The relation between the global and the

local in growing social unrest:

a comparative study between the cases of Brazil and Egypt

Ana Paula Roscoe Côrtes

Pontifícia Universidade Católica de Minas Gerais, Brazil

Brener Fidélis de Seixas

Pontifícia Universidade Católica de Minas Gerais, Brazil
Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais, Brazil

Rafael Bittencourt Rodrigues Lopes

Pontifícia Universidade Católica de Minas Gerais, Brazil

Panel: Protest and democratization

Session: RC13 Democratization in Comparative Perspective
ABSTRACT

In recent years the world has been facing growing social unrest. Much has been discussed about the
“Arab Spring”, but there is still little understanding about the protests that started in Brazil during
the Confederations Cup, in 2013. For centuries Brazilian people have suffered with the effects of
corruption and very significant social inequalities. There is still no consensus as to what caused the
protest to grow so much and so fast. Within days of the first protests millions of people were in the
streets to express their discontentment. Social movements such as these have been spreading
around the globe, having social media as their main means of organization. Egypt has recently faced
similar issues and is considered to be taking part in the “Arab Spring”. The aim of this article is to
understand if movements such as these are mainly local or part of a global wave of social unrest, as
well as the role social media plays in them and the effects they have in the politics, economics and
relations between the government and religion in these countries. For that, the article analyses the
recent wave of manifestations in Brazil as well as that in Egypt. We use the comparative method to
find the similarities and differences between the cases of Brazil and Egypt. We analyze how
democracy has been approached by the protesters in each case, considering changes in the regimes,
economic issues and relation between religion and state. We hope this work can collaborate in the
discussion about the growing social unrest in the world and the role social media plays in it, as well
as in the understanding of the recent events in Brazil and Egypt.

Key-words:

Comparative Politics, Democracy, Protests, Brazil, Egypt, Arab Spring

RÉSUMÉ

Au cours des dernières années, le monde a été de plus en plus confronté par des soucis sociaux. On
a beaucoup discuté sur le «printemps arabe», mais il y a encore peu de compréhension sur les
manifestations qui ont commencé au Brésil lors de la Coupe des Confédérations, en 2013. Pendant
des siècles, le peuple brésilien a souffert les effets de la corruption et des inégalités sociales très
significatifs. Il n’y a toujours pas de consensus sur ce qui a provoqué les manifestations de grandir
autant et si vite. Quelques jours après les premières manifestations, des millions de personnes
étaient dans les rues pour exprimer leur mécontentement. Mouvements sociaux tels que ceux-ci se
sont répandues autour du globe, ayant les médias sociaux comme leurs principaux moyens
d'organisation. L'Egypte a récemment fait face à des questions similaires, et est considérée partie du
«printemps arabe». Le but de cet article est de comprendre si les mouvements ici traités sont
essentiellement locale ou partie d'une vague mondiale d`agitation sociale, ainsi que de comprendre
quel rôle les médias sociaux jouent en eux et les effets qu'elles ont sur la politique, l'économie et les
relations entre le gouvernement et la religion dans ces pays. Pour cela, l'article analyse la récente
vague de manifestations au Brésil ainsi que celle en Egypte. On a utilisé la méthode comparative
pour trouver les similitudes et les différences entre les cas du Brésil et celui de l'Égypte. On analyse
comment la démocratie a été abordée par les manifestants dans chaque cas, compte tenu des
changements dans les régimes, les questions économiques et la relation entre la religion et l'État. On
espère que ce travail peut contribuer pour la discussion sur l'agitation sociale croissante dans le
monde et le rôle des médias sociaux en eux, ainsi que dans la compréhension des récents
événements au Brésil et en Egypte.

