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| quote: | Originally posted by wotyzoid
What the fuck Marcus, why? |
It's a very odd situation to find oneself in, and I can't find a short answer. But bear with me, it requires this lengthy explanation:
My first views were initially favourable, and I almost went to the first manifestation here in Brasilia, having confirmed my presence on Facebook (that's how it all started). However, being the fussy debater that I've become thanks to TA, I wanted to know (a) what the protests are for/against and (b) what the proposed solutions are... and I decided to read the comments about it in the pages of all related events. (b) was easy to answer: although most protesters believe they should make themselves heard, a sizeable minority preached violence. This already raised some red flags. Then I tried to find out what exactly the causes are, and I must say this is the most honest headline I've seen so far:
Millions take to the streets "against everything"; groups target government buildings
I'm all for being against everything, and we have loads of things that need fixing in this country. However, being against all there is and having no idea of how to fix any of it is not a good mix. Being this clueless and impulsive while some advocate for violence is even worse. There's nothing, absolutely nothing, the president could to to appease protesters... and if you're against everything (and everyone), when can you say your demands have been met and your job is done?
Worse it, some protesters are clueless as to how our political system works. Some wanted the president to lower bus fares - that's not something she can do, and ironically enough she did what she could prior to the protests, exempting bus companies of paying all taxes. Some complained about the dire state of schools in the country, whereas the president had already destined 10% of our GDP to education, and proposed using all royalties from oil extraction to this end (this was rejected by the congress, and she's giving it a second try now). Last, but not least, some protesters are complaining we squandered public money on stadia... AFTER they were built. This misdirected anger came too late, protesters should have opposed our candidacies back in 2007 and 2009.
Also, I'm well aware this is a good sign, rather than a bad one. Unemployment has reached record lows, and inflation has come as result of an accelerating economy, so much so that we were the muse of Wall Street when we were "the last economy to plunge into the world financial crisis and bounce back from it" - and we're only feeling it now. We're also a stable democracy, which has in my life time been rocked only by Fernando Collor's impeachment. We have a long way to go, but we didn't become the world's 6th economy by accident. If there's so much anger, it's because we now feel we should have access to better services, among other things... but these protests have unfortunately been incredibly misguided. I can't believe the things I've read/seen in the last few days.
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