From now on, the offensive for the free fare

March 04, 2011

By: camarada d.

Translated by: Yuri Gama

In the morning of this Friday, one day before carnival holiday, about 2.000 people (according with the police, what give us the freedom to think in more people than that) protested around the regional city hall of MBoi Mirim, São Paulo [Brazil]. The spontaneous demonstration has its origin on the general dissatisfaction with the public transport – high fares, less buses, cut of bus lines and overcrowding buses.

The protest made me remember a part of the book “Transporte urbano nos países em desenvolvimento” [Free translation: “Urban transport in developing countries”] written by Eduardo Vasconcellos. There’s a part in which the transport researcher discusses how the public transport was left behind in the lobbying of public politics at the time of redefinitions that Brazil experienced and culminated in the 1988 Citizen’s Constitution. One of the reasons, suggests the author, it is because the lack of organized struggle and long-term vision by the social movements with respect the public transport.

It says him: [Free translation]: The new democratization of the political system initiated in 1982 wasn’t enough to bring important improvements in transport conditions, due to the decrease in public investments, high inflation, and the possible growth of unemployment. The social movements, around this issue, were limited in react to the dramatic lack of transport in remote areas or the occurrence of fatal pedestrian accidents of children in residential streets. In both cases, all the solutions adopted were so urgent as the social movements in itself, so, there weren’t real transformations on the transport or displacement.

I was thrilled with the news of this spontaneous protest, as well as with all of the other protest all around Brazil, against fare increases, not only for the joy that is to see people organizing themselves, but also due to the clarity that now we have about how transportation is, being a discuss subject in the agenda of the society. But we can’t let one more decade escape from us and only focus in short-term resistances, needed of course, against high fares. One hour the breath of these resistance movements will end. So now it’s the most important time: an offensive towards a complete change of the model of the system. After all, we don’t want to spend all of our lives discussing how much will raise and how many bus lines they will cut, do we? In Florianópolis, the Movimento Passe Livre (MPL) - (Free Fare Movement), with the help of others organizations, will start the struggle against the bus fare raise, launching a discussão in the city about the free fare. In Joinville, the MPL is also starting to build a law project for a free fare system, and it seems that in São Paulo, the MPL will walk in the same direction as both cities. Maybe this is the most important moment in the history of MPL since its foundation. Unlike the important struggles from the 80’s, that were “more urgent than the movements in itself”, we are seeing now a consistent process of struggle that won’t die before the final victory, the right to the public transport assured for everyone.

Original version here: http://tarifazero.org/2011/03/04/daqui-pra-frente-a-ofensiva-pela-tarifa-zero/

