Lula, Ferreira Gullar's blind obsession

247 - A former leftist, the poet from Maranhão, Ferreira Gullar, seems to revel in the current moment of political tension. And, once again, he points the finger at the culprit: Lula. Read below: 

It would be presumptuous of me to claim that I perfectly understand what is happening in the country, from the protest marches that flooded the streets of major cities and shook the seemingly unshakeable prestige of the Workers' Party government.

This is undoubtedly a new phenomenon, surprising even in a country that seemed asleep, as if indifferent to the scandals that compromised Lula's government, the ineffectiveness that afflicts Dilma's government, and the widespread corruption among politicians.

The truth is that, from my point of view, the sector of society that gained nothing from Lula's populism—seeing that this state of affairs promised to continue indefinitely, given the high approval ratings of the current leader—decided to take to the streets and say "enough!".

Crowds demonstrated their discontent with the social and political situation, denouncing corruption, ineffectiveness, and administrative incompetence. Dilma's approval rating plummeted. Lula, as he always does when things get tough, disappeared, but the issue was clear: the people demanded drastic changes, the opposite of the situation maintained during these ten years of PT (Workers' Party) government.

Lula and his group tried to "join" the protests, but were repelled. Faced with this, and with it becoming clear that the labor unions had been co-opted by the government, they decided to pretend that they too were discontented. A fiasco, since these unions, dominated by stooges, no longer represent anyone.

As if the relatively small number of protesters wasn't enough, their slogans didn't reflect the explicit discontent expressed in the "disorganized" protests that shook society last month.

Although those massive popular demonstrations have ceased in recent weeks, other types of protests have taken to the streets. Unlike those (which, by all indications, were unaffiliated with any organizations), these latter protests were undoubtedly organized by professional categories demanding effective measures from the government to solve concrete problems. This is the case with doctors, teachers, and military police officers.

This time, the protesters are demanding effective measures to resolve professional issues and fulfill promises the government made but failed to keep. This represents a qualitative shift in the nature of the protests—which, by all indications, tend to multiply and expand, exposing the government's ineptitude in solving these problems.

The problem is that the populist policies of the Workers' Party – even though it is a party that claims to represent workers – focused on buying votes from impoverished voters, have become detached from the real interests of professional categories, which are concentrated as they are on welfare programs.

There is no doubt that improving the living conditions of the most disadvantaged sectors of society—as Lula did by expanding the number of beneficiaries of the Bolsa Família program—is, in principle, a correct measure that deserves support and recognition. The error lies not there, but in ignoring that programs like this, of an assistance nature, should be implemented as emergency measures. The correct approach, in addition to this, is to create conditions that allow people to live from their work and professional skills.

Everyone knows that one of the defining characteristics of the Workers' Party government is self-promotion, from Dilma to Mantega. When they speak in public, it's to praise their own government, to say that everything is going wonderfully and that the GDP will grow.

GDP isn't growing, they blame some non-governmental factor and continue to manipulate economic data to pretend everything is fine.

But this is just to deceive public opinion, because they know very well that the real situation is different. Now, they are in trouble because the people in the streets have shown that they are no longer fooled. Proof of this is the alarming drop in Dilma's approval ratings in the polls, which threatens her re-election in 2014.

These facts explain the change in attitude of the government's main ally, the PMDB, which opposes the plebiscite proposed by Dilma and suggests reducing the number of ministries. Pure trickery, to exploit Dilma's vulnerability and take advantage of it. It seems that the time is coming for every man for himself.