Latest Breaking News
In reply to the discussion: Unions discussing general strike if Trump refuses to accept Biden victory [View all]sandensea
(21,635 posts)The best-known such case is perhaps that of Juan Perón in Argentina.
The dictatorship at the time (1945) knew the time had come for elections - but there was a hitch: the most popular contender by far was Vice President Juan Perón, who had earned renown for his Bernie Sanders-like campaign for workers' rights as well as for his record as former Labor Minister.
Under pressure from elites and other conservatives, Perón was jailed in an attempt to bar him from running - much as Brazil's Lula da Silva was more recently in 2018.
You probably know the rest of the story: labor unions, joined (some say, led) by Perón's 26 year-old lover Evita, converged on downtown Buenos Aires - demanding Perón be released and allowed to run.
Right-wingers called them a "zoological flood." They pressed the dictator (Farrell) to declare a state of siege, and mow protesters down if need be.
But the moderate Farrell refused to attack the massive - and largely peaceful - crowds, and instead yielded to their demands.
Right or wrong, he was the people's choice - and it took a ham-handed attempt to deny them that to compel them to assert themselves.
Ham-handed, as you know, is Trump's middle name.