Struggle to be Seen: Social Movements and The Public Sphere in Brazil

This article analyses how community movement activity defines the dynamics of contention and conflict in the public sphere. The author examines the history of community action in three popular and poverty stricken neighbourhoods in Belém, Brazil. A theory that explains the process of social movement organisation and activity in three phases or "moments" is presented and explained with reference to several different community groups working in these neighbourhoods. Guidry’s central argument is that, "movement action shapes and reshapes the boundaries of public spheres, allowing popular social forces, elite actors, and the state to mutually influence and transform each other."



The paper is centered around the idea of three moments of public interaction that correspond with the activities and life-cycles of particular social organisations. These movements are labeled as: clarifying popular discourse, the struggle to be seen, and routine politics. These moments have been developed as a result of intensive research involving 70 open-ended interviews with one or more people from the greater metropolitan area of Belém, population 1.6 million. This is, like many other large Brazilian cities, an area of intense inequality in terms of the living standards and opportunities of its inhabitants, and an area where the ideal of "deep democracy" is faced with some of the greatest challenges. Opulent housing districts back on to slums and shantytowns.



The paper is organised into several sections. The first section examines some of the visions of politics as held by those "on the bottom", a system characterised by a total disregard for ordinary people. The title of this paper is a metaphor for the way that many residents have felt about their relationship to their political and institutional leaders. Most felt that having a sense of what was occurring in their communities - seeing the poverty - was linked to an obligation to do something for those in need but it was the total lack of knowledge about what was occurring on the ground that prevented officials from taking action. One interviewee even said that because the politicians avoid seeing the poverty, "they cause poverty." The popular actors within the community see politics as a struggle to, “grab and hold the attention of more powerful actors.” The challenge is that most community members see a massive gulf between themselves and politicians and feel that they experience a form of "low-intensity citizenship."



This gulf is occasionally overcome by individuals and community leaders who are regarded as "public men" (or women) who are able to link local problems with bigger concepts of citizenship, mobilisation, accountability and the overarching, dominant "interpretations of life" that cast the poor as lazy and complacent and deserving of their lack of material wealth. These individuals "mediate between the popular public sphere of the neighbourhood … and the dominant public sphere of party discourse, elite debate and the news media."



The second section presents a model of how social movements create and operate in the popular political sphere in an effort to address the concerns raised in everyday popular discourse. These moments operate in a cumulative and often cyclical fashion, though, as the case studies indicate, not all groups are able to progress to each state and they may fall back after setbacks or a dissolution of the movement. The third section provides extensive detail of the experiences of three particular movements, as they move through these various moments.

The following is a table drawn from two separate tables in the second and third sections of the article that attempts to demonstrate and explain the three "moments" and the related tactics, and includes the actual activities of one of the three case study organisations.

The descriptions of the lifecycles and the successes and setbacks of the three organisations are rendered in detail and provide for a comparative analysis using this model of public sphere interaction. In the fourth section the author then discusses the inevitably cyclical development and the process of contraction that sets in on most social movements. While the possibility of intergenerational cohesion exists for these types of movements, all too often the priorities of group members change, or the "free rider" effect becomes so strong as to weaken the organisation. Movements are also vulnerable to co-optation by authorities in attempts to reduce the salience and political threat of particular groups. In addition to the contraction of the organisation itself, the public sphere that is challenging the dominant sphere can itself also contract.

Yet, despite these potential setbacks and shrinkages, Guidry points out that a "social memory" exists, and that even contracted organisations will hold on to thoughts of the "glorious past" of their ascendancy and challenges to the dominant sphere. These memories and the lessons learned will remain and will allow for a much more robust response to potential future threats to community interests should they arise. In this sense, social movement experience is cumulative and the memory of past successes is difficult for elites to erase, thus the belief in the possibility of successful challenges always remains within communities, as compared to groups that have never experienced such successes and will face much greater challenges when attempting to combat threats or elicit positive responses from authorities.

In concluding, Guidry offers several insights. The first is that collective action allows more powerful actors to see politics differently, while less powerful actors see their own agencies and capacities differently. This reorientation of views is essential for transformative politics. The second is that successful movement leaders translate the everyday language of the community into the language of power by inserting political discussion into all facets of life, the prayer group, the school, the block party. It is this process of drawing out dialogue from the community and altering it from simple complaints to strategies for change that is at the basis for action and an understanding of the potential for change. This process occurs in stages, each requiring different approaches and tactics that will eventually lead to the capture of true political power for dispossessed neighbourhoods like those found in Belém.