Dec 22 2023 | Nº. 98

Editorial

This Wednesday, in what several outlets referred to as a “historic session,” Brazil’s Congress passed a tax reform package that several administrations over the last three decades had talked about implementing but never could. Replacing five different taxes on consumption that infamously added to the burden of doing business in Brazil, the new framework consists of a much simpler value-added tax (VAT). President Lula was on hand to address the legislature as it passed the new measure. "I don't know if all of you are aware of today’s snapshot,” he noted, adding that “it's important that you keep December 20, 2023 in your memory, because everyone knows that we all started the year with a lot of uncertainty: inflation uncertainty, uncertainty of growth.” What followed, however, were a series of policy achievements and incremental gains in the nation’s fiscal outlook, the tax reform being arguably the biggest. Indeed, in response to the measure’s passage, S&P Global Ratings upgraded Brazil's long-term ratings to "BB" from "BB-“ indicating greater security and predictability for investments from abroad.

The Lula administration is betting on the start of a virtuous economic cycle—which will include heavy doses of public spending on much-needed infrastructure projects—for political ends ahead of next year’s municipal elections but also because many experts predict more challenging times ahead for the Brazilian economy. As Finance Minister Fernando Haddad likes to point out, this government has consistently outperformed expectations. One of the crucial questions for 2024 is whether it can continue to do so. 

The Lula administration has not undergone significant changes in composition since January, but more cabinet shakeups are likely in the year head. Lula indicated this week that Justice Minister Flávio Dino will not assume his new spot on the Supreme Federal Court (STF) until February 22, following the one-year anniversary of the January 8 insurrection by supporters of former president Jair Bolsonaro. It is not yet clear who Lula will choose to replace Dino. A deft politician, Dino showed himself more than willing to engage the opposition on political matters during his time at the head of the Ministry of Justice. He has defended calls, for example, for national regulations regarding social media, a point that came up this week as investigations developed this week into the hacking of the First Lady’s account on X (formerly Twitter). Hackers used the account to post right-wing political messages that were clearly out of line with the administration. “Hate, intolerance and misogyny need to be combated, and those responsible punished,” First Lady Janja da Silva posted on her Instagram account last week. In the polarized social media climate that has come to define Brazilian politics, it is unlikely that the prospect of firmer regulation will cease to be a topic of heated debate anytime soon.

Highlights

• CHILD LABOR. The percentage of children and adolescents between 5 and 17 working in Brazil grew from 4.5 percent to 4.9 percent between 2019 and 2022. The period corresponds to the pandemic. The absolute number of children and young people in this age group who engage in activities considered dangerous to their safety, health and development rose from 1.8 million to 1.9 million in the same period. The majority of people in this situation are black boys (from 65 to 66 percent).

• FOOD INSECURITY. The number of poor people, who do not have a home and live on the streets in Brazil, grew by 953 percent between 2013 and 2022. In absolute numbers, the statistic went from 21,954 people to 227,087 in this period. Across Brazil, more than half of the population (58 percent) lives with some type of food insecurity. A total of 28 percent of the population says they reduce the quality of the food they eat to be able to feed everyone living in the same house, while 15 percent say they also have to reduce the quantities they eat.

• CORRUPTION IN RIO. Cláudio Castro, the governor of the state of Rio de Janeiro, had his banking, tax, and telematics secrecy (telephone and text and voice message exchanges) broken by order of the Court. The governor's foster brother, Vinícius Sarciá Rocha, was the target of searches and seizures carried out by the Federal Police. Both are being investigated in a case that concerns the embezzlement of public funds used in government social programs and the payment of bribes to public agents. The events took place when Castro was still a councilor in the city of Rio. The last seven governors of the state have been targets of investigations for corruption.

• CAR WASH. J&F, one of the most powerful economic groups in Brazil, managed to annul a fine equivalent to US$2 billion, following a decision taken by Federal Supreme Court Judge Dias Toffoli. The fine had been imposed by the courts as part of a leniency agreement that was part of Lava Jato (Car Wash) Operation. The owners of J&F, The brothers Wesley and Joesley Batista (the owners of J&F), were at the center of scandals that characterized politics in recent years in Brazil. Toffoli's decision raised suspicions, as his wife, Roberta Rangel, is a lawyer for J&F in other cases.

• GOVERNMENT APPROVAL. New opinion poll carried out by Quaest and released this week shows that 36 percent of Brazilians have a positive perception of the Lula government, 29 percent have a negative perception, 32 percent consider the government to be average, and 3 percent did not respond. The data is close to that recorded in the previous survey and shows fluctuations within the margin of error or very close to it.

• POLITICAL POSITIONING. A Datafolha survey released this week shows that 30 percent of Brazilians consider themselves Lulistas or Workers’ Party members, in an allusion to the name of President Lula and his party, the PT, while 25 percent say they are Bolsonaro supporters, linked to the former president Jair Bolsonaro. Another 21 percent say they do not recognize themselves in either of the two camps. The percentages are very close to those recorded in the previous survey carried out in December 2022, which shows a crystallization of the two political positions that have been predominant in Brazilian national politics.

  
  

NEWS FROM WBO, ORGANIZATIONS AND SOCIAL MOVEMENTS:

NEWSLETTER IN PORTUGUESE. The WBO newsletter will publish its 100th issue on January 26 and will also be produced in Portuguese. Initially, all subscribers will receive both Portuguese and English versions and can choose to continue that way or cancel one of the two subscriptions, depending on their language preference.

