Surviving Capitalism (Not) : What does the Brazilian crisis teach us?

We’ve lived so long under the spell of hierarchy—from god-kings to feudal lords to party bosses—that only recently have we awakened to see not only that “regular” citizens have the capacity for self-governance, but that without their engagement our huge global crises cannot be addressed. The changes needed for human society simply to survive, let alone thrive, are so profound that the only way we will move toward them is if we ourselves, regular citizens, feel meaningful ownership of solutions through direct engagement. Our problems are too big, interrelated, and pervasive to yield to directives from on high.
—Frances Moore Lappé, excerpt from Time for Progressives to Grow Up

Wednesday, March 30, 2016

What does the Brazilian crisis teach us?

Click here to access article by Olmedo Beluche from Workers World.

This Panamanian sociologist and political activist gives us what appears to be the real scoop on what is happening in Brazil with the right-wing attacks on the Rousseff government and the PT party. I think it is an excellent illustration of the vulnerability of left-wing governments to opposition organized by ruling capitalist classes. This is also happening in Venezuela and Argentina.

I agree with the author's conclusion:

The Latin American experience in general and the Brazilian in particular show that the only way to save progressive political processes from the attacks of the right wing and imperialism is not by trying to negotiate and give in to their demands, but by convening popular mobilization and taking more radical socialist measures.

(You might also be interested in what is happening to counter the right-wing resurgence in other countries of South America covered in this piece entitled "Latin America Briefs".)