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100,000 Protest Corruption in Brazil

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A police officer takes aim at rampaging protesters decrying Brazils ingrained corruption.
A police officer takes aim at rampaging protesters decrying Brazils ingrained corruption.
The South American nation of Brazil was rocked with public protests on Monday when over 100,000 residents conducted demonstrations in at least eight cities to express their overwhelming frustration with what they perceive as endemic government corruption. Specifically, the people were voicing their upset with having to pay enormous taxes, yet getting substandard service in the realms of health, education, transportation and security.

In perhaps the most prominent show of citizen outrage, an estimated minimum of 65,000 Brazilians came together in Sao Paulo at a small plaza. The crowd then split off into three different directions, marching and singing anti-corruption songs. In particular, the crowd members sounded off about the latest 10-cent increase in bus and subway fares.

Turning more rambunctious, the protesters massed at the country’s congressional building, with many climbing up a ramp to a lower-level roof. While a number of the government building’s windows were broken, police chose not to employ force to contain the damage. “This is a communal cry saying: ‘We’re not satisfied,’” Maria Claudia Cardoso explained. “We’re massacred by the government’s taxes — yet when we leave home in the morning to go to work, we don’t know if we’ll make it home alive because of the violence,” Cardoso continued. “We don’t have good schools for our kids. Our hospitals are in awful shape. Corruption is rife. These protests will make history and wake our politicians up to the fact that we’re not taking it anymore!”

The headline-grabbing demonstrations are taking place during a period of high visibility for the country. Brazil just hosted the opening matches of professional soccer’s Confederations Cup, in a month it will have a celebrated visit by the Pope, it will host the World Cup a year from now, and it is preparing to have Rio de Janeiro serve as the location of the 2016 Olympics. The current tumult is generating new concerns about security.

On Monday in Rio de Janeiro, a group of protesters set a car on fire and threw projectiles at police officers, with many from the crowd invading the state legislative assembly. Police responded by firing tear gas and rubber bullets at the marauding demonstrators.

Despite the outbursts of physical aggression, the protests were by and large viewed as peaceful by Brazilian authorities.

Issuing a terse statement on the unstable situation, President Dilma Rousseff, who faces re-election next year and whose popularity rating recently dropped for the first time in her presidency, took note of the protests, saying: “Peaceful demonstrations are legitimate and part of democracy. It is natural for young people to demonstrate.”

The Brazilian people have a history of resigning themselves to substandard production, in areas ranging from business to public services. The Brazilian government forfeits in excess of $47 billion each year to undeclared tax revenue, unaccounted-for public money and other extensive corruption, according to the Federation of Industries of Sao Paulo business group.

However, over the past decade, approximately 40 million Brazilians have joined the middle class, and have thus begun to vocally expect more from government. A significant number of them are upset that billions of dollars in public funds are being expended on the 2014 World Cup and 2016 Olympics while minimal improvements are made in tangible aspects of everyday life.

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