Food, No water, no sleep. Is Brazil inflicting pain on protesters from the student movement
Students from public schools in Sao Paulo are decrying state budget cuts and changes to the syllabi. Rovena Rosa/Agencia Brasil Fotografias, CC BY
The students are hoping to force the government to engage with the public about the proposed reforms that have so far been avoided.
In public, Brazilian President Michel Temer has given no weight to the sit-ins, saying that the children “don’t even know what the [budget freeze] is really about.”
In the background, the government has fought in court to halt occupations. For instance, in Parana State, for example, the judge ordered students to quit at their discretion under the threat of daily fines of $10,000 (US$2,500). That’s a significant sum for Brazil’s mostly poor public school families.
Other courts have also authorized brutal reprisals that are more often as torture, according to an organization called Advogados pela Democracia (Lawyers to Support Democracy), which is helping the children on a pro bono basis. Military police have stopped the power supply as well as food and water to the schools that have been occupied in Parana. In Brasilia, the police have been able to rule favorably in denying students sleep by the continuous use of soundmakers.
Such techniques violate child protection laws. It’s also significant that the last time they were employed was during the dictatorship of Brazil’s military (1964-1985).
Sit-ins are both practical and symbolic.
Children in schools that are, at the very least, public places and public spaces ought to be a reminder for Brazilians that the main purpose of education is to assist us in becoming intelligent, civilized humans who can be harmonious members of an environment. This is the philosophy Jean-Jacques Rousseau detailed in his 1762 work Emile, which translates to Treatise on Education.
Public school students have learned from personal experiences they have seen the value of public schools in Brazil. The value of this asset has diminished, and they are fighting to prevent the further degrading of this long-running but crucial public asset.
Students played a significant part in protesting against the impeachment of former President Dilma Rousseff. Ricardo Moraes/Reuters
Although Brazil’s post-dictatorship 1988 Constitution declares education to be an all-inclusive social right and a responsibility to the State, in reality, it’s been for a long time restricted to the elite. Initiatives to make education more accessible to all have led to some improvements but have left large gaps.
From 1990 until 2013, the dropout rate for children aged 7-18 years fell from 19.6 percent to 7.7%, according to the Brazilian Institute for Geography and Statistics. However, the 2013 survey of households in Brazil found that over 3 million children, both girls and boys, have not yet attended regular school.
The combination of race and geography is a clear indicator of those who aren’t included. The majority are black, poor, or from indigenous communities and reside in poor urban areas, semi-arid drylands in northwestern Brazil, the Amazon rainforest, or remote rural regions. Many children in poverty must drop their studies to provide for their family members. Others require special accommodations that schools don’t meet.
In light of this, protesting students are not only expressing their displeasure more than cuts to the budget. They’re also questioning Brazilian values.
