Nassif exposes "the chess game of Dilma's Letter to the Brazilian People"

Luis Nassif, from GGN

The coup and the petty persecution against Dilma provoked a national uproar, a broad embrace of solidarity. For her part, Dilma reciprocated by opening herself up to the public in a way she never dared to do during her time as president.

The end result is that his voice has gained political weight.

For all these reasons, the idea of ​​launching a Letter to Brazilians, outlining a set of principles, could constitute an episode of the highest political relevance, and represent the first move towards the next general elections.

Part 1 – The recipe book for a new left
The process of shaping the new party system is underway. The demonstrations gave voice to a multitude of social movements, opinion groups, and NGOs, typical of socially advanced societies. And they brought to politics an extraordinary generation of young people, no longer tied to party activism, but to diverse causes, sharing common ground in civilizational values, the most relevant of which is the defense of democracy.

It's a torrent of political tributaries flowing towards the larger river, the 2018 elections.

Depending on its content, Dilma's Letter to the Brazilian People could constitute the initial seed of a new modern left-wing thought, which may emerge from the next elections, with Lula as the ultimate symbol and Dilma as the systematizer of the program.

Part 2 – The new pact or the confrontation.
The starting point is to define the path to be followed: that of agreement or confrontation.

During the Workers' Party (PT) period, Lula managed to consolidate social peace, a pact between the various forces in the country: social movements, human rights groups, industrial entrepreneurs, the market, and public corporations. All of this was possible due to his intuitive political talent and a period of prosperity that preceded the 2008 crisis, as well as the way he mobilized the country against that crisis.

There was a brief rehearsal, a trailer of what the country could be a superpower, with its trade, diplomatic, and national security policies, its social policies, its industrial policy experiments, culminating in Dilma's decisive help in assembling the grand pact around the pre-salt reserves – which should guarantee, at the same time, the strength for the oil and gas production chain (including shipyards and other associated sectors) and resources for social policies.

It is not relevant now to point out the series of errors that led to the political crisis.

It is important to note that left-wing groups drawn into the democratic contest are rightly wondering if there is still room for agreements. They all feel, justifiably, betrayed by the democratic illusion, by the lack of defenses against the coup-mongering inherent in the Brazilian plutocracy, aggravated by the dismantling imposed by this predatory interim government.

The most likely course of action, therefore, would be to resort to political warfare, placing all bets on a local Bonaparte leading the troops against those who seized power.

But perpetuating radicalization would prevent any more lasting political action.

The country will never enter the next political and economic phase if it does not forge a broad political pact with its eyes set on the new times.

The right needs to accept that the country cannot be built without permanent respect for social rights and the continuity of inclusion policies. The left will need to abandon its statist bias, identify and defend essential state-owned enterprises, but invest in models that attract private capital to infrastructure and public services.

Part 3 – Cutting measurements
Pedagogy becomes more effective when principles are transformed into proposals. It is these proposals that help us understand the new, to shape the new utopia, even if, at first glance, they seem impossible to achieve. Therefore, the proposals cannot be more of the same, a repetition of developmentalist or market-driven economic slogans.

First, they will have to define the kind of country they aspire to. Then, they will need to outline the means to achieve it, at which point the development proposals will come into play.

The speech will mark a new political era. Therefore, there is a need to be bold, to think big, to anticipate the new times and imagine policies that represent a break between the old, which ended with the coup, and the new that is beginning to emerge.

Part 4 – some suggested measurements are merely examples.
Group 1 – the clash of social capitalism.
Construction companies owe money to the tax authorities and the federal government in the form of billions of dollars in fines. Their biggest asset is their stock. A model is being devised whereby they will settle their debts by surrendering shares – even if it means losing control.

Similarly, states owe money to the federal government. But they have assets that can be monetized, such as state-owned companies and concession rights. These two assets are priced and will be used to amortize debts. Most of the state and municipal companies are sanitation companies. But they could also be urban mobility or energy concessions.

The federal government will retain shares in the construction companies and concession rights held by the federal government, states, and municipalities. With these rights, it can advance a broad concession program in the sanitation sector, transferring the shares to social funds owned by workers.

Group 2 – The shock of land regularization
Today, there is a huge number of unregistered, low-income housing and properties in both urban and rural areas of the country. With modern GPS resources, a massive land regularization campaign could be organized. Similarly, projects recognizing minority rights could be accelerated, as could prison task forces aimed at freeing people who have committed minor offenses.

Group 3 – the shock of deregulation.
With modern information technology resources and proven management experiences, there will be ways to implement a major, debureaucratizing administrative reform in both the fiscal and public management areas.

Group 4 – the shock of deepening direct democracy.
The Constitution bequeathed a set of instruments for popular participation. Later, several forums were created, including participation from the private sector. Now, we must enter the era of digital democracy and clearly define the spaces for establishing citizen participation through social networks and collectives.

The search for synthesis
The suggestions above are merely indicative. There are many ideas and initiatives already tested in the public sector, conceived in academia.

If Dilma knows how to construct the synthesis, her Letter to the Brazilians could become the starting point of a new era.

The important thing is to show the limitations imposed by the old model and the utopia to be pursued, without having to dwell on the day-to-day limitations of politics.