Tidbits - June 30, 2016 - Reader Comments: Bernie Sanders-What We Want; Clinton Obstructing Democratic Platform; Supreme Court Rules on Abortion; Syria; Mexico; Brazil; Guatemala; James Green; more...

Portside
Reader Comments: Bernie Sanders - What We Want; Clinton Campaign Obstructing Change to Democratic Platform; Supreme Court Rules: Abortion Clinics in Texas Cannot be Shut Down; Brexit - Warning Signal for Trump-Era America?; Bombing Syrian Troops Would Be Illegal; Mexican Teachers Being Jailed and Killed; Chilean Military Liable for Victor Jara Murder; Report Clears Rouseff; Remembering James Green; This Week in History - Arbenz Guzman Deposed in Guatemala; and more...

CSPG's Poster of the Week

Center for the Study of Political Graphics Center for the Study of Political Graphics
More than thirty years have passed since the end of the dictatorship but Brazil's democracy is again being challenged.

The Brazilian Coup's Image Problem

Gianpaolo Baiocchi Boston Review
Romero Jucá, recently appointed planning minister, was recorded saying: `We have to stop this shit. We have to change the government to be able to stop this bleeding - the corruption investigation. The motives and nature of the plot to remove Rousseff are apparent in the transcript of the phone conversation between Jucá - a ally of new president Michel Temer - and Sérgio Machado, former senator who until recently was president of the state oil company, Transpetro.

Brazil’s Elite and the Drive to Impeach President Dilma Rousseff

David Miranda The Guardian
Corruption is not the cause of the effort to oust Brazil’s twice-elected President, Dilma Rousseff, merely the pretext. Brazil’s elite and their media organs have repeatedly failed to defeat Rousseff and her Workers' Party at the ballot box. So the plutocrats are now attempting, through a bizarre mélange of evangelical extremists, far-right supporters of a return to military rule, and non-ideological backroom operatives, to simply remove her from office.

Overthrowing Dilma Rousseff - It's Class War, and Their Class is Winning

Alfredo Saad Filho Socialist Project
The judicial coup against President Dilma Rousseff is the culmination of the deepest political crisis in Brazil for 50 years. Dilma's second victory sparked a heated panic among the neoliberal and U.S.-aligned opposition. The fourth consecutive election of a President affiliated to the centre-left PT (Workers' Party) was bad news for the opposition, because it suggested that PT founder Lu¡s In cio Lula da Silva could return in 2018.

Canoas: A Government of, for and by the People

Ruth Needleman Portside
Here in the states, we know what it means to see our democratic rights attacked. But do we have a vision of what an expansion of democracy and popular participation in government might look like?

film

Film Review: Carlos Bolado’s ‘Olvidados’ Uncovers the CIA’s Role in Latin America’s Bloodiest Dictatorships

José Raúl Guzmán NACLA
Olvidados serves as powerful indictment of the military personnel who were responsible for thousands of deaths and disappearances of political dissidents in Latin America during Operation Condor, estimated at 30,000 forced disappearances, 50,000 deaths, and 400,000 arrests. Beginning in 1975 the political campaign of repression spanned across Argentina, Chile, Bolivia, Brazil, Uruguay, and Paraguay—carried out by the right-wing military dictatorships, backed by the CIA.

Rival Political Movements Duel over the Future of Brazil

Marianna Olinger Waging Nonviolence
Recently the mainstream media has portrayed the political crisis in Brazil as a result of internal corruption and the lack of economic growth, which is blamed on the President Dilma Rousseff and the Workers’ Party. What is rarely mentioned, however, is that Brazil is experiencing a historical divide. Some Brazilians believe President Rousseff hasn’t followed the dictates of neoliberalism closely enough, while others argue the corporations have far too much power.
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