Mots-clés:

Politique comparative, Démocratie, Protestations, Brésil, Egypte, Printemps Arabe

Introduction

We observe a global trend of growing social unrest. The demonstrations that occurred in Brazil and
Egypt have things in common with each other and other pretest throughout the world. Examples of
this social unrest are the Occupy Wall Street Movement in The United States, the Movimiento 15-M
in Spain, the Arab Spring in the Middle East and North Africa, the student protests in Chile, the
June protests in Brazil, amongst many others.
A strong feature in the organization of all these protests is the use of social media. It is a tool
to schedule the demonstrations, set the dates and meeting points, and report what happens in the
events. Social media allows people around the world to follow what is going on in a country in real
time. In Brazil during the June protests, for example, many videos were shared exposing police
violence. We can also mention the use of Twitter to disclose numerous pictures of events in Iran and
the use of Facebook to plan and report about the protest in Brazil and Egypt.
Demonstrations throughout the world have local demands and characteristics, like for
example the complaints about public transport in Brazil, the duration and brutality of the regimes in
Libya and Egypt and the demand for free education in Chile. We believe that a common
denominator in most of these movements is a critique to states that, instead of protecting citizens,
defend the interest of major corporations and are used by them to achieve enormous profits and
make the richer even richer while most of the population doesn’t have access to the level of
wellbeing that the technological and economic development society has reached would allow. We
observe this on a bigger or smaller level, but in practically all the protests we observed in recent
years. The most obvious example of this is the phrased "we are 99%", used on the movement
Occupy Wall Street, which opposed the financial and economic system which allowed 99% of the
wealth to concentrate in the hands of 1% of the populations, while the other 99% of people are left
to share 1% of the wealth.

Egypt: Historical Profile

Egypt has a population of approximately 86,000 people, of which 90% are Muslim (predominantly
Sunni) and 10% Christian. Its capital, Cairo has 11 million inhabitants and Alexandria, its second
biggest city has four and a half million inhabitants (CIA Fact book, 2014). Between 1952 and 2011,
the country has been ruled exclusively by military leaders (BBC, 2013).
The United Kingdom controlled Egypt`s government from 1882, to protect its investment in the
Suez Canal, which was finished in 1869 and made Egypt a crucial player in international trade.
From 1914 to 1922 Egypt was a British protectorate. In 1922 it became independent from the UK,
thought Britain continued to exert power over Egypt, remaining in control of the country`s military,
foreign relations, communications, amongst other things. The country`s sovereignty remained
restricted by these so called "reserved points" until 1936. Between 1922 and 1952 Egypt was a
monarchy. A revolution started in July 1952 and as a result of it the republic was declared in 1953.
British troops finally left the country in 1956 (CIA Fact book).
The declaration of the republic was essentially a military coup d'etat, it was led by a group called
the Free Officers. The leader of the coup, General Muhammad Naguib, assumed the presidency
until 1954, when Gamal Abdel Nasser assumed as prime minister of Egypt. In 1956 Nasser was
elected presidents, there were no other candidates. He was very popular leader and was responsible
for the nationalization of the Suez Canal, in 1956, which lead to the Suez Crisis. During Nasser`s
rule the economy was highly centralized. He remained president until his death, in 1970. After
Nassers death, his vice-president Anwar Al Sadat assumed the presidency. He remained in power
for many years and was responsible for the Camp David Accords, in 1978, which lead to peace
between Egypt and Israel, but also resulted in Egypt being suspended from the Arab League (BBC,
2011). Following this, Nasser`s popularity dropped. Three years later, in 1981, Sadat was killed
during a military parade. Sadat`s vice-president, Hosni Mubarak, came to power after his death.
Mubarak was in power between October 14th 1981 and February 11th 2011. He re-established
relations with the Arab League (BBC, 2011), to which Egypt was re-admitted in 1989, wile
maintaining peace with Israel. Mubarak was from the National Democratic Party, which was been
founded by Sadat in 1978. He won three elections unopposed, until 2005, when he allowed other
candidates to run, following pressure from the United States for democratization (BBC, 2013). The
other candidate in the 2005 elections was imprisoned and Mubarak was re-elected. During his three
decades as President, Hosni Mubarak kept the country under emergency law, which allowed the
state to indiscriminately arrest people and hold them indefinitely without charges (CNN, 2012).
The main opposition force in Egypt was the Muslim Brotherhood. Created in 1928, the group aims
to create a state ruled by Islamic law, or Sharia. It had been banned in 1954 and became an
underground organization until the 1980s, when it tried to rejoin the political mainstream. In 2005
the Brotherhood (also known as Ikhwan) had very good results in the elections, with independent
candidates allied to it winning 20% of the seats (BBC, 2013). After this, Mubarak took measures to
weaken the organization, such as detaining hundreds of members and making reforms to create
obstacles for its growth. One of these measures was to change the constitution to establish that
independent candidates could not run for president and that "political activity or political parties
shall not be based on any religious background or foundation" (BBC, 2013).

