Brazil: “Free Access Movement”
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Has anyone else noticed that one of the groups involved in the current unrest in Brazil calls itself the "Free Access Movement":
http://currentnewsdaily.com/brazil-rocked-by-fresh-mass-protests/
I know that it is aim is only free public transport and that "Free Access Movement" may not be an entirely accurate translation of its Portuguese name of "Movimento Passe Livre" (see: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Movimento_Passe_Livre) but the translated name is one to conjure with. And it's world-wide publicity in English for the term "free access".
Maybe this is how the socialist revolution will start, with people taking to the streets to demand Free Access to everything (and then, I hasten to add, consolidating this with an election victory).
i wonder if the mIses people will tell them all the greedy and selfish will be jumping on the bus for one or two stops and why the bus is always full….arrrggg…that is what happens with the free over-60s bus pass here…
I see the media have now corrected their translation of the "Movimento Passe Livre" to "Free Pass Movement", but it's still interesting, and intriguing, that someone should have initially thought of translating it as "Free Access Movement". Why? Perhaps because this was a familiar idea, even as a result of our own efforts at popularising the term? In any event, this shows how an idea can spread.
More on the now correctly-named Free Pass Movement here.Meanwhile, in response to the unrest, the President of Brazil has been promising reforms, a factor to be taken into account when guessing how the last capitalist government might respond to a growing socialist movement.
I don't know if this new translation is a result of running it through a translator such as Google.We should ask a Portugese speaker for a proper translation for our guidance.It would be interesting indeed exciting, to find it (free access) percolating through and becoming a part of a common lexicon.
Part of the equation is the President's political history:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dilma_Rousseff#Education_and_early_political_awarenessShe is actually a time served physical force guerilla (admittedly, in the context of a military dictatorship), but presumably she is more inclined to use 'the people' to advance her ideology (even if it is state capitalist). Indeed, I believe she and her predecessor, Lula, have rebutted attempts to try and portray their movement as a moderate alternative to Chavism.This is a bit like a (whisper it) Prime Minister Miliband using mass protests to remember that he was Tony Benn's intern.
http://libcom.org/forums/news/riots-brazil-14062013?page=1#comment-518176 “Davi, i’m from São Paulo. Your posts were all pretty accurate untill this one. I think it’s a bit exagerated to say that the army is planing a coup. It’s true that many media channels spoke of the resemblance between the present political panorama (in Brazil) and the one just before the 1964 coup. But in spite of the similarities i really don’t believe that we should fear another dictatorship. It’s just not coming our way right now. Actually, besides that one point in common, i didn’t see any other leads to the conclusion you drew out of the facts. Perhaps you were led to it by the media: we all know that the main brazilian news papers and tv channels (GLOBO) are controlled by the elite. That being said, it’s obvious that you’re not gonna see and hear too much about the left wing arguments and propositions, even if their militants are taking them to the streets. Journalists are just not puting to much enfasis on it. That’s true. But between not hearing about the left wing’s proposals and actual participation in these riots and fearing a military coup by the extreme right wing there is a long, long way. I haven’t heard about any “authoritarian and right-wing slogans” coming from the streets. Actually i’ve heard and seen of the opposite: feminists, anti-homofobic, anti-privatization, etc.. On the other hand, though, i can understand the fear (i would like to point out that the same fear was shown not exclusively by left wing adepts): the movements have no specif leadership or cause. And that is sometihng to be feared because of its massive proporitions. Basically we’ve had a gigantic display of popular power and no banner, no specif objective attached to it. And no that its legitimate to speak in it’s behalf. Now political parties have already tried to do so (to claim and/or to take part in it) and failed. And you just cannot say that this MPL is responsible for it either. They were responsible for the first wave of protests and the (shared) organisation of a few others and can only legitimately speak on behalf of the Free Fare cause. It sounded really absurd to me when i heard on the news that the government (PT) was discussing the people’s claims (including health, education and political reform) and what measures to adopt towards them with the MPL. The other complaints that brought probably 90% of the participants in the riots to the streets just WEREN’T IN THEIR AGENDA TO BEGIN WITH therefore THEY ARE NOT LEGITIMATED TO DISCUSS THEM. Their agenda was the reduction of the increase and the gratuity of fares in spite of their clear aliegeance to the left wing parties. And that’s it. They cannot claim the whole movement. Actually, if it weren’t for the police brutality, things would have probably stayed as the were on the first day: 5 or 6 thousand people on the streets and that’s it. Again, i didn’t see any fascist or authoritarian slogans in the protests. I’m actually curious to see them, now that you’ve mentioned them. What may have “pissed of” some of the brazilian left wingers was the great amount of slogans with the word “APARTIDÁRIO”, wich means “NO POLITICAL PARTY” or “no specif political party”. But then again: nothing fascist about that. And what about this aledged “UDNist” march? Did you really see that? Please, send some pictures of that too. In my humble opinion this “fear of a military coup” is really just a few old fashioned left wingers trying to gain the attention of the press and with it, their 15 minutes of fame. There is no actual threat.”
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