Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro

CLAC – Curso de Línguas Aberto à Comunidade

Monitor – Larissa Pessôa
English II

- Below there is a text from Reuters’ journalism agency. Do you know them? What do you know about it?
- Last May 15th, there were many protests in Brazil. Do you know what they were about? Have you
participated in them?

Brazil education freeze spurs biggest protests yet against

Bolsonaro government
Tens of thousands of
protesters gathered in cities
across Brazil on Wednesday to rally against education spending freezes in the biggest demonstrations yet against
President Jair Bolsonaro, who called marchers “useful idiots and imbeciles.”
Brazil’s National Student Union called for protests
against what it called spending cuts, after the Education
Ministry said it was freezing nearly a quarter of
discretionary spending ​due to the government’s
precarious fiscal situation.
The marches in over 200 cities, according to a count by
the Globo TV network, mark the first national protests
against the administration of the far-right Bolsonaro,
whose poll numbers are falling as he ​struggles with a
weak economy and rising unemployment.
Speaking in Dallas, Texas, where he traveled to attend a gala dinner, Bolsonaro ​denied his government had
cut education ​budgets​ and cast the protests as a spectacle.
“​They are useful idiots, imbeciles, who are being used as the ​maneuvering mass of a clever little minority
who ​make up​ the nucleus of many federal universities in Brazil,” he said.
A peaceful rally of thousands in central Rio de Janeiro turned violent as the protest was ending, with
unknown ​assailants setting a bus ​ablaze and shooting fireworks at police, who responded with tear gas to
break a crowd up. ​There was​ no word on any injuries.
In the capital Brasilia some 7,000 students and university professors marched to Congress, carrying signs
against the cuts. One said: “Education is not an expense, it is an investment.” Another read: “Without
investment there is no knowledge.”
“Our message to Bolsonaro is that society will not accept these cuts of 30 percent,” said marcher Luis
Antonio Pasquetti, head of the National University of Brasilia’s teacher union.
There was no official nationwide ​crowd estimate available, but the protests were likely the largest since the
2016 impeachment of former President Dilma Rousseff.
“The importance is to show that civil society is organized against these cuts,” said Rodrigo Tonieto, 22, in
Sao Paulo. “Together, we are going to say ‘no’ to the Bolsonaro government ... To say ‘no’ to the ​mess that
this government is.”
Called to explain the cuts to ​lawmakers in Congress, Education Minister Abraham Weintraub blamed the
situation on the legacy of the previous government, while defending a shift away from spending on
universities to favor elementary schools.
“The priority is preschool, elementary school and technical school,” he said.
 Vocabulary
discretionary: discricionário
due to: devido a
struggles: luta; ter dificuldades
denied: negado
budgets: orçamento
maneuvering mass: massa de manobra
make up: constituir
assailants: aggressor; assaltantes
ablaze: em chamas
crowd: multidão; público
mess: bagunça; desordem; problema
lawmakers: parlamentares; deputados; legisladores