Brazil: Historical Profile

Following more than three centuries under Portuguese rule, Brazil gained its independence
in 1822, maintaining a monarchical system of government until the abolition of slavery in 1888 and
the subsequent proclamation of a republic by the military in 1889. Brazilian coffee exporters
politically dominated the country until populist leader Getulio Vargas rose to power in 1930. Brazil
continues to pursue industrial and agricultural growth and development of its interior. Exploiting
vast natural resources and a large labor pool, it is today South America's leading economic power
and a regional leader, one of the first in the area to begin an economic recovery. High income
inequality and crime remain pressing problems, as well as recent years' slowdown in economic
growth (Cia World Factbook, 2014).
Today, Brazil is the fifth most-populous country on Earth and accounts for one-third of Latin
America’s population. The brazilian population counts 196.7 million people, and its first female
president, Dilma Rousseff, took office on 1 January promising to promote development and
eradicate extreme poverty, a continuation of president Lula government. From those 196.7 million
people, more than 16.2 million Brazilians live on less than R$70 (approximately US$40) per month,
according to census data (Amnesty International, 2012).
Brazil is South America's most influential country, an economic giant and one of the world's
biggest democracies. In 2012, Brazil’s economy overtook UK and became the world’s sixth largest
economy. Although the economic growth, there are still many challenges to overcome. For instance,
Brazilian Gini index - indicator that measures the extent to which the distribution of income or
consumption expenditure among individuals or households within an economy deviates from a
perfectly equal distribution – measures 54.7. Note that a Gini index of 0 represents perfect equality,
while an index of 100 implies perfect inequality (The Guardian, 2012). According to The World
Bank, Inequality has left a distinctive mark in the Latin America and Caribbean history and the gap
between the rich and the poor has – for years – fueled political and social instability in a region
characterized by huge reserves of natural resources and an abundant labor force (World Bank,
2013).
On 31 March 2014, Brazil marked the 50th anniversary of the beginning of the military
dictatorship (from 1964-85) that ushered in more than two decades of human rights abuses. It has
been 30 years since the country began the transition towards a representative democracy, but the
empowering people and strengthening Brazil's democracy is still a big challenge (The Guardian,
2014). One of the consequences from this period is the Brazilian military police, that has been a
long-standing target of international and domestic concern. It is estimated that the Brazilian police
killed nearly 2,000 people in 2013 alone. A recent study by the Federal University of São Carlos
found that 61% of those killed by the military police in São Paulo were black, and 97% were men,
and 77% between the ages of 15 and 29 (The Guardian, 2014). According to International Amnesty,
Socially excluded communities continued to face violence by criminal gangs and abusive policing
that often resulted in residents being treated as criminal suspects. This in turn increased social
deprivation and distanced communities from broader state services such as access to schools, health
care and sanitation. Between January and September, 804 people were killed in situations defined as
“acts of resistance” in Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo (Amnesty International, 2012). Besides, Police
officers were believed to be involved in death squads and milícias (militias) engaged in social
cleansing, extortion, as well as in trafficking in arms and drugs and torture was prevalent at the
point of arrest and during interrogation and detention in police stations and prisons (Amnesty
International, 2012).
There are many factors that underline brazilians social unrest. Much of the arable land is
controlled by a handful of wealthy families, a situation which the Movement of Landless Rural
Workers (MST) seeks to redress by demanding land redistribution. It uses direct protest action and
land occupation in its quest. Indigenous Peoples and Quilombola communities continued to be
subjected to discrimination, threats and violence in the context of land disputes. Rural killings are
also an alarming subject due to land activists that continued to be threatened and killed in their
struggle for access to land and for speaking out against illegal logging and ranching in the Amazon
region. Note that social conditions can be harsh in the big cities of Rio de Janeiro, Sao Paulo and
Belo Horizonte where a third of the population lives in favelas, or slums.
About the housing rights, in Brazil’s urban centers, large-scale development projects – including
preparations for the 2014 World Cup and the 2016 Olympic Games – left communities living in
poverty at risk of intimidation and forced eviction. In April, the UN Special Rapporteur on adequate
housing as a component of the right to an adequate standard of living, and on the right to non-
discrimination said that she had received reports of evictions involving human rights violations in
cities across Brazil, including São Paulo, Rio de Janeiro, Belo Horizonte, Curitiba, Porto Alegre,
Recife, Natal and Fortaleza. Although Brazilian presidency supports the activities of human rights
defenders, local NGOs faced intimidation and threats.
Another critical problem is the sexual and reproductive rights. In August, in a landmark
decision, the CEDAW Committee concluded that Brazil had failed to fulfil its obligation to “ensure
to women appropriate services in connection with pregnancy, confinement and the postnatal period,
granting free services where necessary” (OHCHR). The decision was handed down in the case of
Alyne da Silva Pimentel, a 28-year-old woman of African descent and resident of one of Rio de
Janeiro’s poorest districts. She was six months pregnant with her second child in 2002 when she
died of complications resulting from pregnancy after her local health centre misdiagnosed her
symptoms and delayed providing her with emergency care (Amnesty International, 2012).
Although former President Lula da Silva openly declared war on corruption, his time in office
witnessed several political scandals concerning money laundering, misuse of state funds, and
manipulation of large government contracts. The president generally relies on shifting majorities in
the fragmented Congress to form cross-party coalitions, which allegedly fuels the use of bribes as a
means of securing political support. Most observers agree that corruption represents a major
problem in Brazil and incurs high costs for the state and society in general and has strongly
contributed to a reduction in public trust in the political system. For example, according to a
December 2011 article by BBC News, it is estimated that Brazil loses about USD 45 billion to
corruption every year (Know Your Country).
The Arab Spring in Egypt

