After Concessions, Brazil's Giant Goes Back to Sleep
After Concessions, Brazil's Giant Goes Back to Sleep
It’s important to see the government is listening to the demands of the people noting that corruption is so widespread in Brazil, points out AS/COA’s Christopher Sabatini.
Thainá Barbosa, is rolling up her protest banner which says: "Give us doctors! Give us a better health system!" The 26-year-old dental nurse, who lives in Rio de Janeiro, was one of thousands who joined anti-government demonstrations back in June.
She says her protesting days are over for now as she believes the government has begun to meet some of the protesters’ demands. “I really believe we made a difference. We put pressure on the state government to put the bus prices down and they’ve done it here in Rio de Janeiro. It’s cheaper for me to travel now,” Ms. Barbosa says.
Over a hundred cities have lowered their bus fares by an average of seven percent, achieving a significant victory even though the original "clamor of the streets" was for free public transport. Protesters celebrated again in June when Brazil's Congress responded to pressure and rejected a proposed 37th amendment to the Constitution that would critics charged would have limited the powers of public prosecutors to the advantage of corrupt politicians and officials....
A popular president?
The research, released just days after Brazil commemorated its independence, suggests a president who's weathered an unusual outpouring of public anger. The poll registered a seven percentage point increase from 31 percent to 38 percent for the government overall.
Nevertheless, politicians would be foolhardy to think they are in the clear. At the end of August when a secret ballot in the chamber of deputies failed to impeach congressman Natan Donadan, jailed for 13 years for stealing $3.6 million from the public purse, there were calls for hundreds of thousands to march against corruption and impunity on Brazil’s Independence Day on September 7.
“Corruption is so widespread in Brazil that for the government to show it’s really listening to the people it’s important to translate the demands of the protesters into concrete commitments and Congress must now respond by ending the secret vote,” says Chris Sabatini, senior director of policy at the Americas Society and Council of Americas (ASCOA)....
