By Lina Maria Useche Jaramillo
The
world has heard many things about Brazil in the past month. Apparently
something interesting was going on here and it wasn't the Confederations Cup
2013 or preparations for the World Cup 2014. Something different was appearing
on the covers of newspapers and magazines all over the globe that could be summed
up in the simple sentence: “It's not just about the 20 cents!” Rising bus fares
had ignited a long-simmering protest movement against much more.
I
do not believe in coincidence, but I must say a magical coincidence occurred in
March when I attended a meeting of the World Economic Forum’s Global Shapers in Curitiba. One of our
local hub members, Pedro, the 22-year-old co-founder of Instituto Atuação
(Action Institute), an organization that fights political apathy among
Brazilian youth, shared with us the essential flaws of our democracy compared
to other countries. While Brazil has a solid democratic system, we’re near the
bottom of the list when it comes to popular participation. So Pedro encouraged
us to take action, introducing us to the Eleições Limpas
(Clean Elections) draft law designed to transform the electoral system. The law
was bold, even revolutionary. We couldn´t be more excited to be part of it and
to start working for the campaign to collect signatures.
For
the next two months, we waited anxiously to be given the green light to start,
but something far bigger was happening, something we couldn't have predicted.
The giant of popular protest was waking up and moving from the online world
onto the streets.
The
news on the morning of June 18 was completely different from other days. The images of crowds taking to the
streets, parks, and public buildings to demand their rights – and the rights of
an entire population – were unbelievable. Over the next three weeks, millions
of people raised their voices. Said one tearful 60-year-old woman on a news
broadcast: "I never thought I'd live to see this moment. I am thrilled to
see that the youth arose and that this generation is willing to fight for a
better country."
Everyday
citizens, long frustrated with their inability to combat corruption and
influence Brazil’s future, needed the motivation to get out of their houses and
take charge. That motivation came in the form of an increase in bus fare. A
well-organized movement called Passe Livre
(Free pass) in São Paulo, had for many years investigated the price of public
transportation, claiming there was no transparency regarding the contracts of
private companies that run the public transit system, and no reason for
increasing fees. So the movement started to mobilize people, through Facebook, on June 6, 7, and
11, to take the streets and say “NO” to this increase. Their motto: “If the
cost does not fall, we will not stop!”
That
initiative, driven by no more than 1,000 people, inspired the nation. Within days, more
than 300,000 people were taking the streets all over Brazil not only to protest
increases in public transportation costs but to also show the government that
we have more to say – and more to fight for. People affirmed that they wanted
better public education, better hospitals, and more transparency related to the
cost of the Confederations and World Cup infrastructure investments.
People demanded better laws, fought against the proposed “Gay cure” law, and asked for more
security and less violence and robbery. Bowing to this pressure, the government
announced that the transportation fees would not increase, and in some cities,
they would go down, and we celebrated. That said, we still had a long list of
wishes, so we didn't stop.
On
June 20, the protest to fight against corruption engaged 1.5 million people in 120 Brazilian
cities. I happened to be present at what would become the most violent protest in Curitiba. My husband and I
joined the peaceful march to the government palace. Everything was going great
and it was a beautiful scene to watch. I cried when thousands of protesters
started singing the national anthem. But by the time we got to the government
palace, the uproar started. The riot police were ready in big numbers and
didn't let protesters get any closer to the palace. This provided a perfect
excuse for a small group of vandals and troublemakers to strike, throwing
sticks and stones at the police and setting fire to everything in their way. In
response, the police threw stun grenades, sprayed tear gas, and fired rubber
bullets toward the crowd. The last thing I saw before we left were groups
destroying public buildings, breaking windows, and smashing cars in what looked
like a war zone. Yes, it was sad, but that didn't frighten the people who took
to the streets again and again.
Eventually,
our collective cry was heard by our President, Dilma Rousseff, who affirmed that the
Government and Congress would respond. During the week of June 24-28, Congress worked harder than ever, passing a
series of reforms related to corruption and rejecting the Constitutional
Amendment Project, which reduces the Public Ministry’s power to investigate
wrongdoing. Also a ballot was put in place to revoke the mandate of
lawmakers accused of irregularities and corruption.
As
Brazilians, we celebrated, but kept our eyes wide open. More than 60 percent of
protesters were between the ages of 21 to 35 – an entire generation that used
to passively watch the corruption corroding our society – but not anymore. Our
next goal is political reform. We need “clean elections,” as an alternative to
the current system which perpetuates corruption and allows corrupt politicians
to get elected only to defend the interest of a few.
The
inertia has been broken. We are no longer merely Facebook activists. We have a
dream for the future of our country, and will keep fighting until it becomes a
reality.
Lina
is Executive Director of Aliança Empreendedora in Brazil which supports
organizations, NGOs, and governments in designing, testing, and implementing
inclusive business models and projects that stimulate and
support entrepreneurship for low-income communities. In 2010, IYF awarded Lina
a YouthActionNet Fellowship for her role in founding Impulso Microcredit, a pioneering microcredit
organization that launched the first crowd-funding platform to invest in
low-income micro-entrepreneurs. She is Colombian living in Brazil.
