Opinion: democracy, freedom, and justice – the Brazilian people decided to return to the streets

By Marcel van Hattem*

(Opinion) The fierce tempers in Brazilian politics show no signs of cooling off.

After the victory of corruption over its combat with the burial of Operation Lava Jato and the inauguration of Lula as President of the Republic, the defeated continued to be persecuted.

The latest chapter came with the unjust cassation of Deltan Dallagnol, a federal congressman elected by more than 344,000 people from Paraná and former Lava Jato prosecutor: the decision of the Superior Electoral Court was completely illegal and contradicted all the decisions of the Electoral Justice itself in its lower courts.

Lula said before being elected that he would not rest until he got revenge on Deltan and, as president, he assured the same about Sergio Moro, the first instance Lava Jato judge, who put him in jail for the crimes he committed, confirmed in the higher instances.

The politicians and businessmen indicted and convicted by Lava Jato never tire of exuding the same hatred and resentment against the person who enforced the law in Brazil and recovered more than R$15 billion to the public coffers.

The Judiciary was harassed by betrayals that reached the doors of its most eminent Justices until they were censored as fake news in aberrant inquiries in the Supreme Court, which allied with the anti-Avengers to restore and defend the status quo ante bellum.

The message from the powerful is clear: corruption has won, and the Pax Brasilis that has always guaranteed them impunity is being quickly restored and consolidated.

Nothing frightens politicians and powerful people more than the people in the street, as Ulysses Guimarães used to say.

Therefore, the Brazilian people have no choice but to return to the streets.

Despite this terrible diagnosis, the popular reaction is rising from the ashes and the traumas caused by a disastrous and repudiating January 8, 2023.

The peaceful demonstration by thousands of Brazilians in the wrong places – in front of barracks – and with no leadership to lead them was easy prey to opportunists and troublemakers on one side and professionals of the political narrative and state despotism on the other.

The thousands of innocent prisoners, most of them not even present in the area of the Three Powers Headquarters on that fateful Sunday afternoon, ended up demonstrating, to millions of honest and peaceful Brazilians, what the powerful people in Brasilia are capable of when it comes to an arbitrary, disproportionate and politically motivated reaction.

It is not for nothing that the return of the Brazilians to the streets, for fear that the worst could happen again, occurred for the first time only on May 1 of this year in a few capital cities, among which Porto Alegre, where I was present, stood out.

The main agenda of the nearly 5 thousand people present was the rejection of the Censorship Law, euphemistically called the Fake News Law, by the powerful.

The initiative added to all the other forms of popular pressure, including via online scoreboards informing in real time the position of each parliamentarian, and had an effect: for now, the project is off the agenda.

Last weekend, this time in Curitiba, another demonstration gathered many Brazilians on the streets.

Chanting “Together with Deltan” and calling for “Justice”, thousands of Brazilians also demonstrated in the capital of Paraná that they are willing to overcome any fear and trepidation to defend, in peace and respectfully, what they understand to be theirs by right.

I was also present at this act, and I could then see what tends to be the keynote throughout Brazil from now on the return to the streets in a coordinated, organized, and led the way by street movements that were separated and distant from each other during the Bolsonaro government and are now regrouping to defend what should unite Brazilians the most: our constitutional democracy, individual liberties and Justice with a capital J, recovering our fractured Rule of Law.

Porto Alegre and Curitiba, precursors of this new moment, have already given Brazil the example that returning to the streets is not only possible but absolutely necessary.

This time, however, there is an important difference from the movements organized against Rousseff’s government between 2014 and 2016.

Many of those who were then on the streets are now elected parliamentarians.

If then the protesters in the streets gave Parliament the push it needed to move Rousseff’s impeachment forward, for example, now the parliamentarians elected by the Brazilian right are required to reciprocate with their presence in the demonstrations to provide the security the people need to demonstrate peace again.

For this reason, the news that on Wednesday afternoon, May 24, street movements will announce in a press conference in the Green Room of the Chamber, flanked by parliamentarians, the return to the streets throughout Brazil on June 4, is to be greatly celebrated.

Nothing scares politicians and powerful people more than the people in the streets, as Ulysses Guimarães used to say.

There is no alternative for the Brazilian people but to return to the streets, given the complete lack of signaling from those in power that a national pacification will occur, as Lula promised after the election, but so far, he has only done the opposite.

Facing the full and unstoppable revenge practiced by the system against our democracy, our freedoms, and Brazilian Justice, the Brazilian people have already decided to fear no longer and to return to demonstrate in a peaceful, organized, and voluminous way.

And, following the example of what has already been observed in the recent history of the country – let’s remember the Diretas Já (Direct Elections Now), the impeachment of Fernando Collor, and the impeachment of Dilma Rousseff – we can put faith in what the Old Man foretold from Oiapoque to Chuí. See you on the streets next June 4.

*Marcel van Hattem is a federal congressman in his second term for NOVO-RS. He has a bachelor’s degree in International Relations and a specialization in Law, Economics, and Constitutional Democracy, both from the Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul (UFRGS). He holds a Master’s degree in Political Science from the University of Leiden; in Journalism, Media, and Globalization from the Universities of Aarhus/Denmark and Amsterdam – Holland. Marcel graduated from Georgetown University’s Political, Social, and Business Leadership Program in Washington, D.C., United States. In the House of Representatives, Marcel is the deputy leader of the opposition to the Lula administration.

**The columnist’s texts do not necessarily express the opinion of Gazeta do Povo.

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