Manifesting Democracy?. Группа авторов

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Название Manifesting Democracy?
Автор произведения Группа авторов
Жанр География
Серия
Издательство География
Год выпуска 0
isbn 9781119331247



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by other struggles and groups that situated themselves outside the State and in opposition to hegemonic power throughout history.

      As this historical overview shows, it was because of the combination of an awareness of the centrality of public transport in the life of city dwellers, the struggle for the right to free transport, and the formation an autonomous, organized social movement (the MPL), heir to a tradition of social struggles that have advocated direct action and independence in relation to the State and public and private institutions, that June 2013 was able to happen.

      ***

      Figure 2.2 Demonstration against the fare increase, São Paulo, February 2011. Source: Reproduced by permission of Douglas Belome.

      From the first large-scale protests onwards, the television news, press, and online news channels labelled the demonstrators vandals, troublemakers, hooligans, and violent people. Editorials in newspapers like the Folha de São Paulo and the Estado de São Paulo demanded tough action from the São Paulo Military Police in order to contain the demonstrators and the demonstrations. This excerpt from a Folha de São Paulo editorial published on 13 June 2013, illustrates the line of the media’s coverage:

      The protests were harshly repressed and criminalized by the press campaign, and also by the political stance regarding social movements from mayor Fernando Haddad, of the PT, and the state governor Geraldo Alckmin, of the Brazilian Social Democratic Party (PSDB). During the first 13 days of the protests over 300 people were arrested, countless numbers were injured, and the right to demonstrate itself was even called into question as a convenient and reoccurring argument was mobilized about respecting the right to freedom of movement of those not demonstrating (Folha 2013b).

      Figure 2.3 Demonstration against the fare increase, São Paulo, June 2013. Source: Reproduced by permission of Douglas Belome.