Those who weren’t there – 02/01/2023 – Maria Hermínia Tavares

In the most touching moment of the inauguration ceremony, Lula and Alckmin went up the ramp of the Planalto Palace accompanied by a black boy, an indigenous leader, a metallurgist, a teacher, a cook, a young man with cerebral palsy sequelae, an artisan and a collector of recyclable material —from whom the elected person received the sash. The group symbolized the diversity of poor people, the first recipients of the government headed by a left-wing politician.

It is fair that this is the case in a country where the average per capita income in 2021 was R$1,500 and only 1% of the population earned more than R$11,300. When poverty is overwhelming —and the mother of multiple inequalities—, progressive governments must make combating it a priority and reason for being.

In addition to the poorest, in the four cardinal points, the granters of victory to the broad coalition headed by the PT. Research prior to the first round showed that Lula only beat Bolsonaro among the many millions of Brazilians surviving on up to two minimum wages.

Not even for that reason is it possible to imagine that Brazilian society consists of a heap of destitute people and a tiny elite of moneyed bloodsuckers. Nor can it be conceived that a progressive government should care only and exclusively for the many and exhort the few to generosity.

Between one and the other, there is a significant contingent of Brazilians from various occupations, in whose lives the State is not present in a positive way. In 2016, I commissioned opinion research to better understand this group—then loosely called the “new middle classes.”

The data showed that the improvement perceived by them in their condition, in the PT boom years, was attributed to their own effort, to God and to family support, never to government decisions. In general, they sympathized with the PSDB, although, two years earlier, a portion had voted for Dilma Rousseff.

In 2022, consolidating a pattern, electoral polls indicated that practically half of Brazilians with income between two and five minimum wages preferred Bolsonaro, while 40% opted for the PT. Of similar size was Bolsonaro’s advantage in the group whose income exceeded five minimum wages (Quaest Consultoria e Pesquisa).

Although they were not represented on the ramp on January 1st, it would be a serious mistake to ignore them in the speeches and actions of a government committed to deradicalizing political life, which requires it to take care of the quality of state action: in public security, education and health —in addition to intransigence with corruption and patrimonialism in its backyard.

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