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Brazilian People's Fight to Defend Rights Three Years After the Coup Against Dilma, the Country Is in Chaos
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Dilma was removed in a fraudulent impeachment process orchestrated by the Brazilian elite upset with the social changes that had taken place in recent years. In her last speech, as she was leaving the presidency on May 12, 2016 after the Senate initiated the impeachment process and removed her, Dilma predicted that the accomplishments of the past 13 years were at stake. In Lula and Dilma's [Workers' Party] PT administrations there were breakthroughs: poverty alleviation, expansion of the middle class, a child protection network, young people in college and technical schools, an increase in the minimum wage, doctors taking care of the population, the dream of having one's own house [realized] for 6 million people, discovery of the pre-salt [oil] reserves. "What is at stake is the future of the country, the opportunity and the hope to keep moving forward," she said.
The dismantling project -- with the attacks on fundamental rights enshrined in the Constitution, and Lula being prevented from taking part in the 2018 elections with his conviction and incarceration without evidence -- was put into practice.
The illegitimate government of Michel Temer froze public spending for 20 years and brought Getulio Vargas's CLT [Consolidated Labour Laws] to an end. Then came the spurious sale of Brazilians' strategic patrimony and attempts to fully privatize the oil and electricity sectors, natural riches of the country, essential for any nation, in an unprecedented affront to national sovereignty.
Bolsonaro supported Temer's labour reform, which had promised the modernization of labour relations and the generation of 2 million new jobs, with the outcome today being 13 million unemployed and half the country's workforce engaged in informal work or looking for jobs. This disastrous fiasco, in addition to slashing workers' rights, led to an increase in informality and "pejotización" (forcing workers to become service providers that bill companies as self-employed contractors), which caused Social Security contributions to fall on account of an informalized labour market.
After an election based on lies and without any debate of ideas by the candidates, Bolsonaro is continuing the coup and destroying the democratic achievements of the Brazilian people. His government acts in favour of a minimalist State, under a retrograde and backward ideological cloak to conceal wrongdoings, revealing its inability to return to the road of economic growth and reduced inequality. The incitement to hatred and violence, compounded by the political persecution of those who think differently, also shows Bolsonaro's sick behaviour and what his priorities are.
Moreover, he promoted the criminal cutting of Bolsa Família [financial aid program to poor families so their children attend school and are vaccinated -- TML Ed. Note] ended Mais Médicos [More Doctors] by firing the Cuban professionals who are a worldwide reference when it comes to health care, stifled Minha Casa Minha Vida [My House My Life], and is promoting the dismantling of public health care. As well, Bolsonaro extinguished the National Council for Food and Nutrition Security (Consea), the main body in charge of designing policies to fight hunger.
Bolsonaro is now preconditioning the economy's growth on sharp blows to the workers' retirement pensions. It is not just the opposition that is criticizing the pension reform. Experts show that the constitutional amendment bill will hurt the poorest seniors, rural workers and women. More than that, the proposal ends Social Security as provided for in the Constitution, which made it possible to set up the social welfare safety network. As if that were not enough, the Minister of the Economy, Paulo Guedes, also wants to exempt the government from investing in health and education.
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Brazil's unemployment rate is at 12.7 per cent; 13.4
million Brazilians are looking for a job, 28.5 million people are
underemployed and 4.8 million are discouraged, that is, have given up
looking for work. With the economy at a standstill and lack of
confidence in a president who has no national project and a government
of nation-wrecking, Brazilian industry has put the brakes on its
activities. The wheels of the economy have stopped and all forecasts
signal, just five months into the new government, that this will be
another lost year for Brazilians.
What's more, the government has decided to cut critical resources, jeopardizing the functioning of public services, chiefly in the areas of human rights, culture, education and the environment. The 30 per cent cut to the budget and investments in Brazilian universities, reducing public education to bare bones and compromising research and science, represents the end times.
We are facing a dismantling of the State as never before seen in the country. The strength of students and teachers is a landmark in the resistance and struggle against this destructive government. The opposition is solidary. We shall be together on this May 15 to fight against retrogression in Brazilian education and the abuses committed by Bolsonaro.
Gleisi Hoffmann, a Federal Representative and National President of the Workers' Party (PT).
(May 13, 2019. Translated by TML. Photos: PT)
This article was published in
Volume 49 Number 19 - May 25, 2019
Website: www.cpcml.ca Email: editor@cpcml.ca