Front page news shows a woman getting blasted with pepper spray. |
In some ways the demands have even been met. Or, more accurately, one demand. The original 20 centavo public bus fare price hike from the beginning of the new year has been dropped back to what it was before. (In Campinas the hike was actually more - 30 centavos.) But, as many protest signs and online propaganda have alluded to, it is "more than the 20 centavos." Some have called it the literal tip of the iceberg, while others equate it to only "a drop."
Likely the government is simply attempting to pacify citizens with the removal of the fare increase, though the success of this tactic is yet to be seen. If it truly is about "more than the 20 centavos," then the protests should continue. If they stop, the issue - or issues - will likely become more confusing.
lack of laser focus may be the movement's downfall. What do they want? Change. What do they want changed? Well...everything.
This now becomes another bigger and more complex problem. This kind of "everything change" only comes with new government officials, which usually only comes from new political parties, and new elections. And what do these have in common? They all take time.
Surely more time than lowering bus fares.
Campinas holds its own protest within the hour at the Largo do Rosário in the next neighborhood over from where I live. So, as I sit typing this now to the symphony of car horns and shouting from car windows 14 floors below me, I wonder what, if any, this continued message will say to the Brazilian powers-that-be and the rest of the world.
"2013: The year Brazil stopped screaming for goals, and decided to scream for history." |
Less Soccer Tournaments (Cups) More Transportation, Health, and Education. |
* Reports from the BBC, The Daily Beast, and The New York Times.
All images were taken off of various Instagram and Facebook postings.
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