Skip to main content

Brazil’s manufactured coup: the ‘Shock Doctrine’ returns to Latin America

The Global South is growing unintelligible from the European South amid harsh austerity measures and other maneuverings that suit the rich and powerful at the expense of the poor and working class.

by Michael Nevradakis

Part 1

Harsh austerity. A 20-year public spending freeze. A non-elected government. A coup backed by the United States and corporate world.

This is the new reality that Brazil has faced following the impeachment of the democratically-elected Dilma Rousseff in August of 2016 on charges of corruption.

This is also a new reality that has been met by widespread disapproval, occasional large-scale protests, and a new economic uncertainty for a country which, just a few years ago, was seen as an up-and-coming economic powerhouse, along with the rest of the BRICS, the bloc composed of emerging economies of Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa. This optimism has been quickly supplanted by an increasingly volatile social situation in Brazil and great pessimism for the future.

Much has been made in the media about the progressive credentials of the Rousseff government and that of her predecessor, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, both of whom represented the Workers’ Party (PT) of Brazil. Much has also been made of the mass protests which led to Rousseff’s outster, which bore similarities to protests seen in countries such as Venezuela against the Maduro regime, and the relative lack of protest that the Temer government has faced since ascending to power.

What is actually happening, though? As is often the case in such situations, reality is far more multifaceted and complex than frequently presented, while parallels can be drawn with other austerity-ravaged countries such as Greece.

Source, links, videos:


Related:













Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Trump's attempt to divide Russia & China is failing, badly

Geopolitical Economy Report   Donald Trump claimed he would "un-unite" Russia and China, but the US divide-and-conquer strategy is failing. In a meeting in Moscow celebrating the 80th anniversary of their nations' victory in World War Two, Presidents Xi Jinping and Vladimir Putin reaffirmed that "China-Russia relations have reached the highest level in history" and will "jointly resist any attempts to interfere with and disrupt the traditional friendship and deep mutual trust between China and Russia". Ben Norton explains.     Related:   Why China supports Russia

Netanyahu Is Getting His War Between The U.S. & Iran!

The Jimmy Dore Show   Little progress is being made in negotiations between the United States and Iran over the latter’s nuclear program, and that may be by design. The U.S. is demanding a complete dismantling of Iran’s nuclear enrichment program, which is a non-starter for the Iranians. Meanwhile, the U.S. appears to have reneged on a promise to get a ceasefire and humanitarian aid into Gaza in exchange for the release of the last American hostage, so Hamas — and by extension Iran — feel the U.S. cannot be trusted in negotiations. Jimmy Dore and Americans’ Comedian Kurt Metzger discuss how Israel appears to be orchestrating a U.S. attack on Iran that few Americans have any interest in.    Related: Trump makes key move to beat Biden in their race to start a war with Iran

Το νέο ψευδοδίλημμα που κατασκεύασε το καθεστώς Μητσοτάκη για να κρατηθεί στην εξουσία

του system failure   Ένα από τα βασικά χαρακτηριστικά ενός καθεστώτος, είναι η έκδηλη αγωνία του να διατηρήσει την εξουσία. Ως απόρροια αυτής της προσπάθειας, είναι και ο σχεδόν απόλυτος έλεγχος της μαζικής (παρα)πληροφόρησης, δηλαδή, ότι ακριβώς κάνει το καθεστώς Μητσοτάκη.   Η αγωνία αυτή είναι φανερή και σε άλλους καθεστωτικούς μηχανισμούς, όπως οι εταιρίες δημοσκοπήσεων, που πασχίζουν να εμφανίσουν μια εικόνα ανάκαμψης για το καθεστώς, προκειμένου να διαμορφώσουν, ως συνήθως, το επιθυμητό κλίμα. Τελευταία, τα καθεστωτικά προπαγανδιστικά φερέφωνα, έχουν κατασκευάσει ένα νέο ψευδοδίλημμα, στοχεύοντας τον μέσο Έλληνα ψηφοφόρο και την ανάγκη του να νιώσει ασφάλεια, σε όλα τα επίπεδα.  Και για να συμβεί αυτό, έπρεπε προηγουμένως να κατασκευάσουν ένα ανερχόμενο αντίπαλο δέος απέναντι στον Μητσοτάκη, που όμως θα τρόμαζε τους, επιρρεπείς στις απότομες πολιτικές αλλαγές, "νοικοκυραίους". Και το βρήκαν στο πρόσωπο της Ζωης Κωνσταντοπούλου και την Πλεύση Ελευθερίας. Είναι σ...

