Brazil Votes-The Opposition Steps Forward
Keck, Mimi
SAO PAULO-Three weeks after the November 15 elections, with 95% of the vote counted, it is clear that Brazilians gave their government a vote of no confidence for its 18 years of military...
...The most gains were won in areas where it had concentrated grassroots organizing efforts...
...People would chant with emotion, endlessly...
...Brizola's forces became instead the Democratic Labor Party (PDT...
...Significant proportions of state resources are controlled by the federal government, as is the military police, which is under the direct control of the Army...
...The MDB, attempting to preserve continuity in its name, became the Party of the Brazilian Democratic Movement (PMDB) and retained most of its original membership...
...Unions on strike continue to face violent repression by the military police...
...Working 40 within it are independent democrats, communists of assorted stripes, members of the former bankers' party and more...
...During his December trip to Brazil, President Reagan announced a $1.2 billion emergency short-term loan for the regime, emphasizing that the country deserves special treatment...
...The PT has rejected the proposal outright...
...It was not until 1964, with the sup- port of the Johnson Administra- tion, that the Brazilian military overthrew President Goulart, and Brizola went into exile...
...Nationwide the governing Democratic Social Party (PDS) so far has won about 38% of the vote, the PMDB, almost 50% and the PDT, 8...
...da Silva ("Lula"), who gained notoriety as leader of the Metalworkers' Union of Sao Bernardo do Campo and Diadema...
...3update update update update 1982 elections, then, were a vehicle for building the party' s base, and articulating the interests of sectors that rarely have had a voice in Brazil's politics...
...If the PMDB governor takes over in Para, for example, the government is expected to carve out the region around Carajas, placing it under federal administration in order to avoid opposition control over its grandiose but controversial mining project...
...Campaign posters and graffiti covered everything...
...Leonel Brizola has made overtures to PMDB's left wing as well as Lula's PT about a post electoral merger toward building a mass based socialist party...
...The political ferment that has been generated by the electoral campaign will have farreaching consequences for Brazil's political evolution...
...Paternalistic Populist Brizola is first and foremost a charismatic mass leader...
...He was removed from that position by the government in 1980 and put on trial for leading an "illegal" strike...
...Brizola's following comes mainly from the unorganized-urban poor, In particular slum-dwellers who are one third of Rio's population, and those sectors of the middle class that are near despair in face of the country's most severe economic recession since 1930...
...Brizola's appeal Is messianic and populist...
...In poor neighborhoods, the special crime squads of the military police usually "shoot first and ask questions later," and civilian courts have no jurisdiction over their activities...
...The 1979 party reform was therefore an attempt to encourage divisions within the heterogeneous opposition forces, A jubilant Leonel Brizola flashes V for victory...
...But to see them in that light alone would be to ignore the complexities and contradictions of the process that gave rise to them...
...An unanticipated consequence of the media ban, however, was that the MDB was forced to go to the people directly...
...Whenever he arrived, smiles would light up faces...
...A new Popular Party (PP), widely referred to as the bankers' party, drewfrom the governing party and the more conservative ranks of the old MDB...
...This was one of the few occasions in contemporary Brazilian history when a civilian leader prevailed over the will of the armed forces...
...The new ballot was blank, requiring the voter to fill in the correct name or number of the candidate on the correct line...
...The regime's response was again to change the rules...
...Voting Straight Tickets Despite divisions within the opposition, by late 1981, it was clear to the government that the Popular Party and the PMDB were likely to win the governorships (appointed by the government since 1965) of Brazil's most important states...
...Brizola for Presi- dent...
...Changing The Game's Rules In 1965, Brazil's military rulers imposed a rigid, two-party system designed to perpetuate their tenure while maintaining a pretense of tolerance for dissident voices...
...The PT made its strongest showing in the industrial state of Sao Paulo, where Lula was its candidate for governor, earning about 10% of the vote...
...In fact, Brizola is viewed as a humane and intuitive mass leader who does have a deep commitment to the poor and downtrodden...
