ea0d40761.jpeg

For a long time there were no developments as there was anything to Washington due to the large influence of Cuba and Venezuela, who with his left alterntavoy hindered political and economic US plans in the region. But with the death of Chavez and the beginning of the crisis in Venezuela, the United States increasingly operate "in their backyard." Cuba offer a "reset" (about a recent Russian), in Venezuela openly preparing impeachment Maduro. In Brazil, suspended the current president, in Argentina, came to power a pro-American regime outright Macri http://inosmi.ru/politic/20160324/235844 747.html , which does not hide the focus on Washington and the United States is seen as a support to conduct a new policy in Latin America .

http://img-fotki.yandex.ru/get/6839/7537832.3d/0_df130_3b1d9751_orig

In fact, there is nothing new.

http://img-fotki.yandex.ru/get/6838/7537832.3d/0_df12b_79207f77_orig

http://img-fotki.yandex.ru/get/6836/7537832.3d/0_df12e_b07dc4a4_orig

http://cdn.fishki.net/upload/post/201503/27/1480268/228aecb3c12cfdc93fffb812dcc656b1.jpg

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/39/Victor_Gillam_A_Thing_Well_Begun_Is_Half_Done_1899_Cornell_CUL_PJM_1136_01.jpg

http://www.authentichistory.com/1898-1913/4-imperialism/2-saw/4-afterward/18980000_Our_Terms-Judge-Zimmerman.jpg

http://newsjunkiepost.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/02/14782954120_55aa7f4201_h.jpg

https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/236x/8b/d6/98/8bd698d7e480ad3ab9d1a63676fad521.jpg

In fact, we see the re-release of the classic US imperialist policy, which implements the old goals by other means. Here, the same process in a caricature. So we see a continuation of the old struggle, where the desire of a number of Latin American countries for a more independent and Social Policy will meet opposition amerkianskogo by imperialism, which in the conditions of structural crisis in fact is trying to implement in the territory of the continent re amerkianskoy policy late XIX-early XX century, returned under the power of transnational corporations, whose influence in recent decades, considerably shaken. In this respect, the situation in Latin America has many allusions to the events of a century ago (competition with European empires gave way to competition with China, inconvenient modes now does not necessarily overthrow the big stick, there is a "fair elections" and "color revolutions"). It appears that for Braliziey can in the next few years (or even months), followed by other countries. In particular this applies to Venezuela, where a coup is already on the agenda.

http://colonelcassad.livejournal.com/2748653.html

Google Translator

Many more fine cartoons at link.

blindpig

05-16-2016, 01:57 PM

Non-recognition of the coup
colonelcassad
May 16 16:23

http://ic.pics.livejournal.com/andp2027/68215192/481255/481255_1000.gif

A number of South American countries refused to recognize the results of the coup in Brazil http://colonelcassad.livejournal.com/274 7543.html

Venezuela, Ecuador, Bolivia, Cuba, Nicaragua, El Salvador refused to recognize the legitimacy of the interim government which came to power in a "constitutional coup" led to the ouster of the government Rousseff. Venezuela also withdrew its ambassador from Brazil. Provisional Government through the Foreign Ministry, in turn, accused the country of "spreading lies about the political process in Brazil." In Brazil itself does not cease rallies supporters Rousseff, who want to restore it in office. The country was a de facto split into two camps, with the current "winners" in the majority (including "interim president" and the head of the Senate) also accused of various corrupt machinations. But it is quite clear that this story was only a pretext for removing inconvenient for US President from power http://colonelcassad.livejournal.com/274 8653.htm hands are not the most cleanly people.

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/CiTBtCyWsAAPM1t.jpg

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/CiRCLuOWUAAKasL.jpg

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/CiPxPtLWUAQ0Lhw.jpg

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/CiRZ6bVWEAAi9px.jpg

The famous Brazilian cartoonist Carlos Latuff as usual is very vividly displayed the basic meaning incident a coup. https://twitter.com/latuffcartoons - zinc is quite obvious that in the conditions of a politically divided country, and the economic crisis, stability in Brazil in the near future should not be expected.

http://colonelcassad.livejournal.com/2750926.html

Google Translator

more images at link

blindpig

05-17-2016, 11:09 AM

CP of Brazil, About the attack of the interim government of Brazil to friendly countries, the Unasur and Alba [En, Pt]
Tuesday, 17 May 2016 13:59 Communist Party of Brazil E-mail Print PDF
About the attack of the interim government of Brazil to friendly countries, the Unasur and Alba [En, Pt]

The first act of the interim Minister of Foreign Affairs, Jose Serra, has been writing and publishing two notes attacking Cuba, Venezuela, Bolivia, Ecuador, Alba and Unasur. The reason for this is the conviction they made to the coup d’État that led to the removal of President Dilma Rousseff and the formation of the interim government headed by Michel Temer.

Official documents of the Foreign Ministry, issued on May 13, strike Brazil in that the country grew best in the exercise of their autonomy the active foreign policy sovereign, multilateral and universal foreign policy. These policies opened and run by former President Lula and continued by President Rousseff, who led the country to cultivate excellent relations of friendship, cooperation and solidarity with the fraternal countries in Latin America and the Caribbean.

Under the government of former President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva and President Dilma Rousseff, Brazil gave priority to Latin American integration. For these, their governments contributed for the creation of multilateral cooperation instruments, such as Unasur, Celac and Alba. This helped to convert Latin America and the Caribbean in an important geopolitical pole in the struggle for the democratization of international relations, the prevalence of law and world peace.

The position of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, under the interim direction of Jose Serra to friendly countries, Unasur and Alba is unfair, untimely and spurious. Those countries and those multilateral organizations of Latin American integration had rightly expressed their solidarity with our country and our people, at the time when democracy suffered a violence. Social organizations around word supported similar position.

The interim minister gave an eloquent sign that the interim president, Michel Temer, among other destructions that he wants against the democratic, popular and patriotic legacy of Lula and Dilma, will turn 180 degree in foreign policy, starting with torpedoing the best principles of our diplomacy and friendship ties of our country with progressive, revolutionary and socialist governments.

As the interim Minister has announced, from now on Brazil will promote new alliances and partnerships, coming back to tie the fate of our country with the domination of the imperialist powers.

There is no doubt that Brazilian progressive forces will reject this position of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. They will incorporate to the platform of organizations and fronts, the struggle for an independent foreign policy and the sovereign integration of the region as part of the opposition action to the illegitimate government of Michel Temer

São Paulo, May 16, 2016
José Reinaldo Carvalho
Secretary of Politics as Internacional Relations of

The Communist Party of Brasil (PCdoB

http://www.solidnet.org/brazil-communist-party-of-brazil/cp-of-brazil-about-the-attack-of-the-interim-government-of-brazil-to-friendly-countries-the-unasur-and-alba-en-pt

The swine are wasting no time, perhaps a bit cocksure...

blindpig

06-03-2016, 07:31 AM

On the developments in Brazil - The dilemmas of bourgeois management and the necessity of the anti-capitalist struggle

https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-VZtqiejvlvE/V0y7MAwwdTI/AAAAAAAAA2Q/eJDz6wdreuE4Lq_VG9z-I9_d4LXk2mJ4QCLcB/s320/Dilma%2BLula.jpg

The people must disentangle themselves from the dilemmas of bourgeois management.
Source: Rizospastis, 22/5/2016 / Reproduced from inter.kke.gr.

The developments in Brazil, the escalation of the political crisis have been at the centre of attention internationally.
This is not strange, as we are talking about the 7th largest economy in the world, the 5th largest country in terms of area and population, and the largest country in the planet's southern hemisphere. A country that in previous years witnessed high levels of capitalist growth, indeed in 2011 it replaced Britain as being the world's 6th largest economy.
It plays a significant role in the framework of the BRICS alliance (Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa) as well as in important inter-state capitalist unions (.e.g.Celac, Mercosur/Unasur) that are being promoted in the American continent. We should also bear in mind that since 2004, i.e. in the period of the "progressive" governments, it has been the head of the military intervention in Haiti, which is being carried out under the mantle of the UN.

Scandals and defections: The "bread and butter" of the bourgeois political system
The process of removing President Dilma Rousseff, 18 months after her victory in the Presidential elections of 2014, which has been accompanied by demonstrations both in her favour and against her and the intense political confrontation is a serious development after a period of 13 years of government headed by a President from the social-democratic PT (Workers Party) that cooperates at a governmental level with the CP of Brazil. It is worth noting here that the Brazilian CP does not take part in the scenarios of the "left management" of capitalism.
It is not easy to draw conclusions if you examine only the surface of the events and various accusations. On the one hand, those that denounce the President for being corrupt are themselves up their necks in scandals. It is indicative that the Speaker of the Parliament, Eduardo Cunha, after triggering the process that led to President Dilma's removal was then himself removed by the Supreme Court, on charges of corruption concerning millions of dollars in bribes right left and centre. Cunha, of course, had been elected Speaker of the Parliament by the votes of the PT and together with Vice President Temer is a member of the "centre" party the PMDB. Vice President Michel Temer who had taken on the duties of Acting President has been condemned for irregularities in his election campaign funding, indeed losing the right to be an electoral candidate for 8 years, while his name along with the names of half a dozen ministers of his "uncorrupted" government are part of investigations regarding the scandal involving the state oil company "Petrobas". So it is not at all strange that in a recent opinion poll 58% stated that they wanted to see him share the fate of his predecessor...
On the other side, the supporters of the President talk about a "parliamentary coup" because the charge that is basis of the impeachment against Dilma- she is accused of "cooking the books" in terms of fiscal data-is not a criminal act. The accusations "betrayal", "a coup" and an "attack against democracy" are of course aimed at their...former allies and the PMBD in particular, the largest partner in the government coalition for the last 8 years (It supported the re-election of Lula in 2006, and the election of Dilma in 2010 and 2014). This party had been assigned the 2nd and 3rd most important positions in the state hierarchy (Vice President and Speaker of Parliament) which they used to support the "progressive government"...

https://tbmwomenintheworld.files.wordpress.com/2016/04/gettyimages-518453864.jpg?w=1280

Naturally, the scandals and shady dealings of the bourgeois politicians with capitalists exist and flourish both in Brazil and in our country and in all the capitalist countries. For example, in 2012 around 25 businessmen and politicians, including leading PT officials, were condemned to heavy sentences.
But the "defections" are also a routine matter. The bargains and switching of bourgeois forces from one coalition to another, as well as politicians from the party they were elected with to another are common phenomena, examples of a very fragile bourgeois party political system that is a cause of concern for the ruling class. For this reason, a discussion has begun concerning political reforms in the direction of reinforcing the system.
International experience shows that there are many examples where existing scandals and "cleansing" are used as a vehicle for a violent recomposition of the political system in phases when the economic crisis and the contradictions in the capitalist economy are sharpening.

Towards a change in the formula of capitalist management.
Anyone who studies the situation seriously will understand that the real problem is related to the economy. Truly, after many years of rapid capitalist growth that benefited the Brazilian monopolies and enhanced Brazil's position internationally under the PT governments, the slowdown of the Brazilian economy turned into stagnation in 2014 and in 2015 into a -3.8% recession, with an inflation of the state debt, a rapid increase of inflation and the loss of over 1.5 million jobs.
The exhaustion of the economic policy formula that relied on the expansion of state spending and the orientation towards restrictive measures has been becoming clear for some years in Brazil and in Latin America as a whole. The Dilma government already from 2013 when the first signs of crisis appeared proceeded to implement new measures in favour of capital, such as tax exemptions and exemptions from social security contributions, incentives, even more flexible labour relations, a programme of privatizations that compare with the most "neo-liberal" governments: ports, motorways, airports, oil fields etc.
It is no accident that Henrique Meirelles, the Finance Minister in Temer's government used to the President of the Central Bank during Lula's period in office. Indeed, it is reported that Lula tried in recent years to persuade Dilma to appoint him as Finance Minister in her government.
The situation impedes the social consensus that was sought by the PT governments through a number of policies related to social benefits that reduced absolute-extreme poverty, while continuing a political line to support the monopoly interests, with a very high rate of exploitation of the working class. In any case, no one can hide the reality that over 53 million people live under the poverty line.

Intra-bourgeois confrontations over the issue of international alliances
Significant sections of capital seem to prefer more stable government formations to manage the crisis. The situation is made even more complicated by the fact that China’s economic slowdown had a direct impact on the outbreak of the economic crisis in Brazil, while other BRICS countries like Russia also face difficulties and the inter-imperialist contradictions are sharpening in Latin America as a whole between the USA, EU countries, Russia and China. The concerns regarding the international orientation of the country are intensifying amongst sections of capital.
The controversies inside the ruling class over its international alliances in crisis conditions can lead to an extremely sharp political situation. It is enough for us to take into account the recent example of Ukraine and the trajectory the intra-bourgeois confrontations took in the context of the more general inter-imperialist competition.

http://i2.cdn.turner.com/cnnnext/dam/assets/160418140141-brazil-rousseff-impeachment-protest-3-super-169.jpg

The necessity of the anti-capitalist struggle
In such conditions, as we know from history, social-democratic management often prepares the ground for an intensely reactionary turn in the political system and bourgeois forces, which always define "legality" in a way that is convenient for them at any given moment. Such signs have already manifested themselves during Dilma's impeachment process and they will intensify.
The organization of the struggle against the reactionary political line that will be implemented by the Temer government, the internationalist solidarity with the struggles of the workers for their social and democratic rights must be accompanied by a substantial discussion in order to draw conclusions about what led to this situation.
The positions that were promoted about "sustainable" capitalist growth without crises in Brazil did not take into account the relentless economic laws and contradictions of the system and led to illusions. The developments in Brazil were the subject of controversy inside the communist movement as well.
What is needed is the emancipation of the labour movement from bourgeois influences, its orientation towards conflict with the bourgeois state, the monopolies and the political forces that express their interests.
Significant experience has been accumulated from the policies of the bourgeois governments of the second half of the 1980s after the dictatorship and 1990s which caused high levels of poverty and exploitation for the working class of Brazil, as well as from the bourgeois governments of Lula and Rousseff (2002-2016) that continued the management of capitalism with "left" and "anti-neoliberal" slogans and fostered false expectations.
All this provided the basis for serious conclusions to be drawn and for steps to be taken to liberate popular forces from the vicious circle of the alleged "lesser evil". In order for the necessity of anti-capitalist struggle to be advanced decisively, it is necessary for the labour and communist movement to form a strategy independent of bourgeois centres, a strategy that will look towards socialism, which is the precondition for the abolition of exploitation of man by man, utilizing the vast potential of a country with enormous natural resources that are being appropriated by a handful of capitalists.
Note:
1. In one section of the EU reports it is noted that before the elections in 2014 the differences in economic policy between Dilma Rousseff and the other candidate, Neves from the PSDB, were "in practice between them may be less pronounced than their electoral messages suggest." (http://www.europarl.europa.eu/RegData/etudes/IDAN/2014/536412/EXPO_IDA(2014)536412_EN.pdf)

30.05.2016

http://communismgr.blogspot.gr/2016/05/on-developments-in-brazil-dilemmas-of.html

blindpig

06-21-2016, 11:43 AM

Coup Acts to Repress Brazil Landless Movement
by Clifford Andrew Welch
On May 31, Valdir Misnerovicz, an important and effective organizer of the Landless Workers Movement (MST) in Brazil, was arrested while teaching a class on agricultural coops in Veranópolis, a city in the southern state of Rio Grande do Sul. The arrest did not stem from his lectures, but from his activism. To organize the poor to occupy land in the name of fulfilling Brazil's constitutional mandate to ensure the "social function" of land through its appropriation and distribution among peasants is considered illegal gang activity by the government of Michel Temer, which came to power last month in what many consider to be a coup d'état.

The news of Misnerovicz's arrest came a few days after a related revelation. In March, two high-level members of the opposition against President Dilma Rousseff (Workers' Party/PT), whose power was recently suspended as she awaits impeachment proceedings in the federal senate, were recorded while discussing the current political crisis. Senator Romero Jucá was taped assuring his colleague that he had recently spoken with "the generals, military commanders." He went on, "Everything is fine, they told me they would ensure order. They're monitoring the MST, I don't know how, to ensure there won't be any disturbances." (See Rubens Valente, "Em diálogos gravados, Jucá fala em pacto para deter avanço da Lava Jato," Folha de S. Paulo, May 23, 2016, <m.folha.uol.com.br/poder/2016/05/1774018-em-dialogos-gravados-juca-fala-em-pacto-para-deter-avanco-da-lava-jato.shtml>.) Jucá, who recently resigned as minister of planning in the coup government due to these revelations, is the vice-chair of the Brazilian federal senate.

In addition to dedicating years to the landless movement, Misnerovicz recently completed a bachelor's degree in geography at the State University of São Paulo (UNESP), where he studied in a special undergraduate program for peasants sponsored by the ousted Workers' Party (PT) government. The author of this note was a professor in the program and Misnerovicz's thesis advisor was Bernardo Mançano Fernandes, a Latin American Perspectives (LAP) contributing editor. Misnerovicz studied the new demands for organizing the landless movement among Brazil's urban poor.

The arrest of Misnerovicz on criminal charges demonstrates what Jucá may have meant when he said that the "generals" claimed to be "monitoring" the MST. While the warrant for Misnerovicz's arrest was issued in the state of Goiás, where Valdir lives and works, his arrest occurred over a thousand miles away in a different state and was carried out by local police, indicating systematic communication and intelligence gathering in the execution of police work reminiscent of systems developed under Brazil's long-lived dictatorship (1964-1985). This same system used such arrests to generate information through torture -- recently confirmed in Red Cross documents from the period. These suspected connections increases the urgency for guaranteeing Misnerovicz's quick release.

Please write to <sri@mst.org.br> expressing concern over Valdir's arrest and urging his quick release. Struggling for agrarian reform in Brazil is not a crime, it is a constitutional duty.

http://mrzine.monthlyreview.org/2016/welch010616.html

blindpig

06-27-2016, 04:39 PM

Rejection interim president of Brazil reaches 70%

http://www.telesurtv.net/__export/1467043318323/sites/telesur/img/multimedia/2016/06/27/2179363h765.jpg_1718483346.jpg
Temer did not expect that his administration would be so widely rejected. | Photo: The Nation (Archive).
Published June 27, 2016

Michel Temer disapproval rose by about nine points since February to date, according to a poll.

The disapproval of the provisional president of Brazil, Michel Temer, rose nine percentage points since February to date, according to the first survey conducted by the Ipsos Institute, whose results were revealed Monday.

Although Temer planned his mandate shadows impeach separate from office, Dilma Rousseff president, rejecting the current interim president increased from 61 to 70 percent in that span.

The worst aspects evaluated management Temer are combating unemployment (44 percent), the program My House, My Life and Family Grant (43), the political crisis (42) and confronting corruption and inflation ( 40).

According to the aforementioned survey, outlined by Brazil 247 digital diary, corruption scandals also damaged the image of all the traditional "presidential".

Michel Temer has been listed by Rousseff of "conspirator" and "coup". The interim president has now become the target of mistrust of Brazilians, due to frequent complaints of corruption and diversion of public money.

Additionally, justice suspected of involvement in the Petrobras case Temer (a "repentant" mentioned his name in a statement).

Temer continues in the eye of the hurricane, and while a fourth minister his faces charges that could force be one more in the list of ministerial resignations, the same interim president agreed last June 22 there's a coup in his country through a message on social networks.

Return of democracy

The Central Workers Union (CUT) of Brazil supports the proposal made by Dilma Rousseff plebiscite to convene a political reform that can anticipate the presidential election.

So said the president of the CUT, Vagner Freitas, who criticized the president be away from his office, so he said that if the query is "the only hope" support it.

Meanwhile, former President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva says Brazil can be a plebiscite to convene a political reform that can anticipate the electoral process, which could bring "many things from here on, many things and society is awake ".

In context

Since the beginning of impeachment proceedings against the president Rousseff, organizations and social movements they have mobilized to denounce the parliamentary coup, defend the institutional and social achievements of the governments of Da Silva and Rousseff.

On June 17 this year, Michel Temer was one month as interim president of Brazil in a scenario of continuing protests, in which the people demand respect for democracy and popularly elected president Dilma Rousseff.

Telesur correspondent, Leonardo Fernández, said that more than 55 percent of the population rejects Temer.

Acting President continues with cuts policies. He announced that he will seek a constitutional amendment to reduce the budgets of all areas of government, including health and education.

http://www.telesurtv.net/news/Crece-rechazo-a-presidente-interino-de-Brasil-segun-sondeo-20160627-0028.html

Google Translator

blindpig

06-28-2016, 09:02 AM

Senate Report Clears Rousseff of Budget Manipulation

http://www.telesurtv.net/__export/1467093726205/sites/telesur/img/news/2016/06/28/dilma_rousseff_brazil.jpg_1718483346.jpg
Suspended Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff attends a news conference with foreign media in Brasilia, June 14, 2016. | Photo: Reuters

Published 27 June 2016 (17 hours 29 minutes ago)

Experts report that suspended President Dilma Rousseff did not cook the books like her rivals claim, but the impeachment process will continue.
Suspended Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff got a boost in her fight against impeachment on Monday as a report prepared by analysts in the Senate found that there is no evidence to suggest she was personally responsible for fiscal wrongdoing. It remains unclear, however, how the findings will impact the impeachment process that has hinged on such allegations.

The 223-page report by three auditors found Rousseff did not cook the books in the lead up to her 2014 presidential reelection, dealing a blow to accusations from her rivals that she manipulated government accounts to hide a budget shortfall and delayed payments to public banks.

The budget charges have been the key justification behind the impeachment process against Rousseff, painted as a bid to tackle government corruption despite rampant and massive fraud among high-level opposition figures and the ranks of the installed government.

Leaked wiretaps revealing opposition plots to shield their allies from corruption investigations through Rousseff's ouster, and new evidence directly linking imposed "interim" president Michel Temer to the Petrobras state oil bribery scandal for the first time, have effectively debunked claims that impeachment was about rooting out corruption.

The report, however, did find that Rousseff participated directly in signing three budget decrees, another charge she faces in the impeachment process. The experts said it would be up to the Senate to decide if the decrees amount to negligence or other serious wrongdoing.

Rousseff's attorney, Eduardo Cardoza, argued that the new report is "fatal" for the accusations against her, the Brazilian daily O Globo reported. The suspended president has long maintained her innocence and argued there is no legal basis for impeachment, which she has labeled a "coup" against her government.

Rousseff said Monday that the new findings provide further evidence that the impeachment was an attempt to subvert democracy, the Brailian daily Folha de Sao Paulo reported. She added that the accusations regarding decrees have been reduced from six to three, again underlining arguments for her ouster.

The Senate Impeachment Commission has 72 hours to analyze this report, and starting July 5 representatives can interview the analysts. The vote to determine whether impeachment will be confirmed is scheduled to be held on Aug. 9.

teleSUR correspondent in Brazil Ignacio Lemus said the report indicates that Rousseff did not directly participate in a scheme to manipulate the budget. According to Lemus, the analysts found that no direct actions were taken by Rousseff to delay payments to public banks by the Brazilian National Treasury.

According to local media, opinion is divided within the Senate as Rousseff's aliies see the report as a victory for her case, while rivals remain bent on the impeachment going forward.

If the Senate, overseen by the Supreme Court, ultimately decides to impeach Rousseff with a two-thirds majority vote after her trial over allegations of manipulating government budgets, Temer will be permanently installed as president until 2018.

The Senate voted 55 to 22 in favor of suspending Rousseff for 180 days on May 12 to see the impeachment trial move forward, but in light of major corruption revelations and the unpopularity of the installed Temer government, some Senators have begun changing their positions.

http://www.telesurtv.net/english/news/Senate-Report-Clears-Rousseff-of-Budget-Manipulation--20160627-0023.html

Videos at link.

blindpig

07-01-2016, 11:24 AM

Dilma released credits, but did not act on pedaling, says Senate expertise

Ronaldo Bernardi - 26.jun.16 / Agencia RBS / Folhapress

http://f.i.uol.com.br/folhapress/images/1617846.jpeg
The away President Dilma Rousseff took Sunday to ride in Porto Alegre.

The PT came to the capital in the early Saturday afternoon to spend the weekend with family. Dilma left the condominium where he lives, in the south, around 8h40min and pedaled the bike path of the Beira-Rio Avenue accompanied by security guards. On the way she passed a group that played football and was applauded. The president pedaled away to Usina do Gasometer, from which he returned to the South Zone, again the Beira-Rio.

Expertise made at the request of the Senate impeachment commission says there is no "controversy" over the fact that away from President Dilma Rousseff have acted to release additional funds without the approval of Congress through decrees. On the other hand, the report states that it was not identified in the action called tax pedaling.

According to the document, signed by three technicians of the Senate and delivered on the morning of the second (27) to the committee, three of the four decrees of credit, which are objects of complaint against Dilma they were "incompatible" with the fiscal target last year. The expert says: ".. There commissive act of Honorable President of the Republic on the issue of decrees without controversy on his own."

In all, 99 questions were asked by the defense of the PT, the charge against him, and the rapporteur of the case, Antonio Anastasia (PSDB-MG).

Dilma suffers two counts in the complaint that away from the office: the issue of these decrees without approval of Congress and of committing "tax ride" with the delay of the transfer of $ 3.5 billion from the Treasury to the Bank of Brazil for the Harvest Plan .

According to the expertise of 223 pages, three decrees "promoted changes in budget programming incompatible with achieving the primary goal of the current result at the time of issue." They are: the June 27, 2015, amounting to R $ 1.7 billion and R $ 29 million, and the decree of August 20, 2015, of R $ 600 million.

According to the report, those claims should have had prior authorization from Congress.

PEDALING

The report says that not identified Dilma action in episode pedaling the Harvest Plan:. "For the analysis of data, documents and information relating to the Harvest Plan, was not identified commissive act of Honorable President of the Republic who has contributed directly. or immediately to occur late payments ".

The conclusion is, however, that the delay in payment of agricultural plan violates the Fiscal Responsibility Law: "Delays in payments due to the Bank of Brazil are credit operation, and Union as debtor, which affront to the provisions of art. 36 of the LRF. "

The report, especially in relation to cycling, should be used for the defense of Dilma to strengthen the argument that she did not commit the crime of responsibility.

SCHEDULE

The committee will hear on Monday three Dilma defense witnesses, including the former minister Ananias. The hearsay phase of people enrolled by remote president ends on Wednesday (29).

The timetable , the full Senate will on 9 August to vote prior opinion (called "pronunciation") of the Commission on the charges against the PT.

From this date, if a simple majority of those present approve the opinion, there is a period of up to 48 hours for the prosecution to present the so-called libel accusatory, and another 48 hours for the defense of Dilma to rule.

After the final judgment must occur within ten days. That is, kept the plan, senators estimate that Dilma must be judged from the week of August 22 -in the following step, you need at least 54 votes for the PT be removed permanently.

According to the calendar, Dilma will testify on July 6 in the committee. She is not required to attend. The lawyer of PT, former Minister José Eduardo Cardozo, said that is still under review which path will be adopted

http://www1.folha.uol.com.br/poder/2016/06/1786059-dilma-agiu-para-liberar-credito-mas-nao-em-pedaladas-diz-pericia-do-senado.shtml

Various charts & schedules in Portuguese at link.

blindpig

07-01-2016, 11:54 AM

Fearing government approval is 13% and disapproval, 39%, says Ibope
Survey commissioned by CNI is first after removal of Dilma.
In the March survey, PT had approval of 10% of respondents.
Filipe Matoso
G1, in Brasilia
FACEBOOK
Ibope survey released on Friday (1) shows the following evaluation percentage of the President of government, Michel Temer (PMDB):
- Excellent / good: 13%
- Regular: 36%
- Poor / very poor: 39%
- Do not know: 13%

According to the CNI, the sum of the percentages do not equal 100% due to rounding.
The survey by Ibope, commissioned by the National Confederation of Industry (CNI), was conducted between the 24th and 27th of this month and heard 2,002 people in 141 municipalities. The margin of error is two percentage points more or less.
This is the first CNI / Ibope released after the removal of President Dilma Rousseff (PT), on May 12, because of the impeachment process it faces in Congress.
In the previous survey, of March 30, the PT appeared with the approval of 10% of respondents , while 69% to disapprove and 19% considered it regular management.
The research level of confidence released on Friday, according to the CNI, is 95%, which means that if we take into account the margin of error of two points, the probability of the outcome portray the reality is 95%.
Comparison with government Dilma
The Ibope survey also asked respondents to comparing the managements of Temer and Rousseff in the Presidency.
According to the survey, 23% of respondents consider the government's best PMDB; 44%, equal; 25%, worse; and 8% did not know or did not answer.
On the prospects regarding the "government left", which assessed the expectations of respondents over the next few months Temer in Plateau, 24% answered "excellent / good"; 32% "regular"; 35% "poor / terrible"; and 9% did not know or did not answer.
'Way to govern'
The also released survey assessed the views of respondents about "the way of governing" the chairman:
- Approve: 31%
- disapprove: 53%
- did not know or did not answer 16%
In the survey of March, 14% approved of the way to govern Rousseff, while 82% disapproved.
Confidence
Another point questioned by Ibope was on the "confidence" of the respondents in relation to the incumbent president.
According to a survey released on Friday, 27% of respondents said they trust Temer, while 66% said they trust; 7% did not know or did not answer.
News
IBOPE asked the news regarding Temer government. For 18% of respondents, the news was "more favorable" in the period, while 25% evaluated them as "neither favorable nor unfavorable".
To 40%, were "more unfavorable" and 17% did not know or did not answer.
The survey also brings the news most recalled by respondents (see below the five most quoted):
- 7%: "removal of government ministers for alleged corruption"
- 5% "Operation Lava Jet"
- 3% "Process of cassation Eduardo Cunha "
- 3%" Corruption in government (without specifying) "
- 3%:" New plans / government measures "
The survey also heard voters about their opinion by government operates. See the results:
Environment
Approve: 33%
Disapprove: 55%
They did not know / No answer 12%
Education
Approve 30%
Disapprove 64%
They did not know / No answer 6%
Combating hunger and poverty
Approve 30%
Disapprove 63%
They did not know / No answer: 7%
Inflation
Approve 29%
Disapprove 64%
They did not know / no answer: 7%
Combating unemployment
Approve 27%
Disapprove: 67%
They did not know / no answer 6%
Public Safety
Approve 23%
Disapprove: 72%
They did not know / No answer: 5%
Health
Approve 22%
Disapprove: 73%
They did not know / did not answer: 5%
Taxes
Approve 17%
Disapprove: 77%
They did not know / no answer 6%
Interest rate
Approve 16%
Disapprove 76%
They did not know / No answer 8%

http://g1.globo.com/politica/noticia/2016/07/aprovacao-do-governo-temer-e-de-13-diz-pesquisa-ibope.html

Google Translator

****************************************************

Michel Temer returns to power military commanders removed by Dilma
Decree of the President away had transferred powers to the defense.
Acting President met on Friday (1) with the military.
Laish Alegretti
G1, in Brasilia
FACEBOOK
[img]http://s2.glbimg.com/RDIiqylNnSnBfmWgC_PyNvODZmE=/620x465/s.glbimg.com/jo/g1/f/original/2016/07/01/temer_militares.jpg[/img
Michel Temer receives military commanders in a meeting at the Planalto Palace (Photo: Reproduction / Twitter)

The incumbent president, Michel Temer , returned on Friday (1), at a meeting with military commanders, administrative skills taken during the government removed President Dilma Rousseff . The decision was announced in the personal profile peeemedebista the microblog Twitter .

In September last year, Rousseff signed a decree that transferred the Armed Forces for the Defense Ministry the power to sign deeds related to personnel, such as the transfer to the reserve, pension officials active and reserve officers and promotion.
According to "Time" magazine, the PT had signed the decree without consulting military commanders .
During the meeting this Friday, which was closed to the press, Temer told the military to repeal the decree which removed administrative powers of the military officers.
The meeting, held at the Planalto Palace, was also attended by the Ministers Raul Jungmann (Defense), Eliseu Padilha (Casa Civil) and Alexandre de Moraes (Justice and Citizenship).
By signing the revocation of government act PT, reported the press office of the Presidency, the chairman said that we must "democratize and reconstitucionalizar the country."

http://g1.globo.com/politica/noticia/2016/07/michel-temer-devolve-comandantes-militares-poderes-retirados-por-dilma.html

Google Translator

We call that 'catering to the base'.

blindpig

07-07-2016, 10:15 AM

‘A Washington-Authored Maneuver’: Inside the US’ Attack on Brazil
July 6, 2016 | 8:56 pm

http://sputniknews.com/latam/20160707/1042555061/Washington-Authored-Maneuver-Attack-Brazil.html

Despite the Brazilian Senate clearing President Dilma Rousseff of charges, impeachment proceedings will continue. Radio Sputnik’s Brian Becker asked Kim Ives from the Haïti Liberté newsweekly about the nature and perspective of what some consider a legislated coup d’etat.

Now that Brazilian President Rousseff has been cleared of corruption charges, the Senate is accusing her of abuse of power, including “doing certain credits without congressional approval,” according to Ives. Rousseff’s defense insists that these charges cannot be applied, since the fiscal year is not over.

“In any case, the principal reason why she was impeached has been removed by this finding.”

Rousseff can now legally return to office, Ives notes, but the move must be approved through a Senate vote, and the Senate is likely to vote against her.

“It is clear, and it is getting more and more clear, even to the people in Brazil, that this is a purely politically motivated process.”

