Apparently we are experiencing the closing of a cycle in Brazilian
history: the cycle initiated with the “political opening” in 1979 and which
resulted in the closing of the military period in 1985. This cycle was marked
by the clash between the traditional economic and political oligarchies and civil
society, with important achievements in terms of democracy and citizenship but
which, strictly speaking, did not result in marked ruptures in the Brazilian historical
class divorce. Indeed, the dominant political vector throughout these periods
has been the hegemony of some kind of conservative pact.
I say this without losing sight of the role of the PT – Labour Party – and
particularly of the Lula governments in the relaxation of this conservative
pact, a historical role that, without constructing major ruptures, sought ways
for a national understanding through which one could guarantee some social
achievements yielding to the Preservation of rentier structures of the
oligarchies.
This is a complex period marked by the narrative marker of the last years
of the military dictatorship: the idea of a "slow, gradual and progressive
opening". It is as if the whole New Republic – the republican period
initiated with the 1988 Constitution – continues to follow this order, endorsed
even by the PT, always seeking a national agreement.
What you see now is the rupture of this agreement. A rupture provoked by
the political right, by the conservative thought and above all by the
oligarchies that had broken with the pact considering that the concessions made
to the popular classes were excessive.
Ultimately, the coup was not only given by the oligarchies on the PT government, it
was given against the state, against the model agreed with the 1988
Constitution and that had begun to be constructed with the political opening,
even if "slowly, gradual and progressive", in 1979.