You might not be aware of it, but on October 2nd Brazilians had to vote for mayors and city counsellors. On the grand scheme of things, a fairly minor event quite unworthy of notice. But something rather interesting happened: the citizens of São Paulo didn't.
Let me situate you. In Brazil, voting is obligatory - yes, I know. São Paulo, the country's largest city, has 12 million people, give or take, and 8 million of them are registered voters. The city has an interesting story with elections: in 1959, a rhinoceros from the city zoo called Cacareco got 100 thousand votes for city council. Enéias Carneiro, a politician famous (or rather, infamous) in Brazil for being borderline mad, has achieved the mark of 1.56 million votes running for congress - the highest in Brazilian history. From that you should take that the citizens of São Paulo love to protest with their vote (and have a great sense of humour).
So, on October 2nd, 1.7 million voters didn't show up and over 900 thousand voted for no one. Over 33% of voters didn't bother voting in a compulsory election!
Maybe you'll think that's because people are starting to lose interest in politics. But that's certainly not the case in Brazil. A president just got impeached amidst the largest corruption scandal in the country's history, being taken down by a young generation of judges and prosecutors that became nothing less than heroes to the people. Every week Brazilians turn on their TVs to see who are the noble and aristocratic thieves being now arrested. Hope is back into people's lives. It is a witch-hunt, but one where the witches deserve what's coming for them.
No, Brazilians have actually never been so much into politics.
What happen in São Paulo was a protest against a State deeply involved in abuse, tyranny and corruption - a "Brazilian spring" that might actually work. And now for the bad news: even in Brazil, their protest have barely been noticed. There's an old claim by libertarians that one should not vote, for voting legitimises government. If you take to that idea, then you should consider carefully what happened in São Paulo. A silent protest might easily become a silenced protest.
Edit: corrected typos.
