By CHICO WHITAKER*
Parliamentarians in favor of the people must also form their benches
I was invited to this meeting with candidates for the 2024 municipal elections, but my health prevents me from being with you. So I take the liberty of sending you this text.
These are just three suggestions that I would like to give you, for your campaigns. Hoping they talk about them with their voters and supporters. These are things that I learned when I was a councilor more than 20 years ago and that I have been deepening at the Universidade Mútua, which promotes the exchange of knowledge, from Paulo Freire's pedagogical perspective: everyone has something to teach and something still to learn.
1.
The first guess is about the power they will have after being elected. I would say they will have very little power if they remain isolated. They can be left talking to themselves, even if they make beautiful speeches from the Chamber's rostrum. They will only have any power if they have the support of other councilors. And in this case, it could be very large. Because we live in a democratic State governed by the rule of law and, in this State, everyone has to respect the law. You can only do what is authorized by law. Not even mayors, governors and presidents can ignore it. And those who make the law are the Chambers, the Assemblies, the Senate. In other words, the Legislative Branch, to which you want to be elected.
And how does this Power decide? By majority vote. Even the most authoritarian ones cannot achieve anything if they do not have a majority of parliamentarians who vote on the law they propose, or take any other decision. The proposals to change things, which you are making in your campaigns, will only come to fruition if they are taken up by a majority of councilors.
2.
The second guess is about a way to achieve this. Our legislative houses (Chambers, Assemblies, Senate) are doing very poorly in Brazil. They are little or not at all representative of the Brazilian people. And they end up voting only for things against the people. Because they are only interested in making decisions that serve their personal interests and those of the companies and organizations that finance their campaigns.
Those who propose and want to vote on things in favor of the people, in our parliaments, are minorities. They do not have the necessary votes for their proposals to be approved.
So how can we overcome this blockage? Parliamentarians against the people defend their interests by forming large groups: the bull, the bullet, the Bible, agribusiness, poison, etc., etc. And so they impose whatever they want on the country. If they want, they won't approve any proposal from the Executive, or any law that he needs to fulfill his campaign promises, or even just to govern.
Now, can't pro-people parliamentarians also form their own benches? In favor of the health of the people, their housing, education, transport, equality, the elderly, the young, against racism, corruption, deforestation, poison, etc, etc? Like women: aren't they already forming women's caucuses, bringing together people from the most diverse parties?
But to turn the tide like this, you will need to dedicate a little time to this in your campaigns, of each candidate in favor of the people. As long as they can. Because it will be essential to them. And involve your voters in this reflection and action. This depends on not having to talk only to them afterwards.
Start by identifying the issue or issues on which you intend to work more intensely. Then identify other candidates who have the same goals. Discuss with them the need to form majorities in favor of the people, around these objectives. And form groups of candidates who think the same. And, once elected (hopefully!) they form benches in favor of the people, to achieve the collective's objectives.
We have to have large and powerful benches in favor of the people. And it is necessary that, together, they have the majority of votes in the Legislative Houses.
3.
My third guess: it is through the municipal elections that the opportunists and profiteers who deteriorate the quality and representativeness of our parliaments enter the political class. They run not because of ideology, but to become electoral leaders, at the base of society, of the deputies and senators who finance their campaigns. So that the electoral machine works well against the people! And then, if they rise in the political career, it will be the parliamentarians who inflate the benches against the people. They will exchange the power of their vote for everything they can extract from the public coffers, for their personal benefit, blackmailing whoever is in power.
But how do these smart guys manage to get elected? Buying, in exchange for sometimes tiny aid, the votes of thousands of people with unmet and politically uninformed needs, which is what there is no shortage of in Brazil. They are the abusers of other people's needs.
Well, there is a Law, number 9840/99, which punishes the buying of votes and also the use of the public machine to obtain voters. It was a popular initiative law because only the people would have the courage to propose something like that. And the million signatures with which it was presented to Congress overthrew resistance until it was approved.
And now, thanks to it, anyone caught committing these crimes loses their candidate registration and becomes ineligible for eight years. Just gather evidence and report it to the MP – Public Ministry and the MCCE – Movement to Combat Electoral Corruption. Let no one wait to do so if they know of the activities of a criminal of this type. This way, we will reduce the number of members of the benches against the people.
Can we start turning the tide in 2024? Rest assured: if you talk about this in your campaigns you will wake up many voters to the power they have in their hands, as citizens, to improve our country. They will no longer leave it up to the last minute to choose who to vote for as councilor or councilor and they will not forget who they voted for!
*Chico Whitaker is an architect and social activist. He was councilor in São Paulo. He is currently a consultant to the Brazilian Commission for Justice and Peace.
Transcript of video sent to a meeting of the Pastoral de Fé e Política da Lapa (SP) on 17/08/2024.
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