Much attention was placed last year on the corruption scandal in Brazil surrounding illegal campaign financing and bribery schemes that involved several key congressmen, including prominent leaders of the PT (Workers’ party), and that brought the government of President Luis Inácio Lula da Silva into a
months-long crisis. News media and commentators particularly emphasized the “disgrace” which the country felt, as a progressive government that had been elected under such euphoric expectations now proved to be just as fallible as any other. Yet could not the perhaps exaggerated lamentation over the entire affair (particularly from rival political parties and figures) really have been a distraction from a much more important issue: the continued engagement of the Brazilian worker in demanding political and economic justice? Brazilian workers can no longer wait for a “salvador da patria” to remedy all the nation’s ills, and exclusive attention on electoral politics or on one leader, regardless of how much promise he may hold, must not overshadow the many other concerns which Brazilian working men and women have, including defending themselves against constant attempts at co-optation and silencing.
The articles in the current issue of Latin American Perspectives are important for this reason. They expose not only the methods utilized by those in power to preserve dominance over the working class, but also the means which workers have asserted their rights and have attempted to bring about true change, both in the past and to this day. In the age of globalization workers play and will continue to play central roles at both the national and international level, and maintaining sight of the challenges workers still face, despite any improvements in democratic participation, must remain the primary focus of all those who strive for social and economic justice. The articles in this issue speak precisely to such concerns, broadening discussion beyond regional dimensions, and illustrating the importance of Brazil in the community of nations as well as the commonality of Brazilian workers with all workers throughout the world.
Contents:
Brazil as a Regional Power and Its Relations with the United States
- Luis Alberto Moniz Bandeira
Keeping Communism Down on the Farm: The Brazilian Rural Labor Movement during the Cold War
- Cliff Welch
Constructing Hegemony: The Evolution of the Pensamento Nacional das Bases Empresariais
- Alvaro Bianchi
Reform of the State and the New Discourse on Social Policy in Brazil
- Joanildo A. Burity
Disciplining the Workforce: Controlling Workers in the Restructuring of Production
- Noela Invernizzi
Book Reviews
Brazilian Politics Above and Below
- Ronald H. Chilcote
From Exile to Power: the Political and Social Evolution of Latin American Militaries
- Carlos Eduardo M. Viegas da Silva
Commentaries:
The Possible World and the Actual State: the World Social Forum in Caracas
- John L. Hammond
Haiti Election 2006: a Pyrrhic Victory for René Préval?
- Alex Dupuy
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