Songs Gathering Throngs for Electoral Love: Existe Amor em SP, Fora do Eixo and the Political Expediency of Crowds in São Paulo’s 2012 Mayoral Election.

• In Event: Crowds and Municipal Politics in São Paulo

Abstract

This paper discusses Existe Amor em SP, a cultural event and political gathering which occurred in São Paulo on the eve of the 2012 municipal elections. Purportedly an a-partisan, popular manifestation articulated around the theme of love and organized by several activists groups, the event was largely run by Fora do Eixo, a pyramidal institution of collectives which sells “horizontal” participation in political and cultural initiatives for private and state sponsorship. Key to the event’s organization and effectivity was the prior articulation of urban discontentment in musician Criolo’s song Não Existe Amor em SP, which had become a hit amongst the city’s middle class the previous year. Musical performances at Existe Amor, including Criolo’s, were also the primary means of drawing a huge crowd to the plaza. In his inaugural address, mayor Fernando Haddad of the PT party spoke directly about this event, proclaiming love to indeed exist in São Paulo, promising to govern as such, and bringing event organizers and allies into the Cultural Secretariat. This strengthened suspicion and criticism of Existe Amor as a coordinated effort between Fora do Eixo and the PT, a party built on the mobilization of the popular masses. While Haddad won office by dominating the poorer peripheral neighborhoods, the Existe Amor event served as a politically expedient and highly mediated representation of popular, grassroots will for political change. This paper considers the deployment of crowds gathered by the musical articulation of collective sentiments as evidence of citizen-activism within the Brazilian political system.

Author

• Shannon Garland, Columbia University