By Alternativa Socialista/PSOL – LIS, Brasil
In the last few days we have witnessed another peak in the chronic crisis of the Bolsonaro government. The pandemic has gotten completely out of control, with day after day records of Covid-19 casualties, putting Brazil at the top of the world. The economy is in a dead end with an “unviable” budget for 2021, which worsens the frictions between the traditional right wing and Paulo Guedes in the fight for control of the weakened treasury of a country that used to be the eighth largest economy in the world. A few days ago, more than 1,500 businessmen and economists published an open letter against the federal government, showing the rupture of this sector, which until yesterday was an ally of the president.
The traditional right has been gaining weight in the command of the parliament and in the government itself, trying to take the helm of a sinking ship. It was this sector that gave the ultimatum for the removal of Ernesto Araújo, chancellor and representative of the group closest to Bolsonaro. The reason for the demand was the isolationist way of managing Brazilian business in the international market, especially with China, its main trading partner. The pressure from the traditional right caused a hurricane in Bolsonaro’s government. Cornered, Bolsonaro desperately tried to use an authoritarian way out, in larger doses, being forced to fire a representative of his pro-militia gang.
Just before the 57th anniversary of the 1964 coup, Bolsonaro tried to organize, in absolute desperation, a self-coup. But not only did he fail to win key allies, such as the Armed Forces, essentially pro-coup, but he opened a new moment in the chronic crisis of the government, further weakening the structure of the Brazilian bourgeois democratic regime. The removal of the former Minister of Defense Fernando de Azevedo e Silva came about as a consequence of his refusal to go along with this isolated coup adventure. As a domino effect, the dismissal provoked the joint departure of the three commanders of the Armed Forces, an unprecedented event in this post-democratization regime. A message for the captain.
It is evident to any serious Marxist to what extent the Armed Forces historically have no regard for the democratic conquests of the people. Their cynical declarations in defense of the Constitution only manage to attract the attention of the unwary or the ill-intentioned. But the uniformed also understand the correlation of national and international forces and know how to choose between acting directly or continuing to protect the government.
The coup dream of the out-of-control President Jair Bolsonaro has not gained decisive allies either inside or outside the country. The result of this tension has generated more problems with the bourgeoisie that demands a favorable environment to ensure its profits. The U.S. newspaper The Washington Post sent an explicit message in its April 2nd edition: “The Brazilian president has already greatly contributed to the worsening of the covid-19 pandemic in his own country and, through the spread of the Brazilian variant, around the world. He must not be allowed to destroy one of the world’s largest democracies as well.”
Where can Brazil go?
The main political and union leaderships with mass influence in our country are following the populist front policy that Lula and the PT are imposing. The political line is to wait for the 2022 elections to defeat Bolsonaro, with a Broad Front that includes the left, the center and the right with Lula at the head. Lula, postulating himself as the figure to rebuild in the country, according to him, a “serious capitalism”, is letting the genocidal government finish the dirty work for which it was elected -adjustments, historical loss of labor rights due to neoliberal reforms and pandemic genocide- to then retake the reins of the country at the service of capitalist profits.
The PSOL, the party we helped build, is not fulfilling the task necessary for this moment: to demand a unified movement for the overthrow of the Bolsonaro government. Its majority leadership and parliamentarians, such as Marcelo Freixo, are on the tightrope between total paralysis or serving as an ornament to the “Lula 2022” campaign. We, of Alternativa Socialista, together with the radical left of the party, fight for the broadest unity to remove Bolsonaro and for the development of an independent political alternative that represents the workers, women workers and the poor people.
Bolsonaro is a bird of prey waiting for the next opportunity. He has already given enough messages of his project of self-preservation. The PT has also shown how much it trusts the institutions of the regime. We are for the call for a General Strike in defense of our lives! Remove Bolsonaro and Mourão, ensure vaccination for all, decent emergency subsidy, wages, jobs and food on the plate!