To hope, according to Paulo Freire, is to stand up to achieve a goal. It is to join with others to act collectively and turn the goal into reality. It is different from waiting passively, as if the problem could be solved without action, as if by a miracle. The protests that took place on 13 and 29 May revived the meaning of the verb to hope. After all, only those who fight can win. And only with mass demonstrations will it be possible to bring down this genocidal government. On the streets, by transforming ‘luto em luta’ (grief into fight), we can pave the way for the defeat of Bolsonaro and the far-right. That is why the decision taken by the organizations of the ‘Campanha Fora Bolsonaro’ (Bolsonaro Out Campaign), which met on 2 June and unanimously decided to call for new street protests for 19 June, is of such great importance. The challenge now is to make the new national day for ‘Fora Bolsonaro’ (Bolsonaro Out) even bigger than 29M.
For the building of even more powerful protests which can move the struggle against this government of death forward, there are now three essential tasks.
First task: convince the undecided
Many people who reject and repudiate Bolsonaro did not go to 29M for fear of being infected by the virus and/or of generating overcrowding. These are legitimate concerns. When talking to these people, it is necessary to explain that wearing PFF2 (or N95) masks significantly reduces the risk of infection in open spaces, especially when accompanied by the use of hand sanitizer and the maintaining of distance between those present at the rallies. It is worth remembering that all these precautions were taken at 29M and will be improved on for 19J.
Besides this, it is important to argue that the greatest risk to the lives of our people is Bolsonaro staying in power. Reducing the duration of this government will mean more vaccines in the arm, food on the table, and jobs for the wallet. The president is more dangerous than the virus.
Second task: maintain and strengthen the unity of all sectors involved in the fight for ‘Fora Bolsonaro’
We cannot underestimate our principal enemy – the Bolsonaro government and the neo-fascist far-right. Even though he has been weakened, Bolsonaro still has the support of the ruling class (which intends to push ahead with neoliberal reforms and privatization), maintains a mobilized social base of support, and has influence in sectors of the police and the military as well as the militias. Therefore, the preservation and development of the unity of the left and the social movements are vital for confronting this dangerous enemy.
On the one hand, the building of this unity includes the maintenance and improvement of the ‘Campanha Fora Bolsonaro’, which includes left-wing parties, the People without Fear Front (Frente Povo Sem Medo, FPSM) and the Popular Brazil Front (Frente Brasil Popular, FBP) social movement fronts, the Black Coalition for Rights (CND), the labor movement, and other organizations. In this sense, no attempt to divide this United Front through divisive initiatives and parallel calls to action should be accepted.
On the other hand, this unity must be built around the idea that we cannot wait for the October 2022 elections. The left must hedge its bets on the strength of the streets, on the struggle of working people and youth. Counting on Bolsonaro to make it to the electoral contest in a year’s time with no chance of victory is very risky. In this respect, it was a mistake for Lula, the left’s principal popular leader, to not publicly support the protests of 13 and 29 May. We think that the ex-president should engage in the campaign for ‘Fora Bolsonaro’ and call for people to join the 19 June demonstrations, just as Homeless Workers’ Movement (MTST) leader Guilherme Boulos has done. Not least because the mass struggle for impeachment will open up better political and programmatic conditions for the left in the electoral field. In Chile, the rebellion in the streets has allowed for the burying of Pinochet’s constitution at the ballot box. In the United States, the anti-racist revolt made the electoral defeat of Trump possible.
It is also worth emphasizing the need to involve all activists engaged in this struggle in the construction of the ‘Campanha Fora Bolsonaro’. In the cities, it is necessary to build united, democratic, and broad spaces, such as plenaries and online forums, which can give room and voice to the thousands of people interested in building the movement. Organizations and groups must also seek to involve their ranks through the calling of online assemblies to organize the struggle. In this sense, the ‘Campanha Fora Bolsonaro’ has indicated that it is holding a national plenary on 10 June along with statewide plenary meetings.
Third task: strengthen independent left-wing media
The mainstream media hid the size and the importance of the 29M demonstrations, and in the case of Globo, took two days to even acknowledge the significance of the event. This is explained by the fact that the traditional press is umbilically linked to the parties of the traditional right, parties like the Brazilian Social Democracy Party (PSDB), the Brazilian Democratic Movement (MDB), and the Democrats (DEM), and does not want to promote an action that strengthens the left.
There is also the ‘Bolsonarista’ media. This has government funding and operates by means of fake news and sophisticated (and dirty) systems via social media networks. The ‘gabinete do ódio’ (cabinet of hate) has spared no effort to attack 29M. But even so, through the various independent left-wing media outlets, it was possible to bring the real images and message of 29M to tens of millions of people in Brazil and around the world.
We at ‘Esquerda Online’ (Left Online) are proud to have made a modest contribution to this result. And we ask everyone who follows us on the web to contribute to the strengthening of left-wing media [https://benfeitoria.com/
Let’s move forward together, in the streets and the social networks, to fight for ‘Fora Bolsonaro’!
#19JForaBolsonaro
This article is an English translation of “Vai ser maior: 19 de junho pelo Fora Bolsonaro”, [https://esquerdaonline.com.
Translation: Bobby Sparks
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