The struggles of the working class worldwide are heating up. In Brazil, after the "June Days" [protests against bus fare increases], the Dilma government, without meeting any of the demands raised by the youth and the working class, announced a package of mass privatizations: harbours, oil, roads and airports.
The struggle for the reduction of public transport fares, which began in Sao Paulo, has sparked a change in the political situation in the country. The Marxist Left (Esquerda Marxista) was one of the initiators of this ongoing struggle back in May. Here Serge Goulart provides a balance sheet of that movement – originally published in America Socialista.
What started as a small demonstration against an increase of 20 cents (barely 9 pence) in the price of public transport fares in Sao Paulo became a national mass movement which mobilised more than a million people in 80 cities, after having forced the mayor of the city Haddad and the regional governor Alckmin to retreat on June 19.
The "Red Flag" Committee of Struggle for a United Front in Defence of Democratic Freedoms and of the Workers', Popular and Student Organizations formed in São Paulo.
In the late afternoon of June 19th, after the huge demonstrations which had been held in regional capitals and many other cities, the mayor of São Paulo announced, along with State Governor Geraldo Alckmin, that the price of bus and metro fares would be reversed back to 3 Reais. In Minas, the government is also looking into reducing fares, which were also reduced in Rio, and Recife, where the fares had been reduced even before the demonstrations took to the streets. Mayors from the interior of the country are announcing reductions, following on from São Paulo and Rio. This is a victory that affects the entire country.
More than 15,000 students and workers took to the streets of Joinville on Thursday (20/6). They chanted slogans and carried placards with messages of change. This kind of mobilization has not been seen since the Collor Out movement in 1992.
