Jair Bolsonaro described as "useful idiots" students who claimed against cuts

Students and teachers from all over Brazil rallied on Wednesday against blocks of education resources announced by Jair Bolsonaro's government, who attributed this agitation to the manipulation of "useful idiots" by a left-wing minority.

Teachers, students and service staff at federal universities and colleges went on strikewhich many private educational institutions have joined.

The main marches are called for the end of the afternoon, but since the morning, they have been pointed at. operates in most Brazilian states and in the country's largest citieslike San Pablo, Rio de Janeiro, Belo Horizonte and Brasilia.

In the capital, thousands of people gathered at one end of the esplanade of the ministries.

The demonstrations denounce the Education Minister Abraham Weintraub is considering blocking resources, including 30% of the non-compulsory federal university budget. The measure involves thousands of scholarships for students, as well as paying bills for electricity, water, cleaning and security.

Many slogans have also referred to the reform of the pension system, considered essential by the government and the markets to redress the public accounts, and compared to the recent Ordinance of Bolsonaro which relaxed the carrying of arms.

"My weapon is the book, but unfortunately, education is not a priority and where there is a lack of culture and education, the violence is plentiful, it is why am I here, fighting for public education?, he explained to AFP the writer Alessandra Roscoe, who participated in the march of Brasilia.

The Minister of Education, Abraham Weintraub, was summoned in the afternoon by the Chamber of Deputies to give explanations. "on the budget cuts of public universities and federal institutes".

The Government claims that it is not definitive cutsbut a usual freeze of funds in all areas when the expected revenues are lower than those envisaged in the budgets.

The Chamber of Deputies, despite its official majority, approved by the 307 votes in favor and 82 against the call of the Minister of Education, Abraham Weintraub, to give explanations this Wednesday "on budget cuts of public universities and federal institutes".

"There are no cuts, the problem is that I found a Brazil economically destroyed "and" the collections were less important than expected "Bolsonaro announced Wednesday shortly after arriving in Dallas, Texas to receive a decoration from the US-Brazil Chamber of Commerce.

For the former soldier, "the majority (protesters) is militant", disinterested in studies.

"If you ask them for the formula of the water, they do not know it, they do not knowat. They are on useful idiots used by a skilled minority that forms the core of federal universities, "he added.

Since the arrival of Bolsonaro in power, Education has become a designated field of conquest for the most radical sectors of the "bolonarist" electoratedetermined to eliminate from the clbadroom any vestige of "cultural Marxism".

The blocking of 30% of non-compulsory expenditure was initially announced as a adjustment of accounts with three universities that organized debates with left-wing personalities and who were accused by Weintraub of "seeding disorders".

In the face of negative reactions, the Minister of Education – the second responsible for this portfolio loaded in less than five months – extended the measure to all federal institutions and argued, as an example for dozens of small chocolates, that the frozen funds represented only 3.5% of the total budget.

Bolsonaro had already provoked another heated debate in April, announcing that his government was considering to reduce the public funds allocated to the fields of philosophy and sociology in universities.

"The goal is to focus on currents generating an immediate return to the taxpayer, such as veterinary studies, engineering or medicine," he explained.

The hashtag # TsunamiDaEducação Overcame the trends of discussions on the morning social network Twitter.

A general strike test

The mobilization of students has given wings to Opposition of the left, knocked out by the defeat at the polls of October.

Some trade unionists see in the day of Wednesday a repetition of a general strike called June 14 against the pension reform, a project that has earned Bolsonaro broad market support.

"On the 15th (…) it will be a day of struggle for the general strike against the pension reform "said Douglas Izzo, president of the São Paulo branch of the Central Ñnica de Trabajadores (CUT), in statements to Fato's left portal in Brazil.