Brazil Lurches Closer To A Return Of The Far-Right Military Junta
Brazil is one of the most resource rich countries in the world, it contains a majority of the vast Amazon rainforest, it’s the biggest country in Latin America, it’s populace is the sixth biggest in the world, and it is one of the most influential countries in the Southern hemisphere, and they’re about to elect a Fascist. Jair Bolsonaro, a military strongman, leader of the far-right Partido Social Liberal, infamous for his racist, misogynistic, and openly genocidal views is on course to be elected as Brazils 38th President after beating the Workers’ Party candidate Fernando Haddad in the first round of Brazil’s Presidential election, with Bolsonaro garnering 46% (49.2 Million) of the vote compared to Haddad’s 29.3% (31 million).
Far-Right presidential candidate, Jair Bolsonaro
Bolsonaro, best described as Benito Mussolini meets Facebook, is notorious for his highly offensive and blatantly fascistic speeches and soundbites, with him creating a huge collection of unsavoury quotations that would give wikiquote a run for their money. “I wouldn’t rape you because you don’t deserve it” he tells fellow Congresswoman Maria do Rosario of the Workers’ Party during a debate in Brazil’s Congress, “It was a mistake to torture, not kill” left-wing activists during Brazil’s Military dictatorship (1964-1985), and perhaps most startling of all he has promised to stop funding human rights organisations “because human rights are a disservice to Brazil”.
Those who don’t fit in to Bolsonaro’s vision of an ideal society are rightly petrified at the idea that Brazil’s past of military dictatorship, bigotry, torture, and extra-judicial murder could once again become a reality. In March of this year, Brazil’s lurch to the far-right became apparent to the world with the targeted assassination of Marielle Franco, a gay, black Rio de Janeiro city councillor, with nobody so-far having been charged with the murder. Franco had been an outspoken critic of police brutality and extrajudicial killings, as well as the February 2018 federal intervention by Brazilian president Michel Temer in the state of Rio de Janeiro which resulted in the deployment of the army in police operations.
Some quarters accuse fascistic elements of Rio’s police force of being involved in Franco’s murder, unsurprising given Bolsonaro’s popularity within the police, he has promised to introduce a ‘shoot-to-kill’ policy for the police to use against ‘criminals’ and loosen Brazil’s already liberal gun laws if elected President. With the entire forces of the state backing Bolsonaro it is clear to many in Brazil that he will convincingly beat his Workers’ Party opponent in the upcoming second-round of voting, scheduled to take place on 28th October. Aided and advised by Donald Trump’s former neo-Nazi talisman Steve Bannon, supported by Brazil’s military, it’s large police force and a huge percentage of the population frustrated with corruption and crime, Bolsonaro’s victory looks to be a forgone conclusion; with his support highest among rich white Brazilians (especially rich white men) and a huge evangelical Christian demographic.
Bolsominions will rejoice but it is humanity who will suffer. The poor, ethnic minorities, indigenous peoples, those belonging to the LGBTQ community, and anyone seen to be remotely left-wing will be in the firing line of Jair Bolsonaro. As well as the human cost of Bolsonaro’s presidency there is also the material cost, with him pledging to privatise industry, further deforest the Amazon rainforest, withdraw from the 2015 Paris Agreement on climate change, and re-establish the military’s ‘rightful’ place in Brazilian society.
Speaking on television on the 23rd of May 1999 Bolsonaro said what he would do on the first day he was elected President “There is no doubt. I would launch a coup on the same day. The Congress doesn’t work and I’m sure that at least 90% of the population would clap its hands. The Congress nowadays does nothing; it votes only for what the president wants. If he who rules, who decides and who gloats above Congress, then let the coup be launched, let it be a dictatorship”. Bolsonaro’s dream is about to become a reality, for his opponents it is about to become a nightmare.