Interview: Brazilian Political Expert Says Frustrated Middle Class Fueling Protests

A riot policeman fires his weapon while confronting stone-throwing demonstrators during an antigovernment protest in Belem, Brazil, at the mouth of the Amazon River, on June 20.
 

RFE/RL: To the outside world, this public discontent is at odds with how Brazil has appeared on the world stage in recent years -- as a rising, stable, wealthy country. What will happen, if anything, as a result of these demonstrations?

Sotero: I take the positive view -- I think that the country will take a lesson from this and will respond to those challenges because the alternative would be to condemn the nation itself to a very mediocre position, to very negative outcomes that would continue to produce more violence in the streets, that would not respond to the challenges of improving education, improving health services, public transportation. The demands of this rising middle class in Brazil -- this has been clear in poll after poll -- are on issues that affect directly their quality of life, the quality of life of their children. They want more and better of everything they have received in this period of relative prosperity that helped to transform the image of Brazil abroad into this sort of more promising nation.

But this is what could come out of this, I think this is what inspired most of the protesters, that inspired this movement to go out and demand more participation, better outcomes, and politicians that act on behalf of the people. In that sense, I think it’s a very promising and positive movement