It´s the capitalism’s crisis, but it´s the workers who pay

What’s the MAB´s evaluation of the political situation of Brazil?

We are living in a very serious moment in Brazilian politics. These are moments in history where there is a strong combination of conservative groups. What they want is to recover their hegemony from a neoliberal vision, privatizing and selling-out the goods of the population and the country’s wealth.

This offensive, which has gained a lot of strength, is headed and driven ideologically by mainstream media, especially by Rede Globo, which plays a role against the interests of the Brazilian people. Another sector that fulfills this role is the high levels of the judiciary, the federal and state police and the middle class. This reverberates into the Congress with the right-wing politicians, traditional figures that lead the national congress in the denial of any attempt to improve the living conditions of the population. Therefore, we believe that this moment is very serious in the life of our country. On the other hand, I think it’s important that, against all this offensive, there is also a breakthrough and a great sense of unity within the organizations and social movements that fight for democracy, equality and justice. It also increased in the last period, with increasingly strong ties between those who want to build a more fair, fraternal and equal society.

How does the movement evaluates the crisis? What are the consequences for the workers?

There is indeed a crisis of the capitalist system. Large companies have a huge production capacity, but that possibility does not find place to perform as a commodity, meaning that it does not have enough buyers for that product. As companies seek only the incessant increase in profit, this situation causes the so-called crisis. They have a huge production capacity, but can´t produce anything that would not come to transport the whole production for lack of market. For them, this is a crisis. However, we must be aware that only economic growth does not necessarily mean improvement of living conditions, because there is often economic growth and no distribution of wealth, which doesn´t solve the lives of most people.

In fact, since the goal is always to make lots of money, they are in crisis today. But that does not also say that these sectors are not making money. Banks, for example, have never profited so much, as well as electricity and telecommunication companies, among others. Several sectors that are accumulating a lot of money are alarming that they are in crisis. When these big businessmen claim to be in crisis, the first step taken is to remove the rights of workers and reorganize production so that workers produce more. That is, people work more and earn less. It´s the capitalism’s crisis, but it´s the workers who pay. Furthermore, the capitalists create ways to improve technology and produce more in less time. The third measure that companies do in this time of crisis is take ownership of natural resources like water, fertile land, oil and minerals. Therefore, all measures that large companies are taking to solve their own crisis problems goes against national sovereignty and the interests of workers.

Do you believe that there are USA interests in Brazil and Latin America?

There is no doubt that there is a strong interest from those who have been and remains the main potential hegemony in the world. But today, this hegemony is suffering competition, mainly from China. Soon the Chinese economy may become the first in the world and therefore the US is reacting to stop this growth. One way is to destabilize countries that articulate and relate to China. The Americans are destabilizing the countries that are forming a developmental block and are not exactly under US control, such as Brazil, Russia and other countries of Latin America. I have no doubt that there is the American empire intelligence in this right-wing movement we are experiencing. Of course they do not come to Brazil the way they came before, with tanks and armies. Today, they come through right-wing politicians, businessmen, prosecutors and judges. That is, through these forces deployed here in the country, the USA is trying to resume the offensive on our wealth and against the Brazilian people.

What does energy represent in this context?

Energy is an item of society that allows the expansion of the working capacity of workers. Electricity, for example, produces more than any other operation carried out by the strength of hand. It extends the working capacity and is key to the development of any society. As capitalism seeks to produce more goods, energy becomes fundamental. Therefore, the control for this becomes strategic. Since Brazil has a very large energy source – water to produce energy through hydropower, land to produce sugarcane to produce alcohol and oil – it becomes a very intended target. Brazil and Venezuela, together, have more than 400 billion barrels of oil. Brazil alone has oil to supply our domestic consumption for 100 years. What they want is to take ownership of this potential and companies that deal with energy in Brazil, such as the national companies Petrobras, Eletrobras and others.

What may happen if the impeachment of President Dilma occurs?

First, it is necessary to reaffirm that an impeachment of the president of the republic without her committing any crime is a coup. If this happens there will be an exponential increase in violations of human rights, labor rights will be phased out and a lot of Brazilian wealth will be privatized. The great struggle of the Brazilian left is to prevent the extreme right, which is not ashamed to praise fascism and nazism, to dictate the direction of the country. Our prediction is that there will be a long period of confrontation and clashes between those who want a sovereign, democratic, just and egalitarian Brazil against those who only want to take ownership of national resources for their own benefit.

What is the main challenge of the Brazilian left in this moment?

The main challenge of the Brazilian left is to resist the coup and maintain a large degree of unity for building a new project for the country. We also need to create an international character of articulation to stop this conservative wave and point to a better future, not only in Brazil but throughout the continent.