by Mark Johnson

The radical left government in the city of Porto Alegre is incorporating human rights questions into its pioneering system of direct democracy.

Over the last 10 years the city has pioneered a participatory budget process in which citizens debate and control municipal policies through open meetings in each neighborhood. But human rights questions were not integrated into the discussion, until the Workers Party (PT) government recognized the demands coming from marginalized groups and organizations outside the participatory budget process.

“Of course, it was never our intention to limit this process to discussion about roads and schools,” says city councilor Helena Bonhuma. “But everything we are doing here is innovative. And we didn’t know how to introduce questions like human rights. But, as we gain confidence, we are trying to gradually widen the scope of the participatory process, by bringing in more and more non-economic questions. Concretely, to widen the space for human rights in popular political discourse and government action.”

Helena Bonhuma has coordinated the city government’s human rights work since 1994. She is also the coordinator of the women’s work of the PT councilors’ caucus. Bonhuma continued:

“The party began by forming a Human Rights Commission, as a kind of coalition between the various discriminated social sectors: women, blacks, old people, and homosexuals. The commission became a center for receiving and rechannelling the demands of the different sectors. But there was only limited collective work, and the issues the commission identified were not unified into a general struggle.”

The commission was a springboard toward a citywide conference on human rights. “A very rich experience for the participants and for the party,” remembers Bonhuma. The conference for human rights discussed each sector, separately and in plenary sessions. Participants identified the main demands of each sector, and the priorities in each area of municipal intervention.

“Participants pressed us to transform the council into an organ with power to control those sectors of government which impact on human rights in the widest sense. The city council cannot just point the finger at the state and federal authorities which have the constitutional responsibility to protect human and civic rights. All government has an obligation to protect human rights.”

The city council was reorganized on a territorial basis, ensuring representation in each of the city’s 16 participatory budget constituencies. “The idea became to combine work in each sector of human rights with work in each of the local networks of the participatory budget system. We want the participatory budget system to incorporate human rights questions.

“Deepening direct democracy is an incredibly rich process. The role of the government and the PT is increasingly one of mediation between different sectors of the population, bringing them together to find solutions.

“Take the example of street children. These are clearly victims of Brazil’s terrible poverty and social inequality. But some of them are also criminals. And the people who participate in the participatory budget process are the poorer people of the town, those who are the main victims of violence. Not just police violence, but violence within the poorer communities, where most crime happens.

“Our role as the PT, and as the government, is to build links within the population. It is a long process. But there are some positive examples. I remember at one participatory budget meeting, residents of a `red light’ district protested about the noise and traffic caused by the presence of prostitutes. The prostitutes explained that they had to work in order to survive. We helped them find an agreement that reduces disruption for local people, without repressing the prostitutes.”

The right-wing parties in the municipal assembly have tried to use human rights to divide the PT’s massive popular support. One conservative councilor recently proposed transferring funds from programs for street children towards programs for the physically disabled. Bonhuma attacked “this discourse which makes a false distinction between ‘deserving’ and ‘undeserving’ poor; this obsession with security; and this demonization of the most marginalized groups in society.”

By trying to reassert the city council’s authority to amend the budget, the right-wing parties were also attacking the very basis of the participatory budget process. As Bonhuma explains, “in this town, city councilors should just implement the decisions of the participatory budget process. It is for the society to decide about the relative importance of any two areas of government intervention.

“Any conflict, including the inevitable competition for resources, should be resolved through dialogue, not as the result of a ‘divide and rule’ strategy. The essence of our project is getting each sector to express its desires and needs, to understand the other groups in the population, and to vote for programs that increase solidarity and social justice.

“I’m happy to say that our policy of putting full trust in the people has been vindicated. When we present the population with full information, and when they can see and feel that they genuinely control the city and its government, then, time and time again, they vote for solidarity and tolerance.”