The role of equality in Brazil
On August 1789 the Déclaration des droits de l'homme et du citoyen passed by France’s National Constituent Assembly. Introduced by Marquis Lafayette, it is still considered a victory when it comes to human/ civil rights and is one of the most important historical scars of the French Revolution. “Liberté, egalité, fraternité” was firstly said by one of the most influential figures of the the libertarian movement in France, Robespierre. This is one of the most famous mottos in history and it is mostly related to democratic ideals.
Some may argue that the French revolution marked the spreading of democracy in modern history. With the Declaration of the rights of Man and of the Citizen, all men were finally equally protected by the law.
Democratic regimes are pursued by most societies even after all this time. However, its definition is still controversial. What constitutes a democracy? Who are the political actors involved in this system of government? Who takes the decisions?
Abraham Lincoln once said that Democracy is the "Government of the people, by the people, for the people..”. Inspired by the Greek society and wise Greek philosophers, he was right. A democracy is a political system where the people exerts sovereignty.
A few characteristics of a democracy can be exemplified by Robert Dahl in 1989: effective participation in society, the right to vote, equality in society, etc. These principles are defended by different constitutions around the world such as Germany’s, United States ( after a few amends), Brazil etc.
However, it is questionable if these elements are actually put into practice. According to scholar André Lecours, there are more systematic ways to analyse the quality of a democracy ; the minimal, the middle- range and the maximal.
A minimal requirement for a democracy is the happening of free and fair elections; the middle- range requirement is the protection of fundamental freedoms of an individual and, last but not least the maximal requirement is equality not only in law, but also in practice among all citizens.
When I first analysed Lecours’ requirements I immediately thought of the quality of a few said-to-be democratic regimes throughout the globe. The third element, however is the one that most catches my attention when it comes to Brazil.
Brazil was firstly declared a democracy after the dictatorship period in 1985. After going through a very dark and brutal period, we were finally celebrating the new era. However, when I think of Brazil nowadays, I must say that there are points that characterise a democracy that are missing.
According to political scientist Wolfgang Merkel, a good democracy presents a solid economic/ social security and the absence of absolute poverty .
Although the scenario has been changing in the past few years, Brazil has still 4,9% of people living in absolute poverty. Gladly, the numbers have been sinking, however, the last official data was published before the actual economic crisis. Brazilians had to experience in 2015, the highest fall (3,8%) of the GDP in 25 years. In addition to that, the unemployment rate went from 7,4% to 10,2% in one year, probably leading to a hypothetical rise in poverty rates.
Second point defended by Merkel in a good democracy is the capacity of citizens to participate equally in political decisions leading to the full use of their civil rights. This point falls short when it comes to Brazil. Although we have made big advances when it comes to elections ( such as the illiterate vote conquered in 1985 to promote social inclusion), what does as an equal participation in political decisions actually mean?
A good example of that happened in the elections of 2014. Out of 511 deputies in our Chamber, only 34 conquered enough votes on their own. The other 477 did not achieve enough votes in order to acquire their direct mandate and were indirectly elected by their party’s list.
According to non official data, in the same year (2014), 27,16% of the voters invalidated their votes. One of the most known explanations to this phenomenon can be that a large numbers of citizens does not know who to vote for, how do elections actually work or do not express any interest in politics at all. In the case of people who do not know how the chamber of deputies work or their actual importance, can we speak of equal participation in political activities and elections?
As stated by The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) in a ranking formed by 76 countries that compares the quality of education, Brazil occupies the 60th position. In a chaotic scenario like this, how dare we speak about equality in the Brazilian society? Education is one of the basis for political participation and knowledge, if there is a lack of education, ( fundamental right defended in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, Art.26) there may be bad consequences when it comes to political participation, such as political alienation.
Even though we may talk about democracies in the media world as something obvious, we should be more careful when analysing societies that consider themselves democratic. Although this topic may be ancient, it is still of much relevance and should not be seen as something that is already won. Although the world has made great progress when it comes to human and civil rights since 1789, there are still pertinent aspects that need to be worked on immediately, such as equality