Popular Consultation: Bringing forward the election is a pact with coup-plotting forces.

I agree with the thesis of the Popular Consultation.

I think the only way for Dilma to get back in office would be to present a popular, democratic, bold program, a program that represents what Brazil wanted back in 2014, and what motivated 54 million people to elect her.

Dilma should bring together economists, scientists, and intellectuals, and form a parallel ministry.

She should, from now on, appoint a spokesperson, a press secretary with autonomy, proactive, modern, who understands government communication as a broad strategy, connected to the most delicate and profound aspects of the political struggle.

And to create a "Diary of the Coup": daily videos denouncing Michel Temer's arbitrary actions, while simultaneously offering ideas for overcoming the crisis.

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On the Popular Consultation website

Political Note: Dilma's return and the path for popular forces

Posted Mon, 13/06/2016 - 17:49

We have entered a new phase of the political struggle in our country. The votes in the National Congress that authorized the farce of President Dilma's impeachment have laid bare the true nature of our political system to the Brazilian people. Even those sectors that sincerely believed that this process was related to the fight against corruption could see the still-present autocratic and self-serving character of the Brazilian state. It was impossible to reveal the real interests that motivated the votes that removed the president: the subservience of the dominant classes to the interests of international financial capital, which needs to encroach upon the wealth of the Brazilian people as a way to restore profit rates in the short term, as a means of escaping the international capitalist crisis. Furthermore, the ongoing coup revives a strategy of self-privileging by various sectors of the Brazilian bourgeoisie, turning against the set of policies aimed at the working class and the poorest implemented in the last 13 years.

The arrival of Michel Temer's interim government and his group of conspirators ushers in a new moment in the political struggle which, although still unfavorable to popular forces, opens the way for the construction of social strength by progressive sectors with the possibility of altering the balance of power. While the coup forces withdraw from the streets, the construction of popular actions and organization against the coup government grows. The unity of the left around the slogan "Out with Temer!" expands our capacity for dialogue with increasingly broader sectors of the Brazilian people. Current struggles, however, have not yet been able to bring the working class and the poorest sectors of the peripheries of large cities onto the scene. To defeat the coup government, it is necessary to strengthen the unity built around the Popular Brazil Front, diversifying the forms of struggle and presenting proposals capable of enabling the entry of these sectors, which are crucial for defeating the right wing in the streets.

The fight for democracy and the "Out with Temer!" movement now has the possibility of winning the hearts and minds of even the middle sectors that recently supported or were complacent with the coup strategy and now see the purpose of encouraging conservatism in the streets. The Brazilian bourgeoisie and imperialism, by revealing their most authoritarian and conservative face, are shaking out of inertia various sectors that realize what is at stake: the sovereignty of the Brazilian people. The ability to win over the middle sectors will require popular forces to build consensus, pay attention to the interests and create slogans that can attract this sector that has been won over in recent years by conservative discourse.

The Senate vote, scheduled for the coming months, will decide whether the nation's direction will once again be handed over to the interests of foreign capital or whether we can implement a national development project based on popular sovereignty. It will decide on guaranteeing and deepening the hard-won rights of the 1988 Constitution or whether it will pave the way to complete the dismantling of the Brazilian state begun in the 1990s.

Only popular pressure can alter the balance of power in the Senate. There are no longer any openings for negotiations from above. The current political system, which enabled the mobilization of coup forces, deepens the autocratic character of the ruling classes, now focused on dividing the spoils from the billion-dollar sale of national assets to foreign capital foreseen in the announced round of privatizations. Only a massive popular mobilization for Dilma's return can reverse the votes in the Senate.

The Brazilian left and democratic sectors must not hesitate at this decisive moment. Dilma must be re-elected by popular forces to complete her term and implement the structural changes our people need. The proposal to bring forward the presidential election, advocated by sectors of the democratic camp, is merely an attempt to offer a pact with the dominant classes in order to provide a quick way out of the crisis and resolve the current political instability. This proposal is unfeasible, among other reasons, because it is not in the interest of any of the classes in dispute. The Brazilian big bourgeoisie, subservient to international foreign capital, is interested in the continuation of Michel Temer's illegitimate government. To accelerate the implementation of its unpopular program and eliminate workers' rights enshrined in the 1988 Constitution, neoliberalism requires deepening political instability with a cornered government that does not have to answer to the desires of the majority of the Brazilian population. On the other hand, the popular forces, in clear ascension against the coup government, are also not interested in a pact that would mean admitting the interruption of the mandate of the President elected by popular vote. Furthermore, at a time when the popular democratic field has the potential to accumulate strength, it is not in the working class's interest to shift the focus of the struggle from the streets to the electoral political process, contaminated by the power of private campaign financing and the commercialization of votes. And let it not be said that private financing of electoral campaigns would be curtailed by the Judiciary, when it has already demonstrated, even at its highest level, through its decisions and actions, that it constitutes one of the forces integral to the coup alliance.

President Dilma, at this moment, symbolizes our people's resistance for democracy and must live up to the mission that history has given her: to resist and return to office to advance popular achievements and overcome neoliberalism. Therefore, bringing forward the elections is not the solution for popular forces. The definitive way out of the political crisis must seek to sustain the government through popular mobilization for structural reforms and a Popular Project for the Nation. There is no longer room in current politics for the attempt to accommodate the interests of imperialism, the Brazilian bourgeoisie, and the working class in the same government. A sovereign national development project must be anchored in building popular strength and opening increasingly broader channels for popular participation in politics. This can only be achieved through the convening of a Sovereign Constituent Assembly, outside the current conservative Congress, broadening participation to a wider segment of Brazilian society, capable of ending the political system inherited from the dictatorship and paving the way for popular reforms and the construction of a nation focused on the interests of those who live and work in it. The President's first action, should we achieve victory, must be to call upon the population to express their opinion on the possibility of a Sovereign Constituent Assembly to change politics and deepen the rights gained in the 1988 Constituent Assembly.

We know that this path will not be easy and will undoubtedly deepen the current polarization of society around antagonistic projects. However, it is in these moments that history demands that we dare to wrest from the contradictions of the present the paths to the realization of the Brazilian nation. The only way out is to make the people take the destiny of their history into their own hands. It was this people, with their diversity and utopia, who led President Dilma to continue leading the Brazilian state. And it is for the people and with the Brazilian people that she can and must govern again.