Suchergebnisse

Argentina is the anchor of the continent, and more specifically of the Inter-American system. This country is necessarily important for any one who studies the strategy of the Free World. Argentina is the battlefront of the hemisphere [General Gordon Summer, President of the Inter-American Defence Council, October 1977] .

Until the Storm Passes reveals how Brazil's 1964–1985 military dictatorship contributed to its own demise by alienating the civilian political elites who initially helped bring it to power. Based on exhaustive research conducted in nearly twenty archives in five countries, as well as on oral histories with surviving politicians from the period, this book tells the surprising story of how the alternatingly self-interested and heroic resistance of the political class contributed decisively to Brazil's democratization. As they gradually turned against military rule, politicians began to embrace a political role for the masses that most of them would never have accepted in 1964, thus setting the stage for the breathtaking expansion of democracy that Brazil enjoyed over the next three decades.
"In this remarkable study, Bryan Pitts shows how Brazil's political class used notions of privilege and honor in order to navigate the spaces between the military dictatorship and popular movements. Through innovative research—including audio recordings of legislative proceedings made available to readers of this book—Until the Storm Passes skillfully captures the atmosphere of a pivotal moment in Brazilian history." JACOB BLANC, author of Before the Flood: The Itaipu Dam and the Visibility of Rural Brazil
A timely and original addition to our understanding of the transition from military to democratic rule in Brazil. By providing an in-depth rereading of key political events during the dictatorship's final years, Pitts fills a gap in the existing scholarship by advancing a somewhat revisionist, important argument about the relevance of the political class in the country's recent history." RAFAEL R. IORIS, author of Transforming Brazil: A History of National Development in the Postwar Era

Revolution and counterrevolution in Brazil -- "A gente quer ter voz ativa" -- The birth of a movement -- "Caminhando e cantando e seguindo a canção" -- The world turned upside down -- "Agora falando sério" -- Defending artistic and academic freedom -- "Acorda amor" -- The campaign against torture -- "Vai meu irmão" -- Latin Americanists take a stand -- "Pode me prender, pode me bater" -- Human rights and the organization of American states -- "Fado tropical" -- Congressional questioning -- "While my eyes go looking for flying saucers in the sky" -- Denouncing the dictatorship -- "Navegar é preciso" -- Performing opposition -- "Quem é essa mulher?" -- The slow-motion return to democracy -- "Amanhã há de ser outro dia

This article focuses on a crucial aspect of the Argentine labor movement that, in spite of its importance, has not been adequately examined by the existing historiography: the high degree of union structure penetration at the shop‐floor level through means of shop‐stewards and comisiones internas (CI). First, it provides a basic definition of shop‐stewards and CI for the Argentine case. Second, it briefly analyzes the history of these bodies from the early 1940s to the early 1980s, taking into account the most important structural transformations during this period, in particular the transition from an economic model driven by import‐substituting industrialization from the 1930s to the mid‐1970s to a process of deindustrialization from that moment onward. Third, it contends that these shop‐stewards and CI experienced tensions and contradictions, some of which were related to those present within the Argentine industrial working class. Finally, it underlines the importance of taking into account this rich history of shop‐floor organization to understand the strength of the Argentine labor movement in this period.