Comparative collective action

["Ian Murray" <seamus2001@xxxxxxxx>]

[While CA watches Oprah...]
[from the BBC]
Thursday, 28 June, 2001, 01:29 GMT 02:29 UK
Brazil energy march turns violent


By Tom Gibb in Sao Paulo

There have been street confrontations in the Brazilian capital,
Brasilia, during a march to protest against corruption and energy
rationing.

The police say some 30,000 people took part in the march but that the
trouble was started by a small group of punks and anarchists who
started to throw bottles and stones at police lines.

In response, the police fired teargas, even into the podium in front
of the Congress from which speeches were being made.

They also used a water cannon, and mounted police charged the
protesters. At least eight people were reported injured.

What is perhaps remarkable is that there have not been more protests
like this, given what many Brazilians think of their politicians and
the government.

Some 30,000 people took part in the march

Opinion polls show the popularity of President Fernando Henrique
Cardoso has plummeted because of the energy crisis.

The government blames lack of rain in a country which relies
completely on hydro-electricity, but most Brazilians blame lack of
government planning.

The latest corruption case filling the headlines is not helping the
government's cause.

The powerful president of the Senate, Jader Barbalho, is accused of
having a part in selling titles for fictitious farms when he was
agrarian reform minister, and of being associated with a scheme which
defrauded more than $1bn from development projects in the Amazon.