...Moreover, Brizola had organ- ized mass demonstrations and promised armed resistance against the military's efforts to stop the succession of Joao Goulart to the presidency in 1961...
...Surprised by this show of strength, Brazil's military rulers sought mechanisms to contain the opposition's challenge...
...But the most influential policymakers in the next few years appear to be neither the new generation of opposition officials nor the military government...
...The popular Leonel Brizola won the governorship of Rio de Janeiro for his Democratic Labor Party (PDT...
...It appears the Brazilians will make good use of unequivocal U.S...
...Shortly after the elections, a delegation from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) arrived in Brazil, seeking concessions from the government in exchange for much needed loans...
...So far, only about 3% of the ballots were nullified...
...A key tar- get of the 1964 military takeover, his election as leader of the coun- try's second most important state is widely viewed as one of the most significant developments in Brazil's process of political lib- eralization...
...Now his own organi- zation-the Democratic Labor Party (PDT)--is also associated with the international social dem- ocratic movement...
...All these promises are what Brizola calls "moreno socialism," a catchy slogan for a type of indigenous socialism that means something close to traditional notions of what Christian charity is all about...
...Speculation that Brizola may not ever be allowed to assume office, for example, is widespread...
...See sidebar...
...The fifth opposition party to achieve provisional legal status under the new law was the Workers Party (PT), which grew out of the social movements and union struggles of the late 1970s...
...tained the right to declare and extend a state of emergency in troublesome areas, and the draconian National Security Law, whose terms are vague enough to include virtually any act of opposition to the regime or the armed forces...
...Amid accusations of irregularities in the computer system used to tally the votes, authorities have abandoned computers altogether and are continuing the count manually...
...X while maintaining the government party intact...
...And while many opposition parties favor turning the next Congress into a Constituent Assembly, it is questionable whether they will have that power...
...His chosen people regard him as a savior...
...During this past electoral campaign, it became a common scene in Rio-even in the conservative middle class neighborhood of Tijuca-to see thousands of people wait in pouring rain for three hours to hear the words of Brizola...
...This paternalistic style is even more pronounced in regard to the welfare of the thousands of abandoned children who live on Rio's streets: he promises that all will be fed, schooled and placed in day care centers...
...Brazil has approached the Fund-the first time it has done so since the 1960s-only reluctantly...
...Swallowing Bitter Pills Brizola is wrongly viewed by the military elite as well as the conservative press as a "firebrand," to use Air Force Minister Delio de Matos' word...
...In addition to these constraints on the full exercise of political rights, abertura has done little to protect the rights of those traditionally excluded from Brazilian politics-the working class and the poor...
...The Workers Party calls itself socialist, although it refuses to espouse any existing model of socialism and includes within its ranks many different tendencies within the Left and trade union movement...
...Because the MDB had made effective use of the media in its campaign, the government issued the Falcao Law (named for the Minister of Justice) in 1976, prohibiting the' use of radio and television for debate among candidates for two months prior to elections...
...Policymakers from D.C...
...Brizola, meanwhile, seems interested in allaying the military's fears about any residual radicalism...
...With the defeat of armed movements by the early 1970s, and the lack of alternative avenues of dissent, the MDB had become a magnet for opposition forces, particularly disenchanted sectors of the elite and professionals...
...NoviDec1982 Toasting his hosts in "Bolivia, " an embarrassed Reagan greets Figueiredo...
...While improving the PMDB's electoral chances, however, the new merger emphasized the front-like character of the party...
...The Two Rio opposition candidates take their campaign to Ipanema Beach...
...Though the opposition feared (and the PDS hoped) that this would favor the government, which can maintain a presence in every voting place to make sure that PDS voters fill in the ballot correctly, pre-election education seemed to pay off...
...But with the opposition's clear appetite for political expression heightened by their significant gains, the generals will have a very hard time turning back the clock...