“There’s nothing in it that has any validity, in terms of corruption. In fact, the real corrupt element of the power structure is the very people who are accusing Dilma of corruption.”

Brazil Opposition Has No Grasp on Importance of BRICS – Rouseff

The political climate in Brazil remains unclear and unstable. Interim President Michel Temer has a 70% disapproval rating, and Rousseff now enjoys more support than before she was impeached. Ives notes, however, that there are not many seeking to “put Dilma back.” Labeling the public reaction to the impeachment proceedings “anemic,” Ives, at the same time, argues that the Senate report could spark more action from Rousseff supporters. It would be an uphill battle, however, as pressure on Brazil is rising, due primarily to the upcoming Rio Olympics.

Ives believes there is a very high probability that Brazil, under Temer’s leadership, will attempt to pull out of the BRICS alliance, a bloc considered an alternative to US global financial and economic domination. Ives suggests that a potential exit from BRICS is likely the final aim of the Rousseff impeachment proceedings.

“Even if we don’t have all the data and proof in hands,” Ives said, “you certainly get the feeling that the US is working feverishly behind the scenes to make this coup go forward.”

It is no coincidence that the impeachment is coinciding with the upcoming Olympic Games, said Ives. He notes that during the 2014 Sochi Olympics, “they worked overtime to try to sabotage it and make people boycott it.”

Asked who he is referring to by his use of the word “they,” Ives said, “Washington. Washington and its allies, but to me this is principally a Washington-authored maneuver.”

Ives claims that a sabotage of the Rio Olympics is coming in several ways, including the infamous Zika virus.

“The focus on this virus, which really affects a very minimal number of people, is put into headlines and screened, and [this] created a lot of panic and fraught around it.”

“Every time there’s an Olympic athlete saying “no, I’m not going to Brazil,” that’s front-paged, that’s on top of the news. To me this is all a part of a multipronged effort to really knock down the largest economy in South America.”

http://houstoncommunistparty.com/a-washington-authored-maneuver-inside-the-us-attack-on-brazil/

blindpig

07-22-2016, 09:36 AM

Brazil: Landless Movement react to sale of land

http://www.telesurtv.net/__export/1469166400872/sites/telesur/img/multimedia/2016/07/22/movimientosintierra.jpg_1718483346.jpg
The Landless Workers' Movement (MST) groups peasants they are fighting for land and agrarian reform in Brazil. | Photo: movimientosintierrabrasil
Published July 22, 2016 (8 hours 34 minutes ago)

The announcement of the national MST leader Joao Pedro Stedile came after media revealed the intentions of the government of Michel Temer to facilitate the acquisition of Brazilian land to foreigners.
The Landless Workers' Movement (MST) said that react with occupations if the provisional government of Brazilian President Michel Temer, makes the decision to release the sale of land to foreigners.

"We will give a warning to businesses: if this irresponsible action is taken, do not dare to buy land here, because we will take all the areas that were ceded to foreign capital," said the national MST leader Joao Pedro Stedile .

>> They set up international tribunal to try coup in Brazil

's announcement Stédile, made at the First National Festival of Arts and Culture of Agrarian Reform taking place in Belo Horizonte, it came after media revealed intentions to facilitate Temer the acquisition of Brazilian land to foreigners. to do so, recalled the Brazil Agency shall be reassessing an opinion of the General Advocacy of the Union in 2010 banned the sale of land to foreigners. in another part of his speech at the meeting culture, the leader of the Landless criticized the president's decision acting to extinguish the Ministry of Agrarian Development, which he said was an incalculable loss, while that body was responsible for a series of public policies for production food.

>> 80% of Brazilians do not support retention of Temer

also accused the interim government of trying to increase the retirement age as part of a proposal for reform of social security, and deplored the authorization given to spray chemicals against the Aedes mosquito aegypti with the use of aircraft. Moreover, Stédile anticipated that the Frente Brasil Popular, which are part of the MST and other social movements, consider conducting a general strike before the vote to close the impeachment process against constitutional president Dilma Rousseff in the Senate. impeachment has nothing to do with errors Dilma let alone with so - called fiscal pedaling said and stressed that actually this responds to a plan of elites to impose a neoliberal policy and reduce the rights of workers. Even the Federal Public Ministry recognized because no crime was committed. It is as if someone was convicted of the murder of a person who is alive, he compared.

In context
The Movement of Landless Workers (MST) emerged as a result of the combination of various socioeconomic factors between the years 1975-85: Points to three main objectives: land, land reform and a fairer society.
Use forms of struggle, such as street demonstrations, regional concentrations, audience with the governors and ministers, hunger strikes, camps in cities.

http://www.telesurtv.net/news/Brasil-Movimiento-Sin-Tierra-reaccionara-a-venta-de-suelos--20160722-0002.html

Google Translator

blindpig

07-22-2016, 09:41 AM

Set up international tribunal to try coup in Brazil

http://www.telesurtv.net/__export/1469020308995/sites/telesur/img/multimedia/2016/07/20/tribunal-brasil.jpg_1718483346.jpg
A new call in defense of Brazilian president Dilma Rousseff | Photo: Via Campesina
Published July 20, 2016

This process is attended by specialists of the highest rating from Mexico, France, Italy, Spain, Costa Rica and the United States.
Brazilian social movements continue Wednesday in Rio de Janeiro an unprecedented International Tribunal for Democracy, with the purpose of international experts judge the new form of coup underway in Brazil.

The symbolic process will follow all stages of a traditional trial, inspired by the so-called Russel Tribunal which tried in the 1960s the crimes committed by the United States in the Vietnam War.

The Tribunal was set Tuesday when the witnesses and presented their arguments, the prosecution and defense. On the day on Wednesday, it will be the vote of the judges, the session for deliberation and sentencing.

This process recognized specialists assist Mexico, France, Italy, Spain, Costa Rica and the United States. The event is promoted by Via Campesina International, and Brazil Popular Fronts and Lawyers for Democracy.

Follow through Facebook the details of the International Tribunal for Democracy https : f ref = nf //www.facebook.com/tribunalpelademocracia/

The prosecution case exposed by Professor of Criminal Law at the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro (UFRJ) and researcher at the Institute of Criminal Law and Criminal Sciences Law, University of Lisbon, Portugal, Geraldo Prado. Meanwhile, the defense was the doctor in charge of law from the University Gama Filho, UFRJ professor and coordinator of the Observatory of the Brazilian Justice of the same institution, Margarida Lacombe. Among those invited to join the jury include lawyers Almudema Barnabeu and Azadeh N. Shahshahani , Bishop of the diocese of Saltillo, Mexico, Raul Veras, and the Spanish-Argentine writer Gerardo Pisarello. also, the professor at the Carlos III University of Madrid María José Fariñas Dulce, jurist and Costa Rican academic Walter Antillon Montealegre, and member of the Permanent People 's Tribunal (TPP), the Italian Giovanni Tognoni.

Voices from the court
"This is the widest possible prosecution, developed for the first time in Brazil" because we live in a time that needs to be debated. Not on behalf of the family, but through arguments and truth, "he told the news agency Workers Party jurist Juarez Tavares, president of the court.
Nei Strozake, lawyer Landless Workers 'Movement MST, told the South Radio that the Landless Workers' Movement, is firmly convinced that what is happening in Brazil is a political coup. "We want to bring all the countries that complaint and draw attention to all international institutions so that this coup is out of date".
"The sentence is born in this International Tribunal for Democracy, take to international bodies such as the OAS and the UN, we want this resolution to be known by public opinion," said the lawyer.
The lawyer outlined that the purpose of this international court, is able to carry large instance complaints of the Brazilian people and claiming social rights of the southern nation.

http://www.telesurtv.net/news/Instalan-tribunal-internacional-para-juzgar-golpe-en-Brasil-20160720-0005.html

Google Translator

blindpig

07-29-2016, 09:56 AM

11 facts that show the government's failure Temer

http://www.telesurtv.net/__export/1468343591988/sites/telesur/img/news/2016/07/12/temer.jpg_1718483346.jpg
Assessments surveys, inlcuso by linebackers, give negative results Temer. | Photo: Art: Wilcker Morais
Published July 12, 2016

From the beginning, the interim government is albo reviews, scandals and setbacks
Vice President Michel Temer (PMDB) temporarily assumed the Presidency of the Republic of Brazil two months ago, on May 12, after the approval of the opening of the process of impeachment of Dilma in the Senate.

In a short time, he accumulated a number of errors and contradictions that make that mandated surveys, even by supporters of impeachment, pointing to a poor assessment. An investigation by the Ibope, released last week, commissioned by the National Confederation of Industry (CNI), indicates that 75% of the population considers the fair, poor or bad government.

Remember the main episodes in the first 60 days of Temer:

1) appointed a cabinet without blacks and women

The absence of women on the first step of a government not happened since the military dictatorship. The acting was justified in choosing "notables".

2) The official version would then be answered by controversies and scandals involving holders of portfolios

Wiretapping of conversations Sérgio Machado, former president of Transpetro, indicated the desire of several members of the interim government to stop the advance of the operation Lava Jato - which investigates corruption cases around the state oil company, Petrobras. Three ministers fell because of these revelations: Fábio Medina Osório advocacy of government (AGU, in the Portuguese acronym), Romero Juca [photo], Acting Minister of Planning, and Fabiano Silveira, the Ministry of Transparency.

3) Fear is not as committed to fighting corruption

Half of the members of their ministries has some degree of involvement in investigations, complaints or proceedings in court. In addition, the government leader in the House, Congressman André Moura (PSC-SE) said on Tuesday 5th Temer's government should withdraw the constitutional package called urgency of combating corruption.

4) reorganization of ministries was questioned

The ministerial reshuffle involved the closure and merger of portfolios that, in the case of the Ministry of Culture (fade to Education) had to be reversed as a result of the mobilization of artists around the country.

5) members of the government differ on key issues

One is the recreation of the Provisional Contribution on Financial Transactions (CPMF), defended by the Finance Minister, Henrique Meirelles, and answered by other ministries and sectors that support the process against Dilma Rousseff, such as the CNI and the Federation Industries of the State of São Paulo (Fiesp).

6) Resistance of society

The agenda of the interim government, presented in the "Bridge to the Future" and "Social Crossing" documents, have generated strong resistance in society.

7) Pressure popular movement

The attempt to suspend the housing program My House, My Life was defeated by the mobilization of the Movement of Homeless Workers (MTST).

8) Increased working day is unsupported

CNI suggestion to increase the working day, referring to 80 hours per week, was poorly received by workers.

9) The reform of the provisional system does not have support

The idea of raising the minimum age of jubilation (65 or 70) is attacked even supported the government, as the federating deputy Paulinho da Forca Sindical (Solidarity Party).

10) Fiscal adjustment: expectation vs. reality

Cravings fiscal adjustment also confronted with the negotiations with politicians to consolidate impeachment. Some economists point out that, under Temer, is an increase in public expenditure: parliamentary amendment release, expanding the deficit in the fiscal target and debt renegotiations states would be in this package of "goodness".

11) Ratio Temer with Deputy Eduardo Cunha

Considered a "suicide bomber", the Temer government is working to ensure succession in the presidency of the Chamber of Deputies and safeguard the mandate of Eduardo Cunha, surenuncia strategy that included the president of the house.

Editorial: São Paulo (SP), 12 de Julho de 2016 às 11:20

* Translation: Julia Maria Gimenez

https://brasildefato.com.br/2016/07/12/11-hechos-que-muestran-el-fracaso-del-gobierno-de-temer/

http://www.telesurtv.net/news/11-hechos-que-muestran-el-fracaso-del-gobierno-de-Temer-20160712-0026.html

Google Translator

Monthly Review

07-30-2016, 06:55 PM

http://mrzine.monthlyreview.org/2016/images/jornada_nacional_de_luta.pngThe economic crisis is worsening, making life harder for the workers, pushing down wages and causing further unemployment. The coup has affected strategic sectors of the country. It has also affected companies that rely on the domestic market and the increase in the population's purchasing power. Petrobras is being taken apart -- they have fired thousands of workers and sold off many of its assets. They want to create the conditions to make it unfeasible as a state-owned company so they can justify its privatization. There has been an increase in police violence against the poor and popular movements that are defending the rights of workers.

More... (http://mrzine.monthlyreview.org/2016/mst300716.html)

blindpig

08-05-2016, 09:27 AM

Brazil's Senate impeachment commission recommends removing Rousseff
Source: Xinhua 2016-08-05 06:09:47

BRASILIA, Aug. 4 (Xinhua) -- Brazil's Senate impeachment commission on Thursday recommended the full Senate remove suspended President Dilma Rousseff in an impeachment trial for alleged fiscal irregularities.

The report, compiled by Senator Antonio Anastasia, from the Brazilian Social Democracy Party (PSDB), received 14 votes in favor, five against and one abstention by the commission members, who are in charge of looking into the case against Rousseff.

On Aug. 9, the document will be sent to the entire Senate for a vote. Should the commission report be endorsed by a simple majority (41 votes out of 81), Rousseff will face a full impeachment trial later in August.

The report said Rousseff committed a "crime against the Constitution," by delaying government payments to banks and asking for additional loans from public banks without seeking Congressional approval.

The irregularities allegedly committed by Rousseff were linked to the deep economic crisis currently affecting Brazil, it added.

"The fiscal manipulations used to expand spending have led to a loss of trust among economic players, investors and the general population. Today, Brazil has lost its investment grade rating from the main credit rating agencies," said the report.

Rousseff was suspended from the presidency on May 12 for up to 180 days, with Vice-president Michel Temer taking over in an interim capacity.

Should Rousseff be permanently impeached, Temer will complete her mandate until late 2018 and Rousseff will be banned from public office for eight years.

http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2016-08/05/c_135564978.htm

*************************************************

His name is Tarcisio Cisao, a musician. He ran with torch then pulled down pants to reveal words "Temer out."

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Co9f5OtXgAQYCxm.jpg

blindpig

08-07-2016, 11:12 AM

Temer confirm that called for financial support to businessman jailed
August 7, 2016 | + |

http://www.cubadebate.cu/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/Michel-Temer-580x326.jpg
The famous Brazilian magazine Veja published yesterday that the interim president Michel Temer requested millions of dollars in financial support to businessman Marcelo Odebrecht , imprisoned for his participation in the network of bribes from Petrobras.

The publication cites Brazilian Odebrecht stating that in 2014, Temer asked him when he was vice president, "financial support" during a dinner with members of his center-right party PMDB.

Odebrecht, sentenced to nearly 20 years in prison, said he donated 10 million reals ( US $ 3.15 million at current exchange rates ) to the party, reported Veja .

The information is contained in an agreement that is negotiated between Marcelo Odebrecht and the mega - fraud prosecutors investigating the state Petrobras called Operation Lava Jato, and part of which was leaked to journalists Veja .

http://www.cubadebate.cu/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/Marcelo-Odebrecht-580x386.jpg
Marcelo Odebrecht. Photo taken from The First.

Odebrecht has been jailed since last year for his role in the corruption scheme in which his company and others paid bribes to executives of Petrobras and politicians from various parties, some electos- in exchange for inflated contracts.

The former president of the Odebrecht construction company and 50 executives of his company have promised prosecutors have details of how they made illegal donations to politicians in massive corruption scheme. To negotiate the agreement that can reduce their sentences or free them from prison have hired more than 100 lawyers.

The article Veja not cite evidence that the donation supposedly requested by Temer was a bribe. But anyway possibly shake Brasilia, where the Senate must decide later this month whether dismisses the suspended President Dilma Rousseff for alleged makeup of accounts public.

Temer, who became head of state on an interim basis in May, will rule until the end of 2018 if Rousseff is finally dismissed. Rousseff denounces a coup against him.

The news agency AFP could not immediately contact the chair or tax for comment Veja. But the magazine said the office of President Temer confirmed that there was a dinner with Marcelo Odebrecht and a conversation about "financial support from Odebrecht PMDB's election campaign in full accordance with the electoral law."

Temer has not been charged in Operation Lava Jato, even though many of its allies, including several ministers, yes they were. Many members of the Workers Party of Rousseff have also been accused of involvement in the corruption scheme, including his mentor and predecessor Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva (2003-2010). Rousseff has never been accused of corruption.

http://www.cubadebate.cu/noticias/2016/08/07/confirman-que-temer-pidio-apoyo-financiero-a-empresario-encarcelado/#.V6dPLPkrKM8

blindpig

08-12-2016, 03:39 PM

LIVE: Anti-corruption protests continue in Rio during Olympics’

Started streaming 39 minutes ago
Anti – corruption protest is due to take place in Rio de Janeiro on Friday, August 12, as Olympic games continue.
The protest is against the spiraling costs for the Olympic Games and high levels of corruption which are still swelling in the country’s political elite.

http://youtu.be/bK0n917FSQM

blindpig

08-22-2016, 09:04 AM

New Evidence Clears Brazil's Lula in Petrobras Scandal

http://www.telesurtv.net/__export/1471649075157/sites/telesur/img/news/2016/08/19/14100504_1351690954844476_5896042379828985422_n.jpg_1718483346.jpg
Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva. | Photo: Reuters

Published 19 August 2016

The right-wing opposition had accused Lula of buying an apartment through bribes from the Petrobras corruption scandal.
The judge overseeing the corruption case in state-run oil company Petrobras released a report Thursday clearing former president Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva of any charges.

According to allegations by federal police, Lula was the mastermind behind the state-run oil company Petrobras corruption scheme and directly benefited from an apartment in Guaruja and a farm in Atibaia, both in the state of Sao Paulo.

But Judge Sergio Moro has been forced to acknowledge that Lula and his family do not own property that investigators thought belonged to the politician, dashing claims they were bought with money allegedly obtained through illegal contracts with Petrobras.

The court heard the testimony of businessman Fernando Bittar on Wednesday, who confirmed he is the real owner of the Atibaia farm involved in the case. The owner of the apartment complex located in Guaruja, Nelco Warken, also testified against Lula owning the premises.

"I'm not afraid that they’ll detain me. I'm aware there are no charges, I'm sure of my innocence. We will wait as calmly as possible," Lula told the BBC during an interview Thursday.

Supporters of Lula argue the actions against the former Brazilian president are politically motivated and an attempt to prevent him from running as president in the next elections.

Lula’s Workers Party published a statement on Thursday saying Lula is being subjected to one of "the most violent campaigns of defamation against a public figure in the history of the country."

Last Wednesday, the former president denounced prosecutors for creating "nonexistent" evidence in order to push forward their politically motivated agenda without following proper legal procedures.

Lawyers representing Lula have turned to the U.N. Human Rights Committee in Geneva to denounce the illegality of the legal process against him, which they term "judicial persecution."

Judge Moro previously released a taped conversation between Lula and suspended President Dilma Rousseff, alleging that his appointment to her cabinet was a move to guard him from prosecution.

As a result, Brazil's Supreme Court responded by ruling the judge could not preside over the investigation, although the probe was later returned to his hands.

http://www.telesurtv.net/english/news/New-Evidence-Clears-Brazils-Lula-in-Petrobras-Scandal--20160819-0022.html

blindpig

08-30-2016, 11:03 AM

‘Impeachment equal to political death penalty’: Rousseff addresses Brazilian Senate ahead of trial

https://www.rt.com/news/357577-rousseff-senate-impeachment-death/

Published time: 29 Aug, 2016 20:51

Suspended Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff has appeared before the Senate, which is set to vote on her political fate in the next few hours. Calling on the Senate to “vote for democracy,” she said her impeachment would only deepen the crisis in the country.
“I am asking you to vote against the impeachment. Vote for democracy,” Brazil’s suspended president told Federal senators, before they started their questioning session, expected to last all day Monday.

Saying that accusations against her are unfair, and that she hasn’t committed any crime against the budget, Rousseff said, “my conscience is clean. Depriving me of my [presidential] mandate is equal to a political death penalty.”

In her emotional speech, she added that she had feared death only two times in her life before – when she was tortured, and when she had cancer. “Now I am fearing the death of democracy,” she said.

The suspended president reiterated that the initiative on her resignation was a plotted “coup” against her, “a woman who has won two elections,” and her legitimate government. If she leaves the office, the economic and political crisis would only deepen, she told lawmakers. “I am calling on the senators – do not support the coup. It will not help to resolve the crisis in Brazil, but will only deepen it,” she said.

Adding that the people who want her ousted from power act in the interests of privileged classes in Brazil, she warned that social programs that helped lift 30 million people out of poverty during her years in office would be cut off by the possible future government. State assets, including Brazil’s offshore oil reserves, might also be sold by the new people in power.

“My government made mistakes, but never betrayed voters,” she said, adding that she would never resign, as she needs to defend the constitution. Although she has been personally betrayed, she and those deciding on her future in politics should think about the country and its people, she said, testifying in her defense.

The Federal Senate is due to make a decision whether to convict Rousseff, accused of having broken budget laws, by early Wednesday. For a decision to remove her from the office to be enforced, at least 54 of 81 senators must vote in favor of completing the impeachment.

Meanwhile, people in Brazil keep protesting the impeachment process on the streets and have expressed support for the suspended president. Hours before senators were to start their vote in the trial, hundreds of cheering people greeted Rousseff as she arrived to the Senate in the Brazilian capital, Brasilia.

“We are here to defend what we believe in – democracy and justice,” a protester told RT. Another of Rousseff’s supporters called for people’s resistance to those senators who want her deprived of power, saying it’s not right that “54 senators can remove a president who is elected by 54 million people.”

http://houstoncommunistparty.com/impeachment-equal-to-political-death-penalty-rousseff-addresses-brazilian-senate-ahead-of-trial/

Videos at link.
*************************************

Brazil police fire tear gas at Rousseff impeachment protesters (PHOTOS, VIDEO)
Published time: 30 Aug, 2016 03:14
Get short URL

Police fire tear gas grenades at supporters of suspendend president Dilma Rousseff holding a demonstration during her impeachment trial in Sao Paulo, Brazil on August 29, 2016. © Nelson Almeida / AFP

Police in Sao Paulo have used tear gas to disperse a crowd of supporters of suspended Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff on the day she is set to testify at her impeachment trial to deny accusations of hurting the economy with alleged budget manipulations.

Thousands of the president’s supporters have taken to the streets across all major Brazilian cities, ahead of an impending Senate vote on permanently removing the country’s first female leader from office. The body temporarily suspended President Rousseff's powers for up to six months in May.

To protest her potential impeachment process thousands flocked to the streets in Brasilia, Sao Paulo, and Rio de Janeiro. In Sao Paulo, the violent scuffles with police began unfolding at around 7:00pm local time, when activists from the Frente Povo Sem Medo (people without fear) movement decided to continue their march which took a direction that had not approved by the security forces.

After the official rally ended, several dozen people remained on Paulista Avenue next to Sao Paulo Art Museum (MASP). Cordoned by the military police, some protesters tried to pierce through the police lines forcing officers to use tear gas and rubber bullets to disperse the group, which retaliated by launching petrol bombs at police.

Refusing to obey police orders to quietly disperse, the protesters blocked the street with burning tires and trash, Globo reported. As the disturbance continued, at around 8:00pm local time, trucks with military police entered the avenue to use water cannons on the barricades erected by protesters. The demonstrators responded by pelting law enforcement with more Molotov cocktails.

Police were forced to move in behind the make-shift barricades to deploy tear gas to disperse the remaining crowd by 8:30pm. According to organizers, the event in Sao Paulo attracted more than 20,000 people.

In Brasilia, a protest against the impeachment gathered some 1,500 people, according to police estimates. Activists carried flags, banners and posters with messages of support for Dilma Rousseff and against the government of the interim president, Michel Temer.

Rousseff supporters rallied outside the National Congress building as she was questioned on the Senate floor during her impeachment trial.

Taking the stand on Monday at her impeachment trial in the Senate, Rousseff testified that she was innocent of the charges brought against her, namely manipulating the federal budget to cover the extent of Brazil’s economic problems.

Senators’ vote on whether to convict Rousseff, who was suspended from office in May, is expected as early as Tuesday. The lawmakers need two-thirds of the 81-member Senate, or 54 votes, to permanently oust her from office.

https://www.rt.com/news/357593-brazil-impeachment-protesters-police/

Videos and screenshots at link.

blindpig

09-01-2016, 09:23 AM

Declaration of the Revolutionary Government

The Revolutionary Government of the Republic of Cuba strongly rejects the parliamentary coup-legal status that has been accomplished against President Dilma Rousseff

Author: Granma | internet@granma.cu
August 31, 2016 13:08:14
The Revolutionary Government of the Republic of Cuba strongly rejects the parliamentary coup-legal status that has been accomplished against President Dilma Rousseff.

The separation of the government of the President, without any evidence of corruption offenses or crimes of responsibility arises, and with it the Workers Party (PT) and other political forces allied left, constitutes an act of disrespect to the will sovereign of the people who elected them.

During the governments of Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva and Dilma Rousseff, an economic and social model that allowed Brazil to make a leap in productive growth with social inclusion, the defense of its natural resources, employment generation pushed, fighting poverty, out of the misery of more than 35 million Brazilians living in inhumane conditions and raising the income of 40 million, the expansion of opportunities in education and health of people, including sectors hitherto marginalized.

In this period, Brazil has been an active promoter of Latin American and Caribbean integration. The defeat of the Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA), the convening of the Summit of Latin America and the Caribbean on Integration and Development (CALC) which led to the subsequent creation of the CELAC, and the constitution of UNASUR, are events momentous in the recent history of the region demonstrating the role of that country.

Also, its projection towards the nations of the Third World, especially Africa; its active membership in the BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa) and performance in the framework of the United Nations, chuch of the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and the World Organisation Trade among others, consti tute-recognition of his international leadership.

Brazil also deserves praise enforceable under PT governments on crucial issues of the international situation in defense of peace, development, the environment and anti-hunger programs.

Are widely known efforts Lula and Dilma to reform the political system and arrange funding of parties and campaigns as well as support for investigations against corruption were opened and independence of the institutions responsible for them.

The forces now in power have announced privatization measures on oil reserves in deep water and cuts to social programs. It also set out a foreign policy that favors relations with the great centers of interna-tional power. Not a few of those who judge the President are under investigation for corruption.

What happened in Brazil is another expression of the offensive of imperialism and the oligarchy against the revolutionary governments and progressive in Latin America and the Caribbean, which threatens peace and stability of nations, contrary to the spirit and letter of the Proclamation of Latin America and the Caribbean as a Zone of Peace, signed at the Second Summit of CELAC in January 2014, in Havana by the Heads of State and Government of the region.

Cuba reaffirms its solidarity with President Dilma and Comrade Lula, the Workers Party, and expresses its confidence that the Brazilian people will defend those achieved social gains, will oppose with determination to neoliberal policies that seek to impose and dispossession its natural resources.

Havana, August 31, 2016.

http://www.granma.cu/mundo/2016-08-31/declaracion-del-gobierno-revolocionario-31-08-2016-13-08-14

Google Translator

blindpig

09-01-2016, 09:36 AM

Fearing confirmation should deepen civil disobedience, says March of Women

For the activist Sarah Roure, impeachment of Rousseff will intensify ideological struggle in society; She also says that women perceive directly affected by policies Temer
by Helder Lima, the RBA published 08.31.2016 14:20
BLOG OF THE WORLD MARCH OF WOMEN

http://www.redebrasilatual.com.br/politica/2016/08/confirmacao-temer-deve-aprofundar-desobediencia-civil-diz-marcha-mundial-das-mulheres-5568.html/marcha-mulheres.jpg-4451.html/image_large
World March of Women: government program with unelected and set policies that affect women
São Paulo - To say the depth of the consolidated parliamentary coup today (31) by the Senate has not yet been precisely measured for all segments of society, the activist of the World March of Women Sarah Roure says agrees with the civil disobedience practices, aventadas already by leaders of the progressive camp to increase the resistance to the illegitimate government of Michel Temer. "The women's movement may have a lot to say about it. An important part of our struggle and our resistance is not achieved by institutions, not only passes through negotiation, conference room or board, but the dialogue in society, an ideological dispute with the company, "he said.

Civil disobedience was the feature highlighted by the poet and survivor of the civil-military dictatorship in the country Hamilton Pereira, also known by Pedro Tierra pseudonym, that in an interview with Brazil de Fato said that this should be one of the forms of struggle to score this setback period in the country. "We have to prepare Brazilian society for large civil disobedience campaigns. I think we have to start doing this and each invents its way, as young people have done in the occupations of schools in São Paulo and elsewhere in Brazil, "said Pereira.

For Sarah Roure, the perception of women that are going on an attack on democracy in the country is something stronger: "The significance of this for women is very real when we realize this issue of how changes in the political system will gradually impacting the lives of women. On the one hand, it will be establishing a government that implements a political program that was not elected and creates a set of policies that affect women's lives directly. "

The activist sees among the main consequences of the coup the attack on the program popular tracks MCMV. "Women are holders of this program, women have been the majority among the public policies of beneficiaries who have been cut by the government that will implement it. Authoritarian President Dilma interruption of the mandate is not only a term of interruption, but the interruption of a set of policies and programs not only implemented in recent years, but also guaranteed by the Constitution, "he said.

"What we know as a democratic milestone in Brazil, what has to do with the distribution of income and the opportunity to participate, all this is in retreat frank," added the activist. "We participated in the Brazil Popular Front, in conjunction with other social movements, and also the People's Front Fearless. In recent months we have not only added to the mobilization processes along with other social movements, but also trying to articulate own processes of women in the regions and districts, strengthening the organization of women in communities and neighborhoods, "he said.

http://www.redebrasilatual.com.br/politica/2016/08/confirmacao-temer-deve-aprofundar-desobediencia-civil-diz-marcha-mundial-das-mulheres-5568.html

Google Translator

blindpig

09-02-2016, 08:20 AM

Prohibit protests in Brazil in step Paralympic Torch

http://www.telesurtv.net/__export/1472776996647/sites/telesur/img/multimedia/2016/09/01/protyestas_brasil.jpg_1718483346.jpg
Despite the campaign on social networks to carry out demonstrations in rejection of the coup against Rousseff, authorities prevent expressions of rejection of the Brazilian people. | Photo: Reuters
Published September 1, 2016 (9 hours 55 minutes ago)

The Ministry of Security of Sao Paulo argued that the Avenia Paulista, where would the protests on Sunday September 4, is the path of the torch of the Paralympic Games.

Demonstrations against the interim government of Brazil Michel Temer in Brazil Avenida Paulista scheduled for Sunday September 4 were banned by the Ministry of Security of Sao Paulo (SSP), in Brazil.

The measure was adopted at a meeting with the commands of civil and military police after three days of clashes between protesters and security forces.

In a statement, the Ministry argued that the spaces Paulista Avenue will be used as a route for the passage of the Paralympic torch, whose event is part of the ceremony of the Rio 2016 Paralympic Games.

Despite the intense campaign for protests against the " parliamentary coup " in Brazil, the Ministry of Security of Sao Paulo he said that so far has not received any "official statement of the organized movement seeking permission to express publicly in next days.

In context

After the Brazilian Senate finally depose the president Dilma Rousseff , away from office since May this year, hundreds of protesters took to the streets to protest the so - called parliamentary coup.

The discontent of the people of Brazil following the decision last Wednesday which ended two years before the mandate of President Rousseff began when the impeachment was submitted and approved by the Chamber of Deputies of Brazil.

http://www.telesurtv.net/news/Prohiben-protestas-en-Brasil-en-paso-de-antorcha-paralimpica-20160901-0061.html

Google Translator

Man, those Paralympians are carrying a lot of water for the ruling class this year. The shamelessness of the ruling class never ceases to surprise.

Dhalgren

09-02-2016, 09:43 AM

Man, those Paralympians are carrying a lot of water for the ruling class this year. The shamelessness of the ruling class never ceases to surprise.

Hey man, once you've shamelessly used bleeding toddlers and decapitated pre-teens for your imperial ends, the Paralympians are nothing!

blindpig

09-02-2016, 02:15 PM

Unasur foreign ministers meeting active after coup in Brazil
Rousseff's ouster has prompted different reactions between the Governments of the region, several of which qualify as "coup" the measure

Author: Prensa Latina | internet@granma.cu
September 1, 2016 23:09:19

http://www.granma.cu/file/img/2016/09/medium/f0067321.jpg
People still mobilized in the streets against the coup. Photo: Brasil de Fato

Quito.-Secretary General of the Union of South American Nations (Unasur), Ernesto Samper, initiate a round of consultations with the foreign ministers of member countries of the organization to arrange a meeting and address the issue of the dismissal of Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff.

In a statement released yesterday the regional mechanism ensures that what happened in Brazil "raises concerns and has regional implications, consideration of which justifies an extraordinary meeting of foreign ministers", reported PL.

Rousseff's ouster has prompted different reactions between the Governments of the region, several of which describe as "coup" the measure.

Protests after the dismissal of Rousseff approved by the Brazilian Senate multiplied by more than a dozen states, but only in Sao Paulo incidents were recorded.

There, in the same place a few hours before a group of anti-Rousseff had celebrated his dismissal with honking, a cake and champagne, supporters of the former president faced the militarized police who tried to disperse two protests against the Government of Temer.

The two concentrations departed from outside the Art Museum of Sao Paulo, in the financial heart of the country, towards the center and, for the third straight night, police fired tear gas to disperse the demonstrators.

Some of the participants in the protest caused havoc in shop windows, street furniture and a police patrol.

In Brasilia, hundreds of supporters of the Workers Party mobilized, as they have done since last Monday, in support of the former president.

A crowd accompanied her on the brief farewell speech he delivered after his dismissal and sang the national anthem in front of the Alvorada Palace, the presidential residence.

