Diretas Já: da institucionalidade política às grandes manifestações de rua

Abstract

Diretas Já: from political institutions to massive protests

The aim of this article is to analyze the conditions that led to the emergence of Diretas Já in Brazil. We support the hypothesis that the movement was articulated by political actors and segments of organized civil society, the result of political strategies that led to popular mobilizations in favor of direct elections for president. We also argue that those who catalyzed and sustained the Diretas Já movement were the opposition parties to the military regime, especially the Brazilian Democratic Movement Party (PMDB). By this, we do not mean that the campaign was a simple party strategy, since the movement took shape from the intensification of the political system's interactions and connections with various social sectors that were already protesting against the government. However, based on theories of collective action that define such actions as coordinated efforts based on common interests, we conclude that Diretas Já represented a mass movement in which political leaders coordinated the participation of a wide range of actors, creating repertoires of protest and exploiting political opportunities, regardless of the consequences of the Dante de Oliveira Amendment.

Keywords: Collective action; Social movements; Diretas Já; Military regime; Redemocratization