Ex-President Lula’s Corruption Conviction Is Upheld by Brazilian Appeals Court. Now What?

 

"The same advocates of austerity who pushed to use Brazil as the laboratory of neoliberalism in the 1990s — and today admit that the model did not work — now want the country to give it another crack; they have renewed their endless appeals to “the market.” The current administration supports this once-failed tack, especially through privatizing state-owned companies, slashing public services, and loosening labor laws. The gamble would place the country more firmly in the hands of a business class that invariably cares only about further concentrating its own wealth. All this amid an environment where staggering inequality is already rife: Brazil’s richest 5 percent have the same income as the remaining 95 percent."

"These overreaches reflect the attitude of the country’s entrenched judicial elite, who wield almost untouchable power. Judges regularly receive outrageous salaries leaps and bounds above the constitutional limit; opine liberally in interviews; have private businesses that benefit from public money and their public profile; and often squabble in open court as if they were on a reality show. If judges are caught red-handed committing serious crimes, the maximum penalty is retirement — with a full pension."

read the newstory by Leandro Demori​ and Andrew Fishman

Ex-President Lula’s Corruption Conviction Is Upheld by Brazilian Appeals Court. Now What?: