Brazil Braces for Protests as Referendum on Rousseff Impeachment | Bloomberg
Full article here. Well, not an actual referendum. The rightwing press have seized on the political fissures in Brazil and are trying their best to unseat the ruling party. As Bloomberg correctly states: “[t]his will be the year’s third mass protest against Rousseff … a strong showing [organized by The Free Brazil Movement] could help support her ouster …” It is worth noting that, two years ago, Citizens’ Press was reporting on Brazil’s unprecedented national protests from Porto Alegre and identified the formation of the Free Brazil Movement and their tactics of harassing leftwing political parties so as to prevent a crystallization of a progressive program, at a most critical time - a year before the federal elections. The subsequent elections resulted in a close election, requiring a run-off, with the country’s largest (and admittedly flawed) labour/social-democratic party retaining the presidency. As the Bloomberg article states in passing, the ruling party is making efforts to re-engage and deepen its relationship to the social movements/civil society. Indeed, this is the only long-term sustainable strategy for all Left parties in Brazil.