'A lot of testosterone and little pigment': Brazil's old elite deals a blow to diversity

[Judi Lynn]

Source: Guardian

'A lot of testosterone and little pigment': Brazil's old elite deals a blow to diversity

With Dilma Rousseff out, many doubt that the all-male, mostly white cabinet taking over can unite one of the world’s most ethnically diverse nations

Jonathan Watts in Rio de Janeiro
Friday 13 May 2016 14.35 EDT

Brazil’s image as a socially liberal, multi-ethnic democracy may always have been more myth than reality, but any lingering illusions of this type have been swept away by interim president Michel Temer’s appointment of the country’s first all-male cabinet since the end of dictatorship in1985.

After conspiring to suspend Brazil’s first female president, his former running mate Dilma Rousseff, the 75-year-old patrician quickly showed his conservative instincts with a mostly white lineup of ministers that also included a soy baron in charge of agriculture, and a finance minister who immediately declared the need for sweeping cuts.

As was evident by the scrum of white men in suits who surrounded the grinning leader during his inauguration speech, Brazil’s old elite are once again at the helm – and they feel little obligation to represent the 52% of the population who are women or the 53% who are of mixed race.

It was a stunning contrast to Rousseff’s departing cabinet and government team, which was far more diverse in gender and race.

Read more: http://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/may/13/brazil-dilma-rousseff-impeachment-michel-temer-cabinet

[Judi Lynn]

1. Brazil impeachment: Rousseff attacks cabinet for being all-male and all-white

Brazil impeachment: Rousseff attacks cabinet for being all-male and all-white

1 hour ago

Brazil's suspended President, Dilma Rousseff, has criticised the new interim government created by her former Vice-President, Michel Temer, for being entirely made up of white male politicians. It is the first cabinet with no women in Brazil since 1979.

Ms Rousseff said it did not represent the country - one of the world's most ethnically diverse nations.

Her government had seven women among its 31 ministers.

The government's chief-of-staff said they had been unable to find any women for the cabinet.

More:
http://www.bbc.com/news/world-latin-america-36292137

[Judi Lynn]

2. Dilma Rousseff is on trial – and so is Brazil’s faltering democracy

Dilma Rousseff is on trial – and so is Brazil’s faltering democracy

The suspension of the president is the latest blow for a country that is still struggling to shake off its history of authoritarianism and social inequality

Carolina Matos
Friday 13 May 2016 04.00 EDT

The impeachment of Dilma Rousseff is a sad day for democracy and can be seen as a tragedy for Brazil’s struggling path towards further democratisation. But it also signals a new beginning, a possibility for the renewal of hope. Brazil, like other Latin American countries such as Argentina and Chile, still has a long way to go before it can become an advanced stable democracy, where pluralism and diversity in the media and in the political public sphere is encouraged and celebrated, and not undermined. A place where the intellectual zeitgeist is one of equal opportunities, social inclusion and fair play.

Rousseff has been a victim of her own mistakes in the economy, currently engulfed in a deep recession, and her inability to deal politically with allies and with a hostile, aggressive and conservative opposition. But she has also fallen foul of a process that is being seen as extremely controversial and hypocritical – for many a form of “soft coup” – led by politicians who themselves have been accused of corruption.

The exaggerated claims of the demise of Latin America’s leftwing parties have been an easy, and lazy, attempt to dismiss the political forces that struggle for more justice and more democracy. There have, of course, been setbacks across the continent, from Argentina to Guatemala and Venezuela. The history of Latin American populism is a long one, but the fact of the matter is that leftwing parties on the continent have had a mixed bag of success and failure, and are all very different from each other.

Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva and Michelle Bachelet, from Brazil and Chile respectively, chose to adopt a New Labour-style form of social democracy in contrast to other more populist parties of the region. The setbacks have occurred because of their failure to conduct political reform or to respond to the corrupt practices of some of their own members, while simultaneously creating the means to grant more autonomy to federal policy and the justice system in their fight against corruption.

More:
http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2016/may/13/dilma-rousseff--trial-brazil-democracy

[smirkymonkey]

3. K&R

[bemildred]

4. Every time I look at those guys I start thinking about Carmona. nt

[Judi Lynn]

7. They're all cut from the same cloth.

[center][/center]

[IronLionZion]

5. Dilma Rousseff is white

She's Bulgarian on both sides. Which is fine I suppose, but Brazil has a lot of black and brown people who don't have much of a voice.

[Judi Lynn]

6. That's right, Dilma's whiteness has never been an issue, has it?

Her programs have made deep inroads into the abysmal conditions the poor people of Brazil had to accept with no escape.

That's what the European descended oligarchy intends to destroy, just the same as it has everywhere when it gets enough power.

