The restructuring of labor laws and systems of labor. New diasporas, populations which move from one country to another in search of peace. Wars for oil, an increasingly scarce product. The reorganization of the world economic system – BRICS, the IMF and the World Bank seeking to impose their will upon the market. Globalized capitalism reordering its house, its face – increased monopolization and the strengthening of multinational and transnational corporations proceed side-by-side with the still very uninspired (yet extremely necessary) initiatives to increase our recognition of the importance of products grown organically and economies that are locally-based and just.
The crisis of capitalism is pushing the great monster to consume ever greater segments of the planet. For whatever failures and missteps the administrations of Lula and Dilma may have had, they represented throughout their time a consistent alternative to all of this. It isn’t necessary to list all that they did nor all that they did not do. What is important is to recognize that with the new regime that begins today, Brazil assumes once again its subaltern role and this time accompanied by a likely even more furious handing over of all that we have.
When I say “all that we have,” that includes ourselves, the people.
The coup of August 31, 2016 marks the end of a country. And its consequences are not limited to within the borders of Brazil. Prepare yourselves to witness the erosion of recently established fragile democracies throughout the world.
Will there be resistance? I hope so. The resistance would have been less violent if we had been able to shut down the country before the coup. As this was not the case, prepare for the worst.
Translated by Dan Hanrahan.