1. THE CIVIL DISOBEDIENCE IN BRAZIL AND THE WORLD
Fernando Alcoforado *
Social boils occurring at the time in Ukraine and Venezuela already have symptoms in
Brazil as the popular demonstrations that took place in the country since June 2013.
Social boiling who registers in Ukraine has several causes highlighting, among them,
the resistance of the population to the domination of Russia that comes from the time of
the czars, the inability of governments to promote peace and harmony between the State
and Civil Society and geopolitical confrontation between the West (United States and
European Union) and Russia for dominance in Ukraine. Social boiling in Venezuela due
to the failure and incompetence of those in power to keep inflation under control and
avoid shortages of products of first necessity and the inability of governments to
promote peace and harmony between the State and Civil Society that is deeply divided.
In Ukraine, the protests began when President Yanukovych rejected in November, an
agreement with the European Union, preferring a commercial rapprochement with
Russia. Thousands of pro- integration with Europe people began to peaceful
demonstrations and occupation of Independence Square. Since then, there have been
police repression of protests, the passage of laws restricting demonstrations and the
arrest of activists, causing the antigovernment demonstrations would intensify. The
crisis in Ukraine is part of a larger geopolitical stage. Russian President Vladimir Putin
wants to make his country a global power to rival the United States, China and the
European Union. For this he is creating customs unions with other countries and see
Ukraine as a crucial part of it, including its deep historical and cultural ties between
Ukraine and Russia.
The European Union argues that the rapprochement of Ukraine with Europe and
eventual entry into the European bloc would bring billions of Euros to Ukraine,
modernizing its economy and giving access to the common European market. In the
east, many Ukrainians who work in industries (supplying Russia) fear losing their jobs
if Ukraine closer to Europe. But in the west, many yearn for the prosperity and rule of
law that they believe can be achieved through agreements with the European Union.
Many people speak of the linguistic and cultural divisions between eastern and western
Ukraine. For some analysts, this indicates that the country may split in half, violently if
they did not negotiate a peaceful exit to the crisis.
In Venezuela, the current crisis is caused mainly by dissatisfaction with the economic
turmoil undergone by the country. Expressions of this are the annual inflation of 56 %,
the shortage of hard currency (which generates speculation the dollar) and shortages of
certain commodities. The sources of uncertainty are the international crisis, which cut
the supply of credit to countries in the periphery, and disability in the internal
management of public affairs. No credit and no currency, Venezuela began to depend
more sales of oil as the only source of capital inflow. Venezuela now lives dependent of
the resources of the oil company PDVSA. The dissatisfaction more strongly affects
middle-class sectors that see blocked their consumption habits. There is a lack of basic
products of first necessities, but nowhere near there hunger or extreme shortages. The
mobilizations seek catalyze these shortcomings.
Venezuela has been the site of serious clashes since February 15 last. Sectors opposition
returned to focus on the explicit violence to overthrow President Nicolas Maduro,
democratically elected last year. These groups, some fascist overtones, openly preach
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2. the overthrow of the current ruler. After the conflicts that resulted in three deaths and 66
people seriously injured, Venezuelan Justice ordered the arrest of three leaders of the
opposition between them, Leopoldo Lopez, former Chacao mayor, city of metropolitan
Caracas who is accused of inciting violence and participate directly in acts of
vandalism. Nicolás Maduro also decided to bet on street mobilization "against fascism,
violence and coups" as he claims and reinforced the call of "peace march" organized by
social movements and leftist parties. The climate of political radicalization is
increasingly fierce and disturbing in Venezuela.
The political crisis in Ukraine and Venezuela is at the heart of debates about the issue of
civil disobedience that occurs in those countries where it records the loss of authority,
including the authority of the law is a notorious fact in many parts of the world. Civil
disobedience is one of the traits of our time by setting a clear conflict between State
Power and Civil Society as occurred and is occurring with the uprisings in the Arab
world. According to Hannah Arendt, "in this world of constant change, and when these
happen in an accelerated manner, the law always seems a repressive and negative force
which contradicts the positivity of society" [See Arendt, Hannah. O que é Política?
(What is Political?). Rio de Janeiro: Bertrand Brazil, 1999]. According to the
conception of Karl Marx, every society is constituted by an economic base and a legal
and political superstructure. The continuous changes in the economic base of society
make the legal and political superstructure becomes obsolete with time that evolve
requiring changes also occur at this level.
The legal and political superstructure of a nation is based upon a social contract, ie, a
social pact that guides not the government, but especially the society itself. The
covenant made between individuals is that establishing a government contract.
Therefore, the government is governed by statutes and not the opposite, according to
Arendt. According to Arendt, the consent to the Constitution by the people is
completely fictional that, at present, has lost all plausibility, because the system of
representative government is in crisis. Firstly because it has lost all practical
possibilities of real citizen participation in government decisions over time and secondly
because there is no one else besides the bureaucratic machinery of parties and holders of
economic power.
Civil disobedience can result in 2 scenarios: 1) the construction of a new social pact in
which the foundations of a new coexistence among various sectors of Civil Society and
between the State and Civil Society are established; and, 2) the civil war when dissent
undermines the construction of a new social pact that ends with the conquest of the
State by one of the sectors of Civil Society in conflict imposing their will on others. The
construction of a social pact requires consensus in civil society on the terms of the
Constitution to be drafted and laws that result from it. This is a tough one to be held
both in Ukraine and in Venezuela because the consensus in Civil Society is virtually of
impossible construction. In Ukraine, to avoid civil war, one consequence would be to
divide the country into two parts, one linked to Russia and another to the European
Union. In Venezuela, it seems likely that the civil war become inevitable due the
radicalization of the existing political process there. In Brazil, there is urgent reform of
the State and Public Administration on the basis of a new Constitution for a new social
pact to be possible a new consensus in the country;
*
Alcoforado, Fernando, engineer and doctor of Territorial Planning and Regional
Development from the University of Barcelona, a university professor and consultant in
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3. strategic planning, business planning, regional planning and planning of energy
systems, is the author of Globalização (Editora Nobel, São Paulo, 1997), De Collor a
FHC- O Brasil e a Nova (Des)ordem Mundial (Editora Nobel, São Paulo, 1998), Um
Projeto para o Brasil (Editora Nobel, São Paulo, 2000), Os condicionantes do
desenvolvimento do Estado da Bahia (Tese de doutorado. Universidade de Barcelona,
http://www.tesisenred.net/handle/10803/1944, 2003), Globalização e Desenvolvimento
(Editora Nobel, São Paulo, 2006), Bahia- Desenvolvimento do Século XVI ao Século XX
e Objetivos Estratégicos na Era Contemporânea (EGBA, Salvador, 2008), The
Necessary Conditions of the Economic and Social Development-The Case of the State
of Bahia (VDM Verlag Dr. Muller Aktiengesellschaft & Co. KG, Saarbrücken,
Germany, 2010), Aquecimento Global e Catástrofe Planetária (P&A Gráfica e Editora,
Salvador, 2010), Amazônia Sustentável- Para o progresso do Brasil e combate ao
aquecimento global (Viena- Editora e Gráfica, Santa Cruz do Rio Pardo, São Paulo,
2011) and Os Fatores Condicionantes do Desenvolvimento Econômico e Social (Editora
CRV, Curitiba, 2012), among others.
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