Latin America
Related: About this forumBrazil’s Democracy to Suffer Grievous Blow as Unelectable, Corrupt Neoliberal Is Installed
Brazils Democracy to Suffer Grievous Blow as Unelectable, Corrupt Neoliberal Is Installed
Written by Glenn Greenwald Published: 16 May 2016
In 2002, Brazils left-of-center Workers Party (PT) ascended to the presidency when Lula da Silva won in a landslide over the candidate of the center-right PSDB party (throughout 2002, markets were indignant at the mere prospect of PTs victory). The PT remained in power when Lula, in 2006, was re-elected in another landslide against a different PSDB candidate. PTs enemies thought they had their chance to get rid of PT in 2010, when Lula was barred by term limits from running again, but their hopes were crushed when Lulas handpicked successor, the previously unknown Dilma Rousseff, won by 12 points over the same PSDB candidate who lost to Lula in 2002. In 2014, PTs enemies poured huge amounts of money and resources into defeating her, believing that she was vulnerable and they had finally found a star PSDB candidate, but they lost again, this time narrowly, as Dilma was re-elected with 54 million votes.
In sum, PT has won four straight national elections the last one occurring just 18 months ago. Its opponents have vigorously tried and failed to defeat it at the ballot box, largely due to PTs support among Brazils poor and working classes.
So if youre a plutocrat with ownership of the nations largest and most influential media outlets, what do you do? You dispense with democracy altogether after all, it keeps empowering candidates and policies you dislike by exploiting your media outlets to incite unrest and then install a candidate who could never get elected on his own, yet will faithfully serve your political agenda and ideology.
Thats exactly what Brazil is going to do today. The Brazilian Senate will vote later today to agree to a trial on the lower Houses impeachment charges, which will automatically result in Dilmas suspension from the presidency pending the end of the trial.
Her successor will be Vice President Michel Temer of the PMDB party (pictured above). So unlike impeachment in most other countries with a presidential system, impeachment here will empower a person from a different party than that of the elected president. In this particular case, the person to be installed is awash in corruption: He is accused by informants of involvement in an illegal ethanol-purchasing scheme; he was just found guilty of, and fined for, election-spending violations and faces an eight-year ban on running for any office. Hes deeply unpopular; only 2 percent would support him for president and almost 60 percent wants him impeached (the same number that favors Dilmas impeachment). But he will faithfully serve the interests of Brazils richest: Hes planning to appoint Goldman Sachs and IMF officials to run the economy and otherwise install a totally unrepresentative, neoliberal team (composed in part of the same party PSDB that has lost four straight elections to the PT).
More:
http://www.towardfreedom.com/51-global-news-and-analysis/global-news-and-analysis/4263-brazil-s-democracy-to-suffer-grievous-blow-as-unelectable-corrupt-neoliberal-is-installed
Bad Dog
(2,025 posts)And it looks like the impeachment supporters are leading American public opinion.
This is a case in point.
http://able2know.org/topic/322900-1
Fast Walker 52
(7,723 posts)no matter where you are in the world
Bad Dog
(2,025 posts)While promoting a wise monkeys agenda and ridiculing any opinion other than their own.
Fast Walker 52
(7,723 posts)The parallels are striking, assuming Hillary wins the presidency
GreenPartyVoter
(72,377 posts)FlatBaroque
(3,160 posts)being that we all can be aware of things almost instantly. This particular attack by America on Brazil is interesting because this is a BRICS country. I would like to hear what Russia India and China have to say about this.