{"id":67850,"date":"2015-12-21T12:00:48","date_gmt":"2015-12-21T12:00:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/?p=67850"},"modified":"2015-12-21T03:01:34","modified_gmt":"2015-12-21T03:01:34","slug":"dilmas-fall-the-wrecking-of-an-inspiring-left-wing-experiment-in-brazil","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/2015\/12\/dilmas-fall-the-wrecking-of-an-inspiring-left-wing-experiment-in-brazil\/","title":{"rendered":"Dilma\u2019s Fall: The Wrecking of an Inspiring Left-Wing Experiment in Brazil"},"content":{"rendered":"

20 Dec 2015 – <\/em>Brazil\u2019s Supreme Court has ruled that Congress must restart impeachment proceedings opened by the Chamber of Deputies against President Dilma Rousseff of the Workers\u2019 Party (PT). The deepest political crisis since the restoration of democracy, in 1985, is entwined with the most severe economic contraction in a generation, due to the turmoil in most middle-income countries, and to an \u2018investment strike\u2019 targeting the President\u2019s downfall.<\/p>\n

The country\u2019s descent has been turbo-charged by a relentlessly negative media campaign, supplemented by a succession of corruption scandals orchestrated by overtly partisan judges and a runaway Federal Police. They are seeking to prosecute every instance of bribery and illegal finance touching the PT, however indirectly. In the meantime, scandals involving the opposition remain un-investigated.<\/p>\n

\"The<\/a>

The number of Brazilians who rated Rousseff\u2019s administration \u201cbad\u201d or \u201cvery bad\u201d fell to 65 percent, from 71 percent in August, according to a Datafolha poll conducted from Dec. 16 to 17 [Image: Archives]<\/p><\/div>\n

Corruption in Brazil is always nauseatingly entertaining, but it cannot be eliminated one scandal at a time. Corruption belongs to the machinery of the state; it links politics with business life and it buttresses the country\u2019s inequality generating social structures. It is, then, unsurprising that, in the 1990s, when the PT chose to win elections instead of being honourably defeated, it had to find ways to fund its campaigns, behave \u2018responsibly\u2019 and distribute favours, just like the other parties.<\/p>\n

Lula\u2019s rise<\/strong><\/p>\n

This strategy worked. Lula was elected President in 2002, starting a succession of administrations that tended to follow the path of least resistance: there has been no serious attempt to reform the Constitution, the state or the political system, challenge the ideological hegemony of neoliberalism, reform the media or transform the country\u2019s economic structure. The PT also maintained the neoliberal macroeconomic policy framework imposed by the preceding administration. The PT\u2019s unwieldy political alliances led to a form of \u2018reformism lite\u2019 that alienated the party\u2019s base and provoked the opposition into escalating attacks since 2005.<\/p>\n

In the meantime, however, the resources made available by the global commodity boom consolidated Lula\u2019s position. In 2006, the government introduced an economic policy inflection including bolder industrial and fiscal policies, higher public sector investment and stronger distributive programmes. The ensuing dynamics supported Brazil\u2019s rapid recovery after the global crisis. The country was anointed as one of the BRICS, and Lula became a global statesman. Yet, the political divide deepened. The opposition crystallised around a neoliberal alliance led by finance and the international capital, populated by the upper middle class, and cemented by a choleric media.<\/p>\n

\u2026 And Dilma\u2019s fall<\/strong><\/p>\n

Dilma Rousseff\u2019s first administration (2011-14) tilted economic policy further away from neoliberalism, aiming to shift the engine of growth towards domestic investment and consumption. It introduced capital controls, reduced interest rates, and created new investment programmes. This strategy failed. The global crisis tightened Brazil\u2019s fiscal and balance of payments constraints; quantitative easing in the advanced economies destabilised developing country currencies, and strident critiques of \u2018interventionism\u2019 limited investment. Brazil\u2019s prospects deteriorated further as China\u2019s economy cooled and commodity prices fell.<\/p>\n

The opposition used these difficulties to justify an all-out attack against Dilma, demanding the restoration of neoliberal orthodoxy. Under siege, Dilma\u2019s economic team leaned back towards neoliberalism, but this policy shift only increased the confidence of the opposition, that redoubled its effort to win the 2014 elections.<\/p>\n

In the meantime, the judiciary tightened the screws around the PT. Successive corruption scandals emerged and, in June 2013, vast demonstrations erupted in the country. They encompassed a m\u00e9lange of themes centred on \u2018competent government\u2019 and \u2018corruption\u2019, exposing tensions due to the economic slowdown, the government\u2019s isolation and its failure to improve public services.<\/p>\n

Dilma was narrowly re-elected through a mass mobilisation triggered by left perceptions that the opposition would reverse the social and economic achievements of the PT. However, Dilma immediately faced escalating political and economic crises. Her desperate response was to invite the banker Joaquim Levy to the Ministry of Finance, and charge him with implementing an orthodox adjustment programme that alienated the PT\u2019s social base. Then another scandal captured the headlines.<\/p>\n

The Federal Police\u2019s Lava Jato<\/em> operation unveiled a large corruption network centred on the state oil company Petrobras and including colossal robbery and illegal political funding. Blanket media coverage focusing on the PT destroyed the government\u2019s credibility and catalysed the emergence of a right-wing opposition demanding Dilma\u2019s impeachment.<\/p>\n

Examination of their grievances fills a laundry basket of dissatisfactions articulated by expletives, but there is no plausible legal argument supporting the President\u2019s impeachment<\/em>. The process is entirely political and degrading for democracy, but it is likely to succeed in one way or another.<\/p>\n

What now?<\/strong><\/p>\n

This d\u00e9gringolade<\/em> suggests five lessons.<\/p>\n