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Democracy, equality and social progress under threat in Brazil

MATT WILLGRESS looks at what might be in store for the newly elected President Jair Bolsonaro — an admirer of the country's past brutal dictatorship

IN OCTOBER, Jair Bolsonaro was elected president of Brazil, beating the left’s candidate Fernando Haddad, in a result which sent shock waves around Latin America and globally. His election was a triumph for the Trump administration, welcoming an ally against less compliant governments in the region. 

And while he posed as an “outsider,” the massive amounts of money spent on his campaign, including a dirty social media campaign from the Steve Bannon textbook, is just one signal of how he is in fact the candidate of the mega-rich, whom he will now reward with a privatisation bonanza.

His victory also presents a major threat to democratic, social and economic rights, fuelling violence and repression against the left and the labour movement. Days before his election, Bolsonaro said, if he was elected, “leftists will have to ... leave the country or go to jail,” adding “reds will be banished.”

His reactionary views have been widely covered.
There’s sexism — he told a congresswoman: “I wouldn’t rape you because you don’t deserve it.”

Homophobia — he said he would be “incapable of loving a homosexual son ... I would prefer my son to die in an accident than show up with a moustachioed man.”

Racism — speaking about visiting Quilombo, a territory inhabited by Afro-Brazilian descendants of escaped slaves, he said: “They do nothing. They’re not even good for procreation.”

The actions of his supporters, from those on the streets to regional and national politicians, have also caused alarm.

In the campaign, there was a spate of violence against journalists, activists and others. Romualdo Rosairo Da Costa was stabbed to death in a bar after proclaiming support for rival candidate Haddad. A women carrying an LGBT flag and wearing an anti-Bolsonaro T-shirt had a swastika carved into her skin. A transgender woman was beaten in the street by Bolsonaro supporters.

This follows a pattern of increased violence and repression since the 2016 “parliamentary coup,” which saw right-wing senators remove the elected president Dilma Rousseff and instal Michel Temer’s hard-line austerity presidency. Most notably this included the assassination of black human rights campaigner Marielle Franco and the jailing of former president Lula, who would have won this election had he not been barred from standing.

Bolsonaro has now said he intends to treat social movements as terrorists, singling out the Landless Workers Movement.

Even before taking office, Bolsonaro has been working closely with the outgoing coup president to fast-track harsh attacks on civil liberties. The left, labour and social movements have deep roots, so these attacks are central if he is to weaken their capacity to resist his agenda.

Legislation is currently being debated which could allow for peaceful demonstrations to be deemed terrorism and social movements to be deemed criminal organisations. 

Alongside Bolsonaro’s attacks on civil liberties, he is planning a further intensification of the coup government’s harsh austerity measures, including offering up the country’s oil resources to US transnationals.

Bolsonaro also has far-right allies in powerful positions throughout Brazil who threaten repression and violence. Wilson Witzel, the new governor-elect of Rio de Janeiro, for example, has outlined how the Rio police, already among the world’s most violent, will have carte blanche to kill even more than they already do in the poorest areas. 

The left, social, labour and other progressive movements are, and will be, resisting, though, with large street protests. At the encouragement of our comrades in Brazil and with the support of Labour MPs, trade unions and many others, the Brazil Solidarity Initiative has been set up to stand shoulder to shoulder with those Brazilians fighting the far right. Please support us.

Matt Willgress edited No Coup in Brazil, a blog site which has now launched the Brazil Solidarity Initiative. For information and to sign up go to www.brazilsolidarity.co.uk

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