Brazil's legislators bribed to pass Monsanto law

[Guest guest]

.. MedicalConspiracies@googlegro

GM WATCH daily

http://www.gmwatch.org

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In the 2003 elections Brazil's president - Lula - pledged to keep his

country GM-free. For those who've been wondering how he moved from

saying it would be insanity to release transgenics, to doing exactly that

and with sufficient political support to pass Brazil's now notorious

" Monsanto law " , this article provides an answer.

 

EXCERPT: [revelations have emerged about] the depth of corruption all

parties have been involved in, including the PT [Lula's party]. The

rotten smell is still choking all Brazil with anger.

 

The most despicable revelation was that the mensalao was alive and

well. Mensalao is the name given to a weekly bribe the government party

pays to opposition parties in order to ensure the government can pass the

legislation it wants. Lula apparently used mensalao to pass such

anti-worker laws as his superannuation legislation, and allowing

genetically

modified food to be grown.

 

With this disclosure, the PT's image as a " clean " party was thrown out

the door. Now, growing dissatisfaction with Lula's policies is

threatening the government's stability.

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BRAZIL: Corruption and political crisis

Raul Bassi

http://www.greenleft.org.au/back/2005/636/636p14.htm

 

" The end of the last hope " , was the way that a worker from Rio de

Janeiro expressed her disillusionment with the Workers Party (PT)

government

of President Lucio Inacio - Lula - da Silva. " There is corruption, and

the president is involved " , she said. " Since 1980 I always voted PT,

but now never again, and I am not the only one. "

 

" Lula is still my hope " , an old PT militant from

Mina Gerais told Folha de Sao Paolo. " He will find the way out of

crisis with his common sense ... But there are rotten elements in the

party,

every human being can make mistakes, in politics, or other activities.

Lula is not guilty of anything, but I cannot say the same about the

rest. "

 

He insisted, " The PT and other parties have to be cleaned, with the

police, in the same way that the government attacks drug traffickers or

other delinquents ... The PT is not God's party, it has lots of devils,

it should leave the arrogance of power and come back to its roots, or I

won't have any reason to stay anymore. "

 

These views are reflective of most Brazilians today. In the final week

of May, a Sensus poll showed that support for the government had

dropped by 2%, to 39.8%. A Datafolha poll published in early June in

Folha de

Sao Paalo confirmed that more than 65% of PT members accept that there

is corruption in the government.

 

The immediate cause of this crisis is the growing scandal over

corruption in the government, including among PT members. However, the

crisis

has a deeper basis related to problems that Lula has been confronting

since the PT did very badly in the 2004 council elections.

 

The crisis is important, because it raises the whole question of how

the PT has developed. Corruption has always been a feature of Brazilian

political life, but the PT was built on different " morals " and ethical

principles that it appears to have forgotten now. As a consequence, its

base has weakened and the government has been destabilised.

 

Corruption

 

When Lula won, he made alliances with opposition parties - from the

left to the right. He explained that he needed the alliances to develop

the PT's progressive reformist agenda because the PT was a minority in

parliament and it had too many enemies in the big business and

international organisations to stand alone.

 

So, as is common in Brazilian politics, Lula shared ministry positions

with other parties and the president of the Brazilian Labor Party

(PTB), Roberto Jefferson, became the manager of the Brazilian postal

service.

 

In May, however, evidence of Jefferson and other PTB members' blatant

corruption became public. Instead of going quiet and accepting

responsibility, however, Jefferson defended himself by revealing some

of the

depth of corruption all parties have been involved in, including the PT.

The rotten smell is still choking all Brazil with anger.

 

The most despicable revelation was that the mensalao was alive and

well. Mensalao is the name given to a weekly bribe the government party

pays to opposition parties in order to ensure the government can pass the

legislation it wants. Lula apparently used mensalao to pass such

anti-worker laws as his superannuation legislation, and allowing

genetically

modified food to be grown.

 

With this disclosure, the PT's image as a " clean " party was thrown out

the door. Now, growing dissatisfaction with Lula's policies is

threatening the government's stability. The disclosures have damaged

the PT's

image as a party that does things differently - exempt from many of the

sins of the other parties - and have cost it support among left

intellectuals and both the middle and working classes.

 

The crisis is not confined to the PT. It has revealed that the whole

parliamentary system is full of corrupt politicians, and called this

system into question.

 

The PT has failed to implement many of the changes it was expected to,

instead applying a rigid monetary policy, with high interest rates and

a " healthy " budget surplus, in order to satisfy the country's debtors,

such as the International Monetary Fund.

 

Given the electoral disaster in the council elections, the slowing

economy, and growing internal division, the PT's future looks very dark.

With federal elections due next year, the party appears to have alienated

many of its supporters.

 

In late June, a rumour emerged that a group of multinational

corporations, backed by Washington, were organising a right-wing coup

with the

opposition Socialist Democratic Party of Brazil (PSDB). The alleged coup

was vigorously denounced by 43 social organisations, led by the

Landless Workers Movement (MST), the trade union federation CUT and the

student union UNE. The organisations, however, also called for the

government

to change its neoliberal policies.

 

The rumour seems contradictory, given that the multinationals, and

government of US President George Bush, have been reasonably

supportive of

the Lula government's economic policies.

 

Where next?

 

Lula has some breathing space. The Brazilian people, most of whom are

not directly involved in mobilising or political activity, still look to

Lula as the only alternative: the other parties that have been in

government before are considered more corrupt and representative of the

dominant, wealthy class.

 

Most of the left is still part of the PT, or is supporting it

electorally. Those sections of the left outside it are too weak to pose a

serious alternative. For example, the Socialism and Freedom Party

(PSOL) is

more concerned with electoral registration than with responding to the

current crisis. PSOL's Senator Heloisa Helena is probably the most

popular left-wing parliamentarian.

 

However, Lula is redrawing his alliances in order to survive the crisis

and ensure a PT victory in 2006. The only possible parliamentary

alliances at this stage are right-wing ones. The government has

offered four

more ministries to the Party of the Democratic Movement of Brazil

(PMDB). This is particularly damaging because this party has been

associated

with the brutal dictatorship that controlled Brazil for almost 30

years.

 

In response to the corruption, many politicians have called for a

parliamentary investigation commission (CPI). However, most Brazilians

are

extremely cynical about such commissions. Despite hundreds of CPIs over

the years, corruption has not been shifted.

 

The PT has also attempted to diffuse the pressure with the resignation

of Lula's chief of staff, Jose Dirceu, PT president Jose Genoino and

the chief of intelligence.

 

A real commission - independent, made up of union leaders, independent

parliamentarians and social movement leaders, held in public sessions -

would make a difference. But such an open commission is in no

politician's interests, nor in Washington's or the IMF's.

 

It is not enough just to tackle the corruption. The movements must keep

demanding an end to the attacks on working people by the Lula

government, and demanding policies that respond to the needs of the

unemployed,

the low-waged and the landless.

 

In Latin America, political crisis can grow into social crisis quickly.

Economic desperation, combined with the example of people's struggles

in countries such as Bolivia, Ecuador and Venezuela ensure that. This is

sure to influence the unfolding events in Brazil.

 

From Green Left Weekly, August 3, 2005.