...The matter ended when a military tribunal declared itself incompetent to hear the case...
...The poor and sick will have access to free health care, including free medicine...
...It was Carnival all over again...
...In Brazil today, there is only one other political leader with more popular appeal: Lula, president of the Workers Party (PT...
...The government party had the most to gain from the new procedure, since its political machine is more developed and can reach into even the most remote villages...
...As the campaign drew to a close, there was barely a square inch left empty on walls and lamp posts in most Brazilian cities...
...Included in the amnesty law, however, was the stipulation that it apply as well to all those who had practiced torture, thus eliminating the possibility of holding these practitioners responsible under the law...
...Rallies, fundraising concerts and T-shirts all testified to the general furor...
...Thanks to a change in the rules shortly before the election, the government also won control of the electoral college which will choose the president in 1985 Transition To Democracy...
...Moreover, it introduced a new requirement into the electoral procedure: voters would have to vote a straight ticket, and any ballots marked for candidates from more than one party would be nullified...
...The party scored a strong victory in the 1974 senatorial elections and, for the first 37update update update update time, began to project itself as more than a "loyal opposition" to military rule...
...Whereas the 1979 party reform had left open the possibility of coalitions in gubernatorial and senatorial elections, the regime's "November Package" of 1981 prohibited them...
...Asked by a journalist to comment on Brizola's victory, General Euclides de Oliveira Figueiredo, the President's brother and military commander of the Amazon Region, said, "For sure we must swallow a few bitter pills...
...The repeal of the extremely repressive Institutional Act No...
...Its goal is to build a mass party, based on active broadbased participation of the working class in defining its program...
...Abertura-the name given to the controlled liberalization of Brazil's military regimewas not intended as a transition to democracy...
...Overall, the PT's electoral performance was well below the party' s expectations...
...A former state governor and BRIZOLA ON TOP by Cesar Caldeira RIO DE JANEIRO-When and if democratic-socialist Leonel Brizola assumes the governorship of Rio de Janeiro next March, Bra- zilian abertura will have reached a significant milestone...
...Final results for the country are not expected for another two weeks...
...It soon became clear to the regime that to maintain the MDB as the only legal opposition vehicle was dangerous...
...But we digest them, and when the right time comes, expel them...
...Persecution of rural unions has stepped up dramatically as have the number of violent expulsions of peasants from their lands-aimed at clearing the way for multinational mining and agribusiness firms...
...Bri-zo-la...
...Deftly blocking Brizola's plan, the government granted the party's name to a group led by Ivete Vargas -the niece of a former president and close friend of the abertura mastermind, General Golbery do Couto e Silva...
...Amnesty For The Torturers Since the late 1970s, each step toward abertura has been accompanied by safeguards protecting the regime in power from any real threat to its tenure...
...Formerly, the names of candidates for governors, senators and mayors, and their party affiliations, had been clearly printed on the ballot...
...Even with the opposition's respectable showing in November, it is farfrom clear what it will portend for the future of abertura...
...As a result, the MDB did not gain much ground in the 1976 local elections and the 1978 general elections...
...It is most likely that the Fund's terms will emphasize investment incentives and the development of cash crops for export...
...support to secure a better deal with the IMF...
...This extreme heterogeneity makes it more than likely that the party will break apart now that the 1982 elections are past...
...At presstime, the opposition Brazilian Democratic Movement Party (PMDB) had claimed victory in nine state governor races: Amazonas, Goias, Minas Gerais, Espirito Santo, Sao Paulo, Para, Acre, Mato Grosso do Sul and Parana...
...By 1978, social movements in neighborhoods and unions had become increasingly organized and, for the first time, important links were established between elite opposition forces and the growing popular opposition to military rule...
...Bri-zo-la...
...On the surface, Brazil's elections were not unlike those that take place in any liberal democracy...
...cars with loudspeakers circulated the streets...
...The national president of the party is Luis inacio 0 Lula addresses a PT campaign rally...