Early in the night, several hundred gathered on the Esplanade of Ministries before Congress, to express solidarity with Rousseff.

Protests against Michel Temer were also reproduced in Rio de Janeiro, where hundreds of people demonstrated in the center of the city, and other capitals of the interior, as Porto Alegre, Salvador, capital of Bahia and Vitoria (Espirito Santo).

http://www.granma.cu/mundo/2016-09-01/unasur-activa-reunion-de-cancilleres-tras-golpe-en-brasil-01-09-2016-23-09-19

Google Translator

'Hundreds'......

blindpig

09-06-2016, 09:06 AM

CTB-Brazil: A coup d’état to impose neoliberal retrocession
05 Sep 2016BRAZIL, CTB

By 61 votes against 20 the Senate approved on Wednesday, August 31 2016, the impeachment of President Dilma Rousseff. She was removed from the position to which she was elected in 2014, which will be illegitimately occupied until 2018 by the usurper Michel Temer. This way, a coup d ‘ état was consumed against an innocent woman for the benefit of a gang of criminals involved in the Lava Jato operation (investigation into corruption at the state oil company Petrobras), which they used against the PT ( Workers´Party) and now intend to interrupt the investigation.

The trial was divided into two votes at the request of the opposition and determined by the President of the Supreme Federal Court, Ricardo Lewandowski. The first decided the loss of the mandate. However, the second vote, which decided whether she would lose or not her political rights was a victory of Dilma. Their tormentors couldn´t get the necessary majority to condemn her.

The result is a further evidence of the innocence of the President. Unlike the putschists and beneficiaries of the farce staged in the National Congress, Rousseff is not even under suspicion nor denunciation related to corruption or illicit enrichment. The vote of 54 million Brazilians was cancelled and replaced by an indirect election made by a restricted electoral college in which most face charges of corruption or other serious crimes.

To free Temer and his associates from jail is one of the goals of the coup which has already been partly achieved. Now as the permanent President, the head of the conspiracy can’t be target of a criminal investigation at least until the end of the term, except for crimes that he may commit in the exercise of the function.

Anyway, one must be aware that the Lava Jato operation and the corruption were used, today as in the past coups, as a smokescreen to cover up the real interests at stake. These are included in the government project, which has a deeply reactionary antinational and anti popular character.

It was a coup with strong support of the business community and of the bourgeois media for the satisfaction of the great capitalists and imperialist powers.

Their targets are: the working class, which runs the risk of losing labor and social security rights acquired over a fight over several decades; democracy, is once again despised by the ruling classes; the national sovereignty has been put up for sale. The coup shocked the world and it was denounced as such by most world media, while in Brazil the media monopolized by the bourgeoisie did not only support the farce but it played the main role in the drama of the impeachment, brazenly manipulating the facts and deceiving the people.

Venezuela, Bolivia and Ecuador denounced the coup and called their ambassadors back. On the other hand, the USA immediately recognize the putschist government and no longer disguise the satisfaction with the announced measures that are already underway under the leadership of a chancellor, José Serra (a servant of the Chevron oil company, unmasked by WikiLeaks).

The orientation of the Foreign Ministry is opposed to the integration of Latin American and Caribbean countries and is frontally against the progressive Governments of the region. Imperialism is bestowed with the sellout of pre-salt oil reserves to foreign capital, the return of the perverse policy of privatizations and the neoliberal nightmare recurrently defeated at the polls since 2002.

The CTB does not recognize the illegitimate government, result of a coup, and will fight with all its strength and in a broader democratic alliance against the execution of the putschist project, in defense of the nation’s largest interests and of the sacred rights of the working class. Our class-oriented central thanks for the messages of repudiation of the coup and in solidarity with the social movements and the democratic and progressive forces in the country that have organized the fight against the putschists. No reconciliation with the putschists. We will continue to resist, occupying the streets and screaming at the top of our lung: not one right less, no sell-out policies, TEMER OUT!

Adilson Araújo
President

Divanilton Pereira
Secretary of International Relations

http://www.wftucentral.org/ctb-brazil-a-coup-detat-to-impose-neoliberal-retrocession/

blindpig

09-06-2016, 11:45 AM

Statement on the US-backed coup in Brazil
04/09/2016 Jose Maria Sison

Issued by the Office of the Chairperson,
International Coordinating Committee,
International League of Peoples’ Struggle
Published: 04 September 2016
http://ilps.info/index.php/en/statements/2110-ilps-statement-on-the-us-backed-coup-in-brazil

Brazil’s Senate voted last August 31 to confirm the impeachment of President Dilma Roussef of the Brazilian Workers Party (PT) in a parliamentary coup led by the country’s most corrupt and venal politicians. The coup signals the return to power of the most reactionary and loyal puppets of US imperialism in Latin America’s most populous country and largest economy.

Roussef was impeached for allegedly trying to embellish government accounts by delaying payments to the state-run Banco do Brasil in order to cover up the shortfall in the federal budget during the run-up to the 2014 elections. This is an accounting practice that previous presidents, and many governors of Brazil, routinely used in the past to appear more competent in the eyes of voters. The federal prosecutor assigned to the case concluded that this did not constitute a crime and yet three-quarters of the Senate voted to boot her out office to make way for the much-reviled former Vice-President Michel Temer to take over the Presidency.

The real motive for the impeachment was revealed in leaked transcripts of phone conversations in which a former Senator and former executive in the state-run energy conglomerate Petrobras discussed the need to remove Dilma Roussef from power to avoid an ongoing corruption investigation that implicated leading members of the country’s political and business establishment. Indeed 49 of 81 Brazilian senators who ousted Roussef are the subject of criminal investigations or have already been convicted of corruption charges. Temer himself stands accused of receiving millions in bribes and illegal campaign funds and is banned from running for any political office for eight years for violating election laws.

Through this parliamentary coup, Temer usurped the highest office in Brazil and immediately assured the country’s oligarchs and international finance capital that his new government will reverse the social programs and independent foreign policy stance of the PT government since 2003 in order to revive the level of profit accumulation and plunder.

Roussef had already started to adopt austerity measures since the commodities boom that financed past social programs had gone bust in the aftermath of the global financial crisis. But Temer and his ministers are promising deeper cutbacks on healthcare spending, public housing and the bolsa familia poverty relief system; open up more indigenous land and forests to big landlords and agro-industrial capitalists; sell off state assets in airports and utilities; enter into more public-private partnerships in infrastructure development; open up the oil and gas industry, airlines, land purchases and natural resources to foreign monopoly capitalists; and “modernize” the country’s labor laws and pension systems to make workers work more hours, more years and for less pay.

More significantly, the coup government has signaled its intention to realign Brazil’s foreign policy with US imperialist interests. Under the PT, Brazil joined other progressive governments in the region in rejecting the U.S.-designed “Free Trade Area of the Americas” in 2005, frustrating Washington’s attempt to bind the entire hemisphere to neoliberal trade and investment rules. The PT’s Lula de Silva, Roussef’s predecessor, also opposed attempts by the U.S. government to isolate Venezuela in the international community, and oust Hugo Chavez from power. The previous Brazilian government also sought to overturn the U.S.-backed military coup in Honduras, and opposed the expansion of U.S. access to military bases in Colombia in 2009.

Over the last decade, Brazil has been a prime mover in the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (CELAC), the Union of South American Nations (UNASUR), the BRICS Group of countries (together with Russia, India, China and South Africa) and other international initiatives that promote solidarity among developing countries and independence from US imperialism.

It is no wonder that the US State Department was among the first to express support for the coup government of Temer and has met with senior officials even before the recent Senate vote to confirm the May impeachment of Roussef by Brazil’s lower house of Congress.

The people of Brazil are only the latest victims of US-backed regime change in Latin America meant to reverse the advances of “leftist” or progressive governments in the region since the turn of the century. Venezuela’ Hugo Chavez was the first target of a coup attempt which failed in 2002. The country continues to be destabilized by reactionary forces with US support which are seeking to oust President Nicolas Maduro. In 2004, Haitian President Jean-Bertrand Aristide was forced to go into exile by a US-backed military coup. Likewise, Honduran President Manuel Zelaya was forcibly removed from office by the army in 2009. In Ecuador, a police mutiny nearly succeeded in ousting President Rafael Correa in 2010.

Meanwhile Paraguayan President Fernando Lugo was removed from office by the Senate through impeachment proceedings in 2012 similar to Brazil’s just concluded parliamentary coup. In both instances, the democratically elected Presidents were ousted by the oligarchy and international finance capital that controlled parliament, the judiciary and the mass media with support from NGOs, civic associations, trade unions and political parties funded by the USAID, the National Endowment for Democracy, the Office for Transition Initiatives, American Center for International Labor Solidarity, American Institute for Free Labour Development, and other overseas extensions of the US State Department.

The International League of Peoples’ Struggle (ILPS) strongly condemns the US-backed parliamentary coup in Brazil and continuing US intervention and destabilization attempts throughout Latin America. We support the struggle of the people of Brazil and the entire region to defend and uphold their rights against the renewed neoliberal onslaught by monopoly capitalists and oligarchs. We are one with the people of Latin America in the struggle to defeat US imperialism and fight for democracy, justice and national and social liberation.

http://josemariasison.org/statement-on-the-us-backed-coup-in-brazil/

blindpig

09-09-2016, 10:10 AM

Temer strong protests chase to his home in Sao Paulo

http://www.telesurtv.net/__export/1473377743126/sites/telesur/img/news/2016/09/08/57d0890dc461885d068b46b1.jpg_1718483346.jpg
The demonstrations run in Sao Paulo, one of the most important cities in the South American country. | Photo: Reuters
Posted September 8, 2016 (15 hours ago 23 minutes)

The Brazilian people expected to reach the house of the interim president in Sao Paulo to demand his departure from government.

Protests against the government of interim president of Brazil, Michel Temer, continue on Thursday in the streets of Sao Paulo to demand his departure from government. Protesters plan to reach the house of the president in that city.

The director of SP Film (public company of film and audiovisual São Paulo), Alfredo Manevy reported that once again the people of Brazil has taken to the streets as a sign of discontent, starting this day in the Largo da Batata, in western the city, and plans to reach the district of Alto de Pinheiros, where the leader of the Brazilian Democratic Movement Party (PMDB) lives.

A ceremony led by social and union movements gathered in organizations such as the MST, CUT, UNE MTST and under the slogans "Out Fear," "No right least direct elections now."

The head of the SP Film noted that the demonstrations have occurred throughout Brazil: "They are very strong and growing. On Sunday there were more than 100 thousand people only in Sao Paulo ". However , "The police are closing in on you young , " he warned.

With regard to this situation the authorities said that there were violent incidents brought about by protesters last Sunday, so they proceeded to the arrest of teenagers under 18 years. Manevy opposes the release and that "the protest was peaceful, with families and children."

Also the member lawyer State Council on Human Rights, Ariel de Castro Alves, said that the detention of young people (five men and three women) was considered illegal by "a true legal aberration".

Manevy explained that "most of the population did not understand why was the impeachment but now begin to understand. Many of those who said 'Out Dilma' do not want to fear and want general elections. He has the least historical approval for a government that begins " .

Moreover, for next Sunday organizations foresee another massive mobilization to demand holding new presidential elections, in view of the rejection of Temer, who assumed the presidency after the impeachment of the president-elect Dilma Rousseff.

Protests have the support of unions in banking, chemical and metallurgical industry.

The US accolade

While the people have shown rejection Temer, the US government expressed support for management's successor Rousseff.

The White House spokesman, Joe Biden said Wednesday that: "The United States will continue to work closely with President Temer, because Brazil is and will remain one of the main partners in the region".

Temer was booed on Wednesday during the events for Independence Day and refrained from using the presidential band, reseñaron agencies.

In context

The Senate (by 61 votes in favor and 20 against) the president dismissed without just cause and their right of defense was curtailed at various stages of the process, denounced the defense attorney Jose Eduardo Cardozo.

Rousseff was accused of alleged violation of the Fiscal Responsibility Law by issuing three decrees without congressional authorization allegedly manipulated the public accounts of 2014 (the year of his re-election) and early 2015.

He was also charged for delays in deposits that the state should do in public banks to finance various government schemes. The right argues that became a costly credit then generated interest.

After the Brazilian Senate finally depose the president Dilma Rousseff, away from office since May this year, hundreds of protesters took to the streets to protest against the so-called parliamentary coup.

The discontent of the people of Brazil following the decision began when the impeachment was submitted and approved by the Chamber of Deputies of Brazil thus interrupting the mandate of President Rousseff two years earlier.

http://www.telesurtv.net/news/Fuertes-protestas-persiguen-a-Temer-hasta-su-casa-en-Sao-Paulo-20160908-0042.html

Google Translator

blindpig

09-14-2016, 08:57 AM

Privatizing the Commons: Brazil to Auction off Infrastructure

http://www.telesurtv.net/__export/1473798549553/sites/telesur/img/news/2016/09/13/coup_monger_temer_brazil.jpg_1718483346.jpg
A demonstrator holds up a banner that reads "Coup monger" during a protest against Brazil's President Michel Temer in Rio de Janeiro, Sept. 7, 2016. | Photo: Reuters

Published 13 September 2016

The privatization scheme will sell or concession airports and hydroelectric, mining, oil, and other infrastructure projects across the country.
Brazil’s unelected President Michel Temer announced Tuesday a new phase of the government's controversial privatization agenda with plans to auction off 32 major resource and infrastructure projects in the name of boosting private sector investment.

The multi-billion dollar privatization plan includes the sale and concession of four airports, two ports, six power distribution plants, three sanitation companies, five highway and rail projects, three oil and gas operations, four mining concessions, and five hydroelectric projects across the country.

The changes are set to roll out as early at the beginning of 2017 and continue into 2018.

The government’s plan, dubbed “Project Grow,” initially involved 25 concessions when announced Tuesday morning, but later crept up to 32 projects, Brazil’s O Globo reported.

Temer heralded the scheme as opening up state assets to private companies, claiming that “the state cannot do everything” and the private sector must play a big role in remedying the South American country’s ailing economy.

The Temer government, permanently installed Aug. 31 when the Senate voted to definitively remove Dilma Rousseff from office, has sparked waves of mass protests with its aggressive neoliberal campaign to scale back the state by attacking social programs and government investment.

In the two weeks since Rousseff’s ouster, widely condemned internationally as a parliamentary coup, social movements and unions have flooded the streets by the tens of thousands to protest the assault on democracy posed by Temer’s plans for the country, including lifting restrictions on foreign land ownership, slashing cornerstone public programs, and privatizing natural resources, most contentiously rich offshore oil reserves.

Temer is embroiled in multi-million dollar fraud scandals and has been barred from running for public office for eight years over breaking election finance rules, a fact that did not stop him from being installed as de facto president until the next scheduled election in 2018.

http://www.telesurtv.net/english/news/Privatizing-the-Commons-Brazil-to-Auction-off-Infrastructure-20160913-0022.html

Videos at link

Dhalgren

09-14-2016, 10:08 AM

Good god, it's a fucking feeding frenzy. The army must agree with all this or it wouldn't go down. I saw a tweet that said "I miss Vilma". Not as much as the Brazilians do. The question is, how vicious will the Brazilian bourgeoisie get in this frenzy. If history is any example, they will do anything, go anywhere - nothing is beneath them - especially with full US backing. The US rules the world. Who can bar their way?

blindpig

09-14-2016, 10:54 AM

blindpig

10-11-2016, 10:02 AM

It's the State, Stupid
By: Emir Sader

http://www.telesurtv.net/__export/1476157120936/sites/telesur/img/opinion/2016/10/10/brazil_protest_michel_temer_neoliberalism_coup.jpg_1718483346.jpg_1718483346.jpg
Brazil's Landless Workers Movement protests coup President Michel Temer, Sao Paulo, Brazil, May 22, 2016. | Photo: Reuters

Neoliberal governments have the interests of finance capital at heart, like a backward Robin Hood, taking from the poor to give even more to the rich.
This article was originally published in Portuguese by Brasil247.

At the same moment that the lower chamber of the Brazilian congress was moving forward with the process of privatizing Brazil's offshore oil reserves known as Pre-salt and preparing to approve a decree that would freeze government funds for education and health for 20 years, coup president Michel Temer named his ninth minister. He too is facing charges of corruption before the supreme court.

For those who still have illusions, the motivation of the coup and the government that emerged from it is clear: they used corruption as an excuse to install the most corrupt government in the history of Brazil, and from there, dismantle the Brazilian state.

Since the beginning of neoliberalism, the state, according to them, ceased to be the solution and became the problem, in the words of Ronald Reagan. They began to focus their fire on the state and there began, an intense struggle over the state.

In the resistance to neoliberalism, ambiguous voices also emerged that opposed the state. "Change the world without taking power," John Holloway would say. Autonomy of the social movements in relation to politics, said others. In practice they coincided with neoliberals in rejecting an essential instrument for regulating the free movement of speculative capital, to protect the internal market, to guarantee social rights, and to promote sovereign foreign policy.

What is it about the state that neoliberals do not like?

First, the state's ability to counter the free market, which imposes the interests of big financial capital over the interests of the country. Second, the possibility of carrying out social policies and ensuring the rights of those the market leaves out. Third, the potential of boosting economic growth by encouraging investments, creating jobs, promoting income distribution. Fourth, the possibility of strengthening public banks with lower interest rates, in order to carry out social policies. Fifth, the ability to ensure workers' rights.

These observations are sufficient enough to understand why the state has become an obstacle for those who want to put the market front and center—that is, the free market of supply and demand, which favors and strengthens the power of those who are richer, more powerful, who wield large capital.

RELATED:
Brazil's Temer to Allow Largest Import of GMO Corn

In both Argentina and Brazil, the new governments have set out to take away the state's ability to manage the budget in favor of promoting development and distributing income. These are governments that have the interests of finance capital at heart, that exponentially increases their profits by redistributing income upward, like a backward Robin Hood, taking from the poor to give even more to the rich.

The initiatives of these governments are a cruel list of steps to take away rights from those who have less, in order to facilitate the accumulation of wealth without producing goods or jobs.

They hate the state because, as former President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva says, those who have less, the poor, the wage-earners, those who live from their work, are the ones who need the state. They need the state to protect against the super-exploitation of labor, the rule of financial speculation, the subordination of the country to policies of the world's major powers. The country needs the state, if you want it to be less unfair, more supportive, less inhuman.

All you have to do is weaken the state to see our streets and squares populated again by the poor sleeping outside, seeking to protect themselves as they can from the cold and the rain. Children populating traffic lights selling candies again to supplement the meager family budget, now a victim of the withdrawal of Brazil's poverty reduction program "Bolsa Familia."

The battle over the state will be the essential battle of our time. The vengeance, the goal of the right-wing, of the richest, is to stop the vast majority of society from defending against them. Less state means more market, a market controlled by speculative capital, which will gain ever more in the crisis the country is living through. Less government means more financial speculation, more misery, more unemployment, more injustice.

http://www.telesurtv.net/english/opinion/Its-the-State-Stupid-20161010-0024.html

videos at link.

Freezing social spending for 20 years! "Those whom the gods would destroy first they make mad."

blindpig

10-11-2016, 11:33 AM

Brazil Students Occupy Nearly 60 Schools to Reject Austerity

http://www.telesurtv.net/__export/1476034564497/sites/telesur/img/news/2016/10/09/brazil_students.png_1718483346.png
Students peacefully end their occupation of the Caetano de Campos school in Sao Paulo to avoid confrontations with military police. | Photo: Twitter / Midia Ninja

Published 9 October 2016

Students have occupied at least 50 schools in the state of Parana alone.

Brazilian high school occupied at least 60 schools across the country– mostly in the southern state of Parana– to protest the unelected government of President Michel Temer and his administration's assault on public education that includes an unprecedented spending freeze on educational spending for the next two decades.

Occupations in Parana began last Monday before spreading to other states, including Sao Paulo. The movement is reminiscent of mass occupations last year that swept across dozens of public schools in Sao Paulo to reject austerity measures slated to shut down nearly 100 high schools in the state.

The latest protests have sparked a police crackdown that pushed the students at one high school in Sao Paulo — Caetano de Campos — to abandon the occupation in the interests of keeping students safe. According to Brazil’s Midia Ninja, military police stormed the facility in an “‘investigation’ that looked more like an anti-terrorist operation.”

According to tallies by movements on social media, students have occupied at least 50 schools in Parana alone.

The protests reject the Temer government’s provisional federal education reform, which critics say failed to consult students and teachers and will produce a deterioration in public education. The controversial reforms, announced last month and now under expert review, would slash the number of mandatory courses for high school students by half. Students and teachers alike have demanded the government include the education sector in any proposed changes.

Students have also slammed the Temer administration’s latest neoliberal bombshell — a decision to freeze public spending on health, education, social welfare programs and other public services until 2037. The Proposed Constitutional Amendment 241/2016, known as PEC 241, needs to secure approval in Congress, but Temer’s government expects it to pass.

Protesters argue the unelected conservative government is aiming to limit critical thinking with a stranglehold on public education.

Teachers have also voiced support for the student movement. In Parana, the union of public school teachers, known as APP, wrote in a statement Friday that local educators recognize that occupations are aimed at defending quality public education and voice legitimate concerns that teachers also share. The union announced plans to strike in the “coming days.”

“We reject the proposals of Michel Temer’s government that threaten education,” said teacher and APP President Hermes Leao in the statement, adding that teachers “welcome” the students’ actions. “We will not accept a rollback of workers’ rights, much less unilateral and arbitrary decisions to change education.”

The Brazilian lawyer’s collective Rights for All has also backed the student movement by issuing a guide on social media providing basic legal information for those involved in occupations, including advice on how to interact with law enforcement officers.

The Brazilian Union of Secondary Students has called for donations, including food and toiletries, to help fuel the occupations.

http://www.telesurtv.net/english/news/Brazil-Students-Occupy-Nearly-60-Schools-to-Reject-Austerity-20161009-0009.html

Videos at link.

blindpig

10-18-2016, 03:43 PM

Brazil Police Crack Down on Anti-Temer Protests in Rio, Again

http://www.telesurtv.net/__export/1476806655504/sites/telesur/img/news/2016/10/18/rio_de_janeiro_brazil_protest.jpg_1718483346.jpg
Activist protest against Brazil's unelected President Michel Temer and his neoliberal policies in Rio de Janeiro, Oct. 17, 2016. | Photo: AFP

Published 18 October 2016

Social movements, high school students, labor unions and working class people have raised alarm over Temer's plan to institutionalize neoliberalism.
Riot police cracked down and fired teargas on thousands of protesters in central Rio de Janeiro Monday night as marches flooded the streets to reject unelected President Michel Temer’s proposed 20-year freeze on public spending that critics argue will spell disaster in the cash-strapped country.

The protests, which also rocked other cities, are the latest in a wave of massive demonstrations led by social movements and labor unions that have criticized the “parliamentary coup” against ousted President Dilma Rousseff and the austerity policies Temer’s government is swiftly rolling out without a popular mandate.

The most recent march in Rio de Janeiro brought an estimated 5,000 people to the streets, according to Reuters sources, and took aim at the hotly controversial economic reforms Brazilian economists have dubbed “permanent austerity” and “shock therapy.” Known as PEC 241, the Portuguese acronym for Proposed Constitutional Amendment, the pending proposal would cap public expenditures in line with inflation until 2037.

“Without this money for 20 years, we are not going to be able to survive,” a protester at Monday night’s march, Ian dos Santos, told AFP. “Schools and public universities aren’t going to have resources.”

“We’re fighting today for our rights as students,” Santos added.

The march comes as high school students have also mobilized against PEC 241, occupying at least 600 high schools across the country in peaceful protest against the plan that they criticize as an attack on public education.

Riot police responded to the protests around 8 p.m. local time, using teargas to disperse demonstrators clogging a thorough way in central Rio de Janeiro. Several protesters and at least one police officer were reportedly injured in the clashes. Other smaller standoffs between marchers and police reportedly continued over the next hour in nearby streets and squares.

Protests also simultaneously shook Sao Paulo, where Brasil de Fato reported that 20,000 demonstrators joined the march. Organizers in Sao Paulo have called for another round of marches against PEC 241 on Friday, while other actions also continue.

Temer’s administration has billed PEC 241 as a surefire solution to boost the ailing economy and close the budget deficit. But critics fear the that the unprecedented neoliberal cuts will undermine constitutional rights and ravage public education, health care, criminal investigations into corruption, and other social programs.

The PEC 241 is expected to be passed in Congress imminently after already securing a first-round vote in the lower house.

http://www.telesurtv.net/english/news/Brazil-Police-Crack-Down-on-Anti-Temer-Protests-in-Rio-Again-20161018-0010.html

Videos at link.

********************************

Get Real: Petrodollars, Not Corruption Is the Reason for Brazilian Coup
By: Haneul Na’avi

http://www.telesurtv.net/__export/1464370107892/sites/telesur/img/news/2016/05/27/brazil_petrobras_crop1464369506229.jpg_1718483346.jpg
A Petrobras oil rig. | Photo: Reuters

Published 27 May 2016

Dilma Rousseff’s impeachment was motivated by her efforts to circumvent U.S. dollar dominance through trade with Iran.
In ancient times, communities would place their sins on the body of an al-Azazel, or scapegoat, and cast it into the desert to die. This was done every year in order to garner favoritism in the eyes of God and ensure a bountiful harvest. In the same ritualistic fashion, Brazil’s acting government has chosen to honor this tradition at the expense of the consent of the governed.

Ousted President and Worker’s Party (PT) leader Dilma Rousseff awaits a fabricated impeachment trial despite the chagrin of the Chamber of Deputies Speaker Waldir Maranhao who ordered an annulment. A defiant Congress has hurled its entire weight at the gates of Brasilia’s Superior Courts with burnt offerings of her political career; with the hope her sacrifice will birth a neocolonial Dark Age. Hands clasped, they await the blessings of Chevron, Royal Dutch Shell, and the U.S. State Department to affirm their convictions.

Brazilian Democratic Movement Party (PMDB) leader, coup initiator and interim president Michel Temer has longed to sell out Rousseff for his 30 pieces of silver, according to WikiLeaks, and despite the endless sins permeating Brazil’s legislative branch, the mainstream media has equated her financial mistakes to treason, completely obscuring the bigger picture.“Dilma Rousseff has not been accused of any financial impropriety. However, 318 members of the Brazilian Congress, including many who backed her impeachment, are under investigation or face charges,” Democracy Now highlights.

The undercurrents of the coup flow directly from Petrobras, Brazil’s state-owned oil enterprise, currently under fire after Operation Car Wash unearthed several massive corruption scandals in 2014, and multi-partisan thievery saw Rousseff inherit the company’s US$130 billion debt. Fortunately, to protect the country’s national currency, the Brazilian real, Petrobras cleverly retained its debt in U.S. dollars for easy convertibility into bonds, while maintaining revenue in reals. “[…] 80 percent of the company’s debts are dollar-denominated, but much of its revenue comes from domestic fuel sales in reals”, an Energy Fuse article stated.

Unfortunately, last year the dollar strengthened and fluctuated, which inflamed the nation’s debt burden. “Inflated by a stronger dollar, Petrobras' gross debt swelled to 799.25 billion reals [$223 billion] at the end of 2015 […] even as the company slashed investment spending and spent the last six months of the year trying - with limited success - to sell off assets,”MarketWatch states. A combination of weakening exchange rates, high global oil supply, and falling domestic demand, did little to stop Petrobras’s hemorrhaging revenues amidst the corruption scandal.

The swell in global supply was attributed to failed OPEC negotiations with Saudi Arabia, the cartel’s undisputed leader, after it childishly responded to North America’s “shale oil revolution” with a textbook oil glut that needlessly shrank global revenues to historic lows and threatened Petrobras’s limited 2.7 bpd upstream rates. With dwindling funds, the company was forced to sell assets to avert the onset of reverse Dutch disease. "If oil prices stay low, I'm not very hopeful,” Fabio Fuzette of Antares Capital mentioned.

With rising debt in U.S. dollars and tanking profits in reals, Petrobras found itself at the mercy of the petrodollar. The company’s Q4 report reflected staggering losses, where market prices had “decreased 49.6 percent from the year earlier to $33.50 per barrel,” Zack’s Research highlighted. This had been aggravated by a previous Moody’s downgrade to “junk” status, which “rocked the country’s equities and currency, with […] the real tumbling 1.3 percent,” the group also discovered.

Another Energy Fuse article also revealed increasing bouts of in-fighting between the government and private investors after the 2007 discovery of pre-salt extraction reserves. “A 2010 reform under former President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva requires Petrobras to be the sole operator in all pre-salt fields with a minimum 30 percent stake, severely limiting private investment in those areas.” To protect them from corporate exploitation, the Worker’s Party leadership mandated this to safeguard current and future welfare programs, but still required borrowing from the Central Bank of Brazil. Borrowing also heavily subsidized petrol costs to domestic consumers using the state bank. “Petrobras was not allowed by the government to pass on higher input costs to its end consumers and the company had to sell gasoline, diesel, and other refined petroleum products in Brazil at a sharp discount to international prices,” a Seeking Alpha article illustrated.

This explains the rampant embezzlement and the central bank’s egregious freeze of Selic benchmark rates at 14.25 percent. Recently, Temer replaced the bank’s leadership with IMF/ World Bank crony Ilan Goldfein to limit borrowing to all state-funded programs and impose austerity regulations.

Heads also began to roll at Pemex, Mexico’s Petrobras equivalent to which Brazil joined forces via Latin America’s largest trade agreement, dealing a heavy blow to the continent’s energy reform plans. “Emilio Lozoya (Pemex's CEO) lost his job back in February, after failing to stop a production decline despite heavy leverage.” As a result, Rousseff was forced to continue selling off Petrobras assets, but continued to subsidize oil costs with borrowed money. This was a mistake, but not a crime.

To prepare a motive, the overthrow was preplanned in a businesslike manner. A Folha de Sao Paolo report containing leaked recordings confirmed the pivotal moment in which Temer’s allies moved into position weeks before the coup. In it, Planning Minister Romero Juca and former Transperto President Sergio Machado commented that they wanted to “stop the bleeding” in Petrobras’s finances; a casus belli to form a national pact with Temer as the acting president. “I think we need to articulate a political action,” mentioned Juca to Machado. Juca has since stepped down in response to the leak.

However, it was her new methodology to reduce company debt that was the final straw. Reuters saliently reported that, following her January lifting of sanctions against Iran, the two countries met on the sidelines prior to the April 17 OPEC summit in Doha to discuss lucrative trading opportunities and bilateral agreements. “[Trade Minister Armando] Monteiro said Brazil aims to triple trade with Iran to $5 billion by 2019” and that “Rousseff lifted UN-imposed sanctions against the OPEC nation last week after meeting with the Iranian ambassador, […] despite tensions with the West,” Reuters continued. This trade was to occur in “euros and other currencies”, not dollars, and fit seamlessly with Petrobras’s 2015-2019 Business and Management Plan. Additionally, Brazil’s recent row with UNASUR and OPEC member Venezuela further encouraged Rousseff to seek new partnerships. With increasing fallout between Saudi Arabia and the U.S. over the 9/11 bill, coupled with embarrassing results from the Doha summit, Rousseff’s plan became an extra headache for the administration. Amidst all the hostile finger-pointing, she was in fact taking genuine steps to correct the company’s mismanagement using the P5+1 talks as a springboard for cooperation. “Relations between Brazil and Iran […] experienced new momentum in the context of implementation of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPoA) last January and of the lifting of international sanctions against Iran,” Brazil’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs quoted.

This is precisely what prompted the desperate political coup, which occurred the day after (April 12) Brazil’s meeting with Iran - Congress voted during the OPEC summit after Iran’s absence confirmed this. Washington panicked at the thought of endangering petrodollar dominance and losing control of Iran’s post-sanction partnerships. Even Reuters perceived this threat by voicing “…although it is not clear whether any attempt to circumvent the U.S. financial system could raise tensions with Washington, Brazil's leftist government in the past has annoyed the United States by drawing closer to Tehran.”

Apparently, it did, and Brazil’s plans for reform eventually ran diametrically opposed to Washington’s future Iran ambitions, activating the CIA assets in the Brazilian Congress to overthrow Rousseff. With her impeachment underway, speculators were practically speaking in tongues at the possibility of raking in profits to the private sector. “Brazil's currency climbed by 1.7 percent to 3.6262 per dollar earlier today on heightened speculation that President Dilma Rousseff is nearing impeachment,” The Street rejoiced.

Unrelentingly, Temer has opted for massive budget and department cuts, rather than continuing with Rousseff’s socialist trajectory, threatening Brazil’s long-term autonomy with nearsighted profits and further dollar dependency. Additionally, appointing new FM Jose Serra also poses a serious threat to the BRICS alliance by moving away from a clear and holistic strategy. “Relations with new partners in Asia, especially China […] and India, will be a priority,” expressed Serra, insinuating that, armed with new pre-salt field reserves, it may not honor ties to Russia.

Furthermore, Temer has also replaced Petrobras CEO Aldemir Bendine with Pedro Parente, another favorite of the U.S. financial elite, who was “formerly the top executive at the Brazilian unit of U.S. agribusiness giant Bunge Ltd. and currently chairman of stock-market operator BM&FBovespa SA,” MarketWatch explained.