After young Tunisian Muhamed Ibn Bouazizi set himself on fire on december 17th 2010 a
wave of protests erupted, in Tunisia. The main objections of the demonstrators were the rising food
prices, unemployment and corruption, problems that also affected most Egyptians. After 29 days of
protests and riots in Tunisia, President Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali stepped down and left the country,
on January 14th 2011. Ben Ali had been in power for 23 years.
Conflicts continued to occur in Tunisia. Ben Ali was substituted by Prime Minister
Mohammed Ghannouchi, who took over as interim president and declared a state of emergency,
which prohibited assemblings of more than three people and imposes a curfew. Regardless of that,
the quick and relatively easy overthrow of the president inspired people in other arab countries
which were also under authoritarian regimes and whose people suffered from the same problems
Tunisians did. Protests on erupted in Egypt, Libya, Yemen, Syria, Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, Morocco,
Algeria, Jordan, Oman and Kuwait, in what became known as the Arab Spring.
January 25th 2011 marked the beginning of the demonstrations in Egypt. Protests were
organized mainly through the internet and occurred in many Egyptian cities. Cairo`s Tahrir Square
(Liberation Square) being the main hot spot for the demonstrations. On January 28th a curfew was
established, and immediately disrespected, in Cairo, Alexandria and Suez. On Tahrir Square
protesters camped out, withstanding the curfew. Clashes between protesters and the police were
common occurrences, looting also took place. After Friday prayers on that day, tens of thousands of
people took to the streets in Cairo as well as other cities, demanding that President Mubarak step
down from power. Demonstrators laid siege to the state TV and the foreign ministry. The NDP (the
governing party) headquarters was set on fire. The army secured the Egyptian Museum, next door
to the NDP building, to protect it from looters. At several locations, riot police responded by firing
rubber bullets and tear gas, and by using water cannon.
Later that same day President Hosni Mubarak addressed the people of Egypt for the first
time since the protest started, in a television statement. The president dissolved his government and
said he would announce a new one the next day. He claimed he understood the demands of the
protesters, but that a thin line divided liberty from chaos and he would not allow Egypt to be
destabilized. After Mubarak`s statement U.S. President Barak Obama released a statement of his
own, in which he affirmed to have told the Egyptian President that he had “a responsibility to give
meaning to those words, to take concrete steps and actions that deliver on that promise”. After
black-clad riot police chief Interior Minister Habib al-Adly was sacked by President Mubarak the
police disappeared from the streets
Mubarak’s statement angered the people of Egypt even further, due to his refusal to step
down from power. On January 29th, the day Mubarak announced his new cabinet, composed by
Aviation Minister Ahmed Shafiq as prime minister and intelligence chief Omar Suleiman as vice-
president, 50 thousand people took to the streets in Cairo. The army was on the streets, as well as in
Tahrir Square, but it didn’t take action against the protesters.
On January 31st a military spokesman announced "To the great people of Egypt, your armed
forces, acknowledging the legitimate rights of the people... have not and will not use force against
the Egyptian people.". This gave strength and confidence to the demonstrators, as well as to people
who might not have taken part in the protests for fear the army might intervene. The army’s
