SAO PAULO, BRAZIL, June 30 — Since mid-June hundreds of thousands of workers have marched in Brazil’s main streets, many inspired by the recent rebellions in Turkey and Egypt. The trigger was a bus and metro fare hike of US25¢ but (as in Turkey) the overall causes are the ever-growing worldwide capitalist crisis. A third of the population of this “emergent world power” lives in extreme poverty.
Feeding the flames of the rebellion, the government is wasting more than 12 million dollars on the 2014 World Cup and the 2016 Olympic Games. “We don’t need the World Cup,” reads a banner in a Sao Paulo march. “We need money for hospitals and education.”
When the communist movement advances anywhere, when we fight  the bosses — transit workers in Washington, Oakland and Los Angeles, or the textile workers in El Salvador, Mexico and Bangladesh, or against racist police brutality murdering our youth in New York — the workers and youth worldwide draw important lessons.
After weeks of protests in Brazil’s main cities, thousands of people continue to take to the street demanding better social services. After the new fare hikes were rescinded, new demands have emerged. The main struggle now is against the military and political repression of the working class, especially the evictions of workers because of the construction of the stadiums, sports centers and related infrastructures.
Mass Organization
Workers and students are tired of the pseudo-radical opportunist speeches of the Worker’s Party (PT) which claims to represent them. They’ve taken to the streets against the insufferable exploitation and repression heaped upon them during this last decade by the so-called leftist government led by Lula and now by Dilma Rousseff under which the rich have become richer.
This is the world’s eighth largest economic power, produced by increased worker exploitation while in the favelas (slums) poverty grows, children are trained by mafia gangs, opportunities for the unemployed are lacking and there’s no access to health services or education. As PLP maintains, the tiny reforms of the Brazilian “left” won’t change the real situation for workers.
The creation in 2005 of the Free Fare Movement (MPL) during the World Social Forum of Porto Alegre began as a small group of a few hundred but has grown into the tens of thousands. They are no longer willing to put up with hunger and terrible living conditions but are willing to fight. In many places these battles have been guided by small organizations with specific aims such as obtaining food from big supermarkets that have been looted, disobeying the orders of the politicians.
On June 25, the Homeless Workers and Free Fair Movements marched on the outskirts of Sao Paulo for demilitarization and against police violence; for control over rents; for better healthcare and education services and free public transportation. The rebelliousness has moved quite rapidly.
Fascist Cops Attack Protests
Brazil’s military and police have been trained by MINUSTAH, the UN troops in Haiti, for these kinds of events. CHALLENGE (6/13/2012) reported these troop actions when more than 10,000 people had gone into the streets, at that time the biggest mobilization achieved by the MPL here. The cops jailed 234 protesters, saying it was a crime to carry vinegar, which combats the effects of tear gas. Over 100 people were injured — including many who had nothing to do with the protest — on orders of the “left” to put down the protest.
As always, the media — the TV channel Globo and the newspaper Folha — depicted the protesters as bandits and called on the cops to repress them.
President Rousseff admitted the inferior quality of public services and cynically announced a “national pact” with congressmen, judges, mayors and governors to improve the schools and hospitals. She repeated her plan to bring in foreign doctors and repeated her proposal — already dismissed by Parliament — of investing 100% of the profits of the new oil fields in education.
Communism, Yes! ‘Democracy’ No!
Brazil has been praised as an economic success and a stable democracy, what presidents Lula and Rousseff called socialism. Many in Latin America view them as models. But many youth and workers in Brazil now see they have no freedom, with their job opportunities, education and health continuing to worsen. The capitalist attacks on workers are brutal, no matter who is in power. They’re all enemies of our class. Their democracy hides their capitalist dictatorship. By participating in elections, we elect our own executioners. They name the candidates, all of whom represent the bosses.
We need to aggressively organize our working-class youth so they don’t become the soldiers of the imperialist armies. We, the workers, don’t need a World Cup, new stadiums, “heroes” who reap millions while we starve to death. They are capitalist pawns who help maintain their system. We need to mobilize our Party for a communist revolution, distribute our paper to the masses and use study groups to win all these potential workers. We must direct this anger against the profit system and organize a communist world.