The Great Brazil Topic

[Mike88]

So, Lula is unbeatable...

Is he that popular or just the least bad of all?

[Mike88]

Breaking news: Michel Temer has been caught on tape asking JBS' CEO Joesley Batista to pay bribes to Eduardo Cunha to avoid a whistleblower agreement from Cunha.

This is the end of Michel Temer. I expect him to resign pretty soon after this.

Jeez, Brazil is going through presidents like flies. I guess for lack of a better option, Lula would probably be best, right?

Lula will be lucky if he isn't in jail by the end of the month.

Lula is just as corrupt as Temer. His name is also involved, here in Portugal, in the corruption case against former PM José Sócrates. Brasil has a real problem right now... Of the potential candidates for 2018, the vast majority is involved in corruption cases. I think Marina Silva is involved in something also, i recall reading something about it.

Frankly i don't know who can really lead Brasil right now or in the near future.

[Mike88]

Temer lost the support of 4 more parties the parties are:

Brazilian Socialist Party (PSB)
Popular Socialist Party (PPS)
Podemos (Formerly PTN)
Humanist Solidarity Party (PHS)


Together the 4 parties have 66 deputies.

These are pretty hilarious names for pro-Temer parties.

Party names in Brazil and Portugal tend to be confusing.

I think Brazil beats us in that category.

[Mike88]

Temer lost the support of 4 more parties the parties are:

Brazilian Socialist Party (PSB)
Popular Socialist Party (PPS)
Podemos (Formerly PTN)
Humanist Solidarity Party (PHS)


Together the 4 parties have 66 deputies.

These are pretty hilarious names for pro-Temer parties.

Party names in Brazil and Portugal tend to be confusing.

I think Brazil beats us in that category.

Well, your main right-wing party is called Social Democratic, which is funny, but yes, Brazil does it to the extreme

Actually, calling PSDB a right-wing party is quite a stretch.

Even Lula and FHC already said that it isn't right wing.

I believe Kalwejt was referring to the Portuguese PSD but talking about the PSDB, how does the party position itself? The PT is the main center-left party, PMDB is a catch all party from the left to right... and PSDB? A moderate centrist party which sometimes leans left or right?

[Mike88]

Well, I may be wrong. I just have some problems seeing PSDB as centre-left or simply centre. Maybe I'm not familiar enough with Brazilian context.

The military dictatorship had it's toll in the political thinking of the Brazilian society, in my opinion. As i understand, there's a bit of right-wing trauma where people on the right or liberal conservatives are a bit embarrassed to admit what they believe in. The same happened in Portugal after the 25th April and even today there's a bit anti-rightwing, anti-liberal speech here and people just don't say what they really think. That's one of the reasons the political parties names are so weird.

As i understand, by what Yankee said, the PSDB is the anti-PT party. It doesn't matter if they are center-left, center or center-right, they aggregate many groups of different political views that have one thing in common: they're distrust of PT. In politics, that's enough.

Also, i find it fascinating the similarities between the PSDB and the early PSD in the 70's. In 1976, the PSD also applied for the Socialist International but the PS block it. Because of this decision, Sá Carneiro, the founder of the PSD, swung to right and that shift to the right was cemented during the Cavaco Silva years between 1985 and 1995. Interesting.