A problem of all the brazilians, main subject for the brazilian left wing

January 28, 2011By Michelle AmaralTranslated from Portuguese to English by Yuri GamaThe activist of MPL (Free Fare Movement) affirms that the growing situation of the demonstrations shows that it’s a problem of all the braziliansIn a interview conceded by e-mail to the newspaper Brasil de Fato, Daniel Guimarães Tertschitsch, activist of MPL and member of Tarifa Zero (tarifazero.org), makes a positive balance of the demonstrations against the raise of the bus fares that happens since january. About 17 cities have had your bus fares raised and more 6 are about to raise it.Student movements and social organizations as MPL, are calling protests in many cities of the country. To Tertschitsch this shows that “this problem it’s a class problem, of the workers, of the marginalized, of all the country. “The exclusion pushes people, makes their lives more difficult, and sooner or later, we are seeing and participating in riots”, ponders the activist. He said, the difference that we see it today is that more and more we can notice a lucidity about how the transport system works.Check the interview below:What is the balance that we could make about this movement against the raise in bus fares, that occurs all over the country this month?Positive in several aspects. First of all, it demonstrates that the public transport it is already on the list of people’s worries and also of the left wing. The need of displacement is not anymore a minor problem, actually, is now in the center of attention. How to go to work, how to go to the places of study and teach, how to go to leisure places, it’s now a fundamental question to solve the gap between rich and poor, the inequality in brazilian cities. All these demonstrations, that grows initially against the raise of the bus fares, opens wide perspectives beyond the percentage of the growth in itself. In the beginning of 2000, the “Revolta do Buzu” (Bus Riot) in Salvador and the Campanha pelo Passe Livre (Campaign for the Free Pass – for students) in Florianópolis, gave to us the outset that we needed to get deep in our comprehension about the true social exclusion that results of the way the mass transport works nowadays.The spark can grow from the fight for the free pass for students, or against a bus fare raise, or even against the cut of a bus route, but sooner gets to a consensus that public transport is a right that must be offered for all of the people without the charge of the fare. Another positive aspect of these recent demonstrations, is that it shows that this problem is a social class problem, it’s a problem of the workers, of the marginalized, it’s a problem of Brazil. These protests are happening in distant cities from each other, like Porto Alegre and Aracaju, and being organized through several different organizations, nonpartisan and partisan, or social movements that already carry this fight a long time ago, as MPL.
A recent research of IPEA (Institute of Applied Economic Research) shows that the waste with transport is equal the waste with food, and that the raise of the bus fares makes 30% of brazilian people not use the service. Is there any perspectives of changes in this scenario?Yes, there is perspective. Because there is political will from sections of the population. But only because of this. Depending on the governments there is no way out. When Lula, the last brazilian president, said that “the people who defends investments in trains and subways want ‘that the poor let the street free to them’, in march of 2010, when he was on the Petrochemical Complex of Rio, I felt that the way to reverse this scenario that IPEA showed to us, will be the pressure of social movements towards governments, we can’t expect nothing for free from the State. Fact it is, that the automobile industry has a strong influence on the economy of the country, and the governments, progressists or not, don’t want to fight this industry. The governments don’t comprehend the public transport as a right, but as a mechanical way of throw people from one side to otherside. Gather this with the strength of the automakers and we have an explosive scenario. But, when the transport is more expensive than eat, the people reacts. The exclusion pushes people, makes life difficult, and sooner of later, we testify and participate in riots. The difference it is that year after year people are getting more conscious about the transport system. The matter of the value of the fare is just a beginning, what we must question it is the existence of the fare in itselfIn São Paulo, the demonstration last Thursday (02/27) resulted in a promise by the local government: a public hearing with the city council and the municipal secretary of transports. What does that mean for the movement against the raise of the bus fares?The way the police acted against demonstrators in the protest, gratuitous violence, rubber bullets, pepper spray and gas bombs, made the next demonstrations grow. From 1.000 of people, now we are counting with 4.000. Maybe we can count with 5 or 10.000 in the next one, who knows? When you are side by side with thousands of people, there’s nothing but optimism. This fact in itself, it is very pedagogic, shows that, collectively, we can conquer things and demands. Going to the city council and win this promise of a public hearing means one step forward for the fight. It’s important to combine the spontaneity of the fight in the streets with the achievement in itself. Not that the public hearing means that the price is going back to his last value, but it’s a sign that the movement want to ensure that his claim will be accepted and not that he only want to protest against something. Imagine the force that the movement will have when in the next demonstration, on the City Council, thousands of people start scream: "Now we want to change the transportation system, we're organized and we want to see these changes happening in practice".Now it’s happening a national Twitter protest against the raise of the bus fares. In this fight, which is the role of the social networks?
The social networks are really a kind of public space nowadays. Some say that once we lived in the countryside, then cities and now online. This sentence is very excessive, thankfully, but we can’t deny that internet offers us this facility with organization and communication. While the Twitter protest happened, I heard about new cities that were organizing demonstrations just like us. I see those social networks as a complement of the old and good way: posters and pamphlets distributed in the streets. But in this case, from Florianópolis, South of Brazil, I could “distribute pamphlet” to people in Roraima, extreme North.
Original from: http://www.brasildefato.com.br/node/5553

Attention Cyclists - there can be no peaceful coexistence with the private auto

“Free Public Transport” rally @ São Paulo/BR - 02/03/11

 Photo by Caio AMC on Twitter via @gperroni

10 Cities raise bus fares - sparking protests

The readjustments in the passages of the buses drew protests from students in Joinville, Joao Pessoa, Salvador and Sao Paulo.

