Hundreds of protesters have raided the offices of O Globo, one of Brazil’s most-read newspapers, on International Women’s Day, to protest over its support of President Michel Temer, whom they accuse of taking power in a “coup.”
At around 5.30am on Thursday morning, buses carrying members of activist groups such as Rural Landless Movement (MST), Popular Youth Uprising, Movement of Small Family Farmers and the Movement of Those Affected by Dams arrived at O Globo’s headquarters in Rio de Janeiro.
The protesters overwhelmed security and occupied the building, waving flags and banners, spray-painting slogans across the walls and windows and lighting a tire fire before leaving around thirty minutes later.
Neste 8 de março, 800 mulheres de diversos movimentos populares ocuparam o parque gráfico do jornal O Globo, no Rio de Janeiro, p/ denunciar a atuação decisiva da empresa da família Marinho no golpe, nos cortes de direitos e na instabilidade política brasileira.#8MContraGlobopic.twitter.com/98Wu0kGaIh
— PT na Câmara (@PTnaCamara) March 8, 2018
On their international day, Brazilian women accused the newspaper of actively promoting a narrative that eventually led to the contentious impeachment of former leftist President Dilma Rousseff in 2016, paving the way for Temer to take charge.
“Globo promotes coups in favor of its business interests. They don’t care about the consequences for the country. That means its criminal. It’s not only an enemy of the workers, it’s an enemy of the entire nation,” teleSUR quoted Ana Carolina Silva, a member of the Popular Youth Uprising, as saying.
URGENTE! Mulheres acabam de ocupar jornal O Globo em defesa da democracia #8MContraGlobo
“A Globo quer dar golpe na eleição, as mulheres organizam a reação” é o lema principal da ação.
800 mulheres ocuparam o parque gráfico do jornal no RJ, que pertence ao grupo Globo. pic.twitter.com/kj3CtSlZL3
— MST Oficial (@MST_Oficial) March 8, 2018
Brasil de Fato and other sympathetic outlets set the number of protesters at around 800, while the newspaper Extra, part of the Globo group, reported only 400 activists.
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The protesters also accused the paper of helping the Temer government whip up fear of crime to justify deploying soldiers on the streets of Rio and capitalizing on that fear to stay in power. O Globo also publishes a lot of material about the corruption charges leveled against another former leftist president, Luiz Inacio ‘Lula’ da Silva, which his supporters see as politically motivated.
Temer’s predecessor, Dilma Rousseff, was accused of illegally moving funds across government budgets to plug up deficits in popular social programs. Once in office, Temer set about putting in place austerity measures which critics say have cut social services to the bone and has himself been accused of cronyism and corruption, leading to his popularity falling to just three percent last year. Lula, meanwhile, is still popular, and is considering making another run for president this year, though his criminal case may make him ineligible.
Meanwhile, the Brazilian Association of Radio and Television Broadcasters (ABERT), the National Association of Newspapers (ANJ) and the Association of Magazine Publishers (ANER) jointly released a statement condemning Thursday’s occupation as a “criminal act” that “threatens and attacks professionals and the media.”
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