Marina Silva: Mobilizations were just a matter of time.

247 – Likely presidential candidate for the Rede Sustentabilidade party, still in its formation phase, Marina Silva says she has been saying for many years that it was only a matter of time before virtual mobilizations transformed into in-person ones. In an interview with the newspaper Valor Econômico, the former senator also states that the motivation for the protests taking place throughout the country is the emergence of "a new political subject in the world".

Former Environment Minister Marina Silva also warns in the interview that the twenty cents are a symbol of the protests, and that they "include the non-functioning hospital, the security problem, and the lack of channels to understand the country's strategic agenda." According to her, "the old political parties will have to rethink themselves." Read below the main excerpts from the interview, published in full on [website/platform name]. Valor website.

Emergence of mobilizations

I've been saying for a long time that it was only a matter of time before these virtual mobilizations spilled over into in-person events.

Because a new political subject is emerging in the world, and Brazil is no different. It's a characteristic of our time, combining the vast amount of information people have access to with the great possibility of communication between them. And this will transform politics. All sectors of society are being influenced by the internet. Businesses are being transformed, educational systems, knowledge production, the media. I don't know why people thought that only politics would remain the same.

How do you view the movements?

Right now we have an economic, social, environmental, political, and values ​​crisis—a civilizational crisis. These movements don't have a single center; they are multicentric. And they have a stagnant core. There is a very large number of people who are beginning to emerge from this stagnation and move to the edge that is in motion.

League of movements

What unites them is improving representation and expanding participation. But each one, being free, lowers or raises their anchor. Whether or not they agree with that cause, they fight, they go to the public square. There is freedom, mobility. The old form of command doesn't exist, and one can negotiate for the whole because it's a horizontal process with a large number of people. That's why there's a great difficulty for those who can't understand this, in talking to these movements. You can't speak for a group thinking you speak for everyone. On this edge there is no center; one moment you are the bow, the next you are the arrow; one moment you lead, the next you are led. At this moment I feel led by this new political subject and I hope that Brazil can become the reference it could be, of a new economy that shifts towards sustainable models.

What do the protests say?

They are saying: you were elected to represent me and you are replacing us; we are reclaiming the prerogative of those who do not feel legitimately represented.

Political quality

In the land of football, close to the World Cup and in the midst of the Confederations Cup, people are clearly saying: "We want the country's money to be invested in education, health, and security." This is progress, it has political quality. Some might say: "Ah, but it will pass and nothing will come of it." Perhaps this new political figure has more potential for great positive transformations than the great mobilizations of the ABC region of São Paulo that brought us to this point, with the gains and defeats we have experienced. Because those who were transformative and revolutionary later became conservative. This new political figure is of this time, just like the dreamers of the 70s, 80s, and 90s, like Lula, Florestan Fernandes, Darcy Ribeiro, Paulo Freire, Marilena Chauí, and so many others who sustained those movements. And many people were conservative and tried to stop the flow of water, they opposed it. But there were those who contributed so that something could emerge.

The fare has been lowered. What's left?

It's not what's left over, it's what continues. The latent element behind what brought thousands upon thousands of people to the streets will certainly continue. They're not just protesting the fare increase, but to say they don't want to be mere spectators. This has been happening for some time. People are thinking they can continue coordinating the country's interests in their own backyards, and the protesters are saying they no longer want these secrets in the Republic. That's what's being said.

They didn't listen before.

Unfortunately, political parties have become power projects for the sake of power, believing they are in control. Look at the polls: 84% of the population didn't want changes to the Forest Code. They weren't listened to. They mobilized 1,5 million people against Renan (Calheiros), they didn't pay any attention and even dismissed it: "That's something for the virtual world, for the internet, it doesn't count." And I kept repeating: it will overflow. Now there needs to be a process of understanding everything that is happening. Brazil is the place where it's possible for the transformative force of this shifting edge to be a mutation and not an abrupt rupture.

What is it?

A transformative shift. When we started the Sustainability Network process, we said it's not just a new party, it's a new party that will have to be horizontal, that won't have the old stagnant and vertical formula, and that it has to be a tool to try to contribute to this new political subject that is emerging. I think the old political parties will have to rethink themselves. For me, who has been on this fringe for over 30 years, there is a certain lightness.

Why?

I feel represented by this moving border.

Analysis of tariff reductions by governments

We have to learn from this. One thing is an objective demand that can even be met. But there is a much greater treasure to be worked on, which is what is in a latent state. If we are all able to understand this latency that is there, we will emerge stronger and better for democracy than before this movement surfaced. Let no one be mistaken that they will give twenty cents and "For God's sake, get off the streets, go home," and that's it. It's not that, on the contrary. There is an enormous wealth to be worked on, because this new political subject is a protagonist. It is better to try to understand what can be produced from there.

Why aren't you at the protests?

I am in these protests. They are in me. For many years I have been traveling all over Brazil, last year I gave 129 lectures, and I see that this new political subject is emerging. Now, if I go to a protest, I go as just another person. My choice not to be there is to avoid any instrumentalization, or it would be inconsistent with what I am saying. That this activism is original, that it is not directed by the party, nor by the union, nor by charismatic leaders. People have to stop deluding themselves that there are saviors of the nation. There are men and women who together are willing to build the nation.

Were signatures collected for the Rede party during the demonstrations?

We didn't want to do that out of respect for this authorial activism; we are collecting signatures in the appropriate spaces. It would be a contradiction. This party is not meant to have movements at its service, but to contribute to them. It can't be forced down their throats.