The indigenous and African Brazilians have had NO voice in their country, and starting with Luis Inacio Lula da Silva followed by Dilma Rousseff that started changing dramatically.

Rousseff was imprisoned and tortured for her work to make Brazil better for the poor when she was young, in case you didn't know.
There's no way she would dream of dropping the ball now, she is the target of the oligarchy who mean to destroy her any way possible to regain their absolute control of the country, and continue destroying the Amazon forests at record speed, and replacing them with cattle ranches, etc. as before, killing everyone who gets in their way.

Clearly Dilma sees a reason to want to make sure that the vast majority of Brazilian citizens get a voice.

[132nd Last Angry Man]

8. ad nauseum

[Judi Lynn]

12. Never heard this song. Thanks for posting it. Welcome to D.U. n/t

[Judi Lynn]

9. Imperial Designs? Current US Ambassador to Brazil Served in Paraguay Prior to 2012 Coup

Imperial Designs? Current US Ambassador to Brazil Served in Paraguay Prior to 2012 Coup


[font size=1]
U.S. Ambassador to Brazil Liliana Ayalde waves at the Brasilia International airport, upon her arrival, Sept. 16, 2013.
| Photo: Agencia Brasil

Published 14 May 2016 (5 hours 47 minutes ago)
[/font]
The U.S. ambassador to Brazil previously served in Paraguay in the lead up to the 2012 coup against Lugo, who was ousted in a manner similar to Rousseff.


The possible role of the United States government in the ouster of the democratically elected President Dilma Rousseff is being scrutinized after it emerged that Liliana Ayalde, the present U.S. ambassador to Brazil, previously served as ambassador to Paraguay in the lead up to the 2012 coup against President Fernando Lugo.

In a case very similar to the current political crisis unfolding in Brazil, Lugo was ousted by the country's Congress in June 2012 in what was widely labeled a parliamentary coup.

The left-leaning Lugo took office in August 2008 and his election marked the end of 61 years of rule by the Colorado Party.

His political opponents, like Rousseff's, began conspiring against him almost immediately and Lugo faced threats of impeachment barely a year into his term.

More:
http://www.telesurtv.net/english/news/US-Ambassador-to-Brazil-Served-in-Paraguay-Prior-to-2012-Coup-20160514-0017.html

[Judi Lynn]

10. WikiLeaks: Brazil’s Acting President Michel Temer Is US Diplomatic Informant

WikiLeaks: Brazil’s Acting President Michel Temer Is US Diplomatic Informant

The Intercept’s Glenn Greenwald noted that Temer will 'faithfully serve the interests of Brazil’s richest' along with the interests of Goldman Sachs and the International Monetary Fund.

By Kit O'Connell @KitOConnell | May 13, 2016


[font size=1]
Brazil’s acting President Michel Temer arrives to speak, at Planalto presidential palace in Brasilia, Brazil, Thursday, May 12, 2016
[/font]
SAO PAULO — Brazil’s new acting president is a known U.S. informant who has provided Washington with insider information about the Brazilian government on multiple occasions.

Michel Temer’s ties to the U.S. government, as revealed by WikiLeaks’ Public Library of U.S. Diplomacy, add to the growing body of evidence that the parliamentary impeachment of Brazil’s democratically-elected president, Dilma Rousseff, was supported by allies in Washington.

Temer, who has served as Brazil’s vice president since 2011, took power Thursday after Brazil’s parliament suspended Rousseff pending the results of impeachment proceedings.

Via Twitter, WikiLeaks highlighted two diplomatic cables from the U.S. Embassy in São Paulo that document Temer’s history of sharing insider information with Washington from his position as the leader of the Brazilian Democratic Movement Party, or PMDB, Brazil’s largest political party.

More:
https://www.mintpressnews.com/wikileaks-brazils-acting-president-michel-temer-us-diplomatic-informant/216425/

Good Reads:
http://www.democraticunderground.com/1016156382

[Judi Lynn]

11. Washington’s ‘Fingerprints’ All Over Rousseff’s Impeachment

Washington’s ‘Fingerprints’ All Over Rousseff’s Impeachment

Dilma Rousseff's impeachment has dealt a heavy blow to Brazil's democracy, giving the country's corrupt neoliberal elite free reign, experts say, adding that the case has all the earmarks of a "color revolution."

By Sputnik News | May 13, 2016


[font size=1]
Thousands of demonstrators march during a protest organized by the workers roofless movement, against Brazil’s acting President Michel Temer, and in support of Brazil’s suspended President Dilma Rousseff, in Sao Paulo, Brazil, Thursday, May 12, 2016.
[/font]
Brazil’s young and vibrant democracy is under threat as an unelectable corrupt neoliberal political elite have taken the reins of power from President Dilma Rousseff of the Workers Party (PT), prominent American journalist, lawyer and author Glenn Greenwald warns in his recent article for The Intercept.

