Alex Rodrigues       Reporter Agência Brasil

Brasília – After catalyzing popular dissatisfaction with corruption and impunity into an enormous Independence Day event, the leaders behind the March Against Corruption say they intend to continue at the forefront of popular pressure for changes.

“We hope to take advantage of the popularity of the movement and promote demonstrations in an attempt to change the country’s laws. The march on Independence Day was a generic movement against corruption. We will now move forward to make effective changes,” declared Luciana Kalil, one of the organizers of the March Against Corruption.

According to Kalil, the group intends to collect signatures in order to present petitions for new laws (“projetos de lei de iniciativa popular”). One of the principal aims will be to put an end to secret votes in the Chamber of Deputies and the Senate.

José Jance Marques, another organizer, says the group is waiting to see the reaction of politicians who “should have got the message.” Then the March Against Corruption will plan additional events that will be small but focused on changing laws. “We have to apply pressure and not let the moment escape. The idea is to hold other demonstrations in the future, that is for sure,” he said. Jance pointed out that the march had a homepage and that the site was still active on Facebook.

Brazilian Independence Day commemorations are a civic-military event that has become more and more civic and less military since the end of the military dietatorship (1985). One of the changes in Brasilia was moving the parade out of Army Headquarters in the Military Sector, which was distant from the city center and, well, very military.

The parade now takes place on the Mall (“Esplanada”)in the very heart of the capital. The Mall is a little more than one kilometer long and lies at the eastern end of the 16-kilometer long Monumental Axis-Avenue (“Eixo Monumental”) that runs like a spear (or airplane fuselage) through the city center from west to east. At one end of the Mall is the central city bus station and at the other end the seats of executive, legislative and judicial power at the Plaza of the Three Powers where the Palacio do Planalto (where the president works), the Congress and the Supreme Court are all located.

According to the Guinness Book of Records, the Mall in Brasilia is one of the world’s biggest. It is some 250 meters wide, with broad open grassy spaces in the center bordered by six-lane avenues on each side. On the other side of the wide avenues are rows of buildings that house the executive branch ministries (along with the National Cathedral, Library and Museum buildings).

On Wednesday, September 7, the official Independence Day parade took place on the left side of the Mall (looking down from the central bus station toward the Congress building) and was presided over by president Dilma Rousseff. After she arrived in an open car, she passed the troop in review and officially authorized the parade, as is customary. Then she sat in a grandstand with her daughter and grandson, along with other authorities (including most of her cabinet) and watched the parade. It is estimated that there were over 20,000 people at the official parade. A temporary wall isolated the area of the official parade from the other side of the Mall.

On the other side of the Mall, at the same time as the official parade, another “parade” was taking place: the March Against Corruption. According to the police, it began shortly after 9:00 am with less than 2,000 people. Around noon, the March Against Corruption spilled over onto the grass in front of the Congress and police estimated it had grown to between 25,000 and 30,000. A lot of people, many of them from the official parade, had joined the protest. The march, which also took place in other Brazilian cities, was planned through internet social networking. According to the organizers in Brasilia, some 25,000 people logged in on their homepage.

“The result was positive and surprised us. After people from the Independence parade joined us, we had more than the 25,000 that we enrolled on Facebook,” said Luciana Kalil. She added that the march was such a big success that she had given interviews to reporters from Germany, the United States and Argentina. She said the turnout showed that people are really fed up with traditional forms of political organization. She explained that was the reason the march did not attack anyone in particular. “People from political parties came to us, but they have their own agenda. We never accepted that. This was an apolitical march, no political parties allowed, ” she declared. “We refused to let any political party take over the movement. No political party banners or flags were allowed, the only flag was the Brazilian flag.”

Allen Bennett – translator/editor The News in English – content modified

Link - Organizadores de marcha querem recolher assinaturas para mudar leis e inibir corrupção