It started off innocuously enough. A small group of protestors took to the street to protest a twenty cent increase in bus fares but it quickly evolved into a widespread airing of grievances. Huge crowds poured into the street demanding a broad host of changes, including an end to government corruption and improvement of public services.

A common refrain throughout the protest has been that Brazilians pay taxes like they live in a developed country and get third world government services. Protestors have highlighted that the government easily found money to finance massive stadiums throughout the country for the 2014 FIFA World Cup and the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, but that public schools remain underfunded and understaffed. The state of the health care system in Brazil has also drawn the protestors’ ire. Long wait times in hospitals caused by a shortage of doctors plague many impoverished regions of Brazil.

Fighting graft has also been a major theme of the protests. For decades corruption in politics has been the norm. Politicians, if they were even charged, would get away with only a slap on the wrist. Now the situation is slowly changing as courts and citizens begin to more forcefully hold politicians to high standards. The recent mensalão scandal saw Jose Dirceu, the chief-of-staff to former President Lula da Silva, convicted and sentenced to prison for distributing a monthly salary to congressmen in exchange for their votes on legislation.

The protests are a show of force by the new middle class and a demand to be heard by the government. The narrative of the past two decades in Brazil has focused on how nearly 20 million had been lifted out of poverty and into the middle class. Those same people now want to make sure that their tax dollars are going to government services and not into the pockets of politicians and their cronies.

The response of the government has mostly been positive, especially when compared to the recent protest movement in Turkey. Although riot police have used excessive force on protestors and in one instance injuring two reporters. President Dilma Rouseff has called together governors and mayors in an effort to outline ways to meet the protestors’ demands. More significantly she has pledged to increase social spending on education and healthcare.

While the protests have died down on the street, the protesters did succeed in sending a clear message to their politicians: we expect more of you and our government. The past twenty years have changed Brazil in profound and long lasting ways. The wealthy and powerful must now tread carefully as they are no longer above the law. The growth of the middle class is chipping away at the image of Brazil as a country of haves and have-nots and the view Brazilian society has of itself is changing accordingly. Brazilians are no longer satisfied with a corrupt and inefficient government. Politicians need to act quickly, or be punished in the upcoming elections.