...The unintended consequence of the November Package, however, was to provoke a merger of the Popular Party into the PMDB-and a strengthening of the latter, now by far the largest opposition party...
...NACLA Repedupdate update update update political exile, Leonel Brizola, tried to revive the Brazilian Workers Party(PTB) and recapture the sizeable populist base it enjoyed in the sixties...
...While torture is no longer used against political prisoners, it is often used in criminal cases, again, among the poor...
...After his victory was assured, he had subtly measured words for President Joao Figueiredo: "Figueiredo will be judged by history less for the progress he brought than for what he pre- vented others from doing against the democratic reconstruction in Brazil...
...The 1979 law which abolished that system, opening the door to a broader spectrum of opposition, was clearly a response to the growing electoral strength of the Brazilian Democratic Movement (MDB...
...For the first time since the 1964 coup, voters in all 23 states were allowed to choose state governors...
...The Throughout his years abroad, Brizola changed significantly, eventually joining the Socialist In- ternational...
...For Brazil's immediate future, power will rest where it has since 1964-with the generals who have succeeded one another in smooth succession...
...While the government maintained the governorships in 12 states, it won only one of the major industrial states, Rio Grande do Sul, where the vote was split between two strong opposition candidates...
...Giving itself an image lift, the military/right-wing party in power changed its name from ARENA to the Democratic Social Party...
...And while prior censorship was abolished, a number of journalists and their newspapers have been charged under the Security Law for publishing articles injurious to the regime...
...The most recent change in the rules of the game came in August 1982, with the introduction of a new ballot designed to compound the confusion...
...secure jobs will be found for the unemployed...
...The electorate also chose federal and state representatives, mayors, city council members and one third of the Senate...
...Occurring "in a climate of expectation that something is going to change," as one foreign observer put it, the contest was viewed as an important plebiscite...
...Backed against a wall by a $90 billion foreign debt, Brazil needs $14 billion to service the debt in the next few months...
...it was designed to defuse the growing disenchantment with military rule among key sectors of the Brazilian elite, and to soften growing tensions within the military itself.* Yet it would also be a mistake to view the November elections as mere farce...
...A Rio de Janeiro court, confronted with proof of fraud, ordered a recount mid-way through that state's tallying...
...Divide and Conquer As expected, the opposition did divide--into five different parts...
...Brizola on Top...
...There are about 56 million eligible voters...
...With power heavily concentrated in the executive branch, the degree of congressional and gubernatorial initiative also remains to be tested...
...In contrast, Lula stirs a sense of dignity and self-reliance in skilled workers and educated youth...
...To prevent police brutality against the poor and workers, Brizola plans to establish human rights watch groups with a direct IvID"Rlm phone link to his desk in the governor's mansion...
...SAO PAULO-Three weeks after the November 15 elections, with 95% of the vote counted, it is clear that Brazilians gave their government a vote of no confidence for its 18 years of military rule...
...a U) Mimi Keck is a director of the Brazil Labor Information and Resource Center...
...5, the abolition of prior censorship of the media, and a partial amnesty for political offenses which led to the return of many exiles, all represented significant advances...
...At the same time, the regime re*For a more detailed analysis of liberali- zation, see "Brazil: Controlled Decom- pression," NACLA Reporton the Amer- icas (May-June 1979...
...In 1977, the "April Package" changed the composition of the Senate and the House of Representatives to ensure a majority for the government party...
...More than 67% of the Brazilian population lives in these 10 states which account for 80% of the country's gross national product...
...During his tenure (1958-1961) as governor of the southern state of Rio Grande do Sul, Brizola had ex- propriated a local telephone com- pany which was a subsidiary of ITT...
...Her last contribution to the Report was "Brazilian Labor-New Tactics, New Victories" in the May-June 1982 issue X NACLA Reportupdate update update update campaign even came to the beaches of Rio, where one candidate's daughters sported bikinis bearing his name...
Vol. 16 • November 1982 • No. 6
