Occupy Handel

On May 12, 2016, the Brazilian Senate voted to suspend President Dilma Rousseff, of the left-of-center Partido dos Trabalhadores (PT), and begin an impeachment trial against her. Rousseff—who spent three years in prison in the 1970s during the dictatorship—is now suspended from her duties for 180 days; Michel Temer, a 75-year-old politician, will succeed her as leader of a transitional government. His cabinet is made up exclusively of white men. The transitional government’s first acts in office were to announce a series of pro-business reforms and the closing of the Ministry of Culture and the Ministry of Women, Racial Equality, and Human Rights—a clear sign that the impeachment proceedings against Rousseff are an attempt to move Brazilian society back to more conservative times.  Opponents of the impeachment use the term “coup,” and in fact there are serious doubts as to the constitutional legitimacy of the proceedings. Rousseff has been in office since 2011 and was recently reelected—allegations of corruption have gone unproven. Instead, she was accused of fudging numbers in the budget. This offense is not enough grounds for impeachment under the law. In contrast, according to Transparency Brazil, a majority of the congressmen and senators who voted for her impeachment have been indicted for corruption, bribery, money laundering, kidnapping, and even homicide.  A protest movement has formed against the transitional government and its plans to shut down the two Ministries. Around the country, artists and intellectuals have occupied buildings belonging to the Fundação Nacional de Artes (Funarte); in Rio de Janeiro, the abandoned Ministry of Culture building has been taken over by protesters. For the last week, members of the NGO Música pela Democracia have been organizing a series of spontaneous protests: “Carmina Burana” and Handel’s “Messiah,” fitted with new lyrics, have mutated into a kind of soundtrack for the demonstrations. Claudio Alves, a contrabassist at Rio’s Theatro Municipal and a professor at the Conservatório Brasileiro de Música, was there. We reached him by phone Tuesday.