Venezuela and Brazil: Two antidemocrats in power

Greek Democracy in action

Sometimes I find it funny (not to mention tragic), how some leaders of so-called Democracies are antidemocratic.

First of all, is necessary to explain what I’m saying when I’m talking about Democracy (so touted, so used in political campaigns and so little respected in everyday life). The word Democracy comes from the old Greek δημοκρατία (dēmokratía or “government of the people”)¹; although there are some differences of conception among different authors Democracy is characterized by being a regime where all eligible citizens can participate equally – either directly or through elected representatives – in the proposition, development and creation of laws, exercising the power of rule through universal suffrage. Also are characteristics of a democracy the solid legal systems and political institutions, political pluralism, equality before the law, the right to petition for redress of social injustices, due process of law, civil liberties, human rights, free expression, independence of powers...^{2 3} Does Democracy hasn’t problems? Of course it has! Several authors are critical, for example, to the concentration of income seen in bourgeois democracies, other criticizes the “dictatorship of majorities”, in which minorities haven’t protection of their civil and group rights² (for example the situation of homosexuals), disenchantment with the political class, or that representative democracy would de-educate the people by teaching them that they cannot solve their own problems⁴, among other criticisms of the system; however, someone who isn’t Enamored of dictatorships (both right or left wings) can imagine a better regime? In short, citing Churchill “Democracy is the worst form of government, except for all the others.”

Having exposed the concept that we are using (socialists, example, use other concepts about Democracy, not only remote from Greek origin, but very distinct from what we understand as such), let’s analyze situation in Brazil:

Temer: buying congressmen

Brazil lives in a supposed democratic normalcy. We have officially separation between powers, elections with universal suffrage, human rights, civil freedoms… however, we also have a president who manipulates the limits of Democracy, who does “accord” with the judiciary and that is buying deputies to avoid their own impeachment. The very arrival of the present president to the power didn’t happen by democratic form, it was a kind of “third round” of elections of 2014 (Brazilian law provides two rounds), in which Dilma Rousseff was elected with thin difference. Opposition didn’t accept its own defeat in the Executive, and used his own victory in the Legislature to do a kind of “constitutional coup”, overthrowing the president. You know, I’m not discussing if Dilma’s government was good or bad, what I’m talking is that she suffered impeachment by Congress for alleged tax hoofs that have been proven false a posteriori⁵, that is, president Dilma was overthrowed for something that she didn’t do, before the accusations had been duly substantiated, violating the constitutional device of innocence until proven otherwise; the trial of Dilma was a political maneuver of the opposition in an agreement with the vice president Temer, to strip her of power. Temer, the current president, now is accused of various crimes, such as passive corruption, criminal organization and obstruction of justice, with some differences in relation to Dilma (without counting the seriousness his of the crimes being much greater than her): the first is that he was recorded confessing such crimes; the second is that His intermediary was caught getting the money quoted in the records; the third (but not last) is that he is openly buying deputies to secure the lockup of any process of impeachment. In short, in spite of living in a supposed Democracy, we have a president as undemocratic as the dictator of any banana republic and a Congress and Judiciary subservient to this “democratic dictator”.

Maduro: poulícracy

Worse situation than our lives Venezuela. Under the Boliviarian government since 1989, and under Maduro since Chavez’s death in 2013, Venezuela has the permanent reelection and repression of the opposition (including political prisions) have been some of the measures of the Chavistas as a way of perpetuating themselves in power. The country is passing for a serious financial crisis, which has increased the political crisis. The opposition, which is formed for 14 parties, conquered majority in Congress for the first time in December, 2016, gaining the strength to implement legislative initiatives that, in practice, could disrupt Maduro’s mandate⁷. What did the Venezuelan president do? He accepted the Democratic defeat? Of course not, having as his main advisor the deceased president Chavez himself, who according to Maduro appears to him in the form of a little bird⁸ – doing Chavismo, if not a theocracy, at least a “spiritocracy”, or even a "poulícracy" (bird government) – the president barred any initiative of the constitutionally elected Congress by calling a constituent, which is formed almost exclusively for situationists, and working in parallel to the Congress will guarantee even more powers to the president and weaken the Legislative⁷, in another clear affront to Democracy.

And how does Brazil see the situation in Venezuela? We have a non-Democratic president and the parties that support him (PMDB, PSDB, Dem, PP, etc.) attacking Venezuelan government because it isn’t Democratic, in a clear example of a pot calling the kettle, or the spirit of “no matter if it is democratic or not, it matters that our side is winning”. But at least our current opposition (PT, PSOL, etc.) which was taken from power by a “constitutional coup” is contrary to Maduro’s constitutional coup, right? Wrong! Our opposition is supporting the dictatorship and excesses of Venezuelan president, making us mature to know (ok, I apologize for the pun) that they also are following the police of “no matter if it is democratic or not, it matters that our side is winning”.

Have I said how often I find it funny (not to mention tragic) how some leaders of so-called Democracies are antidemocratic? Well, it's even worse when the opposition isn’t Democratic too.

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1 – LIDDELL, H.; SCOTT, R. δημοκρατία, in A Greek-English Lexicon. Available in [http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.04.0058%3Aentry%3Ddhmokrati%2Fa]. Access in 08/01/2017.

2 – DEMOCRACIA. In Wikipedia: a Enciclopédia Livre. Available in [https://pt.wikipedia.org/wiki/Democracia]

3 – FERNANDES, Cláudio. O que é democracia?; Brasil Escola. Available in [http://brasilescola.uol.com.br/o-que-e/historia/o-que-e-democracia.htm]. Access in 08/01/2017.

4 - CASTORIADIS, C. A fonte húngara. In: Socialismo ou Barbárie: O conteúdo do socialismo. São Paulo: Brasiliense, 1983.

5 – TALITA, B. Dilma não ‘pedalou’, mas autorizou decretos sem aval do Congresso, diz perícia. In: El País, june 28, 2016. Available in [https://brasil.elpais.com/brasil/2016/06/27/politica/1467040634_118457.html]. Access in 08/01/2017.

6 – IDOETA, P. O que embasa as três acusações contra Temer no STF. In: BBC Brasil, may 19, 2017. Available in: [http://www.bbc.com/portuguese/brasil-39982429]. Access in 08/01/2017.

7 – Charleaux J. Quais as forças que sustentam hoje o governo da Venezuela. In: Nexo Jornal Ltda., 31 julho 2017. Available in [https://www.nexojornal.com.br/expresso/2017/07/31/Quais-as-for%C3%A7as-que-sustentam-hoje-o-governo-da-Venezuela]. Access in 08/01/2017.

8 – Maduro diz que Chávez lhe apareceu como 'passarinho' na Venezuela. In: G1, 02/04/2013. Available in [http://g1.globo.com/mundo/hugo-chavez/noticia/2013/04/maduro-diz-que-chavez-lhe-apareceu-como-passarinho-na-venezuela.html]. Access in 08/01/2017.