Yet there is a subtext to why Brazil’s
democracy is not as interesting, and why even Temer’s introduction of the
military on to Rio de Janeiro’s streets to address a crime wave has prompted
little response. Temer’s rule is one of hard capitalism and an ever-shrinking
state. He has established a ceiling on public spending, slashed workers rights,
and imposed a hard reform of retirement age.
Temer’s rise to power came as it became
clear to big business that his predecessor, Dilma Rousseff, would not go far
with austerity. They financed and stimulated protests – largely by rightly
angry middle-class Brazilians at what they saw as widespread corruption – while
Congress blocked Rousseff’s bills or sabotaged her agenda in other ways.
Venezuela is the question on everyone’s lips. Rather, Venezuela is the question on reporters’ lips whenever they see Jeremy Corbyn:
will he condemn the president, Nicolás Maduro? What is
his position on Venezuela, and how does it affect his plans for Britain? The
actual problems of Venezuela – a complex country with a long history that does
not start with the previous president Hugo Chávez and certainly not with Jeremy
Corbyn – are largely ignored or pushed aside. This is nothing new: most of the
time, Latin America’s debates are seen through western lenses.
Of course, the situation in Venezuela is
deplorable and worrying. But it’s easy to see that concern about Maduro’s
undemocratic abuses don’t necessarily come from actual concern for the welfare
of Venezuelan people.
Nearby neighbour Brazil has not been analysed or debated at length, even
as it demonstrates similar problems. The country’s president, Michel Temer,
recently escaped measures that would see him put to trial in the supreme court
by getting congress to vote them down. The case against Temer was not a flimsy
or partisan one: there was a mountain of evidence,
including recordings of him openly debating kickbacks with corrupt
businessman Joesley Batista. That a president put into power under
circumstances that could be, at best, described as dodgy, manages to remain in
power by buying favours from Congress, even as he passes the harshest austerity measures in the
world should be enough to raise a few eyebrows internationally. But that has
not happened, and Brazil has carried on as most stories about Latin America do:
unnoticed and uncommented on.
(...)
Para
continuar a leitura, acesse https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2017/aug/10/west-gripped-venezuela-ignore-brazil-jeremy-corbyn-nicolas-maduro
Julia Blunck – Brazilian writer – 10.08.2017.
IN The Guardian.
