Brazil Protests: The Rise of Activism against Failed Neoliberal Agendas

Last month’s protests swept through Brazil’s cities, bringing hundreds of thousands onto the streets to protest rampant political corruption, declining government services and rising public costs.

Contrary to the rosy economic picture that the World Bank and the IMF have tried to paint over the past decade, Brazil’s growing discontent with the neoliberal model is now on full display. According to Michel Chossudovsky:

“The standard of living in Brazil has collapsed since the accession of the Workers Party in 2003. Millions of people have been marginalized and impoverished including a significant part of the urban middle class.

While the  Partido dos Trabalhadores (PT) presents a “progressive” people’s oriented image, officially opposed to “corporate globalization”, the macro-economic agenda has been reinforced. The PT government has consistently manipulated its grassroots, with a view to imposing what the “Washington Consensus” describes as “a strong policy framework”.