The weakness of democracy

Brazil's fragile democratic institutions have never been so threatened with death as they are today. This is not due to any external agent. It is because of the lack of internal consensus among its citizens about the value of democracy. Vilified by some as "bourgeois" or a "facade," the fact is that part of Brazilian society is determined to help bury Brazilian political institutions, under the command of a deranged leader who plays at being a dictator, relying on his voters who are in a permanent state of mobilization. 

It's as if the elections haven't ended and the "common enemy" is still there to be exorcised. In this sense, it would be hidden in the opposition, in social movements, in the press, in universities, in culture, etc. In a way, it's a religious-political crusade, under the blessings of Pentecostal and Neo-Pentecostal churches, against the freedoms and democratic advances of the 1988 Constitution.

When a Head of State encourages an attack on parliament, relying on the population's prejudices and commonplaces against politicians and politics, under the allegation that it obstructs the measures necessary to save the country from the crisis, he calculates the disrepute enjoyed by parliamentary action in the country, transformed into the scapegoat for low economic growth, capital flight, the enormous contingent of unemployed, the rise of the dollar or the price of gasoline. It remains to explain – in good economic jargon – to the distinguished public the rationale behind the current government's economic policy: the fiscal anchor that overrides all other policies – health, education, environment, social security, employment, etc. 

The current head of state must explain, in plain and clear Portuguese, what is being done to achieve a primary surplus in public accounts that will allow for the payment of the financial obligations of a trillion-dollar public debt that today reaches 80% of GDP, and which consumes 40% of the Union's budget every year in servicing this debt, sustained by the sweat and blood of the Brazilian people.

Meanwhile, the President of the Republic engages in histrionics, verbal scatology, and threats against reporters and institutions. It takes a very high degree of social alienation to allow this game of popular incitement, disguised as anti-communist rhetoric that sees the enemy everywhere.

 It's the old strategy of popular mobilization that elects a common adversary and seeks to unify part of society against an imaginary threat, as if we were in a permanent war. And the fiscal anchor is being implemented, forced down our throats, without discussion, without debate, without transparency. This government only owes obligations to the financial market and multinational corporations. And to no one else. Its empty, hollow nationalism, designed to deceive the naive, is a mere smokescreen to hide the rent-seeking, speculative policy at the service of big capital. 

The fascist "mise-en-scène" of displays of force, verbal and physical aggression, and the adoration of national symbols is all that's left for the followers. Meanwhile, the homeland and public assets are sold off for a pittance, at bargain-basement prices, in "shady transactions." It's a pantomime orchestrated by those responsible for economic policy, a staged performance, a circus act by cheap and amateur actors who entertain the distinguished audience, with the complicity or fear of the other branches of government and the mainstream press.