(pic from: http://www.flickr.com/photos/25874822@N07/3677876395/ )

I was standing at a buss stop today in the middle of São Paulo.

A poster on the wall behind the buss stop grapped my attention. The poster read: 

"Fora Sarney! - Fora Todos!" (Get out Sarney! - Get out everyone!).

Usually I don´t care much about day-to-day politics in Brazil. But here I couldn´t stop but smiling.

In my personal opinion, one of the major challenges keeping Brazil from really entering the first world, is the corruption in Brazilian politics. Scandals often appear in the media, yet they don´t seem to have much of a consequence for the politicians in question (in Brazil politicians are allowed to run for office even if they are convicted for corruption or having a case of corruption pending against them).  

Unfortunately, the corruption seems to be so integrated in the political system in Brazil, that the people almost appear to accept that "this is just how things are!".

So why the smile?

This blog will not turn into a political commentator. But what I liked about the poster, and what I care about, is when people fight to get their voice heard! And this poster did! Or rather, the people behind the poster did.

Arriving home tonight I told my (Brazilian) wife about the poster. The picture I had taken with my phone did not give justice, so I went online to see if anyone else had posted the picture.

What I found was better!

Not only has people posted pics on Flickr, there is even a forasarney on Twitter and a website dedicated to the cause with more than 22.000 comments. Amazing! Brazil - I am proud of you!

For those of you who haven´t made your voice heard, its not too late - do it now, make a stand against corruption and for the future of Brazil!

Go and leave your comment on forasarney.com.br and follow @forasarney on Twitter.