Pots and pans reveal Bolsonaro's exhaustion.

By Paulo Moreira Leite, from Journalists for Democracy

The expectation is that yesterday's demonstration will serve as an incentive for an even larger protest tonight. 

More than just predictable discontent in an economically stagnant country, the banging of pots and pans reflects the shift in a segment of a social class that acts as a political pendulum for the nation.

Recalling important events. If the ability to mobilize the middle class was an important element in the 64 civilian-military coup, the campaign for direct elections twenty years later would have been unthinkable without a political shift that occurred in the fight against the dictatorship.

Between 2002 and 2014, the Workers' Party's four consecutive electoral victories were the result of immense popular support for the Lula-Dilma projects. However, they would not have occurred without strong support from the middle sectors of society. 

The rise of Jair Bolsonaro has shown a reverse political situation.

According to Ibope, in the second round of 2018, Fernando Haddad secured a 52% to 36% lead among the large contingent of Brazilians in the lowest income bracket -- up to 1 minimum wage -- while Bolsonaro's performance gained momentum as the income bracket increased. 

In December, when Bolsonaro was already in the minority in the country, by 36% to 30%, a Datafolha survey showed the opposite picture.

Among the poorest, the difference was radical: 43% disapproved of his government, compared to 22% in favor. In the 2 to 5 minimum wage bracket, which gave Bolsonaro a 57% to 30% advantage a year earlier, the difference was close to the margin of error, 35% positive versus 31% negative.

The pots and pans resurfaced in March 2020, in response to successive disappointments that often create irreversible damage.  

Unacceptable, in a democratic country, Bolsonaro's festive presence at the far-right circus on Sunday was a shameful demonstration of someone who neither respects the Constitution nor is up to the task of the office.

Amidst failures that have already placed the internal struggle on a savage level, as seen in the disputes surrounding the handling of the fight against the coronavirus, Bolsonaro has become technically incapable of governing a country with 210 million inhabitants, one of the ten largest economies in the world, at one of the most difficult moments in its history.

Effective and rapid responses to the Covid-19 epidemic, which threatens to produce one of the greatest tragedies of the last 500 years, would be necessary. To imagine the difficulty to be faced, one only needs to observe the difficult struggle even in developed countries and recall the 21 billion reais shortfall in the Brazilian public health coffers between 2018, 2019, and 2020.

It is also urgent to recover jobs, which have been destroyed by a prolonged economic paralysis. Does anyone see Paulo Guedes doing that?

The pots and pans start banging when no one believes anymore that a president will be able to solve the problems that matter to the country. They express the discontent of those who have been morally harmed, feeling like a people who feel wronged and deceived. Bolsonaro has crossed this line.

Any questions?

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