When a local government tried to shut Brazil's largest urban social movements out of an important political space, they fought back and won. Our correspondent Brian Mier has more. teleSUR
00:00When the local government tried to shut Brazil's largest urban social movements out of an important political space, they fought back and won.
00:08Our correspondent Brian Meir has more.
00:12Preparations for this year's National Cities Conference got off to a rough start in Recife,
00:17as three of Brazil's largest urban social movements united to push their way into and shut down the Municipal Cities Conference,
00:24an important space for people's participation which cedes control over parts of urban policy to a democratically elected volunteer delegate system.
00:35Recife Mayor João Campos is holding a totally fake conference.
00:39This conference doesn't represent the city's real social movements.
00:43In 2003, the urban social movements pressured President Lula to create a National Cities Ministry controlled by a national system of voluntary delegates,
00:53elected at the city, state and national levels, with guaranteed 51% majority for social movements.
01:01In 2016, President Michel Temer shut it down.
01:04This year, the Lula administration will hold the first national conference in 11 years,
01:09but many local governments are working to stifle participation.
01:14The mayor's office created a commission to simply cut delegates from the social movements that fight for
01:21and create social housing in the city of Recife.
01:23For example, we registered 30 delegates to participate in the conference, and they cut 28 of them.
01:29The MTST, UNMP, MLB, and the MNLM and the other people's housing movements don't agree with this.
01:37Today, either they will open space for a representative number of delegates from the social movements
01:42that are really building the city of Recife, or we are going to shut this conference down.
01:47Together, the social movements marched into the convention hall where the municipal conference was taking place.
01:54They pushed past the municipal guard and stormed the stage.
01:57There, they announced that they weren't leaving, and began to sing as nervous bureaucrats fretted.
02:03Within minutes, the movement leaders were meeting with Recife's housing secretary,
02:06who agreed to cancel the conference and schedule a new one with more delegate space for housing movements.
02:12We had to do what we always do.
02:17They only decide to listen to us when we burst into their space and show that we are ready to fight.
02:22Then they know they can't exclude us.
02:24When we show who we are, come into their space, and demonstrate the power of the people,
02:28they start listening to us.
02:29If we don't do this, they completely ignore us.
02:32Elected city delegates will attend state conferences in August.
02:41There, 5,000 delegates from every state in Brazil will be elected to participate in a national conference in September,
02:48where they will have the power to introduce and ratify new federal urban policies.