It is important to recognize that Brazil’s current ‘leadership’ benefits both the American empire and Brazilian capitalists. On the U.S. side, Brazilian debt continues under the U.S. dollar, and U.S. President Barack Obama can maintain the CIA tradition of supporting the “moderate opposition” around the world in order to stifle democracy and plunder foreign markets. While Brazil’s terrorists aren’t chopping heads, they are slashing budgets; bleeding Brazil’s fragile democracy dry, and over the next 180 days, this will reflect in the will of the people as they take to the streets to fight their puppet government. Temer couldn’t have picked a better time, as the Olympics will see him and his enablers persistently humiliated through by a rapturous organization of the masses; from the grassroots to the Most High, until President Dilma Rousseff’s miraculous resurrection.

Haneul Na’avi, independent analyst for RT. The article was originally published on RT.

http://www.telesurtv.net/english/opinion/Petrodollars-Not-Corruption-Is-the-Reason-for-Brazilian-Coup-20160527-0017.html

blindpig

10-20-2016, 09:06 AM

Brazil Coup Mastermind Eduardo Cunha Arrested

http://www.telesurtv.net/__export/1476899185000/sites/telesur/img/2016/10/12/cuhna_in_jail.jpg_1718483346.jpg
Former Brazilian lawmaker Eduardo Cunha looks on during a news conference in Brasilia, May 5, 2016. | Photo: Reuters

Brazilian federal police arrested the former head of the lower house of Congress, Eduardo Cunha, in his home in Brasilia.

Brazilian federal police arrested Eduardo Cunha, the controversial former head of the lower house of Congress and chief architect behind the impeachment of Dilma Rousseff, at his apartment in Brasilia Wednesday.

According to Brazil’s O Globo news, federal police are expected to transfer Cunha Wednesday afternoon to Curitiba, the capital of the state of Parana, where a federal court has taken up the case. Preventative pre-trial detentions like Cunha’s are common in cases when the accused is considered a flight risk, as he is due to his wealth and dual Brazilian-Italian citizenship, according to federal Judge Sergio Moro, who authorized the arrest.

Moro also issued a warrant for Cunha's home in Rio de Janeiro to be searched, Brazil's Folha de Sao Paulo reported.

The arrest comes just days after Moro issued a subpoena for Cunha to face charges over accusations that he hid laundered money in secret Swiss bank accounts while in office. The alleged crimes are under investigation as part of country’s major anti-fraud probe known as Operation Car Wash, focused on uncovering rampant bribery in the state-run oil company, Petrobras.

Cunha, a member of unelected President Michel Temer’s PMDB party, is accused of corruption, money laundering and tax evasion linked to raking in at least US$5 million in illicit kickbacks between 2006 and 2012 and hiding the wealth in Swiss bank accounts.

Cunha was removed from his position as speaker of the lower house on Sept. 12 after being suspended in May — just weeks after the lower house pushed through the impeachment bid against Rousseff — to face an impeachment process over accusations that he intimidated lawmakers and hampered investigations. The Congress voted overwhelmingly by 450 to 10 to remove the unpopular politician.

The decision also stripped Cunha of the parliamentary immunity he long enjoyed, opening him up to corruption charges.

Despite the power he has wielded over Brazilian politics, recent polling has repeatedly unmasked Cunha as one of the most unpopular politicians in the country, including among his own party.

http://www.telesurtv.net/english/news/Brazil-Coup-Mastermind-Eduardo-Cunha-Arrested--20161019-0009.html

Videos at link.

blindpig

11-04-2016, 11:21 AM

Brazil Students Are Now Occupying Over 1,000 Schools, Colleges

http://www.telesurtv.net/__export/1478221700253/sites/telesur/img/news/2016/11/03/brazil_pec.jpg_1718483346.jpg
A student protessts against the constitutional amendment PEC 241, that would reduce public spending in education, during a session of the National Congress in Brasilia, Brazil October 25, 2016 | Photo: Reuters

Published 3 November 2016

The students are demanding an end to PEC 241, a constitutional amendment that would cut education budget for the next 20 years.
About 200,000 students in Brazil have missed their entrance exams for college, as students continue to occupy more than a thousand educational institutions in the country in protest against the right-wing, pro-asuterity coup government of President Michel Temer.

The massive, months-long protest is targeting the PEC 241 reform supported by President Temer, which will freeze public spending for the next 20 years, including the budget allocated for education.

Students have organized a nationwide occupation of at least 1,108 public schools and universities across 19 states, as well as the federal district that contains the capital, Brasilia.

Of these, some 304 schools where exams were recently scheduled are currently being occupied by the student movement.

About 8.6 million Brazilian students were expected to sit their exams on Nov. 5 and 6, but authorities have now given affected institutions additional time to find alternative dates for students to sit their exams.

Since he took power in August, Michel Temer, who led the parliamentary coup against President Dilma Rousseff, has introduced a series of sweeping privatization proposals and cuts in education, health and other social programs.

In the state of Parana alone, students have occupied 851 schools while 66 have been occupied in Minas, 13 in Rio Grande do Sul and 10 in Rio Grande do Norte. In Rio de Janeiro, there are currently seven occupied schools while five more have been occupied in Brazil's largest state, Sao Paulo.

http://www.telesurtv.net/english/news/Brazil-Students-Are-Now-Occupying-Over-1000-Schools-Colleges-20161103-0025.html

Video at link.

blindpig

11-18-2016, 11:08 AM

Call for new demonstrations to protest Temer in Brazil

http://www.telesurtv.net/__export/1479457303148/sites/telesur/img/multimedia/2016/11/18/636145021461010440w.jpg_1718483347.jpg
Unions and social organizations continue days of protests against neoliberal policies of the government of Michel Temer. | Photo: EFE

Published November 18, 2016

The next November 20 will march on the Day of Black Consciousness, meanwhile, it is scheduled 25 a new national day stoppage.

After the march held last coming on November 11, trade unions and popular movements in Brazil called for further action to protest the neoliberal agenda of unelected President Michel Temer.

The national coordinator of the Movement of Landless Workers (MTST), Guilherme Boulos, said that last Friday shutdowns were only the beginning of the pressure that workers will against the illegitimate government.

The coming November 20, it is scheduled to 13 March of the Black Consciousness about the celebration on that date the Day of Black Consciousness, which for Brazilians is not a holiday of rest but a day of struggle and mobilization.

The organizers of the march highlighted in a note concern with the "growing conservative wave in Brazil, of racist, misogynist, classist and fascist, with strong impact in São Paulo".

In addition, the text adds, "Temer the coup government's main objective is to implement a neoliberal agenda, contrary to democracy and the recent conquests of the working class and the black population."

https://o.twimg.com/2/proxy.jpg?t=HBhYaHR0cDovL3d3dy5mc2luZGljYWwub3JnLmJyL21pZGlhcy9pbWFnZS8yNzk3NC13aGF0c2FwcC1pbWFnZS0yMDE2LTExLTE2LWF0LTEwLTU1LTAyLmpwZxSADxTsBxwUhAYUlAMAABYAEgA&s=ty-zLy9a7ddxGseFGoS-l4vSOb4y0KGy94JrW4lZjDc

"With the Constitutional Amendment Proposal (PEC) that freezes wages and imposes a welfare reform going back to the era of slavery." Said national coordinator of Black Entities, Sandra Mariano.
Em reunião unitária, centrais sindicais fecham detalhes de ato nacional no dia 25
A central que funciona para o trabalhador
fsindical.org.br

For 25, they have programmed a new day stoppage and mobilization.

According to the president of the Central Unica dos Trabalhadores (CUT), Vagner Freitas, the media "they were crazy to say that we have no representation and, therefore, we do a general strike".

Força Sindical, on its official website, calls for the working class to the act of November 25, in conjunction with other central trade union. The organization recalls that "the working class is carrying a very heavy burden in this crisis, with 12 million unemployed." Reflexes, according Sindical, "are cruel". "Reducing consumption, high interest rates, decreased production and jobs," says public note.

In context

Eight Brazilian unions called on Friday November 11th a general strike to protest the measures announced by the interim government of Michel Temer.

Through his Twitter account Telesur correspondent, Adriana Robreño wrote that the capital of that country awoke without public transport and blocked several roads dawned.

A strike last Friday more than 170 universities taken against PEC 55/16 joined. The protest came a day after the start of a campaign in defense of democracy in Brazil and in support of former President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva.

http://www.telesurtv.net/news/Convocan-en-Brasil-a-nuevas-manifestaciones-en-rechazo-a-gobierno-de-Temer-20161118-0004.html

http://www.telesurtv.net/news/Convocan-en-Brasil-a-nuevas-manifestaciones-en-rechazo-a-gobierno-de-Temer-20161118-0004.html

Google Translator

**************************************

unions protested rejecting measures Temer

http://www.telesurtv.net/__export/1478886606977/sites/telesur/img/news/2016/11/11/paronacionalbrasil.jpg_1718483347.jpg
Workers also mobilize in defense of democracy. | Photo: @Brasil_de_Fato

Published November 17, 2016

The Brazilian unions reject the implementation of the agenda of the interim government Temer, which affects the poorest sectors.

Eight Brazilian unions called on Friday November 11th a general strike to protest the measures announced by the interim government of Michel Temer.

Through his twitter account Telesur correspondent, Adriana Robreño wrote that the capital of that country awoke without public transport and blocked several roads dawned.

The Single Central of Workers (CUT), the General Confederation of Workers of Brazil (CGTB) and the Confederation of the Workers of Brazil (CTB) on the list of organizations promoting the national strike against neoliberal policies of the current Executive.

Officials rebel against adjustment plan in Rio de Janeiro

Last week the secretary general of the CUT, Sergio Nobre, reported that the current coup government aims to reduce wages, privatize businesses and services, delivering the wealth of the country to the multinationals and drastically reduce investment in key public areas such as education and Health.

"With these initiatives neoliberal character puts on the shoulders of the working class costs regressive and authoritarian policies of fiscal adjustment, as we have reported, is the real target of the coup against the constitutional president Dilma Rousseff" he said.

The CUT maintains that it must find ways to address and prevent the implementation of the government's agenda Temer, contrary to the interests of the poorest sectors.

Workers reject the Proposed Amendment to the Constitution (PEC) 55/16 establishes a ceiling for public spending, reform of the minimum retirement age, flexible combat slave labor, and alteration of the minimum contribution time so that workers can receive benefits such as aid for sickness and maternity paid after unlinking from Social Security.

The government also intends to carry out reforms in secondary education, which eliminates the universal curriculum for all students. In addition, pointing to some compulsory disciplines: physical education, arts education, philosophy and sociology.

Educationalists have criticized the measure because besides not being debated in society, it diminishes the quality of public education and intensifies inequality of opportunity.

A strike last Friday more than 170 universities taken against PEC 55/16 PEC joined. Another general stoppage is scheduled for November 25.

The protest came a day after the start of a campaign in defense of democracy in Brazil and in support of former President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva.

Leaders of social movements, trade unions and political parties launched on November 10 this call in defense of the rule of law in a country that witnessed last August a parliamentary coup against the constitutional president Dilma Rousseff.

http://www.telesurtv.net/news/Trabajadores-brasilenos-van-a-la-huelga-este-viernes-en-rechazo-a-medidas-de-Temer-20161111-0002.html

Google Translator

Video & twitter screenshots at link.

blindpig

12-06-2016, 12:25 PM

Brazil's Temer Pushes Unpopular Pension Cuts, Keeps Tax Breaks

http://www.telesurtv.net/__export/1481038153122/sites/telesur/img/news/2016/12/06/brazil_temer_pension_meeting.jpg_1718483346.jpg
Brazil's President Michel Temer attends a meeting with political leaders to back his unpopular pension reform proposal, Brasilia, Dec. 5, 2016. | Photo: Reuters

Published 6 December 2016 (2 hours 45 minutes ago)

The unelected government's proposal to cut benefits and extend the retirement age is likely to produce fierce opposition from unions.
Brazil's unelected President Michel Temer has proposed a dramatic attack on the country's pension system that would force Brazilians to work for longer before being eligible for full retirement benefits, while simultaneously keeping tax breaks for agricultural commodity exports.

Temer's plan would reduce benefits, raise social security contributions by civil servants and set a minimum age of retirement at 65 years in a country where people work on average until the age of 54 years before retiring.

"We urgently need to make changes to preserve the pension system," Temer said Monday in a meeting with congressional leaders in Brasilia. "We have to put back the date of retirement and that can only be done by establishing a minimum age."

According to Brazil's Globo News, military officials will be exempt from the proposed pension reform.

The government, however, will not scrap an exemption from taxes on agricultural commodity exports that could raise revenues by more than US$1.45 billion per year, a senior government official said on Monday, denying media reports the government would end the tax break to raise income.

By attacking pensions but keeping tax breaks in place, Temer is attempting to place the burden of the worst recession on record on the shoulders of working Brazilians.

Cuts to social programs and benefits have been at the heart of the Temer administration's austerity drive. The Brazilian Senate is set to soon hold a final vote on a constitutional amendment that would freeze social expenditures for the next 20 years.

The pension reform, which Temer has promised since he was installed in president in May through the highly-questioned impeachment process that removed former President Dilma Rousseff from office, faces fierce opposition from powerful labor and civil servant unions that threaten to organize street demonstrations to block the changes.

Despite such threats, the government will send the reform plan to Congress on Tuesday where is expected to spark a heated debate that could last several months.

Expenditures from social security make up about 40 percent of the Brazilian government's primary spending, or spending before debt payments.

Social security expenditures have risen to an estimated 2.7 percent of gross domestic product in 2017 from 0.3 percent in 1997, according to government estimates.

Government officials have tried to suggest that this spending constitutes the main threat to the country's finances in the future. Temer argued the cuts were necessary to ensure the system does not collapse because of lack of funding.

http://www.telesurtv.net/english/news/Brazils-Temer-Pushes-Unpopular-Pension-Cuts-Keeps-Tax-Breaks-20161206-0006.html

Video at link.

**********************

Brazil's Senate Passes PEC 55 Austerity Bill

http://www.telesurtv.net/__export/1480429576822/sites/telesur/img/news/2016/11/29/fora_temer_protest_pec_55.jpg_1718483346.jpg
A woman holds a banner that reads "Temer Out." | Photo: Reuters

Published 29 November 2016

In his short time in office as an un-elected president, Temer has tried to roll back progressive measures carried out by Worker's Party leaders.
The Brazilian Senate has voted 65 to 14 for PEC 55, an austerity measure that will limit social spending for the next 20 years.

The controversial, neo-liberal constitutional amendment proposed by right-wing President Michel Temer means to freeze public spending in the country for the next two decades.

PEC 55, as the legislation is known, was already passed by the lower house and a committee in the Senate. On Tuesday, the first of two sets of voting took place in the Senate — the second round will be on Dec. 13. Each one has to be approved with a three-fifths majority.

However, at the beginning of the second session in Senate, the majority of senators who approved the bill will be entitled to cancel the session.

The reform, previously known as PEC 241, freezes public spending rates for the next 20 years by tying any increase to social assistance programs to the previous year’s inflation rate rather than GDP rates. This effectively limits what all future governments can spend on health, education and social welfare. Critics argued that the poor and marginalized in Brazilian society will disproportionately bear the burden of the cuts that will significantly undermine rights enshrined in the constitution.

Despite massive protests, senators have furthermore rejected the possibility of holding a referendum on whether to accept the reforms or not. Protests have continued while the vote moved through the Senate.

The reform was championed by government officials, who argue it will help stabilize the economy and control the national debt. But protesters called it an austerity measure similar to those imposed by capitalist international financial institutions such as the World Bank and International Monetary Fund.

Critics also argued that it would be highly unlikely that Brazilian voters would ever opt to elect a government with a mandate to carry out such a controversial reform, reinforcing claims about the potential motivations underlying the ouster of former President Dilma Rousseff. After being installed as president, Temer even admitted in a meeting with business elites in New York that Rousseff was removed from office for refusing to implement an aggressive neoliberal agenda.

The vote came a day after demonstrators demanded Temer be investigated and impeached for the alleged role he played in pressuring a former culture minister to approve a property development, Reuters reported Monday. Brazil's socialist party has also filed a petition to launch an impeachment process against the unelected president in a largely symbolic gesture against his government, as it is unlikely to be accepted.

Since Temer slipped into office in August after backing the impeachment process — widely condemned as a parliamentary coup — that ousted former President Dilma Rousseff, his administration has introduced many sweeping privatization proposals and cuts to social programs. He and his office have also been mired in scandal after scandal, most notably to do with corruption charges.

http://www.telesurtv.net/english/news/Brazils-Senate-Passes-PEC-55-Austerity-Bill-20161129-0004.html

Video at link.

Dhalgren

12-06-2016, 01:04 PM

Since Temer slipped into office in August after backing the impeachment process — ... a parliamentary coup — ..., his administration has introduced many sweeping privatization proposals and cuts to social programs.

Man, these bourgeois thugs got only one tune - austerity. It's the only song they sing these days. The question remains, how long will the audience listen.

blindpig

12-13-2016, 11:38 AM

It's Official: Brazil Just Approved a 20-Year Spending Freeze That Will Punish the Poor

http://www.telesurtv.net/__export/1481629374256/sites/telesur/img/news/2016/12/13/temer_out.jpg_1718483346.jpg
Protesters in Rio de Janeiro hold placards against Brazil's President Michel Temer, which read "Out Temer." | Photo: Reuters

Published 13 December 2016 (1 hours 16 minutes ago)

The controversial constitutional amendment institutionalizes neoliberal austerity and will hit poor and marginalized Brazilians hardest.
Amid massive protests, Brazil's Senate approved Tuesday a controversial constitutional ammendment that will freeze public spending for 20 years with major impacts on basic services including education, health care and housing.

Promoted by unelected President Michel Temer, the constitutional amendment known as PEC 55 passed by a margin of 53 to 16. The amendment will cap federal spending in line with inflation for the next two decades. While it has been touted as helping the South American country tackle its budget deficit, critics argue it marks one of the greatest attacks on constitutional rights in decades.

The vote Tuesday was widely expected to pass with ease after Senate head Renan Calheiros, a Temer ally, was allowed last week to keep his position in the name of driving forward economic reforms despite a court injunction calling for his removal. The proposal was first approved in the Senate on Nov. 29 with 61 votes in favor and 14 against after passing through the lower house of Congress with similar support.

Various social movements, labor unions and opposition lawmakers have rejected PEC 55, previously known has PEC 241, on the basis that it reverses all the social gains — including advancements in health care, education and social security — that the left-wing governments of Luiz Inacio "Lula" da Silva and Dilma Rousseff introduced over the past 13 years.

Critics also argue the proposal attacks fundamental rights enshrined in the country's constitution, written in the early years after the return to democracy upon the fall of the dictatorship in 1985.

In the latest wave of protests, thousands of public sector workers took to the streets Monday in Rio de Janeiro to reject austerity policies. Students have also been on the front lines of resistance against PEC 55 with protests across multiple states in recent weeks demanding a stop to the assault on public education. More mass demonstrations were planned to protest Tuesday's vote.

On Friday, United Nations Special Rapporteur on Extreme Poverty and Human Rights, Phillip Alston, called PEC 55 "a radical measure, devoid of any nuance and compassion."

"It will affect much more strongly the poorest and most vulnerable Brazilians," he added, according to AVN News. "For Brazil, social rights will not be the priority over the next 20 years."

http://www.telesurtv.net/english/news/Brazil-Just-Passed-20-Year-Spending-Freeze-Thatll-Punish-Poor-20161213-0004.html

A model for capitalists everywhere. Why 'a thousand cuts' when ya can use a meat cleaver?

It'll be done differently here but the results will be the same.

The hubris of the ruling class seems directly correlated to their growing wealth. Do they have that much faith in TV and Facebook?

Dhalgren

12-13-2016, 12:12 PM

A model for capitalists everywhere. Why 'a thousand cuts' when ya can use a meat cleaver?

It'll be done differently here but the results will be the same.

The hubris of the ruling class seems directly correlated to their growing wealth. Do they have that much faith in TV and Facebook?

What will this do to BRICS? Does the new, regime mean that they move closer to US/EU now?

blindpig

12-13-2016, 12:54 PM

What will this do to BRICS? Does the new, regime mean that they move closer to US/EU now?

Well, they are all capitalists....it seems that only China is fully committed to sovereignty.

Tough time to be a leftist government in a capitalist world. If ya don't pull the trigger on expropriating the means of production they remain a weapon in the hands of the enemy. If ya do it you invite the shitstorm with no Soviet Union to give ya shelter.

Which throws the ball back into the court of we in the imperial core.

blindpig

12-15-2016, 08:09 AM

Brazil: Key Temer Aid Resigns As Scandal Closes In

http://www.telesurtv.net/__export/1481796681681/sites/telesur/img/2016/12/13/temer.jpg_1718483346.jpg
Embattled Brazilian President Michael Temer | Photo: Reuters

Published 15 December 2016

Key aide and lifelong friend, Jose Yunes, is the closest Temer ally to fall to corruption charges, and the seventh resignation in six months.
On Tuesday José Yunes, a key aide and lifelong friend to embattled Brazilian President Michel Temer, resigned in the wake of testimony that he had accepted a US$1.2 million dollar bribe on behalf of Temer.

Yunes, who was Temer's lawyer before being appointed as a "special advisor" to the President after the parliamentary coup which brought Temer to power in July, was reportedly named during plea bargained testimony of a former executive of the Brazilian construction giant Odebrecht, the company at the heart of the "Car Wash" scandal.

The resignation of one of Temer's closest confidants comes in the wake of allegations last week that the President himself received almost US$3 million in illegal campaign contributions. While he denies the allegation, Yunes said he was resigning to "preserve his dignity" and in the hopes that his resignation will help Temer pursue his austerity agenda.

That agenda hit a milestone on Tuesday as Brazil’s parliament passed a vicious 20-year ban on any social spending, a decision which the U.N. Special Rapporteur on extreme poverty and human rights called an "historic mistake." Thousands of Brazilians have protested the measure, with dozens arrested, as Temer's popularity has hit all-time lows, with only 10 percent approving of his plans to end social spending and cut state pensions. Almost 65 percent of Brazilians want Temer to resign immediately.

Yunes' resignation comes as speculation increases that Minister of Civil Infrastructure, Wellington Moreira Franco, has also submitted a resignation letter after himself being named in the Odebrecht plea bargain. Franco’s resignation could be a significant blow to Temer's plans to privatize most of Brazil’s public infrastructure.

In July and August, Temer led a parliamentary coup against democratically elected President Dilma Rousseff who he and others accused of corruption, despite Rousseff having been cleared of all charges by an independent investigator. Soon after her impeachment, several coup leaders were recorded admitting that the move against Rousseff was an attempt to end the "Car Wash" investigation into political corruption.

http://www.telesurtv.net/english/news/Brazil-Key-Temer-Aid-Resigns-As-Scandal-Closes-In-20161215-0003.html

Video at link.

*****************************

Protests Erupt in Brazil as 20 Years of Harsh Austerity Imposed

Published 14 December 2016 (22 hours 56 minutes ago)

Brazil's move to cap public spending for two decades has sparked outrage from students, social movements and labor unions.
Thousands of people poured into the streets in at least 15 cities across Brazil Tuesday to protest the Senate’s approval of a controversial austerity plan being pushed by unelected President Michel Temer to limit public spending and institutionalize neoliberalism for the next two decades.

The biggest demonstrations were held in the capital, Brasilia, and major cities like Sao Paulo, Rio de Janeiro, Salvador, and Porto Alegre, where protesters faced a harsh crackdown by riot police and clashes erupted leaving several injured and dozens arrested.

Brazil’s Senate approved the constitutional amendment, known as PEC 55, by a vote of 53 to 16 on Tuesday. It is expected to become law on Thursday. The amendment freezes federal spending to inflation for two decades in a move critics say undermines basic constitutional rights.

Police fired tear gas to disperse the protesters, who argue that PEC 55 will affect the poorest people in the country with cuts to government expenditures on social programs, especially in health and education.

The spending legislation was approved despite the fact that nearly 60 percent of Brazilians oppose it, according to polls, and despite the fact that it was called “inappropriate” by the United Nations special rapporteur on extreme poverty and human rights, Philip Alston.

“It is completely inappropriate to freeze only social expenditure and to tie the hands of all future governments for another two decades,” Alston said. "This amendment will place Brazil in a socially retrogressive category all of its own."

Meanwhile social movements, political organizations and grassroots groups have already announced that more protests can be expected across Brazil in coming days.

President Temer, who backed the parliamentary coup against former President Dilma Rousseff, has already introduced a series of sweeping privatization proposals and pushed for major cuts to social programs, including a controversial pension reform plan, since he was sworn in as president in August.

The unelected government faces very low approval ratings among Brazilians. Despite the fact that nearly two-thirds of Brazilians think Temer should resign by the end of the year, according to polls, he is scheduled to complete Rousseff’s presidential term until the next election in late 2018. His government is also promoting corruption accusations against former President Luiz Inacio "Lula" da Silva, who is the odds-on favorite to recapture the presidency.

http://www.telesurtv.net/english/news/Protests-Erupt-in-Brazil-as-20-Years-of-Harsh-Austerity-Imposed-20161214-0010.html

Video at link.

*************************

New Leak Implicates Brazil President In Petrobras Scandal

http://www.telesurtv.net/__export/1481337391616/sites/telesur/img/news/2016/12/09/download.jpg_1718483346.jpg
Brazil's interim President Michel Temer reacts during a meeting of the presentation of economic measures, at the Planalto Palace in Brasilia, Brazil, May 24, 2016. | Photo: Reuters

Published 9 December 2016

Brazilian President Michel Temer has been directly linked to the largest corruption scandal in Brazilian history with state-run oil company Petrobras.
Brazil's President Michel Temer received more than US$3 million from the country's largest construction company Odebrecht, which has been found guilty of paying politicians in exchange for multimillion dollar contracts, according to Brazil's Veja magazine.

The information is based on declarations from Odebrecht's former Institutional Relations Director, Claudio Nieto Filho, who in exchange for a weaker sentence agreed with the Federal Police to provide the names of every politician and businessman who took part in the scheme.

According to Nieto's confession, in 2014 Temer asked Marcelo Odebrecht, head of the construction company, for 10 million reales (US$3 million), which was delivered in cash.

The total amount was also paid to current Chief of Staff Eliseu Padilha and presidential adviser Jose Yunes.

Odebrecht is currently in prison serving a 20-year sentence for his involvement in the Petrobras corruption scandal.

The 82-page report leaked Friday explains how the largest contractor in the country bought members of the Executive and Legislative, and also includes testimonies from 77 other informants.

Nieto included emails, phone bills and conversations to prove his allegations. Among these include Eduardo Cunha, the indicted former president of the Lower House, and Renan Calheiros, the indicted head of the Senate, among other top politicians.

However, Temer has denied any involvement. "Donations from the construction company Odebrecht to the PMDB party were done by bank transaction and declared to the Electoral Tribunal," Temer said in a statement.

http://www.telesurtv.net/english/news/New-Leak-Implicates-Brazil-President-In-Petrobras-Scandal-20161209-0024.html

blindpig

12-22-2016, 08:51 AM

Police join anti-austerity rally in Rio de Janeiro
Wed Dec 21, 2016 10:37AMl

Brazilian police and public sector employees in Rio de Janeiro have staged a rally to protest against the government’s austerity plan which won the Senate’s endorsement last week.

On Tuesday, workers rallied outside the state legislative assembly. The protesters were particularly angry at the approval of a controversial amendment to the constitution.

Members of the police force also joined the anti-austerity march. Security forces, who had previously clashed with the demonstrators, joined the chorus, chanting, "Here comes civil police” and held banners that read "Police die for the people.”

Some police officers even embraced the protesters and took pictures with them. They also handed out flowers to the demonstrators as a symbol of unity.

Some of the protesters were dressed in Santa clothes and hats, implying they had not received their Christmas bonuses.

Opponents argue that the proposed austerity measures would result in wage and pension cuts, tax increases and the suspension of social programs. They also complain that the measures have impacted the already underfunded education and health sectors.

State officials, however, remain defiant. They argue that the proposed measures are necessary to tame the financial crisis that has been afflicting the state.

President Michel Temer has asserted that tough measures are needed to bring Brazil's finances back under control.

Last week, anti-government rallies were held across several cities.

In Rio de Janeiro, a marching crowd chanted slogans against President Temer’s unelected government. Similar rallies were held in the capital Brasilia and Sao Paulo, where the demonstrators clashed with police.

Brazil is experiencing its worst recession in decades.

http://www.presstv.ir/Detail/2016/12/21/500809/BrazilRio

Video at link.

blindpig

02-01-2017, 07:22 AM

Brazil plans to cut almost $ 1.5 billion budget

http://www.telesurtv.net/__export/1485915456003/sites/telesur/img/news/2017/01/31/dyogo_oliveira_31-01-2017_brasil_gov.jpg_1718483347.jpg
The Brazilian government plans to continue to reduce spending. | Photo: brasil.gov.br

Published 31 January 2017

The year 2016 was the country's third consecutive year of deficit. By 2017 the federal government has considered an even greater reduction of expenses.

Brazil's government plans to cut four billion six hundred million reais ($ 1.5 billion) from its 2017 budget, said Planning Minister Dyogo Oliveira. The minister believes that this reduction is necessary because the federal government spent in 2016 less than expected.

The measure is in line with the expenditure limit rule, a regulation approved at the end of last year and that limits annual public spending to those of the previous year. The regulations only leave provisions to accommodate increases due to inflation and will affect the budgets of the next 20 years.

The budget for 2017 was already approved by the Government last December, but now that the final closure is known, it will be necessary to make the cut.

The portfolios concerned will be staff costs, discretionary amendments and social security. In addition, Oliveira said that the Government will not open new places in public administration this year.

The measure is in line with the Brazilian government's goal of reducing public spending. For 2017 the objective is to limit the deficit to 139 billion reais (about 44 million dollars).

http://www.telesurtv.net/news/Brasil-planea-recortar-casi-1.500-millones-de-presupuesto-20170131-0057.html

Coming to a budget near you soon.

blindpig

02-03-2017, 12:23 PM

Brazil's No.1 Amazon Enemy Wants Multinational Land Takeover

http://www.telesurtv.net/__export/1486076197833/sites/telesur/img/news/2017/02/02/temerrr.jpg_1718483346.jpg
Brazil's interim President Michel Temer (R) talks with his Agriculture Minister Blairo Maggi during a Global Agribusiness Forum in Sao Paulo, Brazil July 4 2016. | Photo: Reuters

Published 2 February 2017

In 2005, Greenpeace awarded the current agriculture minister their Golden Chainsaw award, branding him the "person who most contributed to Amazon destruction."
Brazil could pass a law by the end of June to lift limits on foreign purchases of agricultural land, the Agriculture Minister said in an interview.

The bill, which still has to go before Congress, would end an effective ban on major foreign ownership of agricultural land imposed in 2010 under leftist former-President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva.

The move is part of a series of neoliberal measures imposed by the government of President Michel Temer, which since coming to power in August 2016 has sought to rapidly dismantle the gains of subsequent Workers’ Party, or PT, governments.

"There will be changes," said billionaire Agriculture Minister Blairo Maggi in an interview in his office in Brasilia on Wednesday

Asked if the bill could pass in the first half of 2017, Maggi, who has been accused of systematically destroying large swathes of the Amazon rainforest, said “it could.”

A former soy farmer who grew his business into the largest producer in the country before becoming governor of the agricultural state of Mato Grosso, Maggi has long riled environmentalists who accuse him of overseeing vast deforestation.

In 2005, Greenpeace awarded him their Golden Chainsaw award, "for the Brazilian person who most contributed to Amazon destruction."

In defense of his reforms since coming to power in the coup government, Maggi said they would look to support foreign investment in agricultural products with longer production cycles, rather than promoting speculation.

Restrictions could apply to soy, corn and other crops which are harvested the same year as they are planted, he said.

But he has staunchly dismissed the idea, proposed by some, that 10 percent of proceeds from any foreign land purchase go toward land reform to benefit landless farmers and peasants.

"It won't work. I'm against that. It's a penalty for the person to come here, a tax," he said.

"One of the things that most affects the results of producers is bureaucracy, rules passed years ago that make very little sense today and cost money to adhere to," he added.

His ministry has identified about 200 rules and regulations that are judged to be antiquated or inefficient. These will be updated to try and reduce the cost to producers.

"Leave the market freer so that it can run faster!" he said.

http://www.telesurtv.net/english/news/Brazils-No.1-Amazon-Enemy-Wants-Multinational-Land-Takeover--20170202-0040.html

Can the uselessness of 'Golden Chainsaws' be any more evident? Capitalism or Nature, choose!

Dhalgren

02-03-2017, 01:15 PM

Can the uselessness of 'Golden Chainsaws' be any more evident? Capitalism or Nature, choose!

There isn't anything other than capitalism - don't you know? Everybody is striking while the iron is hot. The Insane Clown President over in Washington has given everyone the high-sign. Make a killing while there's still something to kill! With all the moronic shit coming down, he human race may not out last the Trump regime...

blindpig

02-03-2017, 02:35 PM

There isn't anything other than capitalism - don't you know? Everybody is striking while the iron is hot. The Insane Clown President over in Washington has given everyone the high-sign. Make a killing while there's still something to kill! With all the moronic shit coming down, he human race may not out last the Trump regime...

The shit is coming so thick and fast and on so many fronts that we are being overwhelmed, which is probably 'shock&awe, no accident. The thing we must hammer on is that this ain't about Trump, that this is how capitalism is without the bullshit and varnish. Perhaps the idea of a kinder, gentler capitalism, managed by the benevolent Democratic Party can be buried. After all, it is widely recognized that they are the ones who got the Donald elected, too clever by half, and that should be hammered too.