“As someone who has lived in Brazil for 11 years, it’s been inspiring and invigorating to watch a country of 200 million people throw off the shackles of a 21-year-old right-wing (US/UK supported) military dictatorship and mature into a young, vibrant democracy and then thrive under it. To see how quickly and easily that can be reversed — abolished in all but name only — is both sad and frightening to watch,” Greenwald writes.

. . .

“The right wing is the driving force of the protests… Two of the principal groups responsible for organizing and mobilizing the demonstrations are the Free Brazil Movement (MBL) and Students for Liberty (EPL), both of which have direct ties to Charles and David Koch, the right-wing, neocon, US billionaires, as well as other leading figures of the far right, pro-business neoliberal establishment,” Draitser underscored.

He remarked that the right-wing, pro-US elements inside and outside Brazil “are particularly angered at the Worker’s Party and, more broadly, the left.”

More:
https://www.mintpressnews.com/washingtons-fingerprints-rousseffs-impeachment/216386/

[Person 2713]

14. How depressing to see the Koch name mentioned as having a hand

[Judi Lynn]

13. With Rousseff ousted, vice president assembles right-wing government in Brazil

With Rousseff ousted, vice president assembles right-wing government in Brazil

By Bill Van Auken
13 May 2016

Michel Temer, the vice president and former political ally of ousted Workers Party (Partido dos Trabalhadores—PT) President Dilma Rousseff, formally took control of Planalto, the presidential offices in Brasilia, Thursday, declaring that his would be a government of “national salvation,” and assembling a cabinet of right-wing politicians and capitalist economists from the banking and financial sector.

With the Brazilian Senate having voted that morning after an all-night session to initiate impeachment proceedings against Rousseff, she was suspended from office for the length of a trial that will likely run into September or October. While only a simple majority vote was required to begin this process, the lopsided result was 55 to 22, more than the two-thirds majority that is ultimately required to permanently remove the PT president from office.

Given that the basis of the impeachment charges—Rousseff’s alleged manipulation of budgetary accounts to cover for temporary shortfalls—was clearly contrived as a pretext, a final conviction appears inevitable.

Brazil is the largest country in Latin America and the seventh largest economy in the world. Rousseff received 54 million votes in 2014 when she was reelected to a second term as president. This election has now been overturned through an anti-democratic political conspiracy at the highest level of the Brazilian ruling elite.

In his first speech to the nation, Temer, surrounded by a coterie of smirking politicians from nearly every party outside of the PT, stressed that his government would work to “improve the environment for investment by the private sector” and carry out “fundamental reforms” designed to shift the burden of the country’s profound economic crisis even more directly onto the backs of the masses of Brazilian workers.

More:
http://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2016/05/13/braz-m13.html

[Judi Lynn]

15. Dilma Rousseff's impeachment was led by the white, wealthy men who now make up the Brazilian cabinet

Dilma Rousseff's impeachment was led by the white, wealthy men who now make up the Brazilian cabinet

Brazil is among the most diverse countries on earth. Not since the last dictatorship has a Brazilian government been so unrepresentative of its people

Manuel Barcia Paz |
2 hours ago

When Brazil re-elected President Dilma Rousseff in 2014, I challenged the idea – shared by the Economist magazine, among others – that had the elections been determined by GDP (that is, by economic wealth) and not by universal suffrage, Rousseff would have never been re-elected. What seemed like a harmless remark back in 2014 turned into a nightmarish reality, as the president was forced out of office earlier this week.

Let’s start calling things by their name: what’s happening in Brazil today is a coup d’etat. A coup sponsored by both internal and external forces; forces that have many times before done away with democratically elected governments in Latin America, to satisfy the needs of neoliberal capitalism. Just for a quick check, remember the coups orchestrated in Venezuela in 2002, Haiti in 2004, and Honduras in 2009, under the uninterested eyes of the international community.

What we are seeing now is an impeachment process that was well in the making from the moment the validity of one of the largest democratic elections in the history of the world was questioned.

White, privileged, wealthy, male Brazilians have led the impeachment charges; those same white, privileged, wealthy, male Brazilians that used to have suffrage all for themselves – before power was wrested from their often-bloody hands by former slaves, indigenous populations, women, and LGTB groups.

More:
http://www.independent.co.uk/voices/dilma-rousseffs-impeachment-was-led-by-the-white-wealthy-men-who-now-make-up-the-brazilian-cabinet-a7030761.html