Brazilian Optimism

Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

I´ve spent the past three days in one meeting after another with leaders of Brazilian citizen groups. Finally, I put my finger on what it is I keep picking up from them — optimism.

That certainly is not what I pick up from progressive activists in the US these days, still reeling from the challenges of a second Bush administration. It isn´t what I pick up from progressive activists in Bolivia either, where economic and political crises keep jumping out from behind trees unannounced.

Brazil has one of the most progressive governments in the world these days, led by Lula, the factory worker turned four-time Labor Party candidate, turned President. Like all leaders, you hear more about the imperfections here up close than you do abroad, but there is still little question that Lula and what he represents is the most hopeful example in the Americas.

Some like the swagger of Chavez in Venezuela, but ignore the authoritarian instincts that are evident in his governance as well. He is also a one man show. Lula is the visible face of a movement that has been building here for years and will survive long after Lula leaves office.

I am looking at how citizens carry out advocacy on budgets here, part of a global study I am involved with. In other countries citizen budget work is about quick, targeted campaigns to get more money for one slice of the pie or another. Here in Brazil people talk about real democracy building and they mean it.

Citizens in Brazil can take a course in public budgets on line for free. They are invited to participate in workshops, engage with their governments. This country that has moved in two decades from dictatorship to sponsorship of the World Social Forum takes democracy building seriously.

I have seen optimism in activists´eyes before, in California , in Cochabamba, and elsewhere around the world but Brazilian optimism, likes Samba, seems built to last.

And today, the most progressive, pro-people government in the hemisphere announced economic growth at 5.5%. I´d like to see George Bush match that!