Brazil

Today the World Cup opens in Brazil, but with a very different atmosphere to what usually accompanies such an event, as the widespread protest movements and strikes taking place in the country clearly demonstrate. Here we publish an article by comrades of the [Marxist Left] that highlights the enormous social and class contradictions that have surfaced around the tournament.

The World Cup events being held in 12 cities across Brazil are set to begin in several days. Half a million tourists are expected to flood into Brazil. However, instead of the expected celebrations and weeks of national rejoicing in a country long-known for its proud football traditions, there is enormous tension as the events are set to begin on June 12th.

On October 27, the Military Police of São Paulo governor Alckmin killed yet another young man. The killer claims he inadvertently fired the gun. Douglas Martins was killed. He was 17 and lived in the poor neighbourhood of Jaçanã, famous for the Trem das Onze song by Adoniran Barbosa.

The struggles of the working class worldwide are heating up. In Brazil, after the "June Days" [protests against bus fare increases], the Dilma government, without meeting any of the demands raised by the youth and the working class, announced a package of mass privatizations: harbours, oil, roads and airports.

The struggle for the reduction of public transport fares, which began in Sao Paulo, has sparked a change in the political situation in the country. The Marxist Left (Esquerda Marxista) was one of the initiators of this ongoing struggle back in May. Here Serge Goulart provides a balance sheet of that movement – originally published in America Socialista.

The "Red Flag"  Committee of Struggle for a United Front in Defence of Democratic Freedoms and of the Workers', Popular and Student Organizations formed in São Paulo.

In the late afternoon of June 19th, after the huge demonstrations which had been held in regional capitals and many other cities, the mayor of São Paulo announced, along with State Governor Geraldo Alckmin, that the price of bus and metro fares would be reversed back to 3 Reais. In Minas, the government is also looking into reducing fares, which were also reduced in Rio, and Recife, where the fares had been reduced even before the demonstrations took to the streets. Mayors from the interior of the country are announcing reductions, following on from São Paulo and Rio. This is a victory that affects the entire country.

More than 15,000 students and workers took to the streets of Joinville on Thursday (20/6). They chanted slogans and carried placards with messages of change. This kind of mobilization has not been seen since the Collor Out movement in 1992.

The mayor of Sao Paulo, Haddad, has been forced to retreat on the question of bus fare increases along with the regional governor Alckmin and Rio de Janeiro mayor Eduardo Paz. In the wake of this move in the largest cities in the country, others will follow suit. Campinas and Niterói have also already announced the revocation of the fare increase. Very few mayors will be able to resist!

Brazil is currently experiencing the largest demonstrations seen in the country for over 20 years. Today it has been estimated that 200,000 Brazilians have been protesting in eleven cities across the country, with the demonstration in Rio de Janeiro attracting 100,000 people