We are just a few hours away from the 3 July protests for ‘Fora Bolsonaro’ (Bolsonaro Out). After 420,000 people took to the streets on 29 May and 750,000 protested on 19 June, all indications are that these demonstrations will once again be large and broadly representative. There are now 340 confirmed demonstrations [https://esquerdaonline.com.
It has never been so urgent and necessary to be in the streets as it this Saturday. The new allegations that point to corruption in the purchase of vaccines have had an impact on the political landscape. The government is experiencing its darkest days, and the strength of these demonstrations will be decisive in putting the government on the ropes and pressuring Congress to move the impeachment process forward. Taking to the streets this Saturday is, therefore, not a choice.
The corruption allegations are overwhelming. The most recent accusations suggest that the government demanded a one US dollar bribe for every vaccine dose. This gigantic scheme was allegedly set up by none other than the leader of the Bolsonaro government in Congress, Ricardo Barros (Progressives, PP), whom Bolsonaro met with at least ten times after being alerted to this scheme. These allegations have accelerated political developments in the country. The issue of corruption, used so cynically by the right-wing and ‘Bolsonarismo’ in recent years, is now being turned against the far-right government. The image of morality that is falsely associated with Bolsonaro has been dealt a blow.
This government is genocidal, neoliberal, and corrupt. Bolsonaro is responsible for thousands of deaths and the destruction of social rights, he is driven by denialism, and now he is being denounced for corruption. A report released by Oxfam Brazil on 1 July estimates that approximately 120,000 deaths could have been avoided in Brazil with adequate control policies. These calculations do not take vaccination delays into account. Other calculations made by epidemiologist Pedro Hallal indicate that Brazil could have saved 400,000 lives – around 80% of all COVID-19 deaths in the country – if stricter social distancing measures and vaccinations had been implemented earlier.
Everyone points to the causes that have brought us to this point: denialism, defense of Chloroquine, the boycott of social distancing and the use of masks, the lack of emergency relief, and other protective measures. All are documented in the super petition for impeachment that was delivered to the Chamber of Deputies on 30 June, part of a great demonstration in the capital Brasilia that is the result of an ad hoc unity that stretched beyond the left itself to involve bourgeois sectors that have broken with the government. The Parliamentary Commission of Inquiry (CPI) into the pandemic is growing in importance, and there is also movement within the Federal Supreme Court (STF) towards holding the government responsible and forcing Congress to put the president’s impeachment on the agenda.
The strength of Saturday’s protests will be decisive in the bringing down of Bolsonaro. The ruling class cannot be relied on to remove the fascist from power, as the government continues to submit to the interests of the financial markets, with the privatization of electricity provider Eletrobrás, public sector administrative reform, and increasing encroachments on indigenous lands. That’s why it is so very important to take to the streets this Saturday, 3J, with all the necessary hygiene precautions, to demand the end of this government. ‘A hora é agora’ (The time is now).
This article is an English translation of “#3JForaBolsonaro: Nunca foi tão necessário ir às ruas!”, [https://esquerdaonline.com.
Translation: Bobby Sparks
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