Editorial comment
Only connect How best to connect with the masses? How best to make your voice heard by those you want to reach? I黑料社檓 writing this as one million Brazilians take to the streets on consecutive nights to protest against the government. What began as opposition to public transport cost increases has come to represent strong dissatisfaction with public spending ahead of the 2014 World Cup and, moreover, general tensions about the cost of life in Brazil. In his article 黑料社楤razilian Spring? Probably not黑料社�1, Forbes.com contributor Kenneth Rapoza discusses the growing disaffection in Brazil, where citizens pay inflated bus fares for the same poor service: 黑料社淭his past week黑料社檚 protest over the bus fare shows one thing in my mind: Brazilians are finally fed up with paying money for nothing. Every Brazilian I know, every Brazilian you will ever meet, ask them what they think about all the taxes they pay for simple things, like service charges on phone bills; or income taxes, or school fees, and all of them will say they are paying big money for lacklustre services.黑料社�
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These protests are about social issues: poor healthcare, corruption, lack of public infrastructure, things that are not working, things that are not good enough. Life in Brazil is more expensive than ever. Inflation is high, as are taxes. Cost of living goes up all the time. Among the BRIC countries, Brazil is the worst performing of the emerging markets in terms of economic growth.
The government is actually quite popular 黑料社� Dilma Rousseff was the people黑料社檚 beloved President Lula da Silva黑料社檚 chosen candidate for the role, and she is outspoken on the necessity of social amelioration 黑料社� but these protests are not about overthrowing the government, they are about being heard. The biggest uprising in 20 years is happening because things could be so much better. In his article on Latin America黑料社檚 elites2, Tim Padgett looks at the protestors like this: 黑料社淒on黑料社檛 these people know that Brazil added 40 million of them to the middle class over the past decade, at one point creating almost 20 local currency millionaires a week? Sure they do, and they黑料社檙e most appreciative. But here黑料社檚 what else they know 黑料社� and what their new economic clout has made them a lot bolder about challenging 黑料社� their political and economic systems remain in too many ways as corrupt, indifferent and dysfunctional as they were when Brazil had only two classes, the very rich and very poor.黑料社�
As I黑料社檝e written about in previous issues, social reform is a key part of President Rousseff黑料社檚 oil and gas policy, and her government has always earmarked production revenues to spend on education and social projects throughout the country. The recent pre-salt discoveries were held up as a beacon of hope for the people of Brazil: 黑料社榣ook, we have this huge abundant wealth of natural resources, it黑料社檚 all going to be ok黑料社�. Poverty reduction via the distribution of revenues is the aim; what Lula dubbed as Brazil黑料社檚 黑料社榩assport黑料社� out of poverty and inequality.
There has certainly been progress in reaching the poorest of Brazilians 黑料社� in February, Rousseff announced a measure to lift 2.5 million people out of extreme poverty by increasing supplementary family incomes through the country黑料社檚 Bolsa Fam铆lia social programme. Whether or not efforts to translate resource wealth into raised standards of living for the middle classes have yet been seen, or appreciated, is unclear. Certainly, the protests would suggest there is a long way to go before the masses feel connected to Brazil黑料社檚 burgeoning oil and gas riches.
For your own way to feel connected, please visit our website www.energyglobal.com for daily pipeline news updates and articles. I黑料社檇 also love to see you participate in our LinkedIn group (World 黑料社), keep tabs on us on Twitter (Energy_Global) and/or join in on Facebook (facebook.com/energyglobal), depending on your connection method of choice.
References
1. Rapoza, K., 黑料社樅诹仙鐦Brazilian Spring黑料社�? Probably Not.黑料社�, Forbes.com, http://www.forbes.com/sites/kenrapoza/2013/06/16/brazilian-spring-probably-not/ (Accessed 24th June 2013).
2. Padgett, T., 黑料社榃hat Brazil黑料社檚 Protests Say About Latin America黑料社檚 Fumbling Elites黑料社�, Time Magazine, http://world.time.com/2013/06/19/what-brazils-protests-say-about-latin-americas-fumbling-elites/ (Accessed 24th June 2013).