Dhalgren

02-03-2017, 05:09 PM

The shit is coming so thick and fast and on so many fronts that we are being overwhelmed, which is probably 'shock&awe, no accident. The thing we must hammer on is that this ain't about Trump, that this is how capitalism is without the bullshit and varnish. Perhaps the idea of a kinder, gentler capitalism, managed by the benevolent Democratic Party can be buried. After all, it is widely recognized that they are the ones who got the Donald elected, too clever by half, and that should be hammered too.

You are absolutely correct. Trump is a product of capitalism. If capitalism chews him up, it will simply produce another. How crazy or unpredictable the latest "Headman" is, is nothing but the capacity of capitalism to accommodate anything in the pursuit of profit. The monster isn't in the White House, the monster built the White House...

blindpig

02-11-2017, 02:28 PM

can't make it up...

Architect of Rousseff Impeachment Arrested on Corruption Charges Declares that He Has An Aneurysm
02/08/2017 -

At a hearing on Tuesday (the 7th), former Congressman Eduardo Cunha read a letter to Juiz Sergio Moro. He declares that he has an aneurysm, complains about lack of medical care, and says that those arrested as part of the so-called Car Wash Operation are in danger in the prisons where they are being held.

In the letter, he refers to the investigation as being a political process: "Speak to the authorities who were responsible for the impeachment of our former Brazilian president [Dilma Rousseff] to defend the legality of our country. It isn't my imprisonment that will prevent me from voicing my opinions", he said.

Cunha hand wrote the letter on pages in a notebook, from his cell at the Medical Penal Complex in Pinhais, where he has been held for nearly four months.

Regarding the aneurysm, the former congressman says that he is "suffering from the same condition as that which happened to former first lady Marisa Letícia, a cerebral aneurism".

He continued: "The prison where we stay doesn't have the minimum facilities necessary for taking care of someone who is ill. Throughout many nights prisoners continue screaming, without any success, for medical assistance, and aren't even heard by the few guards that stay there during the night".

For Cunha, he and other Car Wash prisoners are "absolutely in danger" because they are "mixed in with prisoners condemned for unmanageable violence".

He says that he is treated in prison with "respect and dignity", but complains that "there is no compliance with the law on criminal procedures". In the end, he requested that Moro allow him to remain at liberty while awaiting arraignment.

This was the first time that he has had an audience with Moro. The former congressman and defendant is charged with receiving R$5 million (US$ 1,6 million) in bribes in bank accounts in Switzerland, related to Petrobras oil exploration contracts in Africa.

He had allegedly been the intermediary on behalf of the company that was awarded the business. Cunha denies any irregularities and says that that the accounts belong to trusts and received legal deposits of financial resource

http://www1.folha.uol.com.br/internacional/en/brazil/2017/02/1856876-8242architect8242-of-rousseff-impeachment-arrested-on-corruption-charges-declares-to-have-an-aneurism.shtml

What's going on with these ruling class assholes? Just when we were getting used to lies thin as tissue now the lies are measured in micro-microns. Do they think TV works that well?

Dhalgren

02-12-2017, 09:35 AM

He continued: "The prison where we stay doesn't have the minimum facilities necessary for taking care of someone who is ill. Throughout many nights prisoners continue screaming, without any success, for medical assistance, and aren't even heard by the few guards that stay there during the night".

Where was this pandejo last year, five years ago? He thinks the prison system just got "bad" for him? Piss on this shit-wad. Let him eat fucking cake.

blindpig

02-12-2017, 10:14 AM

Where was this pandejo last year, five years ago? He thinks the prison system just got "bad" for him? Piss on this shit-wad. Let him eat fucking cake.

Not all the tiny violins in the world can express my contempt for this ruling class cunt. He would happily condemn thousands of workers to the same fate, he should stay there forever.

blindpig

03-04-2017, 07:56 AM

Solidarity with comrade Taly Nayandra of the Brazilian Communist Party (PCB)

https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-eXGHTPZo5ic/WLnfpYYK3oI/AAAAAAAACYM/UFto8tEThKswJCvTsQupRdTA43c6FeWswCLcB/s320/Taly%2BNayandra.jpg

With a statement, the Brazilian Communist Party (Partido Comunista Brasileiro) strongly denounces the brutality of the Brazilian Military Police against the PCB and Communist Youth Union's member Taly Nayandra Figueira dos Santos.

A indigenous activist and militant communist, Nayandra has been a candidate for vice-mayor in the city of Manaus, in the region of Amazonas.

According to the PCB, comrade Taly Nayandra was arrested by the local Military Police on Saturday 25th of February and suffered physical and psychological torture for more than an hour.

Nayandra was placed in a room alone and was severely beaten by police officers with punches, face slaps and kicks, while she was also psychologically battered. After all this torture, she was left alone in a street of São Raimundo neighborhood in Manaus.

The Amazonas organisation of the Brazilian Communist Party (PCB-AM) reiterates its support for comrade Taly Nayandra, expresses solidarity and repudiates the aggression that she has suffered. According to the PCB, it is evident that the reasons behind Nayandra's arrest and torture are strictly political and chauvinist.

"Such a situation is unacceptable. We are waiting for a response from the Military Police about what happened and we will make the necessary decisions so that one more crime does not go unpunished" says the statement of the Amazonas organisation of the PCB.

KKE condemns the arrest of Taly Nayandra.
Info: 902.gr.

With a message to the PCB, the Communist Party of Greece (KKE) condemns the arbitrary arrest of the Brazilian communist.

More specifically "the KKE expresses its solidarity to comrade Taly Nayandra and the Brazilian Communist Party. The state and federal authorities of the country bear big responsibilities. The case must be elucidated and an exemplary punishment of the perpetrators must take place. No act of intimidation, criminalization or restriction of communist action will pass".

https://communismgr.blogspot.gr/2017/03/solidarity-with-comrade-taly-nayandra.html

A lot more of this coming.

blindpig

03-04-2017, 09:15 AM

Make Brazil Great Again: Top Leftists Want Lula as President

http://www.telesurtv.net/__export/1488592957798/sites/telesur/img/news/2017/03/03/lula.jpg_1718483346.jpg
Former Brazilian President Lula da Silva at a Workers Party conference. | Photo: Reuters

Published 3 March 2017

Slamming President Michel Temer’s administration, the petition speaks out against the current state of affairs in the South American country.
Over 400 notable Brazilian intellectuals, artists and political activists signed a petition titled “Letter of the Brazilians,” calling on former president Lula da Silva to consider launching his candidacy for the presidential elections next year.

Those who signed the petition include theologian and writer Leonardo Boff, journalist and writer Fernando de Morais, writer Eric Nepomuceno, political scientist Emir Sader and Landless Workers Movement, MST, leader João Pedro Stedile, Brazil de Fato reports.

Also included are notable musicians Chico Buarque, Beth Carvalho and Martinho da Vila as well as actors and actresses Marieta Severo, Dira Paes and Bete Mendes.

“We ask former President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva to consider the possibility of launching his candidacy for the Presidency of the Republic next year, as a way of guaranteeing the Brazilian people the dignity, pride and autonomy they have lost,” the petition reads.

“He was a worker, a poor son of the Northeast, who assumed the Presidency of the Republic a few years ago and gave a substantive and authentic meaning to the Brazilian democracy.”

The petition, which was launched on Friday, is expected to go public on Monday. It will be available online for all Brazilians to sign.

Slamming Temer’s administration, the petition speaks out against the current state of affairs in Brazil. Since he took office in August 2016, the Brazilian government has cut social spending, increased foreign investment, and implemented environmental deregulation.

Temer’s administration has also witnessed an increase in police violence against Black and Indigenous communities and urban poverty.

“There is no democracy in hunger, in the absence of effective political participation, without quality education and health, without decent housing, in the end, without social inclusion,” the petition adds.

“Why Lula? Because it is still necessary to include many people and to re-include those who have been banished again; because it is important to distribute with all Brazilians what Brazilians produce. Brazil needs Lula!”

Lula, an extremely popular two-term president who left office in January 2011, was called “the most successful politician of his time” by the London Review of Books.

Through his administration, the socialist leader improved worker’s rights laws, created anti-hunger programs, established water filtration systems across the country and implemented a basic income for impoverished families — all while improving the country’s economy.

From 2003 to 2011, Lula was able to bring down inflation, increase job growth, and pay off foreign debts owed by Brazil for centuries. Many of his policies were continued under the administration of former president Dilma Rousseff, who was impeached in 2016 for her alleged involvement in corruption scandals.

http://www.telesurtv.net/english/news/Make-Brazil-Great-Again-Top-Leftists-Want-Lula-as-President-20170303-0027.html

Go to link for brief video of Brazil's 'Soviet Parade'.

**********************************

Brazil's Temer Could Face Impeachment as Key Witness Testifies in Fraud Case

http://www.telesurtv.net/__export/1488395175119/sites/telesur/img/news/2017/03/01/untitled_design_x1x.png_1718483346.png
President Michel Temer (L), who is banned from running for office for eight years, could face a political trial after Marcelo Odebrecht's statements. | Photo: Reuters

Published 1 March 2017

The jailed former head of Odebrecht might cause yet another political uproar with his statements.

Businessman Marcelo Odebrecht was set to testify Wednesday in front of Brazil's top electoral court as a witness in a trial seeking to investigate President Michel Temer for alleged abuse of electoral laws during the 2014 presidential campaign, when he was former President Dilma Rousseff's running mate.

According to previous testimony by Odebrecht, his company had paid Temer contributions in exchange for political favors.

The testimony also brings into question Rousseff, who was deposed last year in process — led by allies of Temer, her former vice president — widely criticized as a a parliamentary coup.

While Temer has been banned for running for office for eight years over electoral fraud charges, Rousseff was never accused of financial impropriety or personal enrichment.

Odebrecht, former CEO of Brazil's largest construction conglomerate of the same name, is currently serving a 19-year prison sentence after being charged with corruption last year as part of the country's largest anti-corruption probe, known as Operation Car Wash. His statement, to be delivered to Herman Benjamin of the High Electoral Court, is part of a plea bargain deal to negotiate a lighter sentence. Plea bargains have been key in the success of the Car Wash investigations that have implicated dozens of politicians and corporate elites.

Imprisoned since June 2015 in Curitiba, Odebrecht reached an agreement with legal authorities, in which he presented a list and figures of politicians and business figures his company bribed as part of the corruption scheme in the state-run oil company Petrobras.

The hearings were authorized by Minister Edson Fachin, who is the lead rapporteur for the Car Wash investigation in the federal Supreme Court.

If statements from Odebrecht and his former colleagues confirm that the origin of the politician's campaign contributions were not legal, the testimony could lay the groundwork for a possible impeachment process against President Temer, who is already barred from running for office in the next election.

However, given that leaked wiretaps revealed that the impeachment against Rousseff had more to do with protecting corruption of the country's political elite than prosecuting it — together with reinstating conservative political power that could not be won at the ballot box — it is unlikely that further fraud allegations against the unelected president will push Temer's allies in Congress to support a move for his impeachment.

Temer and several close allies and members of his Cabinet are involved in the corruption investigation, which has targeted politicians who benefited from bribery networks operating through the state-run oil company Petrobras and the construction company Odebrecht.

Odebrecht officials have been found guilty of leading a worldwide bribery scheme paying millions to "intermediaries" to secure contracts in a dozen countries.

http://www.telesurtv.net/english/news/Brazils-Temer-Could-Face-Impeachment-as-Key-Witness-Testifies-20170301-0015.html

Video at link.

blindpig

03-16-2017, 09:49 AM

Brazilians react to austerity

http://youtu.be/y6FH0DDryS8

blindpig

03-17-2017, 10:14 AM

“No return to slavery!”: A million take to the streets against Temer’s Neoliberal Reforms

March 15th 2017 saw the biggest demonstrations yet against the Post-Coup Government of Michel Temer. Called a “Day of Paralysation & Mobilisation”, a rare general strike, with public transport frozen in many parts of Brazil, was combined with massive street protests across the country, which were not confined to major cities. Despite being midweek, an estimated total of one million people participated around the country.

As has come to be expected, there has been minimal or no coverage from Brazil hegemonic media, and almost zero internationally. While reversals to decades of advances in workers rights and living standards are depicted by mouthpieces of transnational capital such as the Economist as positive reforms, angry Brazilians on the streets were calling them a “return to slavery”.

Called by Frente Brasil Popular and Povo Sem Medo, CUT Trade Union, various Social Movements and Left Parties, the strike closed Ports, Metros, Bus Terminals, Post Offices and Schools. It was the most significant show of resistance yet to the accelerated Neoliberal Programme that Brazil now faces, which includes an unprecedented 20 year constitutional freeze on public education and health spending and mass privatisations of resources and public patrimony.

Central to this programme is pension reform, something long demanded by the international markets, which will increase retirement age to beyond life expectancy for much of the population, and will equalise the retirement ages for women and men. What this will mean in effect, is only the wealthy will be able to afford to retire.

Put simply, should Temer’s proposals come into law, most Brazilians will die before reaching retirement.

The politicians pushing this through the legislature do so in the hope that the population will not understand that their rights are being taken away, and Temer’s PMDB have contracted right-wing pro-impeachment group MBL to try and convince an uninformed public that these and other cuts to their social security are essential to Brazil’s future.

In response, social movements put together this video, with narration by one of Brazil’s most well known actors Wagner Moura, to explain what the reforms mean to them.

At the biggest demonstration, in Sao Paulo, former President, and front runner in polls for the 2018 election, Lula da Silva spoke against the pension reforms and enforced austerity that Temer’s unelected Government is forcing through without the consent of the electorate.

Organisers and independent sources estimated around 200,000 attendees at the demonstration on Avenida Paulista. Pro-Coup TV Globo had claimed just two blocks of protesters, which was quickly debunked by photographic & video documentation.

In Belo Horizonte, an estimated 150,000 demonstrators joined the protest, in Rio de Janeiro, 100,000, in Curitiba 60,000, Fortaleza 50,000, Recife 40,000. Campo Grande and the capital Brasilia received an estimated 20,000, some 1500 from the landless workers movement MST of whom occupied the Economic Ministry to protest against the reforms to pensions and workers rights.

In both Sao Paulo and Rio de Janeiro, Military Police were eventually sent in to disperse protesters with “moral effect” bombs & tear gas.

Latest photos & video from around Brazil on 15M 2017

http://youtu.be/8VUIE7wKh-g

http://www.brasilwire.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/03/17353473_10154917862161578_5176642351388396556_n-360x193.jpg
http://www.brasilwire.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/03/RioJlivres1-360x193.jpg
http://www.brasilwire.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/03/SalvadorJlivres-360x193.jpg
http://www.brasilwire.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/03/LulaPaulistaJlivres-360x193.png
http://www.brasilwire.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/03/17264733_10154917862376578_8306276945430247215_n-360x193.jpg
http://www.brasilwire.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/03/BeloHorizonteJlivres-360x193.png

http://www.brasilwire.com/1m-brazilians-take-to-the-streets-against-temers-neoliberal-reforms/

Other photos at link.

Can we do this?

blindpig

03-24-2017, 12:09 PM

Brazil Votes to Outsource Jobs, Weakening Labor Rights

http://www.telesurtv.net/__export/1490236555408/sites/telesur/img/news/2017/03/22/brazil_reuters_3.jpg_1718483346.jpg_1718483346.jpg
Federal workers clash with riot police during a protest against the government and a plan that will limit public spending in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, Nov. 16, 2016. | Photo: Reuters

Published 22 March 2017

Unions argued it will make employment more precarious and increase the ranks of the 12 million unemployed in Latin America's largest economy.
The lower house of the Brazilian Congress passed a bill Wednesday to allow companies to outsource any job, a first move that was fiercely opposed by labor unions.

The bill, approved 231-188 after heated debate, also extends to nine months from three the maximum duration of temporary work contracts, lowering costs for employers at the expense of its workers.

The bill was opposed by congressional leftists led by the Workers' Party, which held up a proposal first past in 1998 during its 13 years in power that ended last year with the impeachment of President Dilma Rousseff.

Another outsourcing bill will be put to the vote in the Senate in coming days, giving Senate-imposed President Michel Temer a choice of legislation to sign into law.

On the same day, the government also postponed a much-awaited decision on potential budget freezes and tax hikes for this year, saying the final numbers depend on upcoming court rulings that are expected to help the government raise revenues.

Meanwhile, Brazil's Attorney General Rodrigo Janot asked the Supreme Court to open a probe against at least nine of Temer's Cabinet ministers after they were accused by former executives of the construction giant Odebrecht of having benefited from corruption bribes.

http://www.telesurtv.net/english/news/Brazil-Votes-to-Outsource-Jobs-Weakening-Labor-Rights-20170322-0032.html

**************************

No Negotiating Labor Rights in Post-Coup Brazil: Union Leader
By: Brian Mier

http://www.telesurtv.net/__export/1490026757206/sites/telesur/img/news/2017/03/20/brazil_labor_protest.jpg_1718483346.jpg
Demonstrators protest during a strike against Brazilian Social Welfare reform project, in Curitiba. | Photo: Reuters

Published 20 March 2017

Brian Meier speaks to Brazilian labor leader Douglas Izzo about the state of labor organizing amid the country's political turmoil.
On March 15, an estimated 1 million Brazilians took to the streets in cities across the country to protest unelected president Michel Temer’s proposed retirement reforms which could elevate the retirement age as high as 74 years. Hundreds of union locals held a one day work stoppage and the teachers’ union initiated a national strike.

The protest was organized by a coalition of social movements, left political parties and union federations called the Frente Brasil Popular or FBP. The largest organization within the FBP is the Central Unica dos Trabalhadores, or CUT, the country’s largest labor union federation and the World’s fifth largest labor body, with nearly 8 million members. Arising out of a series of successful strikes during the late 1970s and early 1980s that started in the industrial ABC region of Greater São Paulo and spread nationwide, it is generally attributed as one of the key factors in bringing down the military dictatorship of 1964-1985.

What differentiated CUT from other labor federations of the time was its break from the PC do B, the Brazilian communist party, and from dictatorship-recognized unions that were perceived as having a cozy relationship with the corporate sector. Luiz Inacio “Lula” da Silva, president of the ABC region metallurgical workers union at the time, had a key role in the strikes and their success led to the formation of the Partido dos Trabalhadores, also known as the Workers’ Party or PT. To this day, CUT membership represents the largest group of base level support for the PT party, and many former CUT officials have gone on to careers in politics.

Although the ABC region has been partially de-industrialized in the following 34 years, it still represents the core region of union activity in Brazil, and the São Paulo chapter of CUT is the nation’s largest, representing around 2 million union workers.

Douglas Izzo grew up in Diadema, a poor industrial suburb in the ABC region. He started his career as a metalurgical worker during the 1980s and participated in a series of strikes. In the 1990s he went to college, got a degree in sociology, started teaching and became a teachers union leader. In 2015 he was elected as president of the São Paulo chapter of CUT.

I sat down with him one week before the national protests on March 9 in the São Paulo CUT headquarters to talk about the position of organized labor in the current political environment.

Although CUT represents around 8 million workers today, it was nearly twice as large during the 1980s. Why are industrial jobs in decline in Brazil and why has CUT’s membership fallen?

The decrease in industrial jobs is a worldwide phenomenon and not something restricted to the Brazilian economy. Important sectors of society became automated. Metallurgical production automated and it takes fewer workers to make an automobile than it did in the 1980s. Around 80 percent of Brazil’s financial sector workers are affiliated with our federation and the bank clerks also suffered a massive decline due to automation.

It is also important to emphasize that there has been a process of industrial fragmentation in Brazil and in other countries around the world. Companies flee from cities with strong unions and often receive economic incentives to move to places with low levels of union organization where they can pay workers half of what they would receive in the ABC region. São Paulo used to have a much higher contribution to the GDP from industry than it does today. But it diminished considerably while the commercial and service sectors are growing. Another factor is that when CUT arose in the 1980s there were only two national union federations. Today there are six official federations plus another four that aren’t yet recognized by the national labor Ministry.

Some American academics and journalists say that the PT party’s policies were the primary factor in the drop in union membership. In your opinion as the spokesperson of 2 million union members in São Paulo, how were Dilma and Lula’s performances on labor issues?

It’s obvious that the Lula and Dilma administrations were unable to resolve all the contentious labor conflicts in Brazil. But it is also incontestable that during the Lula and Dilma administrations we successfully engaged in a struggle to increase our labor rights. In the current context, we are fighting maintain the rights that we achieved during the past 100 years as they are systematically dismantled. So there is a difference and it is brutal.

During the period of Lula’s government, the number of strikes decreased somewhat because over 80 percent of our salary campaigns resulted in above-inflation level raises. The monthly minimum wage, which was less than US$78 when Lula took office, rose to over US$300 by the time of the coup against Dilma Rousseff. And back in 2002, the unions were fighting to raise the minimum wage to US$100 a month. So we have to recognize that there were significant advances during this period.

In the education sector, where I work we had large increases in the government’s mandatory contribution to the preschool, elementary school and high school systems. The federal government created a national minimum salary for teachers. The national education plan was ratified, mandating that as of 2022, 10 percent of the GDP would be allocated to the public education system using profits from Petrobras’ offshore pre-salt oil reserves.

There was a series of important advances for the working class but there were still a lot of strikes and conflicts, as much against the Lula and Dilma governments as against PT-controlled state and municipal offices because our federation values union freedom and autonomy in relation to political parties, governments and religion. So we at CUT do not have any problem confronting governments, regardless of what political party is in control and this is how we behaved during 13 years of Dilma and Lula’s administrations.

How many strikes did CUT organize during those years?

I can speak for CUT São Paulo, which organizes workers here in this state. There were important strikes against PT mayoral administrations. Here in São Paulo City the public workers went on strike against PT mayor Fernando Haddad’s administration and the São Paulo City teachers’ union held three strikes during his four-year term. São Bernardo was run by PT Mayor Luis Marinho, who was also a federal minister and CUT’s national president.

During his two terms the CUT-affiliated municipal workers’ union went on strike 5 times. We also held municipal workers’ strikes in other important cities in the ABC region that were governed by the PT party such as Santo Andre and Maua. And we did this naturally because we separate the relationships we have between the political parties, the governments and the union movement. But it is also important to note that during the 13 years of PT governance over 80 percent of the labor force had annual above-inflation salary increases.

Another difference between the current coup government and previous governments is the way we are treated. During the Lula and Dilma administrations, the government created spaces for dialogue between the business community, the government and the unions to discuss labor and retirement reforms. So before any proposal was ever sent to Congress there was an ample debate among different sectors of society that no longer exists. Today, the government says it wants to negotiate with the union federations but at the same time that government officials give interviews saying they are negotiating with the unions, the Minister of the Interior goes to Congress and says that if any changes whatsoever are made to pension reform they should reject it. So there is no negotiation whatsoever.

How would you respond to the accusations that some people make that the PT party coopted CUT?

The answer is that CUT held numerous strikes against federal, state, and city governments run by the PT party. What our political adversaries, mainly on the left, refuse to admit is that during the Lula and Dilma governments the doors were open for conversation. And when the door is open to talk you don’t have to kick it down.

Another important point is that there were colleagues who left CUT, saying that it sold out, who haven’t built anything significant. And CUT continues fighting and remains the largest reference of struggle for the Brazilian working class.

The Brazilian media narrative, often echoed in the international media, is that Dilma Rousseff committed a crime and was impeached for it through a legal process. What is CUT’s take on last year’s events?

The Brazilian constitution stipulates that a mayor, governor or the president can be impeached if he or she commits a crime of “responsibility.” During the Congressional proceedings, the opposition — and this is technical information, released by technocrats in the Federal Senate who conducted the investigation — was unable to prove that President Dilma committed any crime of “responsibility.” If there was no crime of “responsibility,” the judgement was political, not criminal, and therefore constitutes a coup d’etat.

The conservatives who conducted the coup used the means of communication to convince society that the country had been inundated in a sea of corruption. But the deposed government never tried to block or slow down any type of corruption investigation by the federal police. In fact, it created mechanisms to eradicate irregularities of the state. The Lula and Dilma governments restructured the federal police and created mechanisms to monitor and accompany all of the public works projects in Brazil.

It is important to note that the new government weakened all of these mechanisms and is trying — and this is something that the Brazilian press is underemphasizing — to destroy the Lava Jato investigation. There are leaked phone recordings between high ranking members of Michel Temer’s government in which they talk about the importance of ending the Lava Jato (also known as Operation Car Wash) investigation. Eight of Temer’s cabinet ministers resigned over corruption accusations in the last seven months. The latest news from Lava Jato is that Temer’s Chief of Staff, Eliseu Padilha, received bribes and illegal campaign contributions from the Odebrecht construction company.

It is important that people realize that there weren’t any allegations against Dilma Rousseff for corruption, illegal financing or bribery. The unelected coup government is supported by the financial system, the business community, FIESP (Federação da Industria do Estado do São Paulo/São Paulo State Industry Federation), the media and the agribusiness caucus and is implementing policies in their interest. It is removing labor rights. The retirement reforms establish that anyone who wants to retire at the age of 65 has to spend 49 years in the workforce. This means unless you start working at 16 and never become unemployed you can no longer retire at 65. This is absurd and represents an attempt to destroy the public retirement system. The congressman in charge of the retirement reforms is financed by Safra, Bradesco and Itau banks and this reform will end up forcing a lot of workers to purchase private retirement plans from those institutions.

No candidate has ever run for the presidency promising to raise the retirement age, end formal employment protection and greatly expand outsourcing. Nobody would ever get elected saying these things. The only way to remove the labor rights that we fought for over the last 100 years was through a coup and they managed to destroy a lot during their first few months in office.

What is the strategy that CUT is using to fight the coup?

CUT organized several national protests during the past two years. On International Women’s Day, for example, we organized a march of over 50,000 women on Paulista Avenue to protest the retirement reforms. It may be that our colleagues in other countries didn’t hear about this because there is a communication monopoly in Brazil. Five families decide what content the Brazilian public will see and what information will reach the international news, so maybe our foreign colleagues and even a lot of Brazilians don’t know it happened. When unions protest to defend workers’ rights, the media doesn’t direct one sentence to it.

I have today’s paper right here — it’s Estado do São Paulo, one of the nation’s largest (he holds up the newspaper). We held a large protest yesterday and you can observe what they are talking about today. The headline is this suspicious football match between Barcelona and PSG (laughs). Here’s another story about a recent supreme court decision. And here is Michel Temer kissing his wife on International Women’s Day in Brasilia. But there isn’t one line about 50,000 women paralyzing downtown São Paulo. And this was a nation-wide protest that took place in every state in the country.

This media partiality could lead people outside Brazil to believe that there is no resistance, but we have organized a lot of protests: our May Day protest, our occupation of Praça do Se, our participation in the Gay Pride Parade. Look at this photo of our protest that put half a million people on Paulista Avenue — look at the size of the crowd in this photo. The media tried to say that it was only 70,000, which is absurd. When the conservatives held their protests the media referred to crowds of 20,000 as 100,000. It called a crowd of 100,000, 1 million — there was this entire process of manipulation.

On March 15, we will have a national day of work stoppage and the teachers unions, which are the largest segment in CUT, will start a national strike. Our calendar is full of confrontation and paralyzation, putting pressure on congressmen and the government. I think it is important to emphasize to our friends outside of Brazil that before the 2014 campaign financial reforms it was even easier for large economic groups to elect their representatives to congress and this created distortion. The big businesses, the bankers and the agribusiness lobby have their own congressional caucuses. Therefore, congress is not likely to vote in favor of proposals that represent advances for the poor.

Since 2013 we have seen a series of popular protests mischaracterized by the media. The media hijacks the protests and rebrands them for its own purposes — not just the traditional media but forces in the social media as well, like the Movimento Brasil Livre which receives support from the Koch brothers.

What good does it do to put 500,000 people on the streets if memes are spammed across Facebook saying that a crowd of 10,000 homeless people marched for free bologna sandwiches? Don’t you think that there should be some other tactics beyond street protests to fight the coup government?

We sponsor debates in city councils, churches, neighborhood associations and all the sites where doors are open to us across the country. We hold these debates to show the dangers of government reforms underway in the National Congress.

A second strategy is to build and strengthen alternative media. With our nearly eight million workers nationwide, we have a huge potential to spread news. Our big challenge is to unite our news activities as the right does. If you look at all the big newspapers, they have the same editorial line and the same top stories. If you look at the left media, each one wants to build its own narrative. This does not always contribute to a unified narrative on the Brazilian context.

So we have some experiments now, like Radio Brasil Atual and the TVT Cable TV station, which is the worker’s TV station in the ABC region, but they are relatively tiny players in the Brazilian news universe.

I think that the alternative media has an important role, Media Ninja and Jornalistas Livres for example, and we try to work together with them to strengthen our narrative and transmit it to society because in Brazil, unlike what you might have in the U.S., there is no such thing as a left or right-wing press that offer differing opinions. It’s one single narrative, a single editorial position. It is a single voice that greatly influences the Brazilian population to think, for example, that the people who attend one of our protests, taking place on a weekday, are unemployed. It’s a deliberate mischaracterization. Because when a protest serves the interests of the media, “My God, look how beautiful it is. The giant’s awakened. How marvelous. It’s democracy in action,” and so on.

And when it doesn’t interest them it appears on TV as, “protesters block traffic.” It’s an issue the Lula and Dilma governments could have done something about but didn’t, so we are still stuck with this communication monopoly in the hands of five families who collectively decide what news the people are going to see every day.

Do you believe that there were any foreign interests behind last year’s coup?

We believe that there is North American interventionism in Latin America. It is very clear for us that the old North American strategy to use tanks and bombs has shifted to a more subtle strategy of propaganda, buying political agents and using the means of communication to build movements to destabilize governments using the same narrative everywhere — associating the governments with a sea of corruption.

We’ve seen this happen around the world. This is what happened in Paraguay. This is what happened in Honduras with the Zelaya government. This is what is happening in Venezuela and it’s what happened in the Arab Spring when various governments that were against North American interests were deposed.

It is important to emphasize the foreign interest in the pre-salt oil reserves behind all of this interference. Until recently, the petroleum reserves were considered a path to the future for the Brazilian people but we see the leaked state department cables that show senator and former coup-government Foreign Minister Jose Serra had secret meetings about privatizing the pre-salt with American petroleum corporations. We believe they helped finance the coup and that they financed destabilization, created agitation through the means of communication and the social networks and built a narrative that manipulated one part of society to impose a de facto coup against a democratically elected government.

This strategy is very clear to us because the same people who were defending ethics and transparency six months ago are now trying to bury the Lava Jato investigation. This government didn’t take power to try to solve Brazil’s problems. It took power to guarantee the interests of the North Americans — of North American imperialism and capital and elite interests here in Brazil.

This interview was originally published by COHA.

Brian Mier is a research associate at the Council on Hemispheric Affairs’ Brazil Unit. This interview was originally conducted in Portuguese and translated by the author.

http://www.telesurtv.net/english/opinion/No-Negotiating-Labor-Rights-in-Post-Coup-Brazil-Union-Leader-20170320-0006.html

blindpig

03-28-2017, 09:13 AM

“There is no negotiation whatsoever”: Union leader Douglas Izzo talks about labor rights in Post-Coup Brasil

Originally written for the Council on Hemispheric Affairs’ Brazil Unit

This interview was originally made in Portuguese, and translated by the author.

On March 15, an estimated one million Brazilians took to the streets in cities across the country to protest unelected president Michel Temer’s proposed retirement reforms which could elevate the retirement age as high as 74 years. Hundreds of union locals held a one day work stoppage and the teachers’ union initiated a national strike. The protest was organized by a coalition of social movements, left political parties and union federations called the Frente Brasil Popular (FBP). The largest organization within the FBP is the Central Ùnica dos Trabalhadores, or CUT, the country’s largest labor union federation and the World’s 5th largest labor body, with nearly 8 million members. Arising out of a series of successful strikes during the late 1970s and early 1980s that started in the industrial ABC region of Greater São Paulo and spread nationwide, it is generally attributed as one of the key factors in bringing down the military dictatorship of 1964-1985. What differentiated CUT from other labor federations of the time was it’s break from the PC do B, the Brazilian communist party, and from dictatorship-recognized unions that were perceived as having a cozy relationship with the corporate sector. Luis Inacio “Lula” da Silva, president of the ABC region metallurgical workers union at the time, had a key role in the strikes and their success led to the formation of the Partido dos Trabalhadores (Workers’ Party or PT). To this day, CUT membership represents the largest group of base level support for the PT party, and many former CUT officials have gone on to careers in politics. Although the ABC region has been partially deindustrialized in the following 34 years, it still represents the core region of union activity in Brazil, and the São Paulo chapter of CUT is the nation’s largest, representing around 2 million union workers. Douglas Izzo grew up in Diadema, a poor industrial suburb in the ABC region. He started his career as a metalurgical worker during the 1980s and participated in a series of strikes. In the 1990s he went to college, got a degree in sociology, started teaching and became a teachers union leader. In 2015 he was elected as president of the São Paulo chapter of CUT. I sat down with him one week before the national protests on March 9 in the São Paulo CUT headquarters to talk about the position of organized labor in the current political environment.

Although CUT represents around 8 million workers today, it was nearly twice as large during the 1980s. Why are industrial jobs in decline in Brazil and why has CUT’s membership fallen?