commitment to refrain from using force against demonstrators weakened President Mubarak, who
could no longer threaten or use force to stop the protesters. On that same day, therefore, Vice-
President Omar Suleiman announced that Mubarak had requested that he start a dialogue with all
political parties to discuss constitutional and legislative reforms.
The first of February 2011 was a day of massive protests across Egypt. The aim was to
organize a “march of a million”. On Tahrir Square, in Cairo, hundreds of thousands of people
gathered to continue to demand that Mubarak steps down. These were the biggest demonstrations
until that point. In response, the Egyptian President announced that he did not intend to run for the
presidency again in the September elections. Mubarak said “I have spent enough of my life in the
service of the people and in my last few months as president I will prepare for a smooth transfer of
power”. To some of the protesters this was enough, others saw the fact that they had achieved this in
such little time as motivation to keep protesting and demanding that Mubarak step down
immediately. The army asked protesters to return home, as they had achieved their goal. Pro-
Mubarak demonstrators also took the streets after the presidents speech and there were
confrontations between pro and anti-Mubarak protesters. There were brutal confrontations around
Tahrir Square, as anti-government demonstrators refused to leave the Square and supporters of the
President tried to enter it. These clashes continued the next days, the army tried to keep order
without using force.
On February 4th protesters organized what they called Mubaraks “day of departure”. The
army increased its presence and soldiers and protesters joined forces to create checkpoints to make
sure the President`s supporters would not enter Tahrir Square. Before entering the Square people
stood in line, their IDs were checked and they were checked for weapons. As a result of this there
were no clashes and the rally was peaceful. Tens of thousands of people protested, not only in
Cairo, but also in Alexandria, Suez, Port Said, Rafah, Ismailiya, Zagazig, al-Mahalla al-Kubra,
Aswan and Asyut.
On February 5th leaders of Mubaraks party, the NDP, resigned, including Gamal Mubarak,
the President`s son, who was believed to have been preparing to assume his fathers position in the
future. This was a big achievement for the protesters, as it showed the situation was becoming
unsustainable for Mubarak. Five days later, on February 10th, there were RUMOURS that the
President would step down. That night he made a speech on television, in which he reaffirmed that
he intended to remain in power until the September presidential elections. The protests continued
until February 11th 2011, when after 18 days of mass protests, Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak
finally resigned. His resignation was announced by vice-president Omar Suleiman, on state
television. Mubarak left the high council of the armed forces in charge and fled to the Red Sea
resort of Sharm el-Sheikh. Tens of thousands of people went to Tahrir Square, as well as other
places around Egypt, this time to celebrate.
After 30 years in power, 18 days of mass protests forced President Hosni Mubarak to resign.
These protests had an estimated death toll of 846 people, with 6,400 injured.
After the presidents resignation presidential powers were assumed by the Supreme Council of the
Armed Forces (Scaf).
On the next Parliamentary elections, which were held in 2011, the Muslim Broderhood`s
Freedom and Justice Party had 37% of the valid votes. The Salafist al-Nour, also an islamic party,
had 24%.

