"Financial Times" Analysis of Brazilian Protests

As the protests in Brazil continue, with over a million people taking to the streets on Thursday, June 20, the story is gaining wider coverage in the international press. Major news outlets are providing analyses as well as straight news stories. 

One of the most recent comes from the Financial Times. The headline reads: "Brazil: The power of the streets," with a subheading that states "The mass protests have left politicians flat-footed and fearful." The analysis itself touches on familiar themes, and just as interesting are the comments from readers below the article.

What emerges from both the analysis and the comments is a reminder of how difficult it is to properly assess the meaning of events as they are happening. It will be much easier to know how important these protests have been in six months, or a year, or during the next Presidential election, or even farther in the future. 

Of course, future commentators will be relying on reports of the events that will lack the immediacy of the coverage we are receiving right now. Even people who are organizing and participating in the protests will most likely provide different accounts of them as time goes on. It's human nature to emphasize the aspects of our past behaviors that cast us in the most favorable light, and to minimize or ignore those that do not. 

It's impossible for us to know today the long-term impact of the protests, and it's natural for us to feel frustrated as we try to figure out what is really going on, and what might happen next. The protests began as almost a minor news story, with the focus on the rate hike in transit fares. They quickly took on a broader agenda, with protesters complaining about political corruption, and the lack of money spent on education and health care, among a growing list of issues. 

When the police over-reacted with violence against peaceful protesters and innocent bystanders, the protests gained broad-based public support. However, with recent incidents of criminal behavior, some who had expressed optimism and enthusiasm about the protests are understandably disenchanted. 

It may be that this problem is exacerbated by the lack of a unified political structure behind the protests, with no single spokesperson who can provide leadership, speak on behalf of the protesters, and repudiate acts of violence. 

In any case, while we lack the perspective that only time can bring, we do have the benefit of getting direct, first-hand coverage of an event that is unprecedented in recent Brazilian history while it is happening.