Brazil: Waking the Sleeping Giant

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A mass movement calls for a quicker return to full democracy

For weeks, Rio de Janeiro had been gearing up for the event. The words diretas já (direct elections now) became inescapable, splashed across posters, walls, buttons, T shirts and bumper stickers. Climbers scaled one of the peaks that surround the city and mounted a 35-ft.-high cloth banner bearing the slogan. At Maracanã stadium, the huge electronic Scoreboard flashed the words repeatedly during soccer matches. The climax came last week, in Brazil's biggest public demonstration ever. An estimated 1 million people swarmed into the plaza that surrounds Rio's Candelária Church, raising clenched fists and chanting "Diretas já!" Yet at times the six-hour rally had the flavor of carnaval, with a hot-air balloon, a laser light show and strains of a samba beat. Shortly after nightfall, politicians and major Brazilian entertainers brought the crowd to fever pitch with passionate speeches and songs. Declared Leonel Brizola, governor of the state of Rio de Janeiro: "The history of Brazil will be divided between what happened before and what happened after this demonstration."

At issue is the way in which Brazilians will take the next step in their country's cautious return to democracy after two decades of military rule: the election of a successor to President João Figueiredo, 66, a retired general whose six-year term expires in March 1985. The government has decided that the choice will be made next January by a 686-member electoral college. But according to the latest polls, 80% of Brazil's voters want a direct say in choosing their next leader. The public mood also reflects a lack of confidence in the government's ability to deal with an economy beset by severe underemployment and unemployment (40%), runaway inflation (230%) and the Third World's highest foreign debt ($96 billion).

Five years ago, the military men who had been governing Brazil since a 1964 coup decided that they would take major steps to return the country to civilian rule. An important move in that direction came in November 1982, when Brazilians were allowed to cast their ballots for both local and state officials as well as for 502 members of the federal Congress. In a major defeat, the government-backed Social Democratic Party (P.D.S.) received only 38% of the popular vote; the governorships often states as well as control of the House of Representatives fell into the hands of the Brazilian Democratic Movement (P.M.D.B.) and other opposition parties. But because the electoral college is disproportionately weighted in favor of the less populous northern states, which generally support the government, Figueiredo was able to keep control of the body. Not before 1991, according to the government plan, will Brazilians vote directly for a President. Explained Figueiredo on national television last month: "Everything has its time and its hour."