The decrease in industrial jobs is a world-wide phenomenon and not something restricted to the Brazilian economy. Important sectors of society became automated. Metallurgical production automated and it takes fewer workers to make an automobile than it did in the 1980s. Around 80 percent of Brazil’s financial sector workers are affiliated with our federation and the bank clerks also suffered a massive decline due to automation. It is also important to emphasize that there has been a process of industrial fragmentation in Brazil and in other countries around the world. Companies flee from cities with strong unions and often receive economic incentives to move to places with low levels of union organization where they can pay workers half of what they would receive in the ABC region. São Paulo used to have a much higher contribution to the GDP from industry than it does today. But it diminished considerably while the commercial and service sectors are growing. Another factor is that when CUT arose in the 1980s there were only two national union federations. Today there are 6 official federations plus another four that aren’t yet recognized by the national labor Ministry.

Some American academics and journalists say that the PT party’s policies were the primary factor in the drop in Union membership. In your opinion as the spokesperson of 2 million union members in São Paulo, how were Dilma and Lula’s performances on labor issues?

It’s obvious that the Lula and Dilma administrations were unable to resolve all the contentious labor conflicts in Brazil. But it is also incontestable that during the Lula and Dilma administrations we successfully engaged in a struggle to increase our labor rights. In the current context, we are fighting maintain the rights that we achieved during the past 100 years as they are systematically dismantled. So there is a difference and it is brutal. During the period of Lula’s government, the number of strikes decreased somewhat because over 80 percent of our salary campaigns resulted in above-inflation level raises. The monthly minimum wage, which was less than USD 78 when Lula took office, rose to over USD 300 by the time of the coup against Dilma Rousseff. And back in 2002, the unions were fighting to raise the minimum wage to USD 100 a month. So we have to recognize that there were significant advances during this period. In the education sector, where I work we had large increases in the government’s mandatory contribution to the preschool, elementary school and high school systems. The federal government created a national minimum salary for teachers. The national education plan was ratified, mandating that as of 2022, 10 percent of the GDP would be allocated to the public education system using profits from Petrobras’ offshore pre-salt oil reserves. There was a series of important advances for the working class but there were still a lot of strikes and conflicts, as much against the Lula and Dilma governments as against PT-controlled state and municipal offices because our federation values union freedom and autonomy in relation to political parties, governments and religion. So we at CUT do not have any problem confronting governments, regardless of what political party is in control and this is how we behaved during 13 years of Dilma and Lula’s administrations.

How many strikes did CUT organize during those years?

I can speak for CUT São Paulo, which organizes workers here in this state. There were important strikes against PT Party mayoral administrations. Here in São Paulo City the public workers went on strike against PT mayor Fernando Haddad’s administration and the São Paulo City teachers’ union held three strikes during his four-year term. São Bernardo was run by PT Mayor Luis Marinho, who was also a federal minister and CUT’s national president. During his two terms the CUT-affiliated municipal workers’ union went on strike 5 times. We also held municipal workers’ strikes in other important cities in the ABC region that were governed by the PT party such as Santo André and Maua. And we did this naturally because we separate the relationships we have between the political parties, the governments and the union movement. But it is also important to note that during the 13 years of PT governance over 80 percent of the labor force had annual above-inflation salary increases. Another difference between the current coup government and previous governments is the way we are treated. During the Lula and Dilma administrations, the government created spaces for dialogue between the business community, the government and the unions to discuss labor and retirement reforms. So before any proposal was ever sent to Congress there was an ample debate among different sectors of society that no longer exists. Today, the government says it wants to negotiate with the union federations but at the same time that government officials give interviews saying they are negotiating with the unions, the Minister of the Interior goes to Congress and says that if any changes whatsoever are made to pension reform they should reject it. So there is no negotiation whatsoever.

How would you respond to the accusations that some people make that the PT party coopted CUT?

The answer is that CUT held numerous strikes against federal, state, and city governments run by the PT party. What our political adversaries, mainly on the left, refuse to admit is that during the Lula and Dilma governments the doors were open for conversation. And when the door is open to talk you don’t have to kick it down. Another important point is that there were colleagues who left CUT, saying that it sold out, who haven’t built anything significant. And CUT continues fighting and remains the largest reference of struggle for the Brazilian working class.

The Brazilian media narrative, often echoed in the international media, is that Dilma Rousseff committed a crime and was impeached for it through a legal process. What is CUT’s take on last year’s events?

The Brazilian constitution stipulates that a mayor, governor or the president can be impeached if he or she commits a crime of “responsibility”. During the Congressional proceedings, the opposition- and this is technical information; released by technocrats in the Federal Senate who conducted the investigation- was unable to prove that President Dilma committed any crime of “responsibility”. If there was no crime of “responsibility”, the judgement was political, not criminal, and therefore constitutes a coup d’etat. The conservatives who conducted the coup used the means of communication to convince society that the country had been inundated in a sea of corruption. But the deposed government never tried to block or slow down any type of corruption investigation by the federal police. In fact, it created mechanisms to eradicate irregularities of the state. The Lula and Dilma governments restructured the federal police and created mechanisms to monitor and accompany all of the public works projects in Brazil. It is important to note that the new government weakened all of these mechanisms and is trying- and this is something that the Brazilian press is underemphasizing- to destroy the Lava Jato investigation. There are leaked phone recordings between high ranking members of Michel Temer’s government in which they talk about the importance of ending the Lava Jato investigation. Eight of Temer’s cabinet ministers resigned over corruption accusations in the last seven months. The latest news from Lava Jato is that Temer’s Chief of Staff, Eliseu Padilha, received bribes and illegal campaign contributions from the Odebrecht construction company. It is important that people realize that there weren’t any allegations against Dilma Rousseff for corruption, illegal financing or bribery. The unelected coup government is supported by the financial system, the business community, FIESP (Federação da Industria do Estado do São Paulo/São Paulo State Industry Federation), the media and the agribusiness caucus and is implementing policies in their interest. It is removing labor rights. The retirement reforms establish that anyone who wants to retire at the age of 65 has to spend 49 years in the workforce. This means unless you start working at 16 and never become unemployed you can no longer retire at 65. This is absurd and represents an attempt to destroy the public retirement system. The congressman in charge of the retirement reforms is financed by Safra, Bradesco and Itaú banks and this reform will end up forcing a lot of workers to purchase private retirement plans from those institutions. No candidate has ever run for the presidency promising to raise the retirement age, end formal employment protection and greatly expand outsourcing. Nobody would ever get elected saying these things. The only way to remove the labor rights that we fought for over the last 100 years was through a coup and they managed to destroy a lot during their first few months in office.

What is the strategy that CUT is using to fight the coup?

CUT organized several national protests during the past two years. Yesterday on International Women’s Day, for example, we organized a march of over 50,000 women on Paulista Avenue to protest the retirement reforms. It may be that our colleagues in other countries didn’t hear about this because there is a communication monopoly in Brazil. Five families decide what content the Brazilian public will see and what information will reach the international news, so maybe our foreign colleagues and even a lot of Brazilians don’t know it happened. When unions protest to defend workers’ rights, the media doesn’t direct one sentence to it. I have today’s paper right here- it’s Estado do São Paulo, one of the nation’s largest. [He holds up the newspaper] We held a large protest yesterday and you can observe what they are talking about today. The headline is this suspicious football match between Barcelona and PSG (laughs). Here’s another story about a recent supreme court decision. And here is Michel Temer kissing his wife on International Women’s Day in Brasilia but there isn’t one line about 50,000 women paralyzing downtown São Paulo. And this was a nation-wide protest that took place in every state in the country. This media partiality could lead people outside Brazil to believe that there is no resistance, but we have organized a lot of protests: our May Day protest, our occupation of Praça do Sé, our participation in the Gay Pride Parade. Look at this photo of our protest that put half a million people on Paulista Avenue– look at the size of the crowd in this photo. The media tried to say that it was only 70,000, which is absurd. When the conservatives held their protests the media referred to crowds of 20,000 as 100,000. It called a crowd of 100,000, 1 million– there was this entire process of manipulation. On March 15, we will have a national day of work stoppage and the teachers unions, which are the largest segment in CUT, will start a national strike. Our calendar is full of confrontation and paralyzation, putting pressure on congressmen and the government. I think it is important to emphasize to our friends outside of Brazil that before the 2014 campaign financial reforms it was even easier for large economic groups to elect their representatives to congress and this created distortion. The big businesses, the bankers and the agribusiness lobby have their own congressional caucuses. Therefore, congress is not likely to vote in favor of proposals that represent advances for the poor.

Since 2013 we have seen a series of popular protests mischaracterized by the media. The media hijacks the protests and rebrands them for its own purposes– not just the traditional media but forces in the social media as well, like the Movimento Brasil Livre which receives support from the Koch brothers. What good does it do to put 500,000 people on the streets if memes are spammed across Facebook saying that a crowd of 10,000 homeless people marched for free bologna sandwiches? Don’t you think that there should be some other tactics beyond street protests to fight the coup government?

We sponsor debates in city councils, churches, neighborhood associations and all the sites where doors are open to us across the country. We hold these debates to show the dangers of government reforms underway in the National Congress. A second strategy is to build and strengthen alternative media. With our nearly eight million workers nationwide, we have a huge potential to spread news. Our big challenge is to unite our news activities as the right does. If you look at all the big newspapers, they have the same editorial line and the same top stories. If you look at the left media, each one wants to build its own narrative. This does not always contribute to a unified narrative on the Brazilian context. So we have some experiments now, like Radio Brasil Atual and the TVT Cable TV station, which is the worker’s TV station in the ABC region, but they are relatively tiny players in the Brazilian news universe. I think that the alternative media has an important role, Media Ninja and Jornalistas Livres for example, and we try to work together with them to strengthen our narrative and transmit it to society because in Brazil, unlike what you might have in the U.S., there is no such thing as a left or right wing press that offer differing opinions. It’s one single narrative, a single editorial position. It is a single voice that greatly influences the Brazilian population to think, for example, that the people who attend one of our protests, taking place on a weekday, are unemployed. It’s a deliberate mischaracterization. Because when a protest serves the interests of the media, “My God, look how beautiful it is. The giant’s awakened. How marvelous. It’s democracy in action”, and so on. And when it doesn’t interest them it appears on TV as, “protesters block traffic.” It’s an issue the Lula and Dilma governments could have done something about but didn’t, so we are still stuck with this communication monopoly in the hands of five families who collectively decide what news the people are going to see every day.

Do you believe that there were any foreign interests behind last year’s coup?

We believe that there is North American interventionism in Latin America. It is very clear for us that the old North American strategy to use tanks and bombs has shifted to a more subtle strategy of propaganda, buying political agents and using the means of communication to build movements to destabilize governments using the same narrative everywhere– associating the governments with a sea of corruption. We’ve seen this happen around the world. This is what happened in Paraguay. This is what happened in Honduras with the Zelaya government. This is what is happening in Venezuela and it’s what happened in the Arab Spring when various governments that were against North American interests were deposed. It is important to emphasize the foreign interest in the pre-salt oil reserves behind all of this interference. Until recently, the petroleum reserves were considered a path to the future for the Brazilian people but we see the leaked state department cables that show Senator and former coup government Foreign Minister José Serra had secret meetings about privatizing the pre-salt with American petroleum corporations. We believe they helped finance the coup and that they financed destabilization, created agitation through the means of communication and the social networks and built a narrative that manipulated one part of society to impose a de facto coup against a democratically elected government. This strategy is very clear to us because the same people who were defending ethics and transparency 6 months ago are now trying to bury the Lava Jato investigation. This government didn’t take power to try to solve Brazil’s problems. It took power to guarantee the interests of the North Americans– of North American imperialism and capital and elite interests here in Brazil.

By Brian Mier, Research Associate at the Council on Hemispheric Affairs’ Brazil Unit

Additional editorial support provided by Aline Piva Head of the Brazil Unit, and Mitch Rogers, Kate Terán and Alex Rawley, Research Associates at the Council on Hemispheric Affairs.

Original research on Latin America by COHA. Please accept this article as a free contribution from COHA, but if re-posting, please afford authorial and institutional attribution. Exclusive rights can be negotiated. For additional news and analysis on Latin America, please go to LatinNews. com and Rights Action.

http://www.brasilwire.com/there-is-no-negotiation-whatsoever-union-leader-douglas-izzo-talks-about-labor-rights-in-post-coup-brasil/

blindpig

03-28-2017, 03:27 PM

Why Is The US Government Still Hiding What They Did To Brazil In 1998?

Written by Jake Johnston. Original version published at The Americas Blog by CEPR. Republished with permission.

On Sunday, October 4, 1998, as international bankers, investors, finance ministers and officials from the leading multilateral development banks met in Washington for the annual World Bank and International Monetary Fund meetings, many eyes were looking south, to Brazil.

Late in the afternoon, when Brazil’s finance minister broke the news that Fernando Henrique Cardoso had narrowly won Brazil’s election in the first round, “the room broke into loud applause,” according to Bob Fernandez reporting for Knight Ridder. “Cardoso is an International Monetary Fund favorite,” Fernandez explained.

Officials had been scrambling for weeks to put together an international bailout package for Brazil in response to the Asian Financial Crisis, which threatened to spread to other emerging markets, including those in South America. But the negotiations were held behind closed doors. With key elections on the horizon in Brazil, Cardoso, the incumbent and leading candidate, went to great lengths to distance himself from the IMF package. The New York Times reported on October 1: “Among ordinary Brazilians, the I.M.F. is associated, if not faulted, for a punishing recession through the 1980’s.”

On October 2, Reuters reported that Cardoso “has repeatedly denied that he will announce austerity measures immediately after the polls close.” Even after his first-round victory, Cardoso was reluctant to announce any measures before governors and state officials faced critical run-off elections later in the month, worried that an embrace of the IMF plan could hurt their chances.

Cardoso’s main opponent in the presidential race was Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva of the Workers’ Party, who would later go on to win the presidency in 2002, and again in 2006. Lula voiced strong criticism of any potential deal with the IMF, saying that it would “tighten one more knot on the neck around Brazilians.” Lula would go on to end Brazil’s borrowing relationship with the Fund in 2005 when he was president. But the U.S. and other leading players in the global financial system were seen as heavily supportive of Cardoso in ‘98. TheNew York Times reported in late September (emphasis added):

“The proposed package would be openly negotiated only after the presidential election in Brazil next Sunday, and only if — as expected — Mr. Cardoso is re-elected. Nevertheless, a senior Clinton Administration official acknowledged on Friday that active discussions are already in progress with the Brazilians, the I.M.F., other governments and private lenders.”

If Lula were elected, the IMF support would never materialize. Peter Fritsch of the Wall Street Journal wrote in early October that it wasn’t so much the money that Brazil needed, but a “stamp of approval.” This is backed up in internal documents obtained through Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests. A briefing on an October 3, 1998 meeting with the G-7 finance ministers, just one day before the presidential election, notes that any Brazil package “needs G-7 backing to go in alongside the IMF. Not just a matter of money – also a matter of showing G-7 support and leadership in fighting contagion.” The document also notes that “Brazil has been working with the IMF” for some time on an agreement, despite the fact that Cardoso had yet to formally or publicly request such support.

Indeed, the U.S. wasn’t just interested in saving Brazil for Brazil’s sake. “The financial stability and prosperity of Brazil is of vital importance to the U.S.,” then Treasury Secretary Robert Rubin said. Fernandez explained in his report for Knight Ridder:

“U.S. companies and the American economy have a big stake in Cardoso’s success. About 2,000 U.S. companies have operations in Brazil, including 405 of the 500 largest U.S. firms. U.S. banks have about $27 billion at risk in Brazil, some of which could be lost if the country is forced to default or reschedule its debts.”

Rubin wasn’t the only official involved in the Brazilian negotiations who would have a role, just over a decade later, in engineering the bailout of U.S. banks. Timothy Geithner was Assistant Secretary for International Affairs in the Treasury Department in 1998 while Lawrence Summers was the Deputy Secretary under Rubin.

In order to get more information about the behind-the-scenes negotiations taking place in the fall of 1998, the Center for Economic and Policy Research filed a FOIA request with the U.S. Department of the Treasury back in 2013. Unfortunately, the documents that were released just this month are subject to much censorship. Of 111 pages, 44 were withheld in full, while 26 were heavily redacted. The few documents released in full contain little of substance. But the exemption used in the redactions is just as interesting as the mysterious text behind the black markings. The vast majority of redactions were made under (b)(1), which “protects information that could reasonably be expected to cause identifiable or describable damage to the national security as it pertains to foreign relations or foreign activities of the United States.”

Whatever was happening behind the scenes in the fall of ’98, the U.S. government still doesn’t want the public – including the Brazilian public – to know about it even 17 years later.

Documents obtained under Freedom of Information Act:

Brazil IMF FOIA Oct 3 G7 Meeting by Center for Economic and Policy Research

IMF Treasury Brazil 1998_FOIA_1 by Center for Economic and Policy Research

IMF Treasury Brazil 1998_FOIA_2 by Center for Economic and Policy Research

http://www.brasilwire.com/why-is-the-us-government-still-hiding-what-they-did-to-brazil-in-1998/

blindpig

03-30-2017, 12:53 PM

Moro condemns Eduardo Cunha to 15 years in prisonJudge Lava Jato attributes the crimes of corruption, washing and fraudulent evasion of foreign currency to the former mayor of the Chamber

30 March 2017 | 12:04

Betrayal of parliamentary mandate is serious offense, says Moro condemning Cunha

http://politica.estadao.com.br/blogs/fausto-macedo/wp-content/uploads/sites/41/2016/10/eduardo-unha-FABIO-MOTTA-ESTADaO-488x350.jpg
Eduardo Cunha. Photo: Fabio Motta / Estadão

Federal Judge Sérgio Moro on Thursday condemned former Eduardo Cunha mayor (PMDB) for corruption, money laundering and fraudulent evasion of foreign exchange, 15 years and 4 months in prison in Operation Lava Jato. The peemedebista was sentenced in criminal action on kickbacks in the purchase of the Benin oil field in Africa by Petrobrás in 2011.
Moro also ruled that 'Eduardo Cosentino da Cunha should be held in custody for possible recursional phase'.
Document
THE SENTENCE
PDF
"Among the crimes of corruption, money laundering and fraudulent evasion of foreign exchange, there is material competition, which is why the combined sentences amount to fifteen years and four months of imprisonment, which I consider to be definitive for Eduardo Cosentino da Cunha. As for fine penalties, they must be converted into value and summed up, "Moro condemned.
The magistrate of Lava Jato further stated. "Considering the rules of article 33 of the Criminal Code, fixed the closed regime for the beginning of compliance with the sentence. The progression of the regime to the penalty of corruption is, in principle, conditioned to the effective return of the proceeds of crime, in this case the undue advantage received under article 33, paragraph 4, of the Penal Code. "
Eduardo Cunha was arrested by order of federal judge Sérgio Moro on October 19, in Brasília.
Tipping amounts for Eduardo Cunha would have come out of the purchase by Petrobras of 50% of the exploration rights of an oil field in Benin, Africa, worth US $ 34.5 million. The deal was touched by the International Board of Directors of the state company, the PMDB's share in the corruption scheme.
According to the ruling, 'the practice of crime corruption involved the receipt of about $ 1.5 million, considering only the part received by him, which is a very significant amount, currently around R $ 4,643,550.00 '. The loss estimated to Petrobras, for the purchase of the oil field, Moro said, is about US $ 77.5 million, according to the state's Internal Commission of Determination.
"Corruption with a $ 1.5 million kickback and resulting in even greater damage to public coffers deserves special disapproval. Guilt is high. The defendant received an undue advantage in the exercise of the office of federal deputy in 2011, "Moro noted.
"The responsibility of a federal parliamentarian is enormous, and therefore also his guilt when he practices crimes. There can be no more grievous offense than the one who betrays the parliamentary mandate and the sacred trust which the people lay in it for their own gain. He acted, therefore, with extreme guilt, which should also be assessed negatively. "
Questions. In final claims, the last part of the lawsuit before the sentence, handed over to the Federal Court on Monday, 27, Eduardo Cunha's defense alleged defense restraint. In the document, the petitioner alleges that there was a reprieve by having his questions to President Michel Temer (PMDB) dismissed.
When sentencing the former deputy, federal judge Sérgio Moro pointed to Cunha's questions. According to the magistrate, the questions of Eduardo Cunha 'were not related to the concrete case'.
In the sentence, Moro highlighted three questions in which Eduardo Cunha quoted José Yunes, a friend of President Michel Temer.
"35 - What is your relationship with Mr. José Yunes?
36. Has Mr. José Yunes received any campaign contributions for any election of you or the PMDB?
37 - If you have received, were the contributions made in an official or undeclared manner? "
For Moro, the questions were "absolutely foreign to the object of the criminal action" and "had for obvious reason to embarrass the Exmo. Mr. President of the Republic, and probably sought to provoke some sort of improper intervention on his part in favor of the prisoner. '
"In addition to not having this Judgment competence to determine conduct of the Exmo. Mr. President of the Republic, judicial proceedings can not be allowed to be used in order for the party to transmit threats, scams or blackmail to authorities or witnesses outside the proceedings. It is not, therefore, a defense restraint, but to restrain the use of the process for extraneous and obscure purposes by the accused, "said the judge of Lava Jato.

http://politica.estadao.com.br/blogs/fausto-macedo/moro-condena-eduardo-cunha-a-15-anos-de-prisao/

Google Translator

blindpig

04-04-2017, 10:58 AM

Bernardet: “We are watching the systematic deconstruction of an emerging power”
BLOG DEMOCRACY ECONOMY FOREIGN POLICY OPINION
SHARE
By Jean-Claude Bernardet

A programmed decay.

The BRICS are unacceptable. The BRICS Bank, which operates with various currencies, including the dollar, is unacceptable. A support fund (like an IMF for emergent nations) is unacceptable.

We are watching the systematic deconstruction of an emerging power.

The shipping industry is no longer competitive. Petrobras has been dismantled. The multinational businesses have been taken apart. Now it’s the meat industry’s turn.

Siemens and Alstrom are full of corrupt elements but it never entered the minds of the German, Swiss or French judiciary to destroy those companies. Fernando Meirelles, Pedro Parente, Sergio Moro and the Federal Police are internal agents in this successful operation. Michel Temer and his his band of ministers and congressmen who support him are necessary circumstances for the successful undertaking of the operation but are merely local factors.

Brasil should be a grain exporter and an importer of aggregated value (and for this comes the need to dismantle the education system and all forms of research). Society’s money (sparing the rich) should be drained to pay the interest on debt and enrich the banks.

There. I’ve said it.

Translated with permission from Outras Palavras.

http://www.brasilwire.com/bernardet/

Compradors, compradors, everywhere.

Dhalgren

04-04-2017, 11:13 AM

Compradors, compradors, everywhere.

Nowhere to go but 'up'...

blindpig

04-04-2017, 03:53 PM

Brazilian scientists reeling as federal funds slashed by nearly half
After years of austerity, researchers fear that the latest dramatic cut will destroy the country's science.

Claudio Angelo
03 April 2017
Article toolsRights & Permissions

Evaristo Sa/AFP/Getty
Scientists are unhappy at Brazilian president Michel Temer's drastic cut to the federal science budget.
Brazilian scientists have been left horrified by a 44% slash to the federal science budget, announced by the country's government on 30 March.

This will leave the Ministry of Science,Technology, Innovations and Communications (MCTIC) with its lowest budget in at least 12 years at just 2.8 billion reais, equivalent to US$898 million — a 2.2 billion reais cut from the 5 billion reais of funding that the government had originally proposed for 2017 (see ‘Drastic cuts’).

The cut is part of a general trimming of 42 billion reais from the federal budget, which amounts to 28% over all government departments — so the cut to science is particularly severe. President Michel Temer says the measure was a tough but necessary response to Brazil’s escalating fiscal deficit. The country faces the worst recession in its history, and recovery has been much slower than expected: gross domestic product growth predictions for 2017 were revised down from 1.4% to 0.5% last month.

Researchers argue that science has already taken too heavy a toll from the economic crisis. Since 2014, a series of funding cutbacks has meant abandoning a flagship exchange programme to enable Brazilian students to visit leading institutions abroad, and major projects — such as the Sirius synchrotron, a 1.75 billion reais machine — have been put in jeopardy. The number of research papers published in Brazil is also declining, according to one preliminary estimate from 2016.

Adding to those woes, Temer demoted the science ministry as he took office in May 2016 and fused it with the communications ministry. And a constitutional amendment passed by the new government has capped federal spending to inflation-level rises for 20 years, killing hopes that the tide may turn any time soon.

Fleeing scientists
The new budget is “an atomic bomb strike on Brazilian science”, says physicist Luiz Davidovich, president of the Brazilian Academy of Sciences. He warns that the cuts will cripple research and development for decades to come. “Were we at war, one could think this was a strategy by a foreign power to destroy our country. But instead it’s us doing this to ourselves.”

Sidarta Ribeiro, head of the Brain Institute at the Federal University of Rio Grande do Norte in Natal, Brazil, holds a similar apocalyptic view, saying: “This is an act of war against the future of Brazil. Scientists will flee the country.” He cites the case of Suzana Herculano-Houzel, a renowned neuroscientist who shut down her laboratory in 2016 and left Brazil for the United States. “If I hadn’t foreign money for research I’d be shutting down myself," he adds.

Fernando Peregrino, president of CONFIES, the Brazilian association of science funding agencies and university foundations, agrees. “There will be a huge break-up of teams which will be hard to rebuild,” he says. “We’ve climbed another step down.”

Scientists were concerned about funding before the announcement. Davidovich and Helena Nader, president of the Brazilian Society for the Advancement of Science (SBPC), pre-emptively wrote letters to Temer and to Henrique Meirelles, the minister of finance, warning of the impact of a potential cut on an already tight science budget. “The government has acted without listening to the State. It shows an utter shortsightedness,” Nader says.

The MCTIC told Nature that it has already started to gauge the full impact of the cuts. According to the ministry, actions to mitigate them will be announced shortly.

Ribeiro says the drastic cutbacks may have one silver lining: they may fuel the 22 April March for Science in Brazil. The SBPC formally joined this month’s march, inspired by the Trump-resistance movement in the United States, and has been calling on scientists all around Brazil to join. “We need to paint for war and occupy public spaces,” says Ribeiro. “Respectfully, but consistently.”

http://www.nature.com/news/brazilian-scientists-reeling-as-federal-funds-slashed-by-nearly-half-1.21766

Joining Russia in a race to the bottom, reducing their nations to colonies.

Dhalgren

04-04-2017, 05:11 PM

Joining Russia in a race to the bottom, reducing their nations to colonies.

So much for the BRICS, eh?

blindpig

04-05-2017, 10:01 AM

Temer continues to push for neoliberal reforms as his popularity continues to drop.
The interim government of Michel Temer in Brazil announced Thursday it will privatize 34 state companies in strategic areas around the country.

http://www.telesurtv.net/__export/1475204521068/sites/telesur/img/news/2016/09/29/reuters_temer.jpg_1718483346.jpg

"We are opening 34 opportunities for licensing in the areas of ports, airports, roads, railways, energy, oil, gas,” said Temer.

“With this, we are opening and universalizing the Brazilian market, in the belief that to combat unemployment and make the country grow it’s necessary to encourage the industry, services, agricultural businesses, besides restoring confidence, because there was a time when confidence in the country was lost," said the coup president.

The Investment Partnership Program is in charge of the privatization plan for these industries, run by Wellington Moreira Franco, a politician specialized in privatizations during the government of Fernando Henrique Cardoso.

The airports located in Florianopolis, Salvador, Fortaleza and Porto Alegre are also part of the privatization program.

In direct contradiction with ousted president Dilma Rousseff, Temer’s plan will not require that those companies create a partnership with the state airport administrator Infraero.

GALLERY:
Brazil Court Moves on Corruption Probe of President Temer

The project will begin in mid-2017 and the government has not yet given any details on which sectors will be privatized first.

Temer's all-white male cabinet has continually pursued a number of neoliberal austerity measures in the face of Brazil's worst economic recession in years.

Workers’ union have conducted several strikes and stopped work, to demand wage increases, and against the privatization of Petrobras, the state-run oil company involved in the country’s largest corruption schemes. Metallurgical sectors have also spoken out against the great wave of layoffs in Brazil.

The widely unpopular senate-imposed president has been accused of having illegally requested campaign donations in 2012. Temer became Brazil’s interim president after leftist President Dilma Rousseff was impeached in what many have described as a parliamentary coup.

http://www.telesurtv.net/english/news/Brazils-Coup-Government-Set-to-Privatize-34-Public-Companies-20160929-0028.html

This guy is a CIA asset, no bullshit.

blindpig

04-06-2017, 02:54 PM

Fascist Bolsonaro: “Where there is indigenous land, there is wealth beneath it.”

On Monday the Clube Hebráica of Rio de Janeiro, a social and sports club for members of Rio’s Jewish community, hosted a speech by former Military federal congressman and 2018 Presidential Candidate, Jair Bolsonaro.

Bolsonaro has been described by Pulitzer Prize-winner Glenn Greenwald as “the most misogynistic, hateful official in the democratic world“. He once told a female colleague in Congress that she was not pretty enough to deserve raping. He has remarked that feminists are good for only one thing – oral sex. He has a long history of homophobic outbursts and peddling prejudice and hatred against LBGT communities. He dedicated his vote to impeach President Dilma Rousseff last year to the colonel who ran the torture centre where she was held as a political prisoner of Brazil’s military dictatorship in the 1970s. Racist Bolsonaro is on record as pro-torture, and that tens of thousands should be killed for Brazil to function.

According to some polls he is currently the most popular candidate amongst Brazil’s wealthiest 5% for next year’s Presidential election.

http://www.brasilwire.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/08/jair-bolsonaro-racista-bweb.jpg

In his speech yesterday to about 300 of the most well-to-do members of Rio’s Jewish community, Far-Right Bolsonaro ranted against the allowing of Syrian refugees into Brazil, and said that if he becomes President he will abolish indigenous reservations, that Quilombolas (descendants of escaped slaves) are obese Africans who want to live off the government, and remarked that he has five children, but that he screwed up once, and one of them was born a girl. He was roundly applauded.

Any public/covert international support or legitimisation of Bolsonaro and his candidacy should be given maximum scrutiny over the next 18 months.

Following article adapted from Outras Palavras / De Olho nos Ruralistas.

Federal deputy Jair Bolsonaro (PSC-RJ) gave a speech at the Clube Hebráica, in Rio’s South Zone, on Monday (03/04). While 100 people protested outside, another 300 crowded the auditorium. According to Estadão, the presidential candidate promised that he will end all Indigenous reserves and Quilombola (African Slave-Descended) communities in the country if elected in 2018.

Bolsonaro seized the moment to denounce former president Dilma Rousseff and traditional communities:

“You can be sure that if I get there (Presidency), I will not give money to NGOs. If it is up to me, every citizen will have a firearm in the house. We will not have one centimetre demarcated for Indigenous reservations or Quilombolas.”

In February, in Paraíba, Bolsonaro suggested giving rifles to farmers “like a Business Card” to use against the MST Landless Workers Movement.

Racist Remarks

The deputy said that Indigenous and Quilombola reserves disrupt the economy: “Where there is indigenous land, there is wealth beneath it. We have to change that.” He claimed to have visited a “Quilombo”, and returned with the following insight: “The slightest Afro-descendant there weighed seven arrobas (An old unit of measurement mainly used for Livestock). They do not do anything. I do not think they even serve to procreate any more. More than R$1 billion a year is spent on them”.

The presidential candidate did not spare refugees either: “We can not open the door for everyone,” he said. But he was not averse to all foreigners: “Has anyone ever seen a Japanese beggar? It’s a race that has a sense of shame.”

Demonstrators were gathered outside, brought out by youth movements from the Jewish community. They held banners and shouted slogans such as: “Jews and Zionists do not support Fascists.” “Whoever allows torture has forgotted the Shoa.” “For life and for peace, torture no more.” A group of women chanted, “He supports rape.” (in reference to his rape threat and remarks in Congress against Congresswoman Maria de Rosario).

President Bolsonaro?

Currently in fourth place for voting intention for 2018 Presidential election, with 9% according to Datafolha, the Congressman has generated division in the Jewish community. The president of the club in Rio, Luiz Mairovitch, invited Bolsonaro after he was barred from a similar event at Sao Paulo’s Clube Hebráica.

At the beginning of his speech, the deputy spoke of his reputation: “I’m not good, no. But the others are very bad. They smear me so much and I still keep rising in the polls. “

http://f.i.uol.com.br/folha/cotidiano/images/17036132.jpeg

Evangelical 2014 Presidential Candidate Pastor Evaraldo, Baptising Jair Bolsonaro. River Jordan, May 2016.

http://www.brasilwire.com/fascist-bolsonaro-where-there-is-indigenous-land-there-is-wealth-beneath-it/

blindpig

04-18-2017, 01:16 PM

The Coup, one year on & how Anglo media failed Brasil
Ignorance, incompetence, bad faith, and a mixture of all three.

At this time of crisis in the media industry, essential criticism and holding the press to account goes against the grain of a newfound martyrdom for Journalists. They are threatened from two directions (guilt and competition) by the old concepts of post-truth (Public Relations) & fake news (Sensationalism), which are now presented as novel. In the United States they’re under fire from President Donald Trump, and in general, they are limited by the financial precariousness of the profession. With all that in mind It is with regret that an article like this even needs to be published, but analysis of the failure of Anglo media on Brazil, the world’s 5th most populous country, from 2012-2016 is important not only for the historical record, but for other countries facing similar internal and external attacks. This is not the first time we have needed to critique media coverage of Brazil during this process.

