Telesur.png Masses Defend Brazil against Right-Wing Attacks on Government Telesur, Venezuela, 18 March 2016 The Workers' Party has called on all Brazilians to fill every corner of Brazil to defend democracy as the impeachment process begins in Congress. Over a million people took to the streets across Brazil to show their support for democracy, for President Dilma Rousseff and Lula da Silva, as both face a right-wing smear campaign, while congress right-wing opposition members kicked off impeachments sessions against Rousseff. At least 60 leftist organizations, including labor unions and grassroots movements, participated in the mass rallies in at least 15 main cities, including Sao Paolo, Rio de Janeiro, Brasilia and across the country. The march aims at "celebrating the democracy we have in our country, which allow us to express our opinion within the law and without violence," said in a statement the Brazil Popular Front movement, the event's main organizer. Sectors of the ruling class in Brazil wish to manipulate public opinion, explained João Pedro Stédile, leader of Brazil's Landless Workers Movement (MST). “In this purpose, they have created some sort of a special comando with judges and prosecutors, in order to claim they own the truth and attack the State,” he added. Thousands of PT supporters gathered on Sao Paulo's Paulista Avenue, clad in the bright red Workers' Party shirts and surrounded by a heavy police presence, whilst a festival feel developed outside the congress buildings in Brasilia. Lula addressed the crowd later in the night, saying "I will show this picture to President Rousseff, so she knows that there are a lot of people here wanting her to stay in power." "Lula, let's get to work. Let the executive (branch) do its work, (let) the legislators vote and let the judiciary respect their work. Let's vote in peace," said engineer Noara Pimentel in Brasilia, according to Reuters. "I am here to defend democracy against this coup d’état. Brazilian democracy, that is what I am talking about. The government is not stepping down, power to the people," added civil servant Rodrigo da Costa Lima. "Long live Lula, long live Rousseff, long live our orixas (African deities) who are defending Brazilian democracy!" a singer and religious leader of the Afro-Brazilian tradition, Candomble, told demonstrators from a temporary stage. The leadership of the ruling Workers' Party, or PT, have called all Brazilians to fill every corner of Brazil to defend democracy and to show the right-wing that the social changes achieved by the governments of Lula and Dilma will not be reversed and much less will they go unnoticed. Lula da Silva was accused of attempting to avoid legal prosecution in money laundering charges currently being presented against him in Brazilian courts by accepting a Cabinet ministry position with Dilma Rousseff earlier on Thursday. Soon after Lula's swearing-in ceremony, federal Judge Itagiba Catta Preta Neto issued an injunction to suspend the appointment on the grounds it prevented "the free exercise of justice." The Federal Supreme Court has just confirmed the decision, meaning the current investigation against Lula will continue in Curitiba, the capital of the state of Parana, over money laundering charges. Lula commented in an open letter that he “will not lose faith in justice, balance, and sense of proportion from the part of the Supreme Court's judges.” The Brazilian Bar Association recently declared they supported the impeachment proceedings against Rousseff. Last year, the opposition launched a plan to defame and discredit Rousseff. They've pushed forward impeachment proceedings after attempting to implicate her in a corruption scandal known as "Car Wash," affecting the state-run oil company Petrobras. However, she has denied all the allegations and has denounced the apparently false accusations as attempts to bring her government down through a "coup." From: <http://www.telesurtv.net/english/news/Brazil-Masses-Defend-Against-Right-wi ng-Attacks-on-Government-20160318-0012.html> http://www.telesurtv.net/english/news/Brazil-Masses-Defend-Against-Right-win g-Attacks-on-Government-20160318-0012.html -- -- You are subscribed. This footer can help you. Please POST your comments to [email protected] or reply to this message. You can visit the group WEB SITE at http://groups.google.com/group/yclsa-eom-forum for different delivery options, pages, files and membership. To UNSUBSCRIBE, please email [email protected] . You don't have to put anything in the "Subject:" field. You don't have to put anything in the message part. All you have to do is to send an e-mail to this address (repeat): [email protected] . --- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "YCLSA Discussion Forum" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.
