Mass Protests under ‘Left Neoliberalism’: Brazil, June-July 2013

Abstract

The mass movements in June and July 2013 were the largest and most significant protests in Brazil for a generation, and they have shaken up the country’s political system. They expressed a wide range of demands about public service provision and governance, and concerns with corruption. Their social base was broad, starting with students and left-wing activists and including, later, many middle-class protesters and specific categories of workers. The deep and contradictory frustrations expressed by those protests were symptomatic of a social malaise associated with neoliberalism, the power of the right-wing media, the limitations of the federal administrations led by the Workers’ Party (PT), the rapid growth of expectations in a dynamic country, and the atrophy of traditional forms of social representation. This article examines the political dilemmas posed by those movements, and suggests constructive alternatives for the left.

Brazil Woke Up Stronger?: Power, Protest and Politics in 2013

“…This is a recipe for political volatility, and it poses difficult problems for the left". (Saad-Filho, 2013).…”

The Choice of the New Latin American Middle Classes: Sharing or Self-Caring

“…When journalists were also beaten up, the protest movement broadened further and public opinion started to target the national government. Within a few days similar mobilizations erupted in a range of other Brazilian cities and by early July over a million people were hitting the streets daily (Saad Filho, 2013). The slogans of the protesters were now demanding that the government stick to its promises of better health, education and housing.…”

Modeling mass protest adoption in social network communities using geometric brownian motion

“…Social movements: Oliver and Myers [18] develop a foundation for theoretical insights of social movements and describe the limitations of simplified models. The Arab Spring of 2010 served as a context for many researchers [6,2,24,4,20] to study the role social networking sites play in the spread and recruitment of participants in protests. A detailed anatomy of modern social protests is described by Saad-Filho [20] with the June 2013 anti-government protests in Brazil as a context.…”

“…The Arab Spring of 2010 served as a context for many researchers [6,2,24,4,20] to study the role social networking sites play in the spread and recruitment of participants in protests. A detailed anatomy of modern social protests is described by Saad-Filho [20] with the June 2013 anti-government protests in Brazil as a context. In this work, we study the processes and sociological impacts of protests in the modern era, fortified by online social networks and the communities in and around them.…”