An extensive analysis of government policies in the magazine, Primeira Leitura, linked to important corporate and political circles, says the PT sought to "verticalize the political process from day one." "Translation: the party seeks to 'PT-ify' all society's representative groups and decision makers. This effort is based on political sociology: once securing the state apparatus, the PT wishes to reinvent the state and society itself" (Reinaldo Azevedo and Rui Nogueira "Democracia neles," Primeira Leitura, March 2003).
Commenting on the demagogic aspects of some proposals by the Lula administration, Denis Lerrer Rosenfield, professor of philosophy at the Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul, points out that the government intends to "stage a show of 'direct' or 'participatory' democracy by fostering an increase in the governing party's power to the detriment of democratic and republican institutions" (Denis Lerrer Rosenfield, "O perigo da demagogia," O Estado de S. Paulo, 3/10/2003).
President Lula da Silva makes no secret of the fact that his present policies, including economic policy, are temporary. Facing criticism from PT radicals at a recent meeting of the Party's National Directorate, Lula asked for "patience to wait for a change of direction in the economic area" (Vera Rosa and Mariana Barbosa, "Na área social, o nosso forte, estamos fracos," O Estado de S. Paulo, 3/16/2003).
This uncertainty awakens deep suspicions about the true intentions of the Lula administration and its future policies. "The fear is that the Lula administration will change its economic course as it loses popularity and faces problems with its grassroots political support.
"Despite the government's repeated assertions to the contrary, this fear still lingers among the corporate world and investors. It also remains among some political operatives" (Lu Aiko Otta, "Investidores temem mudança de rumos," O Estado de S. Paulo, 3/17/2003). The same news item quotes economist and consultant Roberto Padovani who believes that "the temptation to abruptly change economic course persists." He says that, facing the Iraq conflict, "analysts fear extreme measures such as currency exchange controls." ***
Taken as a whole, these programs fail to form a broad, coherent public policy, said Luis Pedro España, a poverty expert and director of the Institute of Economic and Social Studies at Andrés Bello Catholic University in Caracas. But they go a long way toward explaining Mr. Chávez's enduring popularity as the economy shrinks. The programs - ranging from new homes to subsidized food markets to mobile clinics - are welcomed in long-neglected barrios, deftly spread, and then their importance inflated, Mr. España said. "The government does not really have a social policy," he said. "What they have is social theater."
………….. The programs have the feel of old-style patronage. With them, Mr. Chávez has managed to erase doubt among followers by taking up the populist script in a way that has not been seen in Latin America in recent years, spending hours with crowds of followers. In Caricuao, a poor neighborhood of Soviet-style apartment blocks in southwest Caracas, his aides led a hunched group of elderly women from the crowd and provided them seating under a white tent, just feet from the president, who was there to inaugurate the first of what will be 100 markets across the city. Afterward, they expressed everlasting loyalty.
"He does not care if you are rich or poor," explained Irda de Belandria, 66. "His heart is so pure." But for the neighborhood, the affection for Mr. Chávez may outlast the material effect of the markets, which offer only a modest assortment of goods like canned products, powdered milk and sugar. Even the actual opening was unclear. The president left, and military officers shut the metal gates over the storefront. One woman asked when it would reopen. "I do not know," a military official said. "They told us tomorrow, maybe."***