The June Protests in Brazil

During the summer of 2013 a wave of protests swept Brazil as people took to the streets in
cities throughout the country to demonstrate against corruption, inadequate public services and the
expense of staging the 2014 World Cup (BBC, 2014). What began as a bus fare protest in the city of
São Paulo blossomed into a national movement against poor public services, state institutions and
police brutality. Police violence spiked after demonstrators blocked a major thoroughfare and were
confronted by thousands of policemen. Rubber bullets flew, the streets took fire, and images of a
restless Brazil flooded the international media. The governor of the state of São Paulo, Geraldo
Alckmin, who is responsible for overseeing police forces, said at that time that the people on the
street were "a pretty small group of vandals, practicing criminal acts" (The Guardian, 2014).
The people who took the streets across the country voiced their anger about a broad range of
issues, including high taxes and unacceptable public services and others issues, named above.
Simultaneous demonstrations were reported in more than 100 cities (The Guardian, 2013). Some of
the placards said: "Stop corruption. Change Brazil"; "Halt evictions"; "Come to the street. It's the
only place we don't pay taxes"; "Government failure to understand education will lead to
revolution"; "Brazil woke up”. According to Datafolha, the protesters in São Paulo, 84% back no
political party, 77% have higher education, 22% were students, 53% aged under 25, 71% were first-
time protesters. Their reasons, according to Datafolha was: 56% protested against increased fares,
40% agains corruption; 31% against violence and repression; 27% for a better transport system,
24% against politicians (BBC, 2013).

The Comparative Method

Kerlinger (1980) says that science is a venture exclusively concerned with the event and the
understanding of natural phenomena. It means that science refers to a system for acquiring
knowledge based on scientific method and consists of a set of rules to observe phenomena and infer
conclusions from such observations (MARTINS; THEÓPHILO, 2007 apud SANTANA, 2010, pg.
61). This section aims to detail and discuss the methodology of this article, emphasizing aspects
related to the choice of the research method, data collection and data analysis.
With the objective of analyzing the popular uprisings in Egypt and Brazil, we chose a
qualitative, descriptive and explanatory study (YIN, 2001) and given the peculiarity of the studied
phenomenon, the qualitative approach was more appropriate because (DENZIN; LINCOLN, 2006,
p. 23):
1.such research method emphasizes on the qualities of the units of analysis;
2.such method enables the mapping of processes and meanings related to the researched
phenomenon; and
3.such method makes possible to capture characteristics of a phenomenon that could hardly
be experimentally examined or measured in terms of quantity, amount, intensity or frequency.
The descriptive characteristics of this study are due to the fact that its goal is to look up the
description of the characteristics of a given population or phenomenon, establishing relationships
between variables. Moreover, descriptive research is also concerned to observe, record, analyze and
correlate facts or phenomena without manipulating them (GIL, 2008). This perspective is important
for this study because there are a few ones discussing the relations between the events that began in
Brazil and Egypt. Therefore, descriptive studies are relevant because they collect detailed
knowledge about the phenomenon studied. The explanatory characteristics of this study are related
to the fact that this work was to identify factors that determine the occurrence of certain phenomena
that contribute to it. As Gil (2008) says, explanatory studies aim to deepen the knowledge about
reality and to explain the reason why the phenomena happened.
According to Simone Bohn (2005), the complexity of social phenomena (apud Weber, 1991
e 1993) brings several challenges for researchers to prepare analyzes because: (1) there are a
multitude of variables involved in a particular social phenomenon; and (2) social reality is not
manipulable, in other words , it is not always possible to simulate the characteristics to an
experiment, as some methodologies propose. Accordingly, the comparative method as a research
methodology, try approaching the basic logic of experimental methods, taking into account the
complexity and challenges of the themes explored.
According to Lijphart (1971 In: Bohn, 2005), the comparative analysis is not simply a
technical research. Rather, it is a set of methodologies and research strategies that uses the study of
different societal contexts (in one or more of its dimensions: political, economic, social, cultural,
evaluative) to validate or reject hypotheses. Although this minimalist definition to agree, there are
differences in defining what are different societal contexts. Note that comparative analysis must
necessarily involve taking at least two countries (Armer, 1973; Collier, 1993; Verba, 1973).
Bohn also according to Ragin, what distinguishes social science com ¬ stop is "its use of
attributes of macrosocial units in explanations" (1987, p. 5): namely, the fact that the societal
context in which the phenomenon evolves is very important in explaining the occurrence of the
itself.
According to Skocpol (1984a), Collier (1993), Goldstone (1997), Rueschemeyer and
Stephens (1997), Tilly (2001), for whom the hallmark of comparative studies lies in its ability to
capture causal chains of corporate social macroprocesses in different contexts, not neglecting the
role played by the historical specificities of each case. Rather, the main advantage of the
comparativist method consists, not in its ability to weave potentially ahistorical explanations, but
their deep knowledge of examined cases, allowing you to isolate causal chains and at the same time,
reconstruct, in detail, events and circumstances which, although historically bounded (in terms of
space and time), have contributed decisively to the occurrence of social phenomena examined
(Bohn, 2005).
Therefore, to achieve this work follow the following methodological operationalization,
based on Schneider and Schmitt (1998):
1. Demonstrate the phenomena that are actually comparable;
2. Define the elements to be compared; and
3. Introduce the contexts of the phenomena to be able to understand them together.

