He said - 'Officially, there is a road there. We raised the money and the local authorities built it. It just never appeared.' I assume this kind of corruption is everywhere in Brazil.
I am a huge fan of Brazilian culture, but what you described is why so many aid programs fail. People know that more money should go to educated, but they have no way to ensure it doesn't get diverted.
The people on the protests are already being manipulated by the original movement, by left wing and right wing. Even the mass media and Internet celebrities are capitalizing on it, each claiming the protests to be whatever they feel like. The swing on the public opinion between last monday and today is so severe that it is scary, a clear study in group dynamics.
Without an objective, this is more like a massive flashmob than a real movement. It's also a catastrophe waiting to occur, all it takes is one radical leadership to pop up.
I hope the people get more critic or this won't achieve anything meaningful, will just fulfill the ego of the people who went to the protests to have an Instagram pic of it on their profile.
[1] http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UXxQ6ntyM-U&feature=c4-overvi...
Some are saying they are going to invade the National Congress. I really hope they do.
A convicted criminal being the president of a Chamber that represents the people is one of the biggest shames of our country right now, at least for me.
It does seem like a massive flashmob, but my guess is that it comes from all the time we've been numb and asleep and removed from all the crap that's been happening. I know that, in order to get objective results, we need to have objective... well, objectives. :) But if a giant "occupy Brazil"-style flashmob is what it takes for us to understand what's going on and the power we have, then I'm all for it.
Call me cynical, but I haven't seen a mass protest movement do a whole lot of good lately. The arab spring seems to have provided an opening for a lot of radical Islamic movements and hasn't improved the quality of life for anybody. Egyptians are suffering economically.
The Brave New Day never comes
Isn't that the "Iron law of oligarchy":
Also, Hong Kong made a big change for the better after the foundation of the ICAC.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Independent_Commission_Against_...
Protect their savings? They can't even sell their property in a "hard" currency, and government is blatantly inflating away people's money. When the artificial dollar cracks, the facade will crumble and people WILL be hungry.
To me, things just seems better. I hope you are wrong.
I'm probably being too harsh on the government, they are doing redistributive policies - whether that's the best thing to do with the money I'm not sold, but at least they aren't stealing it all or handling all of it to contractors.
However, while all this helps in the short run, on the outside it looks like it will destroy a lot of things in a not so distant future. Argentina will recover as usual, but the next few years look like a repeat of 2001.
NY Times article: http://www.nytimes.com/2013/06/18/world/americas/thousands-g...
Also note that many other brazilians are organizing protests around the world this week[1, 2]. About 1k people in SF alone[3]
The current wave of protests does not seem to be an isolatted event[4].
[1] http://www.melhorquebacon.com/lista-de-cidades-que-terao-man...
[2] https://www.facebook.com/CQCBlogs/posts/623054044372345
[3] https://www.facebook.com/events/498561580217088/
[4] http://roarmag.org/2013/06/protests-brazil-turkey-bosnia-bul...
From the outside selling things into Brazil it seems like a pretty bad situation. People seem to be used to it there though and just expect the import process to be painful.
In general Latin America countries are very similar, but I think developed countries are moving to populism too (think Obama). Obviously right now comparing US with Brazil is comparing apples and oranges.
The quality of life in developed countries is much better but in US you don't have a public health system. I know that the quality of public health is not the best in Latin America but you have a chance to have a good physician and advanced treatment for free. Poor people in the region can move to countries like Argentina, obtain a citizenship and be included in the health system. I am not trying to be a relativist, just giving more information to people who doesn't know about these things.
There is a lot missing at least from the media here in the UK. It seems to be being spun as a bad thing to appease us because in the major cities in the UK, it's exactly the same by the sounds. If someone drew a comparison, shit would kick off.
I do get the feeling the UK is declining into exactly the same situation at the moment.
I mean we had riots kicking off all over the place a couple of years ago.
Non-Brazilian here, but: doesn't Brazil basically _give_ you money if you're poor[1]?
[1] http://www.guardian.co.uk/global-development/poverty-matters...
[1] https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/...
While there are programs for income redistribution, and they do make an enormous difference on the lives of most of the poor people that receive it, it is far from enough.
The Bolsa Família program pays from USD$ 16.00 to a maximum of USD$ 153.00 (few people get the max amount) per month to a family. This benefit is payed to some 12 million families.
Just to give a more general view of the context. Brazil has the concept of a minimum monthly salary, that currently amounts to USD$ 334.15. But many people (even if employed) don't get a minimum wage per month.
On the other hand, while Brazil has the world's 7th biggest economy (already adjusted by purchasing power parity), the bottom half of the population (~85 million people) only get 13 per cent of all household income.
Yes the government has several programs to give free money to "poor" people.
With "Poor" I mean that a lot of this money get stolen, or is given to not so "poor" but criminals, before arriving to the ones that really need it.
One of it is called "Bolsa Familia" and it's also a huge vote buying machine.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=AIBYE...
So it's a structural problem, not only a fault of the actual government. I would say Brazil's situation have improved a lot in the last years.
Edit: removed 'very' because I'm sure it didn't cover every possible aspect.
For those of you who don't know what's going on, or who are being fed incorrect information by the media: protests started because of a small increase in bus fares, but that was just the trigger to the whole thing. Brazilians are fed up with all the crap the government has been doing for decades, unscrupulously stealing tax payers' money for their own benefit. Many will say this happens everywhere, even in the most developed countries, but people from developed countries usually have no idea and can barely picture how rampant corruption is in Brazil.
Brazil is not a poor country. It's one of the biggest economies in the world. But if you go down there, it will pretty much look like a poor country. Despite the strong economy and the ridiculously high taxes, there is very little income redistribution. Besides the income inequality, another thing that piss Brazilians off is the fact that everything has to be paid in double: you pay taxes for public education (even the university is free), but it's so shitty you have to pay for a private school for your kids; you pay taxes for the universal health care system, but it's so shitty (dozens of people die on the line for life-critical procedures) you have to pay for private health care (which is usually shitty too, but not nearly as shitty as the public one); you supposedly pay taxes for public safety, but it's nonexistent to a point people have to leave behind gates (I had to go through 2 gates and 2 doors, with 5 keys in total, to enter my aparment there) and bared windows and pay for private security companies to secure their homes.
Brazilians have had enough. The current generation of youths is much more connected and aware of the country's problems, and usually have a much better idea that the situation outside (read US, Canada, Europe and Australia, popular destinations for studying or working abroad) is better and that a better life is possible, and it won't take it anymore. It's finally time for a change.