Firstly it is important to define Brazil’s (Soft, Parliamentary, Institutional/Mediatic) Coup of 2016 in a way that accounts for all its components. This subversion of Brazil’s Democracy wasn’t limited to the impeachment of Dilma Rousseff and the disingenuous insistence that “impeachment isn’t a Coup” remains a common rhetorical device for supporters of her overthrow.

In reality there was a range of standpoints, from outright denial, to support with caveats, through to a fear that if the situation was defined as a “Coup” it would be bad for the country’s image and interests. This echoes depiction of the 1964 Military Coup as Democratic and a “Revolution“, used to this day by some supporters, including defeated Presidential candidate Aecio Neves in 2014.

Many of these views have evolved or altered in the year since, in light of new events and information. For the purposes of this article we can define the Coup as these main elements:

Precursor of destabilisation: June 2013’s “spontaneous” street protests grew as a left movement against right-wing Governors such as Rio de Janeiro’s Cabral and São Paulo’s Alckmin. This coincided with a Social Media storm of indignation across a range of frustrations with services, and Police brutality against protesters, which turned protests of a few thousand into hundreds of thousands. The rightward shift of this amorphous group significantly weakened Dilma Rousseff’s Government, which just a month previously enjoyed record approval ratings. In response to the protests, Rousseff proposed a plebiscite on Political Reform, and that all royalties from the massive subsalt oil and gas fields be invested in education & health for the coming decades, as a “Passport to the future”. These measures were opposed by her then Vice President, Michel Temer.

Media as political actor: TV Globo, Grupo Abril, Folha, & Estadão‘s systematic anti-left bias, misrepresentation of economic data, propagation of Anti-Corruption pretext, active promotion of synthesised Anti-Dilma street movements.

Lawfare: Lava Jato’s selective prosecution of PT, up to and including prevention of Lula da Silva’s 2018 Presidential candidacy. Complicity of some Judiciary. Supply of Anti-Corruption pretext to media.

Economic self-sabotage: Effects of Lava Jato exacerbated cyclical recession and crystallised public discontent, accounting for a 2.5% contraction in GDP in 2015 and hundreds of thousands of lost jobs as construction and energy, plus their dependent sectors were paralysed by the investigation.

Illegal Impeachment of Dilma Rousseff: Commenced following her 2014 election victory, with defeated opponent refusing to accept result. Eduardo Cunha was elected head of Congress amidst vote buying allegations. Cunha then paralysed the Rousseff Government and engineered her impeachment. She was voted out by both houses of congress despite being found innocent of any impeachable offence, nor was she cited in any testimony from the Lava Jato investigations. Congresspeople were threatened of consequences should they vote against impeachment, and as of February 2017 a scheme in which around 140 votes were “bought” has come to light. Some have depicted her impeachment as simply the “Opening Ceremony” of the Coup.

Post-Impeachment installation of defeated opposition in Government: The result of Rousseff’s removal was the installation of a Government very similar in personnel & policy to the one that lost the 2014 election, with PSDB and DEM parties, who had not themselves won a national election since 1997, taking power with the PMDB under Vice President Michel Temer. No members of Rousseff’s administration survived and in his first 24 hours, and Temer moved quickly to erase traces of the Worker’s Party progressive legacy, axing the ministries responsible for Women’s rights, for Racial Equality, for Agrarian reform and the Ministry of Culture. It was the first all-white, all-male cabinet since the dictatorship of Geisel in the 1970s.

Post-Impeachment implementation of extreme neoliberal policies which had been rejected by voters in previous 4 elections: It was not simply a caretaker administration – this was a sea change: an economically neoliberal policy platform being implemented in hours, by an administration which theoretically may only have had 6 months in power – the “Bridge to the Future” policy document and PEC241/55 austerity proposal to freeze public investment in health & education for 20 years.

Appointment of hardline authoritarian, PSDB-affiliated Temer ally, Alexandre de Moraes to the Supreme Court following unexplained air-crash which killed Judge Teori Zavascki, until 2043.

It must also be explained that there were not simply two sides, or good & evil to this crisis – there were at times ostensibly conflicting interests that sometimes aligned opportunistically for a common objective – like Lava Jato and the old Right Wing “Udenista” bloc – spread across PSDB, DEM, PMDB parties and others, and former PT allies, many of whom faced their own threats from the investigation.

A widely held belief on the left was that the objective of Lava Jato was to remove PT from Brazil’s political landscape and prevent Lula’s return to the presidency in 2018. With that, the extreme liberalisation of Brazil’s economy could begin in earnest, unimpeded – foreign actors and local elites alike would enjoy the rewards, as the Country’s enormous Public Sector was turned into low-hanging fruit for private investors. This process began literally hours after Rousseff’s suspension. The ‘Bridge to the future’ policy document was PMDB’s articulation of PSDB’s own core neoliberal programme which was defeated at the ballot box in 2014. It also appeared to have been translated from English, featuring phrases not found anywhere in Portuguese. Michel Temer admitted in September 2016 following Rousseff’s permanent removal that her refusal to accept that policy document, given its extreme nature and inherent threats to worker’s rights, was the actual reason that they pursued her removal. He made this admission at a New York event organised by Rockefeller’s Americas Society & Council of Americas (AS/COA) (a Latin America equivalent of the Atlantic Council) where he was asked what security plans he had to deal with public opposition unrest to this radical economic programme.

A Chevron funded lobby whose membership is a dizzying list of the most powerful corporations in North America and beyond, Council of the Americas (Formerly Business Group for Latin America) was set up by David Rockefeller in 1962 on the instruction of President Kennedy, expressly to interfere in elections & prevent left wing Governments coming to power in the region. As well as the overthrow of Allende in Chile from 69-73, It was active in Brazil’s 1962 election & the Coup of 1964, which removed President João Goulart against a similar backdrop to that which Rousseff faced.

Only zealots, the disingenuous or politically naive still maintain that Operation Lava Jato is pure of both conception and execution. Its roots can be traced to a 2004 document written by prosecuting judge Sergio Moro, in which he bases a hypothetical future operation on Italy’s 1990s Mani Pulite or Clean Hands, an anti-corruption purge which enabled the political rise of Silvio Berlusconi, the most corrupt political leader Italy had ever had. Moro’s plan continued to develop with the blessing and apparent cooperation of the U.S. State Department, who in this cable detail what would become Lava Jato under the banner of a project called “Bridges”. None of this was acknowledged by mainstream Anglo media, who instead repeated the mantra “Brazil’s institutions are working” whenever news from Lava Jato broke.

In the months and years prior to the Coup, foreign coverage often had the appearance of an orchestrated PR campaign, and in a sense that’s what it became – in that it included tacit editorial understanding not to use the definition of a Coup and insofar as it was possible, to depict constitutional and democratic business as usual.

There was a large intake of new U.S. journalists between 2010 and 2012, including several belonging to the Inter-American Press Association, who have long stood accused of manipulating news coming from the Americas. The narrative shift on Brazil can be considered to have begun in earnest from 2012, with depiction changing from a brave country, economically, culturally and politically vibrant, which was finally emerging from its permanent status as the “country of the future”, to that of permanent catastrophe and failed state. Young Journalists were sent to São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro, often with U.S. NGO/Think Tank funding and a remit to critique Dilma Rousseff and PT from right and left, breaking the halo-effect which had made Lula da Silva the most popular politician on Earth, and amplifying U.S.-friendly opposition figures such as Marina Silva and Aecio Neves. In addition, keystones of Brazilian culture and national integrity were critiqued and deconstructed, feeding the so called Vira Lata, or Stray Dog complex, helping fuel identity crisis and collapse in national self-esteem, just years after the country held its head high on the international stage for the first time in its history.

The core of anglophone commentary came from a small clique of journalists and commentators circled loosely round Council of the Americas Corporate members Bloomberg, CNN (Time Warner/Turner), plus colleagues at Reuters, NYT, Washington Post, NPR, and AS/COA’s own magazine Americas Quarterly. There was also regular liason between AS/COA – which is home to former State Department officials – and Journalists, some of whom were given sponsorships and expenses paid trips to the US where they would participate in special journalistic programmes in the years prior to Rousseff’s impeachment.

Reuters Brazil were at the time facing their own accusations of partiality, around the “podemos tirar se achar melhor” scandal, which appeared to censor damaging information about politicians from centre-right opposition PSDB. This situation pre-empted the departure of bureau chief Brian Winter to the position of Vice President at AS/COA & editor of Americas Quarterly (AS/COA’s in-house magazine). Winter had previously ghostwritten English language biographies for PSDB’s Fernando Henrique Cardoso and Colombia’s Alvaro Uribe – both neoliberal figures whose administrations were aligned to the United States. Reuters advertised for Winter’s replacement in a politicised manner, emphasising a continuation of the narrative established over the preceding years, that of tacit opposition to Dilma Rousseff.

Also of note is the promoted/sponsored commentariat, and how they interacted with established Journalists to shape narratives on social media. Usually connected to Washington DC think tanks, these individuals often have a current book release which validates perception as expert consultant. These included a Cato-associated former Bloomberg writer who, to the bewilderment of many followers, maintained that there was no Coup taking place, post 2014 election, throughout Rousseff’s impeachment and subsequent revelations, even at one point refuting the extensively documented role of the United States in the 1964 Military Coup.

An easy place to observe this echo chamber in motion is Twitter news aggregator, Scharlab, where there is little or nothing in the way of counterpoint to “economically orthodox” centre-right positions, which is occasionally dressed in the weaponised language of human rights and anti-corruption. Most of this coverage reflects the positions of Brazil’s own oligarchic media, such as Veja, Folha & Estadão, who all backed Dilma Rousseff’s illegal impeachment.

Watching how Latin America is reported in general is informative – Venezuela being the current extreme, where US commentators depict Venezuelans wanting further US Sanctions or Military intervention. These kind of talking points are often echoed by the same individuals who supported Rousseff’s impeachment. Then there is the polar disparity between the attitude towards Democracy in Venezuela and Brazil, both in the State Department itself, as illustrated in this video, and amongst think-tanks such as AS/COA.

http://youtu.be/ogycKZLGcIM

AS/COA is not the only example but has an important function – like an interface between State (U.S.) & Corporate Power, Neoliberal Politicians in Latin America and everyday English-language media from the region, such as Reuters & Bloomberg in particular. Similarly, Ford Foundation’s traditional focus has been on the funding journalists, scholarly research, and cultural projects, with a fundamental remit to promote a “Non-Marxist left”. It has been said that such NGO’s & Think Tanks now perform many of the tasks the CIA used to handle in-house.

There has also been a marked shift in the opposite direction on Argentina following the election of Macri, despite economic shocks that have followed. Long depicted as a basket case under Cristina Kirchner, now with agreement to establish US bases there it is almost as if Argentina is being groomed for a new leadership position in the southern cone, taking on Brazil’s mantle. Macri has stated that Venezuela is not a Democracy, and seeks its expulsion from Mercosur – a long held US objective. He also talks about expanding Mercosur all the way to Mexico. Yet any Macri-led Mercosur would most likely be in a Neoliberal form more similar to the continent-wide FTAA, the brainchild of David Rockefeller, which was roundly rejected by Lula and Nestor Kirchner when pushed by George W. Bush in the early 2000s.

With those longer term objectives in mind, you know exactly what to expect from the finance press, especially the “Watchtower” of the Neoliberal faith, the Economist. But it is the other areas of the Liberal media which really demonstrate the premise of this article and the trend of attacking a progressive government from an ostensibly left position, is worthy of particular attention. During the Impeachment, one Rio-based North American Journalist lamented that they couldn’t find any non-leftist history professors to corroborate their narrative.

Following its sister paper, the Observer, joining The Economist and Washington Post in calling for Rousseff’s resignation, there was also the strange case of the UK’s Guardian Newspaper. It altered a Pro-Temer headline, suggesting he had Brazilian’s support, to something framed entirely differently – the new headline suggesting the possibility of a Coup. This followed an angry response from the public. A Guardian contributor in Brazil complained off-record that they did not know who was writing/framing this material.

Coup denial

Master narratives, near identical talking points and statements on social media, obfuscation & self censorship – it was no surprise to see most falling into line when the Coup finally came. Those who didn’t comply could be observed on social media being slapped down by their editors for the use of the word Coup – in particular those at international news agencies. When the word Coup was used it was usually within scare quotes, dripping with innuendo. One British freelance journalist told Brasil Wire that they had to consciously stop sharing material which depicted the Soft Coup taking place out of fear of being blacklisted from possible future work from organisations such as Reuters.

In a precarious industry much of the self-censorship can be put down to professional self-preservation. However, this can and very often does dovetail with bad faith, and that too is strategic.

With absolute denial already implausible the “smart line” became how it was an “unfortunate” or “unfair” situation but “could not be called a Coup”. This position too became quickly untenable with the release of conversations between Senator Romero Juca and businessman Machado which detailed a “grand national agreement” including the legislature, judiciary and military. The plan was to put Temer in the presidency to “stop the bleeding” of Lava Jato before it reached them – with PT decapitated it would have served its purpose.

In addition, key figures such as President Michel Temer, Ministers Romero Juca & Jose Serra & Lava Jato prosecutor Sergio Moro had various documented involvements with State Department, dating back over a decade, which were ignored.

Public resistance to the Coup, large street demonstrations that had been occurring in parallel to, and at some points eclipsing those against Dilma Rousseff, were almost entirely ignored by international media, and still are. Such oppposition to the extreme enforced austerity policies of Temer’s Government underlines how the Brazilian left see the Coup – not merely a reference to Rousseff’s impeachment – with some respected commentators calling it the “Systematic dismantling of an emerging power“.

Closing Ceremony

So what was the answer to this shredding of the Coup denial narrative? Say nothing. Only a small core of Bloomberg, Reuters & AS/COA associated personnel continued to outright deny that a Coup had taken place, while most professional commentators simply avoided mention for fear of controversy. Only the Economist kept the faith, its notoriously insensitive Brazil editor glibly dismissing “Coup Rhetoric” as late as October 2016. Thankfully there were other independent platforms who published more accurate depictions of the situation.

With the Olympic closing ceremony filling the news cycle, pivotal acts of the Coup complete, and with most of the key writers quiet, many left the country entirely within days and weeks of Dilma’s final removal on 31st August. They followed an exodus of rich foreigners trying to unpick their interests from Brazil since 2015, many fearing of catastrophe & collapse, some even civil war.

This story should and likely will someday be a case study in how oligarchic media can combine to create a false narrative about a sovereign nation, a narrative which just so happens to serve local Comprador Elite interests and North Atlantic Economic & Foreign Policy objectives.

Ignorance, incompetence, bad faith? In all likelihood it was a mixture of the three.

After helping to enable the Coup by muting international outrage and opposition to it, it is ironic that so few of those responsible remain in the country to live with the societal consequences.

http://www.brasilwire.com/the-coup-one-year-on-how-anglo-media-failed-brazil/

blindpig

04-27-2017, 09:03 AM

Airports and Post offices adhere to Friday's strikeParalysis will affect the country's main airports and more than 200 post offices

Douglas Gavras and Ricardo Rossetto,
O Estado de S.Paulo

26 April 2017 | 5:19 a.m.

The general strike convened for Friday, 28, by trade union centrals and social movements in protest of the Social Security and Labor reforms proposed by the Michel Temer government, is gaining ground with the adhesion of the airports of the main airports of the Country and also of the employees of the Post Office .
According to the National Union of Aerovias (SNA), the stoppage of the category is expected to begin on Friday morning, with no start time yet. The decision includes ground workers such as check-in services and baggage handlers, for example.

Photo: Helvio Romero / Estadão
http://img.estadao.com.br/resources/jpg/5/0/1488810040305.jpg
The forecast is that more than 200 post offices will be closed from this Thursday, 27, throughout the country

ADVERTISING

InRead invented by Teads
"We know that they are already outsourcing various functions at airports," said SNA President Luiz Pará, "and we will do our job." He estimates that the union represents a base of 50,000 workers at almost all airports Of the country, not counting the terminals of São Paulo, Porto Alegre, Recife and Manaus.
"If these reforms pass, the situation of the Brazilian worker, already helpless with the crisis, will be even more complicated," says Pará.
Most of the airport and airport terminals of Guarulhos and Recife are also expected to cross their arms from 6 am on Friday, according to the National Federation of Civil Aviation Workers (FENTAC). At both airports, only 30% of employees are expected to continue working.
In Congonhas, there is confirmation of airport strike, and workers at Salgado Filho airport in Porto Alegre must decide whether to join the strike in the assembly on Wednesday afternoon, according to Fentac.
Post offices. According to the direction of the National Federation of Postal and Telegraph Workers (Fentect), postal workers from all over the country enter a general strike for an indefinite period beginning at 10:00 pm on Wednesday, 26 June. In the afternoon of today the assemblies that will ratify the stoppage. The category according to Fentect, is the fight against the privatization of the state, and the mass dismissal of workers announced by President Guilherme Campos.
The Federation warns that municipalities in the interior and peripheral regions may be without banking and post offices, as it is expected that more than 200 agencies will stop opening as of this Thursday, 27.

http://economia.estadao.com.br/noticias/geral,aeroportos-e-correios-aderem-a-greve-de-sexta-feira,70001753170

*****************

Union centrals give as a certain adhesion of categories to stoppage in the sixth; See listIn the capital of São Paulo, subway, bus drivers and teachers joined the so-called general strike and should stop all day; Federal public servants unions want empty Esplanade on Friday

Daniel Weterman and Eduardo Laguna,
Broadcast

26 April 2017 | 4:18 p.m.

SÃO PAULO, Brazil - Trade union leaders and social movements are already calling for several categories to join in the stoppage this Friday, 28, against the reforms proposed by President Michel Temer (PMDB) in the National Congress. The reforms of the Social Security and labor are the main targets.

The general strike took shape with the announcement of adhesion of the aeroviários of the main airports of the Country and also of the employees of the Post.

http://economia.estadao.com.br/noticias/geral,centrais-sindicais-dao-como-certa-adesao-de-categorias-para-paralisacao-na-sexta,70001753093

blindpig

04-28-2017, 10:14 AM

Brazil General Strike to Protest Temer’s Neoliberal Reforms

http://www.telesurtv.net/__export/1493341618007/sites/telesur/img/news/2017/04/27/brzlprotests.jpg_1718483346.jpg
Protests against Temer's administration. | Photo: Reuters

Published 27 April 2017 (13 hours 13 minutes ago)

Friday's general strike comes amid a dismal disapproval rating for the Temer administration — a staggering 87 percent.
Dozens of labor unions and grassroots organizations in Brazil have called for a general strike on Friday in protest against President Michel Temer’s neoliberal reforms.

The strike was called immediately after Temer’s administration pushed through a controversial labor reform bill on Wednesday in Brazil's chamber of deputies. The reform would undermine workers’ rights by eliminating payment for their commute from their contracts, reducing compensation for employer abuse, and most importantly, allowing employers reduce workers’ salaries while increasing their work hours.

The bill, which proposes to end mandatory union dues, must still be approved by the Senate. It was approved by Brazil's lower house by 296 votes to 177.

Temer is also proposing a 20-year freeze on public spending and cuts to pension protections.

Friday's general strike comes amid a dismal disapproval rating for the Temer administration — a staggering 87 percent, according to the latest Ipsos poll. The mass mobilization of workers and civil society also comes on the heels of ongoing protests, such as the five-day encampment of Indigenous peoples and a police union protest, both occurring in front of Brazil’s Congress.

Brazilian labor leaders plan to shut down public transportation, airlines and other public sector work, World Socialist Web Site reports.

“I invite all of you to participate in the strike, in an orderly fashion without chaos,” Bishop Flavio Giovanele, a strike organizer, told Brazilian news site Plus 55.

“Because if we want a peaceful Brazil, we need peaceful protests. But we also must protest steadfastly our position in regards to the pension and labor reform.”

Friday’s general strike was largely organized by the Unified Workers Central, the largest union federation in Latin America, and the Workers Party of Brazil, former president Dilma Rousseff’s political party.

http://www.telesurtv.net/english/news/Brazil-General-Strike-to-Protest-Temers-Neoliberal-Reforms-20170427-0028.html?utm_content=buffer217fa&utm_medium=social&utm_source=twitter.com&utm_campaign=buffer

**************

Brazil's Lower House Passes Anti-Labor Reform Bill

http://www.telesurtv.net/__export/1493245511749/sites/telesur/img/news/2017/04/26/girl_out_temer_sign.jpg_1718483346.jpg
Girl holds up a balloon that reads "Out Temer." | Photo: Reuters

Published 26 April 2017

The bill along with a host of other reforms will undermine Brazilian workers' rights.
Amid a staggering disapproval rating of 87 percent — according to the latest Ipsos poll; a general strike planned for Friday; and mass protests organized by Indigenous communities, the Michel Temer administration pushed through its controversial labor reform bill in Brazil's chamber of deputies Wednesday.

Last week, the lower house approved urgent proceedings to accelerate the vote aimed at reforming labor laws. The decision happened roughly 24 hours after the same chamber rejected a similar project. Bill 6787 will undermine workers' rights by eliminating from contracts payment for workers' commute; reducing compensation for employer abuse; and most importantly, allowing for employers to negotiate contracts with their employees that would not have to comply with the current Consolidation of Labor Laws and could reduce workers' salaries while at the same time, increase their work hours.

The lower house will now analyze six amendments to the bill that may alter important points of the final text. Afterward, it heads to the senate for a vote.

"What type of nation are we going to build by sacrificing the possibility to reduce inequality? What is a society that doesn't intend to guarantee employment?" asked Maria Aparecida da Cruz Bridi, a sociology professor at the Federal University of Parana and member of the Brazilian Association of Work Studies.

Da Cruz Bridi asserted that the government's claim that labor reform will create employment is a lie and that the revision of CLT is intended to serve, first and foremost, the interests of the business community. "He ( Temer ) doesn't have popular approval nor legitimacy to dismantle (CLT)," Da Cruz Bridi concluded.

The reform bill comes on the heels of mass mobilizations against a series of reforms proposed by the Temer regime. On Monday several Indigenous groups set up a five-day encampment in front of Brazil's congress. Last week some 3,000 disgruntled police union members protested outside of congress against the government's plan for social security reform. This Friday a nationwide, general strike is planned against Temer administration proposals that will weaken workers' rights and the social security and well-being of the people of Brazil.

http://www.telesurtv.net/english/news/Brazil-Lower-House-Set-to-Vote-on-Anti-Labor-Reform-Bill-20170426-0033.html

*****************

Brazil's Temer Vows No More Concessions in Controversial Reform

http://www.telesurtv.net/__export/1493144553285/sites/telesur/img/news/2017/04/25/reuters_temer.jpg_1718483346.jpg
Michel Temer faces his lowest approval ratings since being installed as president of Brazil last year. | Photo: Reuters

Published 25 April 2017

The Brazilian president has not backed down with plans for an unpopular pension reform that has sparked a large workers' strike planned for Friday.
Ahead of a national strike against controversial austerity measures, Brazilian President Michel Temer has dug in his heels, saying he won't make any more changes to his proposed economic reforms before the items are discussed in Congress.

"All the concessions have already been made," said Temer after a meeting with Spanish Primer Minister Mariano Rajoy. "The convincing process begins today."

Last week, the government made small adjustments to the pension reform after facing pressure from social movements and allied lawmakers in Congress.

If passed, the controversial bill would reduce benefits, raise social security contributions by civil servants and set a minimum retirement age of 65 years in a country where people work on average until the age of 54 years before retiring.

With the government's recent tweaks to the bill, the minimum retirement age for women would be 62 instead of 65 and would need to work for a minimum of 40 years to collect their pension instead of 49 years.

Temer said the reform will be voted on when the there are the right circumstances in Congress to get it approved, which he said could be between May 8 and 9.

According to the government, the reform will ease the country's deficit and amend public debt.

"If the reform is not done now, it will have to be done in three years, or within seven years the country will be paralyzed," Temer said last month.

But social organizations have taken a firm stand against the reforms that they argue deepen neoliberal austerity in the South American country. Workers' unions and social movements have called for a general strike on Friday against the reform.

The Temer government, installed last year through the parliamentary coup that ousted former President Dilma Rousseff, faces low approval ratings and has already sparked heated controversy with the approval of a 20-year freeze on public spending that will affect the country's budgets for education, health, culture and social programs.

In the face of what some have dubbed a crisis of democracy with an unelected government enacting unpopular austerity reforms, former President Luiz Inacio "Lula" da Silva, founder and leader of the Worker's Party, has called for new elections to bring a democratically-elected government back to power.

"Direct elections are needed, not waiting until 2018 because hunger is in a hurry and unemployment is in a hurry," said Lula, referring to the presidential elections scheduled for next year.

"This country is ungoverned," he added. "This country doesn't need someone to occupy the position unduly, someone who doesn't have popularity but who says that he has a vote in Congress."

Lula leads the poll for the presidential elections in 2018 with 30.5 percent of the vote according to a recent poll by MDA Pesquisa.

http://www.telesurtv.net/english/news/Brazils-Temer-Vows-No-More-Concessions-in-Controversial-Reform-20170425-0016.html

Videos at all of these links

blindpig

04-28-2017, 03:43 PM

CUT estimates that more than 35 million Brazilians have left work today
National President of the Central Única dos Trabalhadores (CUT) tells Congress in Focus that, even before the final closing of the numbers, it is already possible to affirm that today's standstill is the largest in the country's history

BY SYLVIO COSTA
· POSTED ON 4/28/2017 7:20 PM

http://static.congressoemfoco.uol.com.br/2017/04/sa%C3%ADda-do-Gama.jpg
Blockade of one of the main access routes to the Pilot Plan, in Brasília

The general strike called for this Friday (28) had great adhesion among the transport workers of the main Brazilian cities. The shutdown significantly affected mobility in São Paulo, Rio de Janeiro, Belo Horizonte, Fortaleza, Curitiba and almost all major cities in the country.
In Brasilia , buses and subway shutdown was 100%. As in other cities, there were several blockades of public roads, with tires burning, but the traffic was released after police action. Access to the Esplanade of the Ministries and the Three Powers Square, where the Executive, Legislative and Judiciary offices are located, is closed. In Rio de Janeiro, due to the temporary blockade of the Rio / Niterói bridge, the already habitually chaotic vehicle traffic became even more complicated.

There are no figures available on the total number of striking workers, but trade union leaders celebrate the success of the movement and have no doubts that millions of people have stopped working in Brazil today. In several states, educational institutions took the initiative to suspend classes, in some cases under the justification of avoiding disorders.

For the president of the Central Única dos Trabalhadores (CUT), Vagner Freitas, this is the largest labor strike ever held in the country. He likened the strike to the 1989 movement when 35 million workers stopped work to protest. "There is no estimate yet, but the central will exceed this number," Freitas said.

Against the reforms

Today's movement, contrary to pension reform and the change of labor laws , is called by the trade union centrals, with the support of the Catholic Church and the Evangelical Alliance, which is composed of, among others, the Lutheran Church of Brazil and the Methodist Church.

The National Conference of Bishops of Brazil (CNBB) issued a note "calling on Christians and people of good will to mobilize around the current pension reform, in order to seek the best for our people, especially the most fragile." In an interview with Vatican Radio, the secretary general of the organization, Archbishop Leonardo Steiner, said that it is "essential that the population be heard in its collective manifestations."

"The National Congress and the Executive Branch, unfortunately, have shown little sensitivity to what society has expressed in relation to reforms. The Brazilians and Brazilians want the good of Brazil and to build a just and fraternal nation want to participate in the discussions and referrals, "he added.

Violence

Dozens of professional categories officially joined the stoppage. Among the most numerous are teachers and teaching workers in general, bankers, vigilantes, public servants, urban cleaning workers and the post office. The union centrals failed to gain support from the air (air-working) and airport (ground-based) sectors. Flights and airports operate regularly today.

At Santos Dumont airport in Rio de Janeiro, protesters and people opposed to the strike broke out. See the video:

http://youtu.be/arqVwy6cAnQ

Churches and the main trade union centrals, on the one hand, and the government, on the other, fear that today's demonstration will produce scenes of violence across the country. For this reason, in several cities, the leadership of the movement was to avoid large agglomerations. The social networks suggest a strong movement of the black blocs , but until 11 o'clock this Friday the violent episodes were few and isolated.

Although demonstrations have taken place and are still taking place in various parts of Brazil, they are not many, and none of them have gathered crowds.

Feriadão

Some entities that have organized themselves in favor of the impeachment of Dilma, like the Free Brazil Movement (MBL), campaign in the social lines against the general strike. PSDB prefectures, such as those in São Paulo and Porto Alegre, made agreements with Uber and Cab Fi type companies so that they could arrange to transport municipal servers for free or at a low cost.

Town halls led by PT, PCdoB and other parties of the left acted in the opposite direction, facilitating the adhesion to the movement and even decreasing optional point. A number of regional labor tribunals (TRTs) have also been adopted.

The date chosen for the general strike certainly offers an extra fuel for the general strike. With the approaching Labor Day, celebrated on Monday, the stoppage of this Friday became an attractive invitation to stretch the holiday.

http://m.congressoemfoco.uol.com.br/noticias/greve-paralisa-transportes-das-principais-cidades-do-pais/

Google Translator

blindpig

04-29-2017, 09:06 AM

#Brazil: Student In a Coma After Hit On His Head By Police Baton
Posted on April 29, 2017 by Enough is Enough!
A 33 year old student is in a coma after he was hit on his head with a police baton during yesterdays general strike in Brazil. More than 35 million people took part in the general strike. In many cities clashes broke out after riot cops attacked protesters.

Written by Riot Turtle

Note: Enough is Enough is not organizing any of these events, we are publishing them for people across the US and Europe to be able to see what is going on.

Amid record levels of unemployment and a terribly unpopular government, unions and citizens from all walks of life took part in one of Brazil’s biggest ever strikes. Anarchists supported yesterdays general strike.

In Goiás 33 year old student Matheus Ferrera da Silva was hit on his head with a baton by a paramilitary cop (pictures) . He is in a coma after the vicious police attack. The assault was spotted by journalist Luiz da Luz. Da Luz wrote that the cops turned away without helping the injured student when he was lying on the ground. According to a statement by HUGO (Emergency Hospital of Goiás) Matheus suffered traumatic brain injury and multiple fractures and is still in a coma at the intesive care unit of the hospital.

https://i1.wp.com/enoughisenough14.files.wordpress.com/2017/04/goiana28a0.jpg?w=473&h=266&crop&ssl=1
More than 35 million people in Brazil took part in yesterdays general strike. In one of biggest general strikes in the country’s history against President Michel Temer’s neoliberal reforms, activists brought the country to a standstill. Clashes broke out after riot cops and paramilitary police forces attacked protesters in several cities.

In Rio de Janeiro cops were seen firing tear gas to disperse protesters in the early morning hours, many people were detained. Similar scenes were also seen further South in Santos, where police reportedly used tear gas in an attempt to clear roads leading to the city’s port.

In Rio de Janeiro, the bridge between Rio de Janeiro and its neighboring city of Niterói was blocked by protesters for a number of hours in the morning. Large protests also took place in Sao Paulo, in the Salvador the capital of the eastern state of Bahia, in Curitiba in the southern state of Paraná and Belo Horizonte, the capital of Minas Gerais. In Porto Alegre, police also fired tear gas and smoke from burning barricades on the streets billowed into air. Banks, schools and transport were brought to a halt in Florianopolis, Santa Catarina as cops surrounded the crowds that took the streets.

In many more cities people had setup road blockades, burned tires in the streets, and protested against the unelected government and its neoliberal labor reforms and austerity programs, with many holding signs of “Fora Temer!” (Temer Out!).

Several buses were torched during yesterdays clashes. Banks and other corporations were also attacked.

The strike was called immediately after Temer’s administration pushed through a controversial labor reform bill on Wednesday in Brazil’s chamber of deputies.

The labor reform will undermine workers’ rights by eliminating payment for their commute from their contracts, reducing compensation for employer abuse, and will allow employers to reduce workers’ salaries while increasing their work hours.

The bill, which also proposes to end mandatory union dues, must still be approved by the Senate. It was approved by Brazil’s lower house by 296 votes to 177.

Temer also proposed a 20-year freeze on public spending and pension cuts.

https://i1.wp.com/enoughisenough14.files.wordpress.com/2017/04/brazil28aeie.jpg?w=412&h=275&crop&ssl=1
https://i0.wp.com/enoughisenough14.files.wordpress.com/2017/04/brazil28aeie0.jpg?w=437&h=291&crop&ssl=1

https://enoughisenough14.org/2017/04/29/brazil-student-in-a-coma-after-hit-on-his-head-by-police-baton/

Mixed feelings about these self styled anarchos, in the face of a lack of organized opposition by communists I think they serve the purpose of 'showing the flag' of resistance. But their actions are grossly inadequate in meeting the people's needs and when conflicting with organized communism serve the purpose of reaction.

blindpig

05-04-2017, 11:17 AM

Brazil: changes to rural labor laws could see workers only paid in food and accommodation

The proposal allows companies to no longer pay their employees for salary, but by "compensation of any kind" - which may simply be to provide housing and food -, increase the daily workload by "force majeure" to up to 12 hours, Replace the weekly rest of the employees for a continuous period, with up to 18 consecutive days of work, and the full sale of the vacations of the employees who live in the workplace.

http://www.valor.com.br/politica/4953786/leis-do-trabalho-rural-devem-mudar

This sucker got really annoying copy-protection, read in full at link with Garble Translator.

