Donna Piedade is a Brazilian businesswoman involved with the promotion of art and culture, who is also patriotic, and a militant for causes such as social justice and social equality. A lawyer, producer, Public Relations executive, actress and writer, her plurality allows Donna to circulate in all segments of society, in order to understand all the current social landscapes of Brazil. This report presents its unbiased view of the ‘revolution’ in Brazil and points out the causes that gave rise to the public demonstrations that occurred in the past few weeks.
Everything starts with a single episode in which young people in São Paulo protested against a seemingly insignificant 20 cent increase in public transportation fares, and when military police used physical force and tear gas to contain the manifestaions, attacking journalists and peaceful protesters.
This isolated incident has caused public outrage by these and other Brazilians who were deprived of their rights and freedom of expression, and the indignation turned quickly into a struggle for rights, causing more people to go to the streets, first in São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro, and later all over the country.
These protests then took another proportion, and people made it clear that they weren’t fighting only for 0.20 cents, which scared politicians and rulers. Protests erupted around the country which represented indignation against excessive spending on the FIFA World Cup, the excesses of government, corruption, economic and political crises and an attempt to pass the Constitutional Amendment Bill known as PEC 37 , which prohibits the right of the federal government to conduct criminal investigations.
If PEC 37 had been passed, it would be a very serious problem, because the lawyers would be able to appeal or even seek absolution for legal processes that are already underway, and have even sentenced some parties for corruption.
“The giant woke up” was written on banners everywhere and social networks announced that the Brazilian people were finally reacting. Without the protests, the “PEC of Impunity”, as it became known, would probably have been approved.
Popular pressure was felt, police was prevented from attacking protesters and our president, Dilma Rousseff, who is of Bulgarian origin, was on national television delivering a historic testimony. In her speech, the President outlined the government’s immediate steps to appease the population’s ire. Among them, the chances of importing foreign doctors to fill up a perceived deficit in health services; the conduction of a plebiscite to decide on the convocation of a constituent assembly for political reform; and finally, the possibility to hold a direct popular referendum for political reform .
The people are not convinced and continued questioning: “why import doctors to work in cities that are lacking beds, hospitals, medicine and capability for examination?”
The protests drew hundreds of thousands of Brazilians to the streets, most protesting peacefully, carrying posters and declaiming nationalistic pride with demands for justice. A few chose to be violent, destroying monuments and facing the police to get attention from the media and authorities (I’m not pround of these ones).
The entire country seemed to back the protesters, and along with it, many other countries supported the motion, connected by the collective unconscious of universal justice, against the abuses of the system.
I personally accompanied many foreign friends, living in São Paulo, supporters of our cause, and who took to the streets fighting for our country, as the Bulgarian fashion designer and artist Veronika Vapirova, my dearest friend who believed to be “fighting” for a new global consciousness, not only for Brazil, but also for Bulgaria and all countries of the world, deprived of the best attitudes by their rulers.
I am proud to be Brazilian and to be part of this revolution, which is nothing more than an evolution of mentalities. Now, more than ever, we know that together we make a difference – and this new moment is just begining.
The Brazilian flag announces: “Ordem e Progresso” (order and progress), but at the present time we are all carrying the banner of “ORDEM EM PROGRESSO” (order in progress).