As the economy in Brazil stagnates, anger from the Brazilian middle class at soaring inflation and burdensome taxation continues to rise. On March 15, a coalition called the Free Brazil Movement led a protest with more than 200,000 people in attendance, the largest São Paulo has seen since the pro-democracy protests of the 1980s. At the head of the movement is Kim Kataguiri, a rising libertarian star working with Atlas Network partner Estudantes Pela Liberdade (Students for Liberty).
Protesters targeted Brazil’s president, Dilma Rousseff, who is in hot water after recent allegations that she was involved in, or was at least aware of, a kickback scheme at state-owned oil company Petrobras when she was a member of its board of directors.
Kataguiri’s work with the Free Brazil Movement was recently profiled in an Associated Press article that appeared in the Washington Post and the New York Times.
Many members within the Free Brazil Movement have passed through Atlas Network’s premier training program, the Atlas Leadership Academy, and are now applying what they have learned on the ground where they live and work.
“The Atlas Leadership Academy provides diverse trainings with a focus on mission development, knowing how to reach your audience and the importance of achieving impact,” said Cindy Cerquitella, director of Atlas Leadership Academy. “It has been thrilling to work with advocates for liberty in Brazil, and in 90 countries worldwide, and even more exciting to see them putting those lessons into practice.”
Atlas Network works with more than 475 free-market organizations in more than 90 countries. Estudantes Pela Liberdade is just one of several Atlas Network partners working to tear down Brazil’s barriers to liberty.
- Instituto de Estudos Empresariais will host its 28th annual Freedom Forum from April 13–14 in Porto Alegre, Brazil. Atlas Network President Dr. Alex Chafuen will be a guest speaker.
- Instituto Liberal planted the seeds of freedom in the 1980s when it began translating classical liberal texts into Portuguese.
- Instituto Millenium has been actively influencing the intellectual climate by promoting freedom through seminars, lectures and meetings across Brazil. It also hosts a podcast that takes aim at Brazil’s problems.
- Instituto Ordem Livre offers summer and winter seminars for students looking to learn about and promote liberty.
- Instituto Ludwig von Mises Brasil has been an indispensable resource by offering robust and timely analyses of Brazilian economics and politics.