It ain't quite chattel slavery, more like the capitalism of Marx's day, a bit worse in fact. Damn near every bit of feudalism without any obligations whatsoever. This is what the 'end of history' might really look line.

Get Up! Stand Up!

blindpig

05-05-2017, 03:20 PM

Unions announce more protests against Brazilian government

http://www.telesurtv.net/__export/1493964800378/sites/telesur/img/news/2017/05/05/movimientos_sociales_y_sindicalistas_brasilexos_durante_el_dxa_del_trabajador_-_efe.jpg_1718483347.jpg
In this 2017 the Brazilians have not left the streets in their repudiation to the mandate of Michel Temer. | Photo: EFE

Published 5 May 2017

"Occupy Brasilia," a measure of pressure to avoid further neoliberal reforms, is the main bet of the Brazilian working class for the next few days.

Brazil's trade union headquarters announced Thursday that the general strike last Friday was "only the beginning" of a series of protests and mobilizations, against the reforms promoted by the de facto government of Michel Temer.

The trade unionists agreed that between May 8 and May 12 they will organize events in the 27 states of Brazil to pressure the parliamentarians on their own electoral bases and convince them to vote against the reforms.

While between May 15 and 19 they will promote the so-called "Occupy Brasilia," a takeover of the Brazilian capital by trade unionists to put pressure on the government and legislators in Congress.

"The march to Brasilia in a week of voting for the reforms is fundamental and that is why all our unions will participate, just as it happened in the general strike, when most of the categories adhered," said Joao Carlos Gonzalves, Secretary General of the Force Sindical, the second largest center in Brazil and until a few days ago supported the Government of Temer.

The unions said last Friday's general strike, the first in 21 years in the country, was a success and highlighted the participation of millions of workers in key sectors such as automotive, oil, banking and education.

The series of new protests was announced after a meeting that representatives of all the trade union centrals had this Thursday in Sao Paulo to define a calendar of activities against the reforms.

In the act of the Força Sindical, deputy Paulo Pereira da Silva, president of the organization, said that "if the Government has not understood it, there will be more mobilizations", referring to the opposition to labor reforms and social security.

In context

The main target of the protests is the retirement pension reform, approved by 23 votes in favor and 14 against in a commission of the Chamber of Deputies, and that establishes as a minimum age to retire in Brazil 62 years for women And 65 for men.

The reform will still have to be debated in the plenary chamber of the Chamber of Deputies, which will have to approve it by a three-fifths majority (308 votes of the 513 deputies) before it can be sent to the Senate for consideration.

http://www.telesurtv.net/news/Huelga-fue-solo-el-principio-sindicatos-anuncian-mas-protestas-contra-el-Gobierno-brasileno-20170505-0003.html

Google Translator

***********************

Poll reveals massive rejection of Temer's labor reform

http://www.telesurtv.net/__export/1493916522265/sites/telesur/img/multimedia/2017/05/04/brasil4_reuters.jpg_1718483347.jpg
The Chamber of Deputies approved the bill, with a total of 296 votes in favor and 177 against. | Photo: Reuters
Posted 4 May 2017

The survey, published by the Federal Senate on the Internet, showed the discontent of citizenship before the reform with a total of 78,817 votes against.
Shop unique gifts for Mother’s Day!

Brazil's labor reform proposal, led by interim President Michel Temer, was the subject of massive
rejection in a consultation on Thursday by the Federal Senate website in Brazil.

Of the 81,000 Internet users who expressed their opinion on the website, a total of 78,817 expressed their disagreement with the proposal extended by Temer.

The bill, passed on 26 April by the Chamber of Deputies, with 296 votes in favor and 177 against, will be submitted to the trial of three commissions: Economic Affairs (CAE), Constitution, Justice and Citizenship (CCJ) and Social Affairs (CAS), in the same order.

In the words of Clemente Ganz Lúcio, technical director of the Inter-union Department of Statistics and Socioeconomic Studies (Dieese), the proposal covers "a project of protection of the companies and of worker protection".

Protests EFE
Citizens in Brazil have expressed their discontent with Temer and his measures on repeated occasions, including the May 1 general strike.

"The contested labor reform creates instruments to legalize practices that precarize labor, reduce or prevent trade union protection and leave the worker exposed to coercion of companies in the definition of their rights," said Lucio.

In this sense, the national president of the Bar Association of Brazil (OAB), Carlos Lamachia, says that this bill aims to "create subclasses of workers with few rights, precarious contracts and unworthy remunerations."

"The project attacks the Federal Constitution and the entire regulatory system, especially for representing a setback and disrespecting the rights acquired by workers," Lamachia said.

The reform, promoted under the pretext of modernizing current labor standards, has as its controversial point the possibility that direct negotiations between workers and companies are beyond the law, that is to say, that priority be given to what has been agreed on the legislated.

The proposal also establishes new recruitment modalities, extends temporary work agreements and interferes with the work of trade unions.

http://www.telesurtv.net/news/Sondeo-revela-rechazo-masivo-a-reforma-laboral-de-Temer-20170504-0030.html

Google Translator

blindpig

05-12-2017, 01:06 PM

Brazil general strike: Behind the media silence
We examine why Brazil's media outlets treated a national strike that paralysed much of the country as a non-story.
07 May 2017 09:58 GMT Media, Brazil, Protests, Latin America

Last week, hundreds of thousands of Brazilians took to the streets and millions more stayed home in a general strike. Airports, factories, schools, public services were all shut down.

Last year, a different set of protests brought down a different government - that of former President Dilma Rousseff. But last year's demonstrations got wall-to-wall coverage in Brazil's privately-owned news outlets - including Globo, which is as dominant a TV presence as you will find in any country.

The Temer government is buying editorial support.

Joao Filho, journalist, The Intercept Brasil

The subsequent impeachment of Rousseff paved the way for the current president, Michel Temer, whose austerity-based response to an economic recession led to the general strike last week.

But this time around Globo and other media outlets don't seem to find the protest story quite so compelling.

"The gulf in coverage is vast. The protests calling for impeachment against the Dilma government had huge visibility, with Globo's helicopter capturing the protest from the air and covering it all day long. With protests against Michel Temer, this doesn't exist," says journalist Joao Filho of The Intercept Brasil.

"When it came to the general strike the word 'strike' was avoided - they talk only about demonstrations, protests and vandalism," Filho says.

So why did the media treat the two strikes differently?

Critics suggest that's because right-wing media outlets prefer Temer and his austerity programme to Rousseff and her leftist predecessor Lula da Silva - and the social programmes that they brought in.

Another factor might be that Temer's government has been using taxpayers' money to persuade the news media to support his conservative agenda.

Like Globo, Brazil's other major networks, SBT and Record are family-owned or controlled - and their proprietors tend to tilt to the right politically, which is reflected in the coverage their platforms provide.

"The Temer government is buying editorial support. It's not simply increasing advertising funds, no - it's exchanging advertising funds for editorial support," says Filho.

Interestingly, "strikers and demonstrators were never interviewed; our arguments for the general strike were never heard. The mainstream media clearly had an editorial tendency to discredit the strike," says Adriana Magalhaes, a press officer representing the United Workers' Central.

With multiple investigations into corruption, economic reforms affecting future pension cheques, state spending on advertising and where that money goes, the Brazilian political story is a complicated one. The story of the media reporting on it, really isn't.

http://www.aljazeera.com/programmes/listeningpost/2017/05/brazil-general-strike-media-silence-170506093737946.html

blindpig

05-15-2017, 02:12 PM

ANALYSIS-Brazil, home of Amazon, rolls back environmental protection
by Chris Arsenault | @chrisarsenaul | Thomson Reuters Foundation

Monday, 15 May 2017 13:00 GMT

Brazil is backsliding on its commitments to protect land rights, the Amazon rainforest and the indigenous people who depend upon it
By Chris Arsenault

RIO DE JANEIRO, May 15 (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - From sweeping cuts of funds to protect forests, to the loosening of conservation of indigenous land and measures to boost large-scale property deals, Brazil has embarked on the biggest roll back of environmental protections in two decades, former government officials and campaigners said.

Amid a political upheaval and a economic crisis, Brazil is backsliding on its commitments to protect land rights, the Amazon rainforest and the indigenous people who depend upon it, environmentalists say.

The changes are the biggest shift in Brazil's environmental policies since it adopted a new constitution in 1988 at the end of a military rule, said Adriana Ramos from the Social and Environmental Institute (ISA), a Brasilia-based campaign group.

"It's a serious crisis," a former Brazilian cabinet minister told the Thomson Reuters Foundation on the condition of anonymity. "We are backsliding on land use and new demarcation of indigenous peoples' land."

Supporters of measures to remove protected area status for more than one million hectares of land say the changes are overdue.

Brazil is suffering its worst recession on record and large-scale agriculture offers has boosted exports, giving the country's rural lobby more clout, Ramos said.

Proponents of moves to relax regulation and spending cuts say they are necessary to boost growth get more than 13 million unemployed Brazilians back to work.

"If it wasn't for that contribution (from agriculture), we would likely be forecasting another fall in gross domestic product," said Rodolfo Margato, an economist with Santander Brasil, in São Paulo last month.

The government will spend this year working to pass the new series of new environmental and mining laws, cabinet minister Eliseu Padilha said on Friday, outlining future priorities.

"These are measures we can take to make the country more prosperous," Padilha told lawmakers in the capital.

BIG CUTS

As part of efforts to close its yawning budget deficit, Brazil's government has launched a series of wide-ranging spending cuts, led by President Michel Temer who took power following the impeachment of his predecessor last year.

The environment ministry has been hit hard, with its budget slashed by more than 40 percent this year, according to government figures.

Funding at the National Indian Foundation (FUNAI), the government body responsible for protecting the rights of Brazil's 900,000 indigenous people has been slashed by more than 40 percent.

FUNAI has drawn criticism from rural lawmakers who say it is giving away too much land to indigenous people by making biased assessments of their historical claims.

"The budget cuts will obviously have a major impact on our work," a senior government official working on environmental protection told the Thomson Reuters Foundation on condition of anonymity.

The cuts come in tandem with a rise in deforestation in the Amazon, the world's largest tropical forest and crucial for absorbing carbon dioxide emissions. Deforestation increased by 29 percent last year following previous reductions.

CONSERVATION AREAS

Among the proposed changes are measures to reduce the size of conservation areas in the Amazon by more than a million hectares - an area larger than Jamaica. The changes to conservation areas, put forward by Temer at the end of 2016, are expected to be passed by Brazil's Congress in the coming months, according to environmentalists.

"Cutting protected areas at a time when deforestation rates are increasing is the opposite of what Brazil needs," Greenpeace Brazil campaigner Cristiane Mazzetti told the Thomson Reuters Foundation.

But the moves have the support of some local politicians, such as Atila Lins, a lawmaker from Amazonas State, because he says they will benefit his constituents by opening more land for farming and other economic activities.

"A decision (to reduce the size of protected areas)... will not cause any environmental impact," he wrote on his Facebook page.

Other proposed measures include relaxing the environmental licensing rules for big infrastructure projects, opening sales of farmland to foreigners, and loosening rules for approving new mining projects.

"LEGALISING LAND GRABBING"

Lawmakers are also debating a plan to amend property registration rules that critics say would lead to an increase in "land grabbing" known locally as "grilagem".

Politicians supporting the move say changes to land laws would make it easier for small farmers and poor Brazilians to formally own properties where they have lived and worked for decades.

Making it easier for landless Brazilians to be granted tenure for their property could be positive, said Ramos from the ISA.

But the amendments would also allow landowners to register territory they had been informally occupying, she said - an incentive for rural businessmen to clear forests or occupy public land to gain formal ownership under the titling program.

"They have also increased the size of what can be regularized to 2,500 hectares," Ramos told the Thomson Reuters Foundation. "They are effectively legalising land grabbing."

Senator Romero Juca, an ally of Temer from the Amazonian state of Roraima where many residents do not formally own their land, argues the landless poor will be the prime beneficiaries of the initiative. Juca did not respond to interview requests.

"We want every family to have their title deeds," Juca said in a statement supporting the proposal. "This legislation will improve the lives of millions of Brazilians." (Reporting by Chris Arsenault @chrisarsenaul, Editing by Ros Russell.; Please credit the Thomson Reuters Foundation, the charitable arm of Thomson Reuters, that covers humanitarian news, women's rights, trafficking, property rights, climate change and resilience. Visit http://news.trust.org)

http://news.trust.org/item/20170515130758-w3cht/

This is one fishy site but the story is legit enough.

blindpig

05-18-2017, 10:35 AM

Brazil's Top Court Suspends Temer Ally Aecio Neves from Senate After Damning Wiretap
Published 18 May 2017 (46 minutes ago)

http://www.telesurtv.net/__export/1495115654745/sites/telesur/img/news/2017/05/18/brazil_temer_aecio_neves.jpg_1718483346.jpg

Conservative Senator and ally of President Michel Temer, Aecio Neves, was caught on tape asking for hefty bribes.
Brazil top court ruled Thursday morning to suspend Senate Aecio Neves and lower house lawmaker Rodrigo Rocha Loures, both allies of unelected President Michel Temer, hours after an explosive leaked recording revealed that they, together with the president, had solicited sizeable bribes to manage the fallout of corruption scandals swirling around them.

The Federal Supreme Court decision came as police carried out search warrants in apartments owned by Neves in Rio de Janeiro and Belo Horizonte, as well as his and other lawmakers’ congressional offices as part of the country’s largest-ever corruption probe, known as Operation Car Wash, investigating dozens of politicians and business elites involved in fraud schemes linked to the state-run oil company, Petrobras.

Neves’ suspension comes a day after one of Brazil’s largest newspapers, O Globo, released damning wiretap evidence that the senator had requested bribes to the tune of 2 million Brazilian reais, or about US$638,000 from Joesley Batista, an owner of the world’s largest meat processing company, JBS.

The same tapes revealed that Temer had also given his blessing to hefty bribes in the name of keeping quiet a key witness in the corruption investigations, Eduardo Cunha. Former speaker of the lower house, the chief mastermind behind the parliamentary dressed as an impeachment process against former President Dilma Rousseff and an ally of the unelected president, Cunha was sentenced to 15 years in jail in March for corruption, money laundering and tax evasion.

Neves had previously been named in the high-profile Operation Car Wash investigations together with Temer and a number of his top allies. In 2014, the senator lost the 2014 presidential runoff election to Rousseff and was a leading advocate of the ill-footed impeachment campaign against her, widely condemned as a coup.

http://www.telesurtv.net/english/news/Brazils-Top-Court-Suspends-Temer-Ally-Aecio-Neves-from-Senate-After-Damning-Wiretap--20170518-0004.html?utm_content=bufferc124d&utm_medium=social&utm_source=twitter.com&utm_campaign=buffer

This dude and even Temer are expendable, the goal of the coup was to rollback social progress and prevent the election of anyone like Lula again.

blindpig

05-18-2017, 01:04 PM

The General Strike and the Survival of the Latin American Left: An Interview with Luiz Gonzaga Gegê da Silva

Luiz Gonzaga Gegê da Silva is a historic figure on the Brazilian left. A member of the MR-8 resistance movement during the military dictatorship from 1964 to 1985, he spent time behind bars as a political prisoner and later became a founding member of the Partido dos Trabalhadores (Workers’ Party, PT), running for national party president in 2005, representing the Socialist or Barbarism internal current. Despite being a founding member of the party, he has never run for public office and never accepted a government job. Instead, he’s dedicated the last 30 years of his life to political organizing in squatter’s movements in São Paulo and the national Afro-Brazilian rights movement. Today, at age 67, he lives in a former squat that was converted to social housing in the downtown São Paulo region, drives a 20 year old car, and spends most of his days in the headquarters of the Movimento de Moradia de São Paulo (São Paulo Housing Movement, MMC) working to appropriate the hundreds of vacant tax-scofflaw buildings in the downtown region for conversion to social housing. Gegê is also a member of the national directorate of the Central de Movimentos Populares, or CMP. The CMP is a broad-based social movement coalition with around 200,000 members nationwide that represents landless peasants, squatters’, women’s, LGBT, and Afro-Brazilian rights movements and victims of forced relocations from hydroelectric projects. The CMP was a key actor in mobilizing for the April 28 general strike that took place nationwide in protest of President Michel Temer’s policies; most notably, his proposal to raise the retirement age as high as 74, depending on years spent in the workforce.

I caught up with Gegê on the afternoon of April 27, the day before the strike, to talk about the current political atmosphere and the upcoming strike. After the interview, Gegê made me a proposal: Would I like to come with him to shut down a road during the strike? So, the following morning, I met him and a group of 20 MMC members at six o’clock AM in their headquarters in Sé. All buses, trains, and subways were at a standstill, so we walked through downtown to 23 de Maio Avenue, where we were met by around 100 members of the Movimento dos Trabalhadores Sem Terra do Brasil (MST, Landless Workers Movement) and Levante Popular da Juventude (the Youth Uprising Movement). The group walked down a hill and, suddenly, there was a mad race to grab tires and gasoline from a site that was disguised to look like a homeless camp. Mirroring actions that were taking place on hundreds of avenues across the country at that moment, they blocked off one of the city’s most important highways with burning tires. For 40 minutes, rush hour traffic was paralyzed, the smoke billowed, and the crowd chanted “Fora Temer” (“Out with Temer”). Then, riot patrol police showed up and opened fire on us with tear gas canisters. As the crowd retreated, regrouped, and then started walking and singing through Anhangabau Valley, Gegê said, “Well, this is what we wanted. We wanted confrontation and we got it.” That day, 35 million people refused to open their businesses or go to work and transport routes were shut down through all of the major cities across the country. The day before, this is what we talked about:

What is your social housing strategy here in downtown São Paulo?

We have had some great difficulties here in the city center because the unbridled capitalist system always sees the center of the city as a part that should be conserved and cultivated for the powerful, for the bourgeoisie. And when we started talking about social housing in the downtown area, many people thought it was absurd that we would want to live downtown. As if poor people and blacks had a location just for them, a ghetto. When I started in this movement, the first thing that I tried to implement was dignified housing in the region. Due to my presence in the MMC and the other activists in the downtown area, we deepened this debate. We created a federation called the ULC (Unificação das Lutas de Cortiços por Imóveis Dignos nos Centros Urbanos, Unified struggle of Boarding House Residents for Dignified Housing in Urban Centers) and we worked to deepen the debate, to help people know that living in a dignified manner is a human right and a responsibility of the state. Living in a dignified manner is a fundamental right. What good does it do to live under a bridge or viaduct? You do not have your dignity preserved there. When I say that the greater center is a large stage, it’s because it is a stage that shows the division between the bourgeoisie and the social movements. São Paulo started in this central region and as the city grew, this bourgeoisie abandoned downtown to the point that today there are a lot of empty buildings here. Capital is not invested to reform these buildings or to guard them for the future. In other words, the center is a market reserve that capital creates so that a few years from now, the capitalists can sell property at a higher value. But buildings that do not fulfill their [constitutionally mandated] social function should all be occupied by families that do not have any dignified place to live. We in the MCC are occupying various buildings. Two of them were taken from their owners and converted to social housing and in other cases where the city appropriated and converted tax-scofflaw abandoned buildings, we were able to place some of our families there. But our victories are still relatively small because the government still doesn’t have this vision that public buildings, or private buildings that are not fulfilling their social function and not paying real estate taxes, should be used by people who already live in the region.

There are people in the anglophone world who say that what happened last year was not a coup, because, at least ostensibly, Dilma Rousseff was thrown out through a legal mechanism. Others argue that even if it was a coup, Brazilians should no longer worry about that point but try to move forwards. What is the opinion of the CMP on this matter?

There is not a shadow of a doubt that we suffered a coup in Brazil. And it was not a coup against Dilma Rousseff. It was not simply a coup against the PT party. It is a coup that continues to be implemented on the backs of the working class. The working class is paying a high price for this coup. And we are still not paying the price for everything they have planned for us. It is going to be a lot worse. It’s a coup, as happened in other countries in Latin America. There was a coup against Manuel Zelaya in Honduras, there was a coup in Paraguay. And we had a coup here in Brazil even though—I said this in a meeting a few days ago and ex-President Lula laughed—it was the crumbs that fell off the table of the bourgeoisie that supported us in the Lula and Dilma governments. Because it was the banks and the bourgeoisie who made great profits during the Lula and Dilma governments. We workers got the minimum possible—Bolsa Familia (conditional cash transfer program), Bolsa Gas (subsidized cooking gas), Bolsa Cisterna (rain water capture systems for families in the semi arid region), small things. I started predicting that this coup was going to happen in 2005 when they tried to impeach Lula. They started building the coup in 2005 and they continued developing it until 2016. I don’t have a shadow of a doubt that if they tried to carry out this coup against Lula it would have been more difficult for them to pull off. But if they weren’t able to pull it off in 2016, maybe it would have happened in 2017. Because the bourgeoisie does not joke around with this type of job. The bourgeoisie is always, in an ever-increasing manner, trying to advance its project to take everything and leave the working class with nothing. They think the only rights for the working class are to have a bitter cup of coffee early in the morning, eat some rice and beans at lunch time, another plate of rice and beans at dinner time – that they do not need meat or milk or vegetables or a good life. Because the moment that the working class begins to have a better life, it will be able to think more clearly. It will begin to perceive that rights are obligations. And this is the issue. But if you see what is happening now, the coup is an ongoing process. Every day there is a new vote against the working class. The day before yesterday there was a vote in the Labor Commission about labor law reform. They did not allow enough time for society to debate the issue, and yesterday it was already voted in a plenary session. 270 Congressmen decided to vote quickly on it so there would be no time for debate. Why did they do this? Because they know that the working class is waking up. And it is waking up in the sense that its leaders and representatives are starting to show them what their rights and responsibilities are. And this is why we are about to start a general strike, which will start in great vigor on April 28 in Brazil, when there hasn’t been anything like this for many years. On April 28, we may have the largest general strike in the history of Latin America, not just Brazil. The repercussions of this strike could be so big that the other countries in Latin America begin to change their posture. If the strike fails, the bourgeoisie will continue to advance its recapturing of the space that the working class has gained throughout the continent. I am not a political analyst and never went to any fancy university, but I see this with a high degree of clarity: if the coup consolidates its power in Brazil, the next country where a coup will take place in Latin America is Venezuela, even though they know that if it happens in Venezuela, blood will be spilled. But they are not worried about that. The people who organize the coup will not die. The people who will die will be their pawns and the working class trying to defend their rights. I lived in Venezuela in 2006 and I participated in a debate and said that a coup was in the works in Brazil. When I returned from Venezuela later that year, I said this during the opening of the national Centro Unificado de Trabalhadores Labor Union Federation congress to a small group of media. In 2009, I was forced to leave Brazil and went to Venezuela; then I returned to Brazil in 2010, 9 days before Dilma Rousseff was elected, and I said it again. When I said this, various petit bourgeois intellectuals, who were among us, laughed at me.

“Listen, cowboy,” they said, “you are in Brazil, you are not back in Venezuela. Over there they could have a coup any minute, but here in Brazil we don’t have these kinds of things. We don’t have a political climate for that here in Brazil.” And now, where are all these intellectuals providing an analysis of their mistakes? Because the left that made a mistake in not making this analysis. They thought that once they won the election it was over. The bourgeoisie does not joke around.

You fought against the Military Dictatorship (1964-1985) and spent time as a political prisoner in that era. Could you talk a bit about what some of the tactics you used during that time were and what tactics are being used today to fight President Michel Temer and his coup government?

First of all, the Military Dictatorship never really ended. It just transformed from a green uniform dictatorship to a suit and tie dictatorship. But all of the Military Dictatorship’s instruments that we were subjected to during the “years of lead” are still here. It was not taken apart. We never got the right to take down the dossiers they had on our comrades. We still don’t know how many thousands of people they were investigating. We should be able to access these records, to see how all of the disappearances happened. They found innumerable human remains in the mass grave in Perus (neighborhood on the periphery of São Paulo) of people who had disappeared. In the bourgeois project, they are the ones who have the power. But they forget that while they have the power, we the proletariat have the force. They may have the economic and financial power but the working class has the force. Unity within the working class is a fundamental tactic -unity between the city and the countryside. When I see a peasant, I have to be with him in his defense. Where there is an Indian I have to be together with her in her defense. Where there is a maroon community I have to be there in its defense. I can’t be here acting in self defense when the urban social movements are small, too small to create a mass intervention. Why did the Chinese revolution succeed? Because they achieved unity between the city and the countryside. In the same manner, I say that here in Brazil we need to deepen the debate on unity between the countryside and the city. Groups of social movement members here in the city should return to the countryside and live there for awhile and have new experiences living as peasants. What is the struggle like there in the countryside? And our comrades in the countryside should come to the city to gain experience and knowledge about how to move around in the city. It’s not enough to just come here and get on a bus. You have to understand the city as an instrument of defense in the process of class struggle and social transformation.

When Temer took over the presidency, National Public Radio in the United States ran a story which erroneously stated that Michel Temer never worked for the Military Government, that he had nothing to do with it [Gegê laughs]. So I would like to ask you, do you remember when he was part of the dictatorship government as a public prosecutor and São Paulo State security minister?

Temer is a guy who has always been involved with coups of one sort or another. I don’t have all of the details of his career but I know that he was even involved in a coup within the university student movement during the dictatorship. He has no history of ever being involved in the opposition to the dictatorship. There is no record of him ever contributing to the opposition. There are some people from the Partido da Social Democracia Brasileira (PSDB- Brazilian Social Democracy Party) party, for example, who are even today defending the right and the coup with body and soul, like José Serra, Fernando Henrique Cardoso, and Aloisio Nunes, all of whom spent some time on the side of the left during the dictatorship. They passed through but were not real leftists. Tellingly, when Fernando Henrique Cardoso was elected, he said, “forget about everything I ever wrote. My writings are worthless.” Today, José Serra is a guy who defends privatization tooth and nail. Aloisio Nunes defends the far right. But Temer always collaborated with the right. And it was a classic error – I said it at the time and I’ll say it again – for Dilma to give this guy the vice presidency. Dilma Rousseff came with all of her baggage as a fighter, as a defender of the working class – and here on the other side, we had her vice president Michel Temer who always did well during those days. He was never able to get elected to anything but he even committed a coup within the Partido do Movimento Democrático Brasileiro (PMDB-Brazilian Democratic Movement Party) party. He used trickery to become a Congressman. He was always at the service of the unbridled capitalist system. And he is one of the architects of the coup that we are living with today. He played the right cards.

Tomorrow is April 28 and there is going to be a national general strike. What will be the role of the Central de Movimentos Populares in the strike? How many people are you going to put on the streets and where and what are you going to do?

[Laughter] We can’t talk about this type of thing. We do not discuss our strategies. I’ll just say that all of the social movements and people associated with the Central de Movimentos Populares across the country are called to the streets tomorrow so that, on April 28, 2017, they will participate in the General Strike of the working class. It can’t merely be a strike of the bus drivers and train conductors. It’s a strike by the Brazilian people. And we all have a fundamental role in this strike. We are going to be together, organized, taking action and protesting in the streets. Wherever there is a need for a fight, we’ll be there. I don’t have a shadow of a doubt that if this general strike goes as well as we imagine, we are going to have a change and this change will be, fundamentally, for the survival of the Latin American left. If this strike doesn’t work out, the left will be decimated in Latin America. It will start in Brazil and it will go to Venezuela, from Venezuela it will go to Uruguay, and from there it will go to Ecuador. Either this strike is going to work or the Latin American left will be crushed, because the right will come at us with all of its rancor. We know that the left isn’t so small, but it’s become a bit complacent. It has to return to the streets. It has to return to the classrooms to dispute with the right-wing youth on a daily basis.

By Brian Mier, Research Associate at the Council on Hemispheric Affairs’ Brazil Unit. Article originally appeared at COHA.ORG. This interview was originally conducted in Portuguese, and translated by the author.

http://www.brasilwire.com/luiz-gonzaga-gege-da-silva/

blindpig

05-27-2017, 11:22 AM

10 More Landless Workers Massacred in Brazil

http://www.telesurtv.net/__export/1495847455735/sites/telesur/img/news/2017/05/26/123.jpg_1718483346.jpg
MST members raise their banner. | Photo: Reuters

Published 26 May 2017

The victims were members of the League of Poor Campesinos.
Ten campesinos (nine men and one woman) were killed by Brazil's military and civilian police on Wednesday. The massacre occurred on the Santa Lucia farm in the municipality of Pau D'Arco, Para as part of an eviction order led by state forces.

According to the Pastoral Land Commission, CPT, the victims were members of the League of Poor Campesinos. Their identities have yet to be released.

Noticias UOL reported that the police said they were met with a barrage of gunfire as soon as they arrived at the farm. However, survivors, witnesses and victims' family members contradicted these claims, stating that the police arrived on the scene shooting and made no attempt to inform anybody of a legal order.

Some stated that the deceased female had a bullet wound in her back.

MST released a statement indicating that the police action was ratified by judge Erichson Alves who, infringing upon the National Agrarian Ombudsman Code, ordered the military and civilian police to retake the farm.

Para is the same state where Dorothy Stang, a U.S. born, Brazilian-naturalized nun was murdered by armed gunmen who were contracted by ranchers. For decades, Stang worked alongside and as an advocate for peasant farmers.

The latest massacre on the Santa Lucia farm occured amidst an escalation of rural conflict and violence throughout Brazil.

This past April, ten more campesinos, including elders and young people, were murdered in an encampment situated in Colniza in the state of Mato Grosso. According to Mato Grosso's Department of Public Safety, the massacre was committed by “hooded” gunmen.

CPT informed that land conflicts are common in Mato Grosso, adding that police investigations usually indicate that corporate “farm owners in the region operate a network of henchmen who frighten campesinos and force them off their land.”

In response to this massacre and the ongoing struggle for a just agrarian reform program, MST youth joined in chorus during the National Fair of Agrarian Reform and sung, “It's a time of war, it's a time without sun.” The intervention coincided with the launch of a manifesto that criticized the criminalization of social movements and against violence in the countryside.

The document also highlighted the relationship between the current Brazilian government led by unelected President Michel Temer and attacks in the countryside. Many observers emphasize that Temer's rise to power was initiated and consecrated through a parliamentary coup against democratically-elected former President Dilma Rousseff.

Part of the manifesto read “the coup has liberated the most reactionary and violent forces of the latifundio and agribusiness class. The victims? The peasants, the natives, the quilombolas, and the workers in general.”

http://www.telesurtv.net/english/news/10-More-Landless-Workers-Massacred-in-Brazil-20170526-0026.html

**************************

Under Pressure, Brazil Releases 7 MST Political Prisoners

http://www.telesurtv.net/__export/1495166395809/sites/telesur/img/news/2017/05/18/parana_prisoners_freed_2.jpg_1718483346.jpg
MST member Fabiana Braga and Attorney Fernando Prioste, May 17, 2017

Published 18 May 2017

"The fact that people are MST members and fight for agrarian reform cannot be used as a basis for pre-trial detention," said Attorney Fernando Prioste.
Seven MST activists, held in custody for more than six months in the Brazilian state of Parana, have been released by a judicial decision published Wednesday afternoon.

Fabiana Braga, Claudiri Lima, Claudir Braga, Antonio Ferreira, Daniel de Almeida, Tiago Ferreira and Valdir Camargo have been incarcerated since Nov. 4, 2016. Authorities claim that they were charged with forming community militias in encampments in the Queda do Iguazu region of Parana.

All are members of the Rural Landless Workers Movement, know by its Portugese initals MST, who live in an encampment called Dom Tomas Balduino. The charges resulted from investigations conducted by Brazil's civil police force called Operation Castra.

Ana Paula Angelo, the criminal law judge in the Iguazu District who ordered the release of the MST members, based her decision on the excess of time that they've been imprisoned and that they were arrested without evidence. The judge determined that once the detainees were released, cautionary measures be imposed, including monthly court attendance.

"The fact that people are MST members and fight for agrarian reform cannot be used as a basis for pre-trial detention," said Fernando Prioste, a progressive lawyer who assisted the imprisoned MST members. According to Prioste pre-trial detention should be the last measure implemented since prisons are intended for convicted felons.

Human rights organizations have criticized Operation Castra as an attempt to criminalize social movements. The operation gained public notoriety after police forces violently invaded MST's national school, Florestan Fernandes, in Guararema in the state of Sao Paulo.

The Brazilian Committee of Human Rights Defenders released a statement declaring that preemptive imprisonment is nothing more than retaliation for the political actions of social movements. "The accusation against MST is linked to the landless identity, to acting as defenders of human rights," it read.

The arrest of Fabiana Braga generated huge public outrage, so much so that a number of federal senators and deputies expressed solidarity with the young woman, calling for her release.

For years MST has demanded that land illegally settled by Araupel, a logging corporation, and River Snakes and Pinhal Ralo Farms be slated under Brazil's agrarian reform program. In 2015, Brazil's federal court ruled that the property titles belonging to River of Snakes Farm are null and void.

According to Brasil de Fato, some 3,000 families currently occupy land pertaining to River of Snakes and Pinhal Ralo Farms. The collective occupation is divided into four encampments: Dom Tomas Balduino, Heirs of the Earth of May 1, Vilmar Bordim and Leonir Orback.

Violence has also erupted in the region in question. In April 2016, two MST members were assassinated by Parana's military police.

http://www.telesurtv.net/english/news/Under-Pressure-Brazil-Releases-7-MST-Political-Prisoners-20170518-0030.html

Video at link.

It's how you can tell it's real resistance when they start killing us.