Recent books dispute debate on June 2013 – 23/06/2023 – Politics

June 2013 is still an enigma to be deciphered by Brazilian political thought and, marking a decade of protests, a set of publications arrive in bookstores this month to account for this event that behaves like a sphinx.

If the streets were the scene of diverse claims and internal conflicts, this effervescence now takes over the field of ideas, where interpretation disputes mirror those cold days of protests with the same vitality.

One of the main publications to come out is “A Razão dos Centavos”, by researcher Roberto Andrés. At the center of his analysis is the issue of public transport, the urban crisis and the right to the city.

In historical research, which places the June protests in a long tradition of urban revolts, such as the Revolta do Vintém, in Rio de Janeiro in 1880, Andrés observes that the uniqueness of 2013 has to do with the organizational capacity of the various collectives around the increase in fares, in movements that had already been gaining consistency throughout the year, in the dispute for the famous 20 cents.

“Rates above inflation, increased travel time, reduced lines. All of this led to dissatisfaction accumulating in society, as had happened at other times in history. Only this time there were more organized groups fighting against, due to the transportation issue”, evaluates the researcher in an interview.

Organized into “before”, “during” and “after”, Andrés’ book is also based on research by the author on the posters that stamped the demonstrations at the height of the movement, in the second half of June.

In his view, what had started as a very specific revolt related to the right to the city, based on the analysis made by the author of more than 6,000 posters that populated the streets, gradually expanded the scope of claims, motivated by a broader adherence of different sectors of civil society.

“In the beginning, mainly, it was the issue of the Confederations Cup and the World Cup that generated a series of dissatisfactions. Afterwards, there is still a more or less spontaneous adhesion of several other sectors, making the streets start to point out a myriad of guidelines. It is what also keeps the interpretation of that event still under dispute”, says Andrés.

It is precisely this myriad of guidelines that takes center stage in the book “Three”, by researcher Angela Alonso, columnist for Sheet.

The author takes the image of a mosaic to account for the heterogeneity of actors and agendas that made up the street scene in June, organizing protesters into three distinct categories: those linked to neo-socialism; autonomists, with no ties to institutional parties or movements; and the patriots, more to the right than the other camps, with a conservative view and motivated by moral guidelines.

“The heterogeneity of movements and agendas was the strength and weakness of the cycle of protests in June. Strength because the different ones demonstrated simultaneously against the common adversary, the PT government”, ponders the author in an interview. “Weakness because there was no positive agenda in common, contrary to what happened in Diretas, in Fora Collor, and, later, in Dilma’s impeachment.”

Alonso assesses that the cycle of protests maintained some unity precisely because of the contestation focus in relation to the federal government. If there was a dispersion in the actors, in the ideological fields and in the guidelines, the target, for the author, was the same. In particular, a set of sensitive issues that Alonso calls conflict zones: redistributive policies, moral guidelines and violence.

“Many demands were on the street since before June. They were basically the same as those coming from the Lula governments and concerned the redistribution of resources and opportunities, private and public moralities and violence, both in terms of security and the commission of the truth. In each of these conflict zones, movements called for changes in opposite directions. It was a mosaic of demands”, he argues.

Andrés and Alonso’s books produce quite different readings and diagnoses about June 2013, which expresses the vitality of the dispute over interpretations. Based on well-documented research, with vigorous reflection, both open the debate on themes that for ten years have haunted the horizon of those June nights.

Apart from the outstanding books by Andrés and Alonso, the publication “June 2013: The Phantom Rebellion”, by Boitempo, edited by Breno Altman and Maria Carlotto, is also worthy of note.

Composed of 11 short essays, the book focuses on the plurality of interpretations about the protests, with a view that is closely linked to the left. A highlight is the collection’s prologue, which features a text by former president Dilma Rousseff taking stock of the impacts of June and her particular interpretation of the demand for actions capable of producing responses to the claims.

In a more theoretical dimension, focused on political philosophy, highlight is the book by Rodrigo Nunes, “Nem Vertical Nem Horizontal”, which will be released in June by Ubu publishing house.

Even though he does not take June 2013 as his central object of analysis, the influence that the cycle of protests has on informing Nunes’s analysis of collective organizations of demands is undeniable, which abandon the centrality of parties and unions and pulverize themselves into foci dispersed but effective in action, a fundamental characteristic of that moment.