University Professor Manuel Castells spoke with Brazil’s Folha de S. Paulo concerning the country's ongoing civil unrest.
“Brazil’s main problem is not economic, but political,” said Castells, who stated that the Brazilian National Congress should be disbanded in wake of the protests. “In its present state Congress is incapable of reforming itself. It should be dissolved, to make way for a constituent process of democratic reform.”
According to Castells, social media is responsible for the development of these demonstrations. “In our kind of society - the network society - social networks are the public space in which social movements are formed,” he said. “It is from there that the movements can occupy public space and then come to infiltrate public institutions.”
Manuel Castells is University Professor and the Wallis Annenberg Chair in Communication Technology and Society. He is Professor of Communication at the Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism, and holds joint appointments in the Department of Sociology, in the School of Policy, Planning, and Development, and in the School of International Relations.