INDIGENOUS REACTION. The Articulation of Indigenous Peoples of Brazil (APIB) will file an unconstitutionality action with the Federal Supreme Court to try to reverse the decisions that were taken by the National Congress against the demarcation of indigenous lands in the country. The main point of contention is the so-called Marco Temporal, which prohibits the demarcation of lands that had not been claimed by indigenous peoples by 1988. President Lula had vetoed important sections of this law, but Congress overturned the presidential vetoes.

SUGGESTIONS FOR THE G20. Registration is open for the submission of suggestions and recommendations from civil society to the G20, a group of countries that is currently chaired by Brazil. The proposals are being collected by T20 (Think20), a group in charge of bringing together contributions from civil society, think tanks, and research centers.

HUMAN RIGHTS. The State University of Campinas and the Vladimir Herzog Institute have opened nominations for the 4th Academic Recognition Award in Human Rights (PRADH), which includes academic research that contributes to the protection and defense of the right to life, human dignity and social justice and is an example defending freedom and scientific responsibility for the betterment of humanity.

RECESS. The WBO newsletter will not be circulated during the end-of-the-year holidays. The next edition will be distributed on January 12, 2024. The editorial team wishes all readers a happy new year.

Feature Article

by Sami Sternberg

The WBO’s action as an ally in the anti-racist fight

The Washington Brazil Office’s decision to be an allied organization in the anti-racist fight and consider this agenda a priority is no coincidence. The history and construction of Brazil are characterized by the atrocious process of enslavement of Black people brought from the African continent during periods of colonization and the empire, whose profound marks are still present today.

Even with the central role of the resistance of the Black population in the fight for their freedom and guarantee of rights, the Brazilian State and society as a whole have consolidated a structure that discriminates, oppresses, and prevents the full exercise of rights of this group, which represents 56 percent of the Brazilian population and is wrongly classified as a minority. This is reflected in all the statistics about the reality of the Black population in Brazil, such as violence (80 percent of homicide victims), incarceration (68.2 percent of the prison population), religious intolerance (significant increase in cases against African-based religions ), economic inequality (50 percent lower wages), among many others.

The WBO has, since its creation, carried the challenging mission of supporting the international work of Brazilian civil society in its plurality of agendas. Of the various initiatives carried out during 2023, assistance to Brazilian Black movements in the international sphere stood out due to an intense calendar of activities, in addition to clearly illustrating how we establish our support for Brazilian organizations.

Equality of rights in Brazil cannot be discussed without discussing racial justice. Therefore, in response to a demand from affiliated Black organizations, the WBO listed this agenda as the first and main focus in implementing its programmatic activities. Thus, at the end of 2022, the WBO set up a Working Group alongside more than 10 organizations from Brazilian Black movements (today there are 16). The GT was created with the objective of promoting the convergence of dialogues and strategies of movements, hoping to: a) increase the impact of civil society advocacy in international arenas; and b) expand the horizons of this international activity. The guiding principle for this process to work is the protagonism of the voices and interests of the movements, which design and lead the execution of the GT's work plan. The WBO replicates this work methodology based on active listening and collective construction across all its thematic areas.

In the Working Group on Racial Justice, black movement organizations chose three advocacy fronts for the year 2023. The first was the resumption of JAPER, the Brazil-United States Joint Action Plan for the Elimination of Racism, which had been signed in 2008 and abandoned in 2011. The Black movements defined the objective of ensuring a resumption of the agreement that included the participation of civil society in its design and implementation. The WBO provided technical assistance to the group during meetings and systematized letters and other advocacy products prepared by Black movements, in addition to supporting political articulation within the US Department of State. After a year, the organizations gained space at the agreement's negotiation table and had their collective recognized by the Brazilian government as a social interlocutor of JAPER's agenda.

The group also worked with the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR). With the significant worsening of the rights situation of the Brazilian Black population during the Bolsonaro government, the movements sought to establish a bridge with thematic reports from the Commission to expose the challenges that were presented, in addition to asking for a visit to Brazil. The WBO facilitated this connection with two Special Rapporteurs (Rights of People of African Descent and Economic, Social, Cultural and Environmental Rights), whose meetings culminated in the visit of the then DESCA Special Rapporteur Soledad García Muñoz to Brazil. This initiative, coming from Black movements, brought a benefit to the entire Brazilian civil society, as the press release issued by REDESCA showed a broad portrait of the devastation of human rights in Brazil with a central focus on racial discrimination.

The third front of articulated action of the movements was with the United Nations Organization. The GT held an event on the margins of the 67th Session of the Commission on the Status of Women on the contribution of Black women's movements in Brazil to the global anti-racist struggle; prepared a joint position letter for a reparations agenda from an Afro-Brazilian perspective during the 2nd session of the Permanent Forum of People of African Descent; focused on the topic of environmental racism during meetings of the United Nations General Assembly; and participated in the 3rd edition of the global forum against racism and discrimination promoted by UNESCO.

This rich construction shows that acting in alliance with Brazilian civil society demands much more than the mobilization of a highly qualified team. It is necessary to act with transparency, ethics, and respect for organizations and movements that, for decades, have been leading and giving – sometimes literally – their blood and life in the search for a fairer, less violent, and more equal country.

For the next year, the WBO will remain firm in its institutional performance, aware of its space in the fight and confident that collective construction can bring significant advances in the fight for rights and equality.

Sami Sternberg has a master's degree in International Relations from Columbia University and is the Coordinator of Institutional Relations at the Washington Brazil Office (WBO).

Feature articles express the opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of the editors or WBO.