Rousseff will have to rule alongside social movements, leaders say
The anti-impeachment rally dubbed Brazil for Democracy, staged in Rio de Janeiro 
After overcoming impeachment proceedings against her, President Dilma Rousseff will have to give more importance to social movements in her administration, according to a number of political, artistic, and religious leaders who took part in an anti-impeachment rally dubbed Brazil for Democracy, staged in Rio de Janeiro Monday evening (Apr. 4).
Theologian and writer Leonardo Boff said Rousseff should set up a coalition with social movements in line with the demands they have voiced on the streets for improvements in the popular arena.
Theologian and writer Leonardo Boff said Rousseff should set up a coalition with social movements in line with the demands they have voiced on the streets for improvements in the popular arena. “She'll have to change, and rule alongside her allies, who form a huge network of communities. That should be a chance to build a different future for our country. [Strengthening the government] would be possible if she forges another sort of coalition, a non-partisan coalition, if she wants the government to be minimally functional,” Boff said.
To his judgment, the main coalition should be forged with social movements, which foster the changes aimed at heeding the cries of the people, who no longer want to hear of horse trading, but rather the reestablishment of Brazil onto new values that prioritize the common good instead of capitalist macro-economy.
Landless Rural Workers' Movement (MST) head João Pedro Stédile said that Brazil is facing a major economic, political, social, and environmental crisis, but argued that the government is merely a part of the process. “Brazilian and international capitalists want to get out of the crisis raising their profit rates. For this reason, they need to remove the rights of workers and resume the process of privatizing electric power plants and the pre-salt oil,” he maintained.
No political coup will be tolerated in the country, Stédile says. “The MST and all popular movements will take to the streets, and keep a watchful eye at all times to ?? the coup. Removing Dilma and replacing her with Temer is not enough. That's no solution to anything. We'll mobilize ourselves so that democracy in Brazil is not interrupted,” he cautioned.
He went on to argue, however, that “defending democracy and rendering the coup unfeasible is not enough. Leftists and the popular movements need to create proposals for addressing the crisis.”
Former Justice Minister Tarso Genro said that the current moment is one for democratic resistance and the defense of the rule of law. “Brazil will turn into a new Brazil—we don't know what Brazil—after the impeachment is voted on. If we overcome this stage we have to politically rebuild the field of democracy, the people, and the left wing, to provide what should be a new government with a foundation. That's the hope of social movements and the left wing: that the government changes for the better.”
Translated by Fabrício Ferreira
Fonte: Rousseff will have to rule alongside social movements, leaders say
