Lulismo, Brazilian social movements and the social place of politics

Abstract

I comment on the bourgeois old age of Brazilianpolitics, something that is recognized by themost demanding mentors of neoliberal policies,not only because of the efficiency with whichLulismo mediates between the interests ofbig capital and the inevitable products of thepattern of accumulation that is currently beingimposed (structural unemployment, hunger, andenvironmental destruction) but also because itsgreatest gift is to do all this without provoking anysubstantial change in a country historically markedby chronic colonialism, endemic social inequality,a low ranking in the production of capital goods,scant generation of technology, and weak stabilityin its domestic economy and politics.