The same youth protests that stormed the Mediterranean, Europe and United States during the last two years reached Brazil in June.
Without any political party or organization and with different roots and aspirations, hundreds of thousands of Brazilians took the streets of the main cities of South America’s largest country.
The flames that lit the first protests were initially a result of an increase in the cost of bus tickets in São Paulo. The excessive spending on reforms towards the 2014 World Cup and 2016 Olympic Games added fuel to the conflict.
But as street banners read: “It´s not just because of the R$0.20,” referring to the bus fare hike, that was just the starter to address deeper issues, such as quality of life, public transport services, democratization, corruption, healthcare, inflation and education.
The average Brazilian spends a minimum of R$6 on the bus traveling for work every day, compared with a minimum wage of R$700.
Those same roads that 10 years ago celebrated the Workers’ Party´s arrival to the government and shared their economic and political achievements, these days reflect rebellion, nonconformity and rage.
In 2003, hopes for change in one of the most unequal countries in the world were set on a north-eastern metallurgical labor unionist called Luiz Inácio “Lula” da Silva.
After eight years of applying the New Developmentalism recommended by former President Fernando Henrique Cardoso, Lula achieved the minimum wage raises, low unemployment, and social advancement that managed to get more than 30 million people out of extreme poverty and increased schooling—but at the same time deepened transgenic agribusiness and external debt, while inflation and corruption increased.
In 2011, with an 80 percent popularity, Lula left the government to his successor, Dilma Rousseff, an ex-guerrilla and economist from Belo Horizonte.
At the same time that the economy was growing and the country became one of the major emerging economies (BRICS-Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa) expectations of progress and egalitarian redistribution of wealth were also growing.
“A new political subject is emerging and it´s part of a world-wide action, unhappy with the power for power, with the money for the money,” said Marina Silva, a former colleague of environmentalist Chico Mendes and third in the 2010 presidential election.
As a new political figure, Brazil’s youth managed to stop the rise in transport and to go ahead with a referendum on political reform, while encouraging protests in Costa Rica and Paraguay. Following the protests, Dilma Rousseff admitted that “it’s citizenship and not economic power that must be heard first.”
The parliament approved to allocate oil royalties to education and health, economic incentives to reduce transport costs and increase penalties for corruption. Protesters are still waiting for further structural reforms and participation in public policy.