Brazil’s June Days of 2013: Mass Protest, Class, and the Left

Abstract

Brazilians took to the streets in militant rallies and marches against transit fare hikes, poor-quality education and health care services, and the immense public investment in "mega-events" such as the 2014 World Cup and the 2016 Olympics. These massive demonstrations capped off a two-week series of demonstrations initially provoked by a 20-cent increase in bus, train, and subway fares in São Paulo. In the face of brutal police repression, the harsh opposition of politicians and the major political parties, and the clear bias of the mass media, the largely young and working-class protesters soon forced municipal governments in over 100 cities to revoke proposed fare increases. Explanations for the June Days and the ensuing political crisis, which have been the subject of fierce debates in activist and scholarly circles in Brazil, ignore the role of particular forms of capitalism, the adoption of neoliberalism by Workers' Party governments, and the changing forms and conditions of class struggle.No dia 17 de junho de 2013, brasileiros organizaram protestos e marchas contra o aumento de tarifas de transportes e o baixo nível de educação e saúde públicas, especialmente no contexto em que o governo investia valores altíssimos em meg eventos como a Copa do Mundo de 2014 e as Olimpíadas de 2016. Essas marchas foram a culminação de duas semanas de ativismo inicialmente provocado por uma alta de R 0,20 nas tarifas de ônibus, trem e metrô em São Paulo. Diante de repressão policial violenta, veemente oposição de políticos e de nítida parcialidade da imprensa, os ativistas (majoritariamente jovens e trabalhadores de baixa renda) por meio dessas manifestações forçaram prefeituras em mais de 100 cidades a revogar os aumentos tarifários propostos. Explicações sobre os protestos de junho e a crise política que se seguiu, objetos de disputas acirradas em círculos acadêmicos e de ativistas no Brasil, desconsideram o papel que formas específicas do capitalismo desempenharam nesse processo, especialmente o neoliberalismo das administrações petistas, bem como as transformações na forma e condição da luta de classes..

Embeddedness and cohesion: regimes of urban public goods distribution

“…In June 2013, six months after Haddad took office, protests erupted against a proposed hike in public transport fares. The protests morphed into more generalized protests against corruption and took on an increasingly middle-class tinge that criticized the entire political class (Alonso & Mische, 2016;Purdy, 2017). This groundswell produced energy on the right to call for the impeachment of Lula's successor, Dilma Rousseff, which occurred shortly before Haddad's re-election bid in 2016.…”

The Right-Wing Backlash in Brazil and Beyond

“…In 2013, when bus fares became more expensive across Brazil, a social movement called Movimento Passe Livre, which demands free access to public transportation, mobilized (Purdy 2019; Saad-Filho 2013). First the city of São Paulo and soon many capitals in Brazil demanded reductions in public transport fares.…”

« Vague rose » et syndicalisme : enseignements des expériences argentine et brésilienne

“…augmenté, les tentatives de mobilisation nationales sont, quant à elles, restées très modestes. Le symbole le plus éclatant de cette incapacité des centrales à canaliser la contestation furent sans doute les « Journées de juin », en 2013, au cours desquelles un vaste mouvement d'opposition à la hausse des tarifs du transport en commun a su non seulement mettre dans la rue des foules considérables, mais aussi faire fléchir plusieurs administrations locales (Saad Filho 2014, Purdy 2017. Les centrales sont restées, au mieux, des acteurs périphériques de ce mouvement.…”