bution became tools used to buy votes and mass manipulation. The government is clearly focused on infrastructure development, ignoring technical information related to environmental conservation or energy, for example, making decisions based on political interests that are completely ignorant about technicalities involved in these decisions.
Brazil is also known for the almost complete lack of independence between legislative, executive and judiciary powers, the most basic principle of democracy. The last maneuver of the government in this direction is the infamous PEC37, a proposal to change Brazil’s constitution to restrict just to police forces the prerogative of investigating law infractions. This would restrict the ability of the “public ministry” (the Brazilian body of independent public prosecutors, working both at the federal and state level) to perform investigations. Such restriction only exists in a few totalitarian countries and would mean a significant regression in our democracy. Lastly, the opposing party is mute and, in reality, practically inexistent, becoming accessary to this situation.
The cherry on the top of this cake was the trial of the “mensalao,” one of the biggest corruption schemes of all times, in which the government paid congressmen and senators in exchange for political support. Defendants that were convicted by the Supreme Federal Court not only are not facing their penalties, but some of them, after the conviction, were tenured as federal congressmen with all benefits.
So for many Brazilians, the protests are now much more than just about the public transportation problem. The biggest difference that I see in comparison to the Arab Spring is that our movement lacks one clear demand, such as that the president resigns, for example. Even if he did, this would not change a single thing, as the vice-president, the president of the congress and all in line of succession are as bad as or worse.
In a sense, these protests are more of a wake-up call for citizens to show all their discontent, and to show politicians that Brazilians are done being manipulated, lied to and robbed. However, the movement still needs to mature and become a force with political results. In my opinion, the only way for things to start changing substantially in Brazilian politics are long-overdue political and fiscal reforms. Otherwise, there is the possibility that we will just go back to the lethargy we were in up to now. I hope not, from the bottom of my heart and for the future of my beloved nation.