Brazil Groups Look to Channel Anger into Political Action

SAO PAULO (AP) — Something in Brazil has snapped.

After one of the deepest recessions in its modern history, the largest corruption scandal in Latin America and more than a year under what may be the most unpopular president in the world, Brazilians are desperate for something different — so desperate that some are calling for the return of a military dictatorship.

But a handful of new organizations are trying to channel that anger into reinvigorating the country’s democracy by luring fresh faces into a political establishment widely seen as closed off and unrepresentative.

“The idea was simple: how to turn indignation into political action,” said Jose Frederico Lyra Netto, a co-founder of Acredito, one of the new non-partisan movements.

Acredito and another group called Agora! hope to each field about 30 candidates in next year’s elections who have never held office before. They’re asking people across the country to help create their platforms by suggesting solutions to Brazil’s thorniest issues: inequality, crime, failing schools and an aging population with a faltering social security system. Their efforts focus on state and federal legislatures.

A third organization, RenovaBR, is offering training and living expenses to about 150 newcomers...

To read the full article, published by AP on December 7, 2017, click here.