June 20, 2013: The whole of Brazil is protesting! (Except for me. I am staying inside! Don't worry Mom and Dad!)

After being in the archives again today, it was very interesting on the way home to be greeted by blocked off streets and crowds of people waiting on the sidewalks with faces painted and huge posters. Due to hikes in the public bus fares that has taken place recently, people in Brazil have collectively taken to the streets to protest. At first, near the beginning of the week, this was mainly occurring in the largest cities, like Rio de Janeiro and Sau Paulo. But, by the end of the week, the clamor spread throughout the nation and almost every city in Brazil had a large number of protestors, Goiania included. They were of all ages and positions in society, which was very interesting. I am not sure that everyone was on the same page as some of the signs the people were carrying that I saw on TV were a little contradictory, but it is really something that so many people were attracted to the protest. It made me wonder what exactly about the protest attracted so many people? There is not exactly what one would call "social" or "class" solidarity in Brazil. There is actually a pressing and obvious division among that classes that for me is unsettling. Why are university students, the poorest of the poor, the upper class who do not even use the bus system, and even the religious taking to the streets to oppose this act of the government?

The main subjects in the protest were:
1. Public transportation fees
2. The World Cup coming to Brazil in 2014 and the money that is being spent to build several stadiums across the country
3. The Olympics coming to Rio in 2016
4.The lack of funds for education and the public health care system in Brazil (really in the face of the spending for the World Cup and Olympics)

This is when President Dilma met President Obama.

On Saturday (ok that is a few days away but I actually did not write this on Thursday...), the President gave a speech about the protests. She spoke a lot about democracy and how she planned to ensure that all protestors were afforded their rights to protest so long as they were peaceful. She assured the people that not only were funds for education and health care not being spent on the World Cup but that it was important for Brazil, the only country who has participated in every Cup, to be a generous host for the other countries. She included an interesting statement that the authorities would make sure to do their jobs as well and that violence of any kind would not be tolerated and would be punished accordingly. Her concluding remark was (google translate did its best...):

"My dear friends,I want to reiterate that my government is listening to the voices calling for democratic change. I want to tell you that the streets were peacefully: I'm hearing you! And I will not compromise with violence and riot.We will always be at peace with freedom and democracy as we continue to build together this great country of ours."
  
Though not very many Brazilians seem to be in favor of President Dilma, she seemed to be, like President Obama, a captivating speaker. However, since her speech was given on Saturday, many people have continued to protest and the reaction has not been all that favorable. One remark that President Dilma made that really stuck out to me was about health care and her plan to improve the fact that Brazil has a lack of doctors. She said, "I will talk in the coming days, with the heads of other powers to join efforts. I will invite the governors and mayors of major cities of the country to a great deal around the improvement of public services. The focus [in health care] will be . . .immediately bring thousands of doctors from abroad to expand the service's Health System, SUS." Many doctors I have spoken with here do not find this plan very attractive as they do not understand how exactly the President plans to attract these doctors for any sustainable amount of time. Though they could foresee volunteers, they feel that the solution to the lack of doctors here really needs to be more long term to be useful for citizens. 

This type of bus is a public bus that in Goiania has a special lane to drive in since it is so long. It does not drive in the streets with the other cars. But, since the lanes were filled with protestors, the drivers had to navigate the already crowded streets in order to function.

This shows the people in the streets and in the bus lane (the bus lane is the one you can see on the right side of the picture). This was what it looked like around 3:30 PM before the protest officially started at 5:00 PM.