Brazil remembers the “June Days” ten years ago. The country experienced a movement of demonstrations in 2013: first against the increase in the price of transport, the expenses due to the 2014 World Cup and the 2016 Olympic Games, as well as against the presidency of Dilma Rousseff and against corruption, paving the way for Operation “Lava Jato” which targeted many politicians. A moment of rupture in the history of the country, according to observers, where all political sides were present.
At the origin of the protests, there was a movement launched by the students of the city of São Paulo. Students who demanded better public services – in transport in particular. São Paulo City Hall had increased public transport fares by 0.20 reais [soit 0,05 euro, à l’époque]which set fire to the powder : THE movement “ Book Pass » (free passage, or MPL) was then triggered, claiming free public transport in São Paulo.
The movement lasted four days before being violently repressed by the authorities, in particular Geraldo Alckmin who was then right-wing Governor of the State of São Paulo and on which the local police depends. He is now the vice president of the left figure Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva.
The demonstrations then grew in a Brazil presented as a model and which was preparing to host the 2014 FIFA World Cup. The demands very quickly exceeded the price of transport.
In 2013, Marcia was among the first protesters demanding social progress, who hoped “that with the Cup, our life would change, but the people live in misery, that’s why we are protesting”
Some national team players have also shown their support for the movement, such as Dani Alves. Important sporting moments, and many saw it as an opportunity to show their fed up with everything that was not working – or very little – in the country: the health system, a political system plagued by elites judged disconnected from the people and corruption. The population was still marked by the scandal of the “Mensalão” – which brings to light a monthly voice purchase system parliamentarians during the first term of Lula da Silva as President.
In 2013, Brazil emerged from the Lula years marked by an economic boom and public social redistribution unprecedented in the country’s history. Millions of disadvantaged people were able to take the social ladder and a new middle-lower middle class was formed.
The middle class then took to the streets, feeling forgotten: these Brazilians were tired of paying, on top of their taxes, for care, for education or for ultimately ineffective public services. While the government spent billions to host the 2014 World Cupthe public transport system or public hospitals remained in a sorry state: “ We want Fifa-level public services has become a slogan of the movement.
” I wanted to live that”
Like many young people who took to the streets in June 2013, Luiz Franco was above all curious to what was happening in his country. ” I wanted to experience it, to see it up close. But I made no particular claim. Of course, there were plenty of things I wanted to change in the system and in society. It was a really rare moment: everyone wanted to go out in the street, and all the requests were mixed up “, he told our correspondent in Rio de Janeiro.
A history student at a public university in Rio de Janeiro, Luiz was 20 in 2013. He remembers seeing the scale of the protests at the time, not because of the number of people in the streets, but rather seeing the force of police repression.
” What was really different was that when we went out, we could smell the tear gashe recalls. We saw these bombs exploding, I remember the noise: it looked like we were living a civil war, with bombs exploding everywhere, people running desperately in all directions, who always had handkerchiefs with vinegar to protect themselves from tear gas canisters. »
This memory is still strong for most protesters of the time. ” I had to run from the police a thousand timessays Fabricio Telló, who was a sociology student. I remember that sometimes, when the demonstration was over, the police would go to the neighborhoods where the bars were in Rio, and throw tear gas canisters, even in the direction of those who were not in the demonstrations. »
Brutal police repression which caused a national stir »
June 13, police repression goes up a notch : demonstrators and journalists are injured by rubber bullets, a photographer loses an eye during the march of the Movement for Free Public Transport (MPL).
” In the demonstrations of Rio like São Paulo, we saw many figures which denoted profiles of the militants, in their way of provoking the police, of attacking certain symbols, like bus stopsnotes Joshua Medeiros. This while left-wing activists were attacking banks instead. So there was a difference, but it was quite diffuse, quite disorganized. »
In 2013, Edilson spoke of “a new wind is blowing over Brazil, the country woke up, I have never seen such mobilization”, but also in terms of “police violence”
Aged 32 in 2013, he was writing his thesis on the Workers’ Party and remembers when he began to see that right-wing protesters had taken to the streets too. It was June 20when the town halls of Rio and São Paulo canceled the increase in transport tickets: ” The MPL protest, with 20,000 people in São Paulo, was brutally suppressed, causing a national uproar and swelling the ranks of upcoming protests. »
It is two years later that right-wing movementslike the Free Brazil Movement (MBL), really manage to organize themselves and return to the streets to demand the impeachment of Dilma Rousseffthen president of the left.
Movements accused of promoting the rise of Jair Bolsonaro
These movements gained momentum thanks to their social media organization. Left-wing movements have struggled to follow this organization, like the Movement for Free Transport, the MPL.
” Social networks represent this policy of the individualanalyzes Leila Saraiva, active member of the MPL until today. It is the emergence of the individual as the main political subject. Even if we used them, it was not our main objective, because we preferred to concentrate on meetings, assemblies, collectives. I do not agree that 2013 exploded thanks to social networks. I would rather say that the autonomous movements have precisely been weakened by the arrival of this type of politics centered on the individual, like a festival for everyone with their sign. »
Many refuse to attribute a direct causal relationship between the events of 2013 and Jair Bolsonaro’s ascension to the presidency in 2018. But after 10 years in power, the Workers’ Party faced a serious crisis. It was also in June 2013 that the far-right figure Jair Bolsonaro, then still a simple deputy, created his Facebook account.
In 2013, Silvana summed up the anti-corruption and Christian discourse that gripped the protests: “We are fed up with our corrupt politicians and thank God we are finally on the streets”