June 2013, Five Years Later: Polarization, Reconfiguration of Activism, and Challenges for the Brazilian Left

Abstract

In this chapter we argue that the massive protests of June 2013 produced a social opening in Brazil. New spaces and actors emerged on the left and on the right. They have fostered a more conflictive public arena and have challenged the codes, actors and actions that had dominated the social and political scenario since the transition to democracy in the 1970s and 1980s. Although they have different, and mostly opposed, visions of the Brazilian society and projects for its future, the individual and collective actors that have emerged on the left and on the right of the political spectrum since 2013 are products of the same sociopolitical opening. They adopt forms of action and organization proper of the wave of movements seen in Brazil and the world in the 2010s. Among the features of this form of activism are its ability of swift emergence, wide media coverage and strong subjective and expressive dimensions.