Impeachment SA

by Antonio Lassance (*), in Carta Maior

Let no one be mistaken or feign ignorance. The Impeachment SA organization—a more or less anonymous company—is there not only to promote events, but, above all, to raise capital.

Anyone who wants to take to the streets on the 15th, wearing clown noses and holding pro-impeachment signs, will be beating the drum and spewing their hatred with the sponsorship of companies and politicians who want to fuel the erosion of a government for decidedly un-republican reasons.

Some of the organizations most active in mobilizing the March 15th demonstrations are businesses sponsored by the opposition, both political parties and businesses, with the ever-valuable assistance of the media cartel, which provides significant support for their dissemination.

Just like in the good old days of coups in the 1950s and 1960s, working to overthrow a government is, in part, ideology, but it has its 'business' side. It makes money.

The groups that organize the protests and call for impeachment start as a social network, but grow with partisan and corporate support.

None of these groups fail to publicly request resources to finance their 'work'—it would be better to say 'their business'. Up to this point, nothing out of the ordinary.

However, the bulk of the contributions that some of these people receive are not public, nor are they from people who donate 5, 10, or 100 reais. Today, most of the money circulating in favor of Dilma's impeachment has a different origin.

Business owners in at least three states (São Paulo, Pernambuco, and Paraná) report receiving phone calls requesting money to organize the events on the 15th. The source of this information is lawyers consulted to determine the legality of the donation and possible legal implications for the companies.

In one case, the request was not made directly by someone linked to the social media profiles that are calling for the protest, but by an opposition congressman, with the following argument: "we need to help these people who are mobilizing to remove these scoundrels from power."

The curious thing is that the opposition congressman is part of the select group of parliamentarians who had the privilege of counting, among their campaign financiers, companies mentioned in Lava Jato. Therefore, by Impeachment SA's criteria, the friendly congressman is, in fact, an honorable scoundrel.

It's worth remembering that almost half of the names on the infamous list from former Petrobras director Paulo Roberto Costa were linked to the campaigns of Aécio or Marina Silva.

The construction companies caught in Operation Lava Jato donated almost half a billion reais to politicians and parties with the largest representation in Congress, including opposition parties like PSDB and DEM. Will anyone remember this on the 15th?

How the business works and thrives

Impeachment Inc. has become a franchise. A person or a small group creates a profile, seeks out supporters and followers, and creates memes to be spread online. With some luck, this 'production' goes viral—voilà, the successful formula has worked.

The groups organizing the protest on the 15th are numerous. Each state has a more prominent activist or group. Today, they compete in the protest market in an increasingly business-like manner. Naturally, they are absolutely frank in saying that capitalism is their ultimate dream. Any way to make money is worthwhile.

Depending on the strength of each profile's following, the creator uses their list of followers, with or without clown noses, as a portfolio to negotiate private sponsorship.

The more the impeachment becomes a frenzy, the kind where "only the dead don't follow the parade float," the better for the business of ousting the president.

The search for a market for protest came about when these impeachment peddlers knocked on the doors of parties like PSDB, DEM, and PPS.

At least in the case of Pernambuco, there were also attempts with the PSB, whose former presidential candidate, Eduardo Campos, is also mentioned in Paulo Roberto Costa's testimony. The PSB today includes, among others, 'socialists' of the ilk of the old PFL, such as the renowned Heráclito Fortes (PI) and Paulo Bornhausen (SC).

Some of the more entrepreneurial activists from Impeachment SA took the list of campaign financiers of opposition politicians with whom they maintain contact and went to ask for help in opening doors at companies willing to finance the impeachment campaign.

It seems that politicians from the PSDB party have been the most committed to redirecting requests for private sponsorship towards the corporate sector.

Publicly, just to vary things up, the PSDB (Brazilian Social Democracy Party) members have defined, pardon the word 'define', that they support the pro-impeachment act, but are against the impeachment itself. Huh? We need at least two minutes to understand the reasoning and grab some PSDB member by the collar, hiding behind yet another wall.

The PSDB (Brazilian Social Democracy Party) members want the protest, they're rooting for the protest, they're helping to sponsor the protest, but they pretend they have nothing to do with it. It makes sense—and there are still people who believe they really aren't working towards impeachment.

Why March 15th?

The date of the protest itself was politically calculated by Impeachment SA, with a clear purpose.

The target of the protest is President Dilma Rousseff, let's face it, precisely in the month in which the Attorney General of the Republic, Rodrigo Janot, will release the list of politicians involved in the scandal. More precisely, in the week following the week in which the list of politicians will be made public.

Those protesting on the 15th will demand the impeachment of Dilma, who isn't even mentioned in the Lava Jato investigation. Will they also demand the impeachment of Senator Aécio Neves, whose campaign received donations from the same honorable construction companies, directly to his campaign committee?

Will they at least call for the impeachment of Agripino Maia (DEM-RN), accused of receiving R$ 1 million in bribes? One whistleblower for another, Agripino has his own and deserves some publicity from some more well-informed protester.

Will they demand a thorough investigation and the arrest of those involved in the PSDB's train scandal? Or has the water shortage in São Paulo also rationed the memory and sense of morality and ethics of those who claim to be well-fed—especially after their feast?

Will they call for the impeachment of PMDB parliamentarians? They belong to the second largest party in the Chamber of Deputies, the largest in the Senate, and would be crucial to the chances of impeachment. But, coincidentally, they are among the preferred choices of construction companies when it comes to financing campaigns.

Those who protested on the 15th haven't stopped to think that they want Dilma's impeachment to be carried out by a Congress whose rampant campaign financing leaves most of its parliamentarians beyond suspicion — if we are to generalize the 'argument' of those who see Dilma as an enemy to be banished.

Are these, in fact, the ones who can speak out about removing the elected president? Strange. Shouldn't they be the first targets for impeachment?

Those promoting the impeachment campaign are making a voluntary or sponsored contribution to diverting attention from the corrupt individuals who actually have their names on the Lava Jato corruption scandal's record—which is not the case for the president.

It would be better, before talking about impeaching a president elected by 54,5 million votes, if the protesters of the 15th waited for Janot's list and used it to write their signs.

Why don't they do it? Perhaps because it's not such a good deal.