Right Wing Coup E'tat In Brazil

[DontMindMe]

Me me me me, its about me and my face! ME ME ME!

Um, what? Did you watch the video past the first 30 seconds? She used "we" a lot more than "I", and the last third of it doesn't have her face or voice at all. I thought it was outstanding. People are so blind about this sort of thing, and this woman is giving the world a reality check about her country. It reminded me of a large chunk of my graduate level anthropology class on the historical basis of the corruption and racism that plagues Latin America. It's a very simple explanation of the ugly reality facing Brazil, and the twisted motivations for "cleaning up" the place for what is at the end of the day a meaningless sporting event.

"We do not need Brazil to look better for the world, we need our people to have food and health. We do not need more parties. We need people with jobs and a sustainable way of living."

The World Cup and the Olympics will not solve these problems, and it's shocking and sad how many people think these events bring automatic and sustainable $$$ to a place. Please, just ask Greece.

 

[internationalguy]

This thread is crazy and I think just a few people got it right...

First, Ana, I think everyone's right about you being completely wrong and/or getting paid for the nutty posts.

But, whoever referred to the Bill of Rights clearly doesn't know Obama's America or what I call Obammunism. Seriously one of the reasons I'm here now is exactly relate to Obama saying one thing and doing the complete opposite. Maybe there's no law that restricts freedom of speech but when you have mainstream media on one side supporting whatever Obama does and minimizing things that would have had Bush almost impeached (i.e. Benghazi, Fast and Furious) and on the other side you have Fox News with a critical view but being so radical no one takes it seriously... I don't think there's it matters if there's a 1st amendment anymore. Second amendment rights.... well... I'm a Texan and I don't/ didn't own a gun... but I think guns don't kill people, people kill people and people don't seem to realize CT has EXTREMELY restrictive gun laws and that didn't stop the horrible things that happened there. So I guess I had to say that because of the person who immediately said the Bill of Rights equals gun packing nuts going crazy over gun control.

I don't want to make this post too long but if I could have a say regarding Brazil... it's crazy to protest NOW... most of the money has been spent already. Stadiums and roads have been built... why didn't they protest before the money was spent. Back then it COULD HAVE been used for schools and hospitals... now what? They will scare off tourists and have the worst of both worlds... they paid for everything and WON'T have a world cup? What are the protests going to accomplish? Stop the govt from spending the last 15% of the constructions costs? Pfffft I know Greece paid a high cost for their olympic games, but... the smart thing is to oppose the spending BEFORE the spending.

 

[jp]

Not specifically relevant to this slightly strange thread, but I highly recommend the documentary "Manda Bala" to anyone interested in learning more about Brazil's complex social and economic problems. The film offers a beautiful if bleak exploration of corruption, wealth and poverty.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manda_Bala_(Send_a_Bullet)

 

[ajoknoblauch]

Actually, I'm not so sure about what you are saying (beyond the exaggerated complaints about violation of the second amendment, that's definitely true). There are a lot of people who take the bill of rights very seriously, as you can probably read some comments on this thread alone. The problem that we are seeing is that people are forgetting their history and the U.S. government is taking over step by step. As far as I can see, the U.S. is headed in the direction of S. American governments for the past 20 years or so, or if not, something else sinister. If people do not hold their governments accountable, the government will try to take more and more power. That is one of the things that I like about the U.S. system of government's design (lots of limits on power), but little by little, we are handing over our lives. I don't think that's some sort of conspiracy that's going on, but just the reality of the country. I'm glad to see Brazilians are beginning to hold their government accountable.

Hyperbole is the best defense.

 

[camberiu]

I don't want to make this post too long but if I could have a say regarding Brazil... it's crazy to protest NOW... most of the money has been spent already. Stadiums and roads have been built... why didn't they protest before the money was spent. Back then it COULD HAVE been used for schools and hospitals... now what?

Protests like these are hardly ever results of careful planning. It usually takes a combination of multiple grievances and time for it fester, until a really explosive brew is form. That explosive brew then needs a spark to ignite it all.
In the case of Brazil, remember that the preparations for the world cup and Olympics began at a time when the country was growing at 7.5% a year, the future looked really bright, and most of the corruption scandals had not been uncovered yet. Over time, major corruption scandals began to appear, the economic growth slowed down dramatically, inflation began to creep up and threaten the recently emerged "new middle class" , the costs for the world cup exploded well above what had been budgeted, and all the promises for better infra-structure failed to materialize (while taxes went up). This created a massive amount of stored discontentment, dormant under the surface of calm, that just need a small spark to explode. And what was that spark? Well, Brazil's presidential election is next year and Dilma's main rival is the governor of the state of Sao Paulo, Geraldo Alckmin. In a move against him, a group affiliated with Dilma's party began to organize a series of protests against the price of the bus fares in the state of Sao Paulo. Unknown to them, that relatively small protest was the spark that ignited the rage of the entire population against Dilma and Lula. That is why the OP was praising the protest during the initial phase, but said that it later it turned into a "right wing coup". The protest was sponsored by the federal government, but they quickly lost control over it and it turned on them. They created the monster, but could not control it.
I hope this answers your question.

 

[ajoknoblauch]

This thread is crazy and I think just a few people got it right...

First, Ana, I think everyone's right about you being completely wrong and/or getting paid for the nutty posts.

But, whoever referred to the Bill of Rights clearly doesn't know Obama's America or what I call Obammunism.

Crackpot comment of the day.

 

[Alicia karr]

Today in Atlanta, Georgia, USA the Brasilian "ex-pat" community demonstrated in support of the protests in Brasil. As their sign says "Away but aware"

 

[camberiu]

View attachment 2115

Today in Atlanta, Georgia, USA the Brasilian "ex-pat" community demonstrated in support of the protests in Brasil. As their sign says "Away but aware"

They are all right wingers involved with the coup.

 

[Alicia karr]

And don't forget--Brazil is to our right, right? (Geographically speaking)
Brazil today, Buenos Aires tomorrow. All right!

 

[kellrobinson]

Not specifically relevant to this slightly strange thread, but I highly recommend the documentary "Manda Bala" to anyone interested in learning more about Brazil's complex social and economic problems. The film offers a beautiful if bleak exploration of corruption, wealth and poverty.

http://en.wikipedia...._(Send_a_Bullet)

If you click on that it won't work, but only because the final parenthesis is missing from the hyperlink.
To get to the Manda Bala page, click the link (you'll get a message saying no such wiki page), then go to the URL window, type in the closing parenthesis, and click again.