Is A New
Situation Shaping Up in Brazil?
Elements of a
New Conjuncture
by Inprecor América Latina
This article, now edited for Labor
Standard, came from the September 2003 issue of International Viewpoint,
the publication of the United Secretariat of the Fourth International, a
worldwide organization of labor and socialist activists. Inprecor América
Latina is a new electronic bulletin of the Fourth International, which
publishes articles devoted in particular to Latin America, in Spanish and
Portuguese. Three numbers have already been published. To receive it, send a
request by e-mail here.
It has become a commonplace to say that Brazil
had entered “a new political and historical stage” with victory in the 2002
presidential elections by the leader of the Workers Party (Brazilian initials,
PT), Luiz Inacio da Silva, or “Lula.” Although the government formed by Lula is
still in its early months, we can say right now that “elements of a new
conjuncture” are emerging within the framework of this overall “new historical
stage.”
Until now the economic policy of the government
has been marked by a very conservative tone (hefty tax adjustments to obtain a higher
budget surplus, higher interest rates as a remedy for inflation, the intention
to grant autonomy to the central Bank, and so on), with the exception of some
areas (international trade negotiations, some measures in the
telecommunications and energy sector, initiatives conceived with the social
movements within the framework of land reform).
What we call the “elements of a new situation”
emerge in opposition to this conservative political orientation. The opposition
appears within the social and political sectors which were at the center of the
PT’s development during the two previous decades.
This increasing opposition has taken the form of
manifestos made public by individuals representative of the political, social,
and cultural sectors of the PT as well as the initiatives of mass organizations
closely linked to the party.
Here is a brief summary:
Manifestos
On May 1, 2003, in an open letter addressed to
President Lula four bishops (including Dom Paulo E. Arns), artists, literary
critics, human rights activists, feminists, and so on—all historically linked
with the building of the PT over the past two decades—came out against the
project of the Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA) and against the autonomy
of the central Bank. [The complete text of this open letter is available on the
website of the Movement of Landless Workers (MST).]
On May 29, 2003, a proclamation signed by thirty
PT parliamentary deputies was made public; it calls into question the
ultra-monetarist policy of the central Bank and the Ministry of Finance, which
under the pretext of the fight against inflation has plunged the country into
recession and increased unemployment. This “Proclamation of the Thirty” was the
result of a joint initiative by three left PT tendencies (Socialist Democracy,
Socialist Force, Left Articulation) and independents.
On June 10, 2003, a “Manifesto of Alarm"”
was published against the government’s project for pension reform, signed by
intellectuals historically linked to Lula and the PT, among them the
sociologist Octavio Ianni, the philosopher Marilena Chaui, the lawyer Fabio
Konder Comparato, the sociologist and economist Chico de Oliveira, the
economist Wilson Cano, and the geographer Aziz Ab’ Saber. The authors demanded
the withdrawal of the government’s plans and the opening of a discussion on
healthy bases.
On June 12, 2003, dozens of progressive
economists, many historically linked to the PT, issued a manifesto demanding an
“inversion of the matrix of the economic policy” currently being
followed. This proclamation is signed in particular by some of the
best-known Brazilian economists, of whom many had collaborated in the
formulation of Lula’s electoral programs between 1989 and 2002 or advised him
inside the Institute of Citizenship NGOs. In particular Luis Gonzaga Belluzo,
João Manuel Cardoso de Mello, Ricardo Carneiro, and Reinaldo Gonçalves are
among the signatories. Among the economists linked to the left of the PT one
notes the signatures of João Machado (Socialist Democracy) and Plinio de Arruda
Sampaio Jr. (Movement for Popular Consultation).
Action by Mass Organizations Linked to
the PT
The 2,700 delegates who met June 3–7, 2003, at
the Eighth National Congress of the CUT (Brazil’s biggest trade union
federation) were unanimous in questioning the government’s proposals for
pension reform. Let us note that 80% of them are identified with the PT and
that 90% are identified with the parties which form the government. Divergences
appeared, however, with regard to the tactics to use in this debate in Brazil’s
Congress and in society, as well as on the content of an alternative project of
reform.
The resolution presented by the majority current
(Trade-union Articulation, close to the PT majority) was adopted by around 53%
of the delegates. Until the last minute various currents tried to formulate a
proposal which could gain the support of a much larger majority. That was not
possible, among other things because of divergences concerning the “ceiling”
for pensions. The current Socialist and Democratic CUT (CSD), within which
supporters of the Socialist Democracy tendency work, thus defended an
alternative draft resolution, also supported by the Classist Trade-Union
Current (in which supporters of the PCdoB, or Communist Party of Brazil, work)
and by those of the Marxist Tendency of the PT. However, the resolution finally
approved by the CUT Congress requires a profound change in the government’s
project (widening of rights with regard to retirement age, the amount of the
pensions, and so on).
On June 11, more than 30,000 workers from all
over Brazil demonstrated in the capital, Brasilia, against the government’s
proposed pension reform. Convened originally by the National Confederation of
Education Workers (CNTE, which is part of the CUT), whose leadership is linked
to the PT majority, this demonstration was supported by all the public sector
trade unions and by the CUT congress. The great majority of demonstrators were
PT supporters.
Following the CUT congress and this
demonstration, there was strong pressure on the PT parliamentary group and
those of the other allied left parties to amend the government project by
integrating the trade-union point of view.
An Organic Response—and the Role of
Senator Heloisa Helena
These positions, which testify to a more organic
response from the historical constituencies of the PT against the [pension
reform] policy of the Lula government, converge in many points with criticisms
formulated by Senator Heloisa Helena (a member of the Socialist Democracy
Tendency), which led to her being threatened with sanctions by the majority
sector of the party (sanctions that could go from merely a warning to outright
expulsion from the party).
Heloisa was the star of the demonstration of
June 11, in which she participated with the deputies who had signed the
“Proclamation of the Thirty,” some of whom belong to the “majority camp” (the
tendency of Lula and José Dirceu, secretary-general of the presidency, whose
function resembles that of a prime minister in other countries) while being
closely linked to the CUT and the three deputies already disciplined or
threatened with punishment by the party leadership.