Thursday, June 20, 2013

Brazil Baffled By Protests

To my way of thinking it wouldn't be the first time the CIA has encouraged such a thing in Brazil, although it may very well be an unplanned and popular uprising. Could be a little of both.

"Brazil’s ruling party, born of protests, is perplexed by unrest" by Simon Romero |  New York Times,  June 20, 2013

SÃO PAULO, Brazil — The protests were heating up on the streets of Brazil’s largest city last week, but the mayor was not in his office. He was not even in the city. He had left for Paris to try to land the 2020 world’s fair — exactly the kind of expensive, international mega-event that demonstrators nationwide have scorned.

A week later, the mayor, Fernando Haddad, 50, was holed up in his apartment as scores of protesters rallied outside and others smashed the windows of his office building, furious that he had refused to meet with them, much less yield to their demand to revoke a contentious bus fare increase.

How such a rising star in the leftist governing party, someone whose name is often mentioned as a future presidential contender, so misread the national mood reflects the disconnect between a growing segment of the population and a government that prides itself on popular policies aimed at lifting millions out of poverty.

It wouldn't be the first time a leftist government of Brazil was dispatched by a CIA-supported coup.

After rising to prominence on the backs of huge protests to usher in democratic rule, the governing Workers Party now finds itself perplexed by the revolt in its midst, watching with dismay as political corruption, bad public services, and the government’s focus on lifting Brazil’s international stature through events like the 2014 World Cup and the 2016 Olympics inspire outrage at home.

On Wednesday, tens of thousands protested outside the newly built stadium where Brazil faced off against Mexico in the Confederations Cup, as the police tried to disperse them with tear gas, rubber bullets, and pepper spray. In what would normally be a moment of unbridled national pride, demonstrators held up placards demanding schools and hospitals at the “FIFA standard,” challenging the money Brazil is spending on the World Cup instead of on health care or the poorly financed public schools.

With support for the protests escalating — a new poll by Datafolha found that 77 percent of São Paulo residents approved of them this week, compared with 55 percent the week before — Haddad and Geraldo Alckmin, the governor from an opposition party, bowed Wednesday night, announcing that they would cancel the bus and subway fare increases after all. Other cities, including Rio de Janeiro, have pledged to do the same.

But while the fare increases may have been the spark that incited the protests, it unleashed a much broader wave of frustration that the government has openly acknowledged it did not see coming.

“It would be a presumption to think that we understand what is happening,” Gilberto Carvalho, a top aide to President Dilma Rousseff, told senators Tuesday. “We need to be aware of the complexity of what is occurring.”

The swell of anger is a stunning change from the giddy celebrations that occurred in 2007, when Brazil was chosen by soccer’s governing body to host the World Cup. At the time, dozens of climbers scaled Rio de Janeiro’s Sugar Loaf Mountain, from which they hung an enormous jersey with the words, “The 2014 World Cup is Ours.”

“We are a civilized nation, a nation that is going through an excellent phase, and we have got everything prepared to receive adequately the honor to organize an excellent World Cup,” Ricardo Teixeira, then the president of the Brazilian Football Confederation president, said at the time.

Since then, the sentiment surrounding Brazil’s preparations for the World Cup, and much else overseen by the government, has shifted. Teixeira resigned in 2012, under a cloud of corruption allegations, and while the Brazilian government says it is spending about $12 billion on preparing for the World Cup, most of the stadiums are over budget, according to the government’s own audits court.

The sheen that once clung to the Workers Party has also been tarnished by a vast vote-buying scheme called the mensalão, or big monthly allowance, in a nod to the regular payments some lawmakers received. The scandal resulted in the recent conviction of several of high-ranking officials.

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Of course, if all this is as reported it just proves all governments are s***. 

If you can't get a good leftist government off the ground, what hope do we all have? They are the ones that care about people over profit and country over corporations, right?

NEXT DAY UPDATE: 

"Protests gain steam in Brazil despite recent concessions; Concerns widen beyond bus fares" by Bradley Brooks |  Associated Press, June 21, 2013

SAO PAULO — Protesters gathered for a new wave of massive demonstrations in Brazil on Thursday, extending the demonstrations that have sent hundreds of thousands into the streets since last week to denounce poor public services and government corruption.....

Globe was a week late in reporting it?

The biggest of more than 80 demonstrations was expected in Rio, where thousands of protesters waving flags and carrying banners demanded quality public services and blocked several streets and avenues in a peaceful demonstration.

Thousands of people of all ages, many of them draped in flags or with stripes of Brazil’s national green, yellow, and blue painted onto their cheeks, gathered in front of the majestic Candelaria church downtown.

Whether encouraged by the CIA or not, this shows it is broad-based.

Several percussion groups pounded out Carnival rhythms and other groups chanted slogans targeting Rio’s governor.

Vendors hawked popcorn, soft drinks, churros, and hot dogs. Men and women who make their living by collecting and selling recyclables darted about, snatching crumpled cans from under the protesters’ feet. Groups of friends snapped pictures of one another striking poses with homemade signs.

That descriptive paragraph is generally indicative of an unapproved protest. Just a bunch of opportunists, 'eh?

Similar scenes were seen in Sao Paulo, Recife, Salvador, and other cities where store and bank windows were boarded up in case protests turned violent.

Violence = agent provocateurs.

In the northeastern city of Salvador, police shot tear gas canisters and rubber bullets to disperse a small crowd of protesters trying to break through a police barrier blocking one of the city’s streets. One woman was injured in her foot.

Elsewhere in Salvador, some 5,000 protesters gathered in Campo Grand Square.

“We pay a lot of money in taxes, for electricity, for services, and we want to know where that money is,” said Italo Santos, a 25-year old student.

People are the same all over the planet, even if students are a main tool and driver of CIA-Sponsored protests.

Several city leaders have accepted protester demands to revoke an increase in bus and subway fares and hope that antigovernment anger cools.

In Sao Paulo, where demonstrators blocked Paulista Avenue, one of the city’s main thoroughfares, organizers said they would turn their demonstration into a party celebrating the lower transit fares. But many believe the protests are no longer just about bus fares and have become a cry for systemic changes in a country that has otherwise seen a decade-long economic boom.

Then the boom only benefited the elite, 'eh? If not, then this is a CIA-sponsored destabilization.

The US Embassy in Brazil was not taking chances: It warned its citizens to stay away from the protests nationwide.

“It’s not really about the price anymore,” said Camila Sena, a university student at a protest Wednesday in Rio de Janeiro’s sister city of Niteroi. “People are so disgusted with the system, so fed up that now we’re demanding change.”

It's a worldwide epidemic!

Sena, 18, added that seeing money poured into soccer stadiums for the Confederations Cup and next year’s World Cup added fuel to people’s anger.  

Oh, that's where that is being held. Haven't watched a minute.

“It’s not that we’re against the World Cup, not at all. It will bring good things for Brazil. It’s just that we’re against the corruption that the World Cup has become an excuse for,” she said.

Mass protests are rare in this 190 million-person country, with demonstrations generally attracting small numbers.

Giving one the feeling that this is a CIA-backed effort.

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If the pre$$ sticks with this story its origins will be called into question, although they may not be able to control the chaos they create. Every move the empire builders make these days turns to shit.

Also see:

iRobot could help provide security when the pope visits Brazil
Brazil deal lifts iRobot’s global business
Pentagon awards a contract to iRobot

Yeah, I guess $omethings are more important.