Out With Temer — Better Late Than Never
By: João Pedro Stedile
The parliamentary/judicial/media coup was consummated after what seemed like a long episode of a soap opera whose ending was already known, because most of the actors had already being paid to play their role.
The problem was not Dilma, who made her biggest effort to adopt the fiscal adjustment demanded by the bourgeoisie and handed in the economic policy to Bradesco (a Brazilian Bank), in 2015. In the end, there was no crime. And Mr. Temer himself has incurred in the same action of signing decrees of fiscal maneuvers as well as at least other 17 governors, including Mr. Anastasia. None of them were punished.
The farce was so huge that they didn’t have the courage to go all the way and annul Dilma’s political rights. They barely stole her mandate from her.
The bourgeoisie needs a government that they can completely control in order to implement the neoliberal plan and, therefore, regain their profit rates and capital accumulation amidst the economic crisis that we are going through in Brazil, in Latin America, in the entire world. To achieve that, they need to have an absolute control over the powers of the Republic: executive, legislative, judicial and communicative.
Now, it is time for us, the popular forces, the church, intellectuals, artists, and media, to analyze our mistakes, correct them, and continue to stand up tall on our feet, united to face the next battles, which will be essential for the greater struggle against the coup.
The upcoming battle we must fight will be over our social and labour rights, against this neoliberal onslaught that will came directly from the Congress, to annul all the rights conquered in the past century.
After that, in no particular chronological order, we’ll have to fight the battle for the defense of natural resources that the bourgeoisie seeks to privatize to regain their accumulation pattern, such as the Pre Salt oil fields, the lands, biodiversity, minerals, water, etc.
We also have a battle to guarantee public resources, in order to to ensure that the taxes we pay are destined to meet the needs of the population, that is, health (the dismantling of the Health system is just around the corner), education, housing and the agrarian reform.
We can’t keep silent about the accusatiobs that prompted the Lava Jato Operation (which investigates corruption in Petrobras) which accuses Temer and several other ministers. We must demand the fair punishment of the corrupt leaders of the PSDB, DEM, PP and PMDB, who are now acting like nothing has happened and hide behind the persecution against PT leaders.
We must defeat this coupist government. It has no legitimacy. It was not elected by the people. It was imposed by a handful of Senators linked to corruption cases of every kind. The program that is being taken up by the government, which is attacking the people’s rights, was not chosen by the polls. That’s why OUT WITH TEMER is essential to recompose Brazil’s democratic process.
This the mother of all battles: we will fight for changes in the country’s political system, such as the political reform and the regulation of the media, which will only be possible through a Constituent Assembly. All of these battles demand a mass struggle and great, popular mobilizations. The quickest way out that this can be achieved on the streets is the realization of a popular plebiscite, which could give back to the people the right to decide on the Pre Salt, on the anticipation of the elections, and on the convening of the Constituent Assembly.
Many struggles await us
To the coupists, all that’s left is the garbage can of history.
Source: Caros Amigos / August 31, 2016