In an era of mass communication it’s surprisingly easy to know very
little about a country’s people. My assumption about Brazil was that everybody
was crazy about football and up until protests erupted recently I presumed
everybody was excited about the Confederations Cup and the Olympics. Clearly I
was wrong. What started out as a righteous objection to the price hike of
transport was just the tinder catching fire. That something so sacred as
football is being sacrificed to a greater need says a lot about how far Brazilians have been pushed.
Now it’s practically a full-blown revolution as the middle
class riots against corruption, poor services and government mis-spending,
which includes the inordinate cost of hosting the World Cup and the Olympics.
More than a million people demonstrated on Thursday in 80 cities around the
country. Compare this to 100 people protesting lasting year about the hike in
bus prices.
It’s starting to look a bit like Egypt. With one major
difference; President Dilma Rousseff paid attention and praised Brazilians for
their courage in speaking out peacefully. As the protests got violent she
didn’t support the violence, but she hasn’t used it as an excuse to shut the
door.
Perhaps that’s because she was radical student herself and
can identify with the protestors – many of whom are young and demonstrating for
the first time in their lives. Or maybe it’s because she’s taken note of
history, and power hasn’t intoxicated and blinded her as it has many activists
who led revolutions only to become harsh dictators. Whatever the reasons,
partly at Rousseff’s command, bus prices were restored to what they were in
quite a few cities, and on Friday she called an emergency meeting with various
relevant ministers.
Some of the demonstrators’ placards have read “Halt
evictions”, “Come to the street. It’s the only place we don’t pay taxes”, “Stop
corruption. Change Brazil”, "We don't need money for World Cup, we need money for hospitals" and “Government failure to understand education will
lead to revolution”. The message is clear. The middle class is awake, alive,
articulate and courageous. Not willing any more to take abuse.
It’s happening all round the world. Call me a radical but I
think it’s a good thing. It signals the coming to an end of an era that’s been
great for a few but miserable for millions. The world has gone from having two
classes, upper and lower with no hope of the lower rising, to three where the
middle class enjoyed prosperity. And if you were born with nothing you could
make a fortune.
But the dynamics have been slipping back dangerously close
to a 2 class world as the middle class has lost its footing. I guess in a way
that's because it still had the mentality of boss and servant. It was a thing
of pride to give all your loyalty to a company. Until giving your loyalty was
abused and became sacrificing your life and your lifestyle. That’s when the middle
class started splitting into two. Bosses and entrepreneurs rose, and workers
sank. Bosses became greedier, workers became demoralized until the boundary
between the two began solidifying again. In today’s world if you’re born with
nothing or you lose what you had and you land in the gutter it’s incredibly
difficult to get back up again.
But all the time the middle class has looked to be losing
its power it’s been gathering a different kind of momentum: awareness that it
has rights, that people can protest and make a difference. That the masses
actually have the power.
This is always how consciousness grows. When you don't know
your worth you get kicked around, you give yourself away to people who abuse
your trust. You get angry. You protest. You realise you can drop the
boss/servant mentality. You can take your power back. It usually happens
when you have nothing left to lose.
The beauty about today's world is that some leaders
understand this dynamic and are either actively promoting the middle class or
at least recognizing that they have to work with it. I think that’s a beautiful
thing. So I'm all in favor of protest and demonstration. I hate violence but I
can understand how a person can get to the point of being so constantly
dismissed, disrespected and made to pay for others’ inhumanity, corruption
and lousy management that they blow a fuse.
May Brazil have as peaceful revolution as possible; may
Rousseff find a way to help the people succeed in their quest for a better run
government and a better quality of life. They deserve it.