Inside Iran's Savak torture museum

The Grayzone   Caution: This report contains depictions of simulated violence that may upset some viewers. Max Blumenthal tours one of the most disturbing museums on the planet. Set in Tehran's former Ebrat Prison run by the anti-sabotage unit of Shah Reza Pahlavi's Savak intelligence services, the museum is filled with shockingly graphic exhibits featuring lifelike mannequins recreating the hideous torture tactics deployed to repress dissidents rebelling against Iran's monarchy. Many mannequins on display represent notorious torturers who either fled or were executed after the Islamic revolution in 1979, while others are modeled after famous prisoners locked away in Ebrat like the current Leader of Iran, Ayatollah Khamanei.  

Protesters Stalk & Confront Israeli Minister Through NY Streets!

The Jimmy Dore Show   Israeli National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, who is also a convicted terrorist and Jewish supremacist, has been touring the US, speaking on college campuses and meeting with political groups, and he even traveled to Mar-a-Lago. His visit has been met with widespread protests, however. Ben Gvir was confronted by pro-Palestinian demonstrators in New Haven, Connecticut, following a speech he gave at Shabtai, a private Jewish society at Yale that’s not officially affiliated with the university. Jimmy Dore and Americans’ Comedian Kurt Metzger discuss how Ben-Gvir’s security detail was able to assault protesters with impunity — and that in fact police officers approach an assaulted protester to demand that he step away from Ben-Gvir’s group.

Never, Ever Let Anyone Forget What They Did To Gaza

by Caitlin Johnstone   I will never forget the Gaza holocaust. I will never let anyone else forget about the Gaza holocaust. No matter what happens or how this thing turns out, I will never let anyone my voice touches forget that our rulers did the most evil things imaginable right in front of us and lied to us about it the entire time. I will never stop doing everything I can with my own small platform to help ensure that the perpetrators of this mass atrocity are brought to justice. I will never stop doing everything I can to help bring down the western empire and to help free Palestine from the Zionist entity. I will never forget those shaking children. Those tiny shredded bodies. Those starved, skeletal forms. The explosions followed by screams. The atrocities followed by western media silence.   I will never forget, and I will never forgive. I will never forgive our leaders. I will never forgive the western press. I will never forgive Israel. I will never forgive the main...

14,000 babies could die if aid doesn’t enter Gaza in 48 hours, UN warns

Some 14,000 babies could die in Gaza in 48 hours if aid does not reach them in time, the UN’s humanitarian chief, Tom Fletcher, told the BBC today. Though Israel said it would allow “basic aid” into Gaza, only five trucks entered the enclave yesterday, two carrying shrouds to help bury Palestinians killed in Israel’s bombs. Others were in Gaza, but were being held by occupation forces and had not reached Palestinians. This was the first delivery of aid since 2 March, when Israel completely sealed the enclave. This, Fletcher explained, is a “drop in the ocean” and totally inadequate for a population of over 2.3 million, and for which no aid has been allowed to enter for 80 days.    “Tonnes of food is blocked at the [Gaza] border” by Israel, Director General of the World Health Organisation (WHO), Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, said yesterday. This comes just weeks after the UN agency of Palestinian refugees (UNRWA) warned that hundreds of thousands of Palestinians eat only one mea...

From the United States to Europe, Criticizing Israel Is Becoming a Crime

by Kit Klarenberg     Part 2 - ‘Drastic Rise’   In a grave testament to the speed with which U.S.-based pro-Israel organizations, including several prominent Jewish advocacy groups, sought to capitalize on October 7 for their own purposes, two-and-a-half weeks after Palestinian fighters breached Gaza’s infamous apartheid walls, Republican lawmaker Mike Lawler proposed H.R. 6090, also known as the Antisemitism Awareness Act. Lawler is a major recipient of Israeli lobby funds, with the influential lobbying group AIPAC gifting him $392,669 in 2023 and 2024 alone, his largest donor by some margin. His bill would require the Department of Education to consider the highly controversial International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) working definition of antisemitism (which critics argue conflates criticism of Israel with antisemitism) when determining if cases of harassment are motivated by antisemitism, raising concerns that it would violate the intent of Title VI of the...