Analysis

After we have laid out the cases of Brazil and Egypt, we can compare the demonstrations in these
two countries. The similarities and differences will allow us to make an analysis of which factors
are common and possibly part of an international wave of riots and which are local singularities.
The categories we selected for this comparison are: the role of social networks; what fraction of the
population participated; who decided what the demands of the movement were (defining the
agenda) and how this was done; characteristics and issues faced by the states where these
movements took place; as well as the will to find a new way to make politics.
Facebook and Twitter played a crucial role in the recent demonstrations, allowing people to create
events, share information and expose abuses of power, such as the way the military police acted
during the protests in Brazil and men who sexually abused women in Egypt, for example. In fact,
the use of social networks is the most evident sign that the advances in technology and
telecommunications has dramatically changed the way people protest. Now, with internet and cell
phones, it is possible to contact people almost instantly and regardless of geographical distances.
Ideas can now be spread at a speed never seen before. With live streaming people, as well as the
media, could follow, from almost anywhere in the world, what was going on in these protests.
The massive amount of information available through the internet and social media can, however,
“disinformation” people, as they cant always separate what is real from what is not. All kinds of
organizations use social networks to spread their beliefs, but they often do so by spreading rumors
and lies. False quotes are common such as fascist, reactionary, communist, corrupt, amongst others,
are used without discrimination, to disqualify opinions and people.
When it comes to the participation of the people in the protests, both in Egypt and Brazil there were
demonstrations with millions of people. A very significant difference between these two cases was
the protesters demands and their agenda. In Egypt there was a very clear goal, which was to change
the regime, because of this President Hosni Mubarak was almost like a target, he had to step down,
and once he did the protesters knew they had achieved a very important initial goal. Though later on
there was a lot of controversy on how the new regime should be organized, it was almost
unanimous amongst the protesters that Mubarak had to go. In Brazil, on the other hand, the situation
was very different. There was a very confused agenda, though surveys showed that most of the
protesters agreed that corruption and police brutality were amongst the things they were
demonstrating against, there were many groups with completely different focuses, sometimes
contradictory to what other protesters were demanding. Some political parties took advantage of
this situation to spread their ideas, sometimes without identifying themselves. One of the most
organized groups in the demonstrations was the “Movimento Passe Livre” (Free Pass Movement),
linked to the left, which was protesting against the increase of the bus fees and ultimately wanted
the government to provide free and efficient public transport. A significant part of the people in
these protest, however, did not have a clear and defined demand. Most of them were young people,
who many times did not have much political conscience. The only clear common denominator
amongst protesters in Brazil was their revolt against the generalized corruption in the country.
Political parties took advantage of vacuum left by the absence of clear and tangible demands. Some
stated to demand the impeachment of president Dilma Rousseff (even though there was no clear
accusation against her), others the reduction of the legal age for being judged. De FIFA World Cup
also became a target, with people claiming money would be better invested in education and health
care than in stadiums for the event.

Conclusion

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