In Salvador, students protesting since Monday (3) against the increase of the passages and called for lowering the tariff, the freezing of the previous value and the reactivation of the Municipal Transportation.

In the capital of Paraiba, a protest occurs on Thursday (06) in front of City Hall, downtown. The aim is to protest against the increase and try to reverse the situation.

Also on Thursday the Front for the Struggle for Public Transportation will hold a demonstration against the readjustment of rates in Joinville. The act will take place at 18pm in the Flag Square, downtown.

In Sao Paulo, the MPL have organized activities since November 2010 and held this week to convene a leafleting the people to a rally next Thursday (13) at 17 pm, opposite the Teatro Municipal of São Paulo.

With the forecast increase in the price of tickets in Aracaju, still no date certain to happen, the Association of Residents and Merchants Quarter Industrial articulates with youth leaders and residents of several neighborhoods in the capital of Sergipe a movement against the increase.
Brasil de Fato

Object lesson about the goals of the public transport

article by camarada_d

translated and commented by yuri

One of the great taboos to be broken in this discussion about the right to the transport is the source of funding. I say this because to me it is important not only the application of zero fare in the public transport, but also the manner in which it will be enabled. I mean the idea that are the rich, the landlords, investors, who must contribute with the biggest part of the system, they are the ones who need the workers and consumers shifting from their homes to places of work and to consume; for students going to places that come to training future workers.

I still hear conversations on the subject that there is no sense in the argument above. The employers do not benefit more than workers of the transport system, they say to me. I will not go into detail about labor disputes, about ownership of labor to generate profits or how, in the end, as always, bosses earn more than workers. I just want to show a rare event: a statement from the government that clearly states what the goals of public transport are. The story is short, superficial, laconic, but nevermind. It is so significant that it pays to be posted here in full. Direct from the website O Povo from Fortaleza:

Public transport is appointed as the growth solution

The challenges of the sprawl in Fortaleza was the topic addressed by the chairman of the bidding committee of Fortaleza Urban Transport, Harrisson Marques Cardoso, during the third day of the 46th Meeting of the Brazilian Association of Real Estate Market, which is being held in the Capital. [Translator notes: Fortaleza is the capital of the state of Ceará, northeast of Brazil].

According to Cardoso, the main action to keep Fortaleza’s sprawl it is a strong investment in public transport. "It's important to take buses, subways to ease the populated areas and decentralize the investments, so the city can grow," he says.

For the real estate market, it is primordial knowing that this kind of investment is being made by the government, since the prospects identified by the entrepreneur Silvio Oliveira are that the brazilian investments will pass the current R$16.2 million to R$ 446.7 billion in 2030. (Henriette de Salvi)

Translated from: http://tarifazero.org/

Original Link: http://tarifazero.org/2010/11/14/licao-pratica-de-para-que-serve-o-transporte/#more-2298

Comments of the translator:

It is important to say that the main argument in all this discussion of the zero fare in the public transport is related with the fact the we need cities more equitable social and economically speaking. Beyond global warming and environmental problems, the concrete change related with our subject it's the displacement of people in the cities.

Being direct: a town only exists for those who can move inside of it. For those who can live all the urban equipaments that the modern city provide to us. The right to the transport is only a right that lead us to others rights (health, education, leisure, work etc.)

That said, I would say we need to focus, internationally speaking, our work in more social arguments and not only the environmental ones. We know that both are important, but when it comes to Zero Fare, in practice we are talking about income redistribution, which directly affects social changes.

Students demand free public transport

http://tarifazero.org/2010/11/11/estudantes-de-s-bernardo-protestam-por-passe-livre/