Bolsonaro

version

Well-known member
So he won...

I knew he would but I still can't believe it. If only a fraction of what's been written about him is true it's enough to suggest that he shouldn't be anywhere near the position.
 

DannyL

Wild Horses
What I've been wondering is what happened to enable it? I know nothing about Brazil so I'd welcome pointers....

The proximate causes are what? Corruption of previous administration? Electoral influence via social media? What?
 

baboon2004

Darned cockwombles.
I haven't read as much as I should have, but yep, the attachment of the corruption label to the previous administration seems to be cited by many people. Security mentioned as key concern too. Many people seem to be ignoring some of the horrendous things Bolsonaro has said (eg he has great support among women), in the belief that the need for 'stability' demands this. Guess that's a common story in some recent elections.

As for the uniquely Brazilian side of it, I read a great book about forgetting in Brazilian politics recently at a friend's house: https://books.google.co.uk/books?id...13 protests academic books forgetting&f=false

Thesis was that after the massive protests in 2013, everything seemed up for grabs, but even by the next year it seemed uncannily as though these protests had never happened; this was linked to the Brazilian Amnesty Law, whereby in Brazil, unlike in the Southern Cone countries, there haven't been prosecutions for the murders and disappearances that occurred during the military regime. And since Bolsonaro is someone who has trumpeted the advantages of dictatorship over democracy...
 
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version

Well-known member
As I understand it it's a combination of crime, corruption and general mismanagement and problems after fifteen years of PT. The favelas are supposed to be out of control and large parts of them are controlled by people similar to the cartels in Mexico.

I bumped into a couple of Brazilians the other week and asked what they thought of Bolsonaro. Their position was that they were sick of PT's corruption and that Bolsonaro was crazy but preferable and that the country was in such a mess that someone that extreme was required in order to see any sort of change or improvement. They also said that they wished Brazil had been colonised by the Chinese or Japanese rather than the Portugese and that a civil war might be necessary.
 

version

Well-known member
There's been the now expected presence of 'fake news' too, loads of stuff on social media in favour of Bolsonaro. Apparently the traditional media tend to soft pedal their coverage then go hard in the debates but he didn't bother turning up for most of them so was never really grilled.

There was also the stabbing incident which will have solidified his support.
 

padraig (u.s.)

a monkey that will go ape
yes, Brazil's history of right-wing dictatorship

the larger context of left and right and mass violence - death squads/disappearances up to full-out civil war - in Latin American politics

to say "security" in Brazil (or Mexico, or etc) is a different thing than to say it in an U.S. or UK election

he overwhelmingly won the more affluent and dog whistled security to win enough of the rest, with the long shadow of death squad history looming

look at his not just excuse but outright glorification-fetishization of Tropa de Elite style police death squad fuckery

which is to say he 100% exists in the wake of Trump and European populist-nativism but is also at the same in a different tradition outside/long predating it

I also get the impression/have read that he's something of a sockpuppet for larger interests

as all politicians are to be sure but specifically that's he's a useful idiot/Joe McCarthy type weapon as a calculated apart of the attack on Lula etc (who tbf were already properly fucking up on their own w/o any help)

also the PT didn't have anybody good to run against him, besides Lula who was neutralized
 

version

Well-known member
I also get the impression/have read that he's something of a sockpuppet for larger interests

I'm leaning towards the logging and mining industry given his stance on opening up the Amazon. CBC were tweeting about the opportunities for Canadian businesses the moment he was elected -
 

padraig (u.s.)

a monkey that will go ape
I've crossed paths with it percolating thru the culture in odd places for awhile

he for example has the support of a ton of black/brown MMA (kinda Brazil's 2nd sport after soccer) fighters

he doesn't fetishize them like Putin or Kadyrov but there's the same proto-fascistic vibe - strength, virility, purity, palingenetic rebirth

which isn't a given cos look at black professional athletes here who are almost universally and often vehemently anti-Trump

but again perhaps the differences when one talks about security and affluence
 

version

Well-known member
I've crossed paths with it percolating thru the culture in odd places for awhile

he for example has the support of a ton of black/brown MMA (kinda Brazil's 2nd sport after soccer) fighters

he doesn't fetishize them like Putin or Kadyrov but there's the same proto-fascistic vibe - strength, virility, purity, palingenetic rebirth

which isn't a given cos look at black professional athletes here who are almost universally and often vehemently anti-Trump

but again perhaps the differences when one talks about security and affluence

Yeah, Ronaldinho, Felipe Melo, Lucas Moura and a bunch of other high profile footballers have publicly supported him.
 

version

Well-known member
Greenwald's been on Twitter trying to make a clear distinction between Trump and the alt-right stuff and Bolsonaro:

"He really comes not from this modern alt-right movement of the type of Donald Trump or Nigel Farage or Marine Le Pen, but the Cold War far-right that carried out enormous atrocity in the name of fighting domestic communism."

Bannon's already latched onto him and tried to worm his way in though - https://www.reuters.com/article/us-...razilian-presidential-candidate-idUSKCN1N01S1

Former Trump White House adviser and conservative firebrand Steve Bannon said on Friday he was endorsing Brazil’s far-right presidential candidate Jair Bolsonaro, hoping he could win Sunday’s vote and contribute to a global populist tide. “Captain Bolsonaro is a Brazilian patriot, and I believe a great leader for his country at this historic moment,” Bannon said in a text to Reuters about the former military officer.

Bolsonaro’s team has courted Bannon’s support and his son Eduardo tweeted in August about visit with him in New York. “We had a great conversation and we share the same worldview,” wrote Eduardo Bolsonaro, the top-voted congressman in Brazil, above a smiling photo by his side. He said they planned “to join forces, especially against cultural Marxism.”
 

padraig (u.s.)

a monkey that will go ape
He really comes not from this modern alt-right movement of the type of Donald Trump or Nigel Farage or Marine Le Pen, but the Cold War far-right
I assume Greenwald's full take is more nuanced, but my read is he comes from both

or, he originates in the latter but has taken advantage of the former - like Le Pen (and Farage? idk) in fact - albeit far more successfully

and I am 100% unsurprised about foreign resource extraction and other corporate interests

oldest game in the book in Global South elections in places rich in resources and other investment opportunities
 

version

Well-known member
re: Greenwald - Apparently he was on Democracy Now! for an hour or so discussing it, that quote's just something they picked out and tweeted.
 

padraig (u.s.)

a monkey that will go ape
Greenwald's been on Twitter trying to make a clear distinction
beat me to the punch there

ya I'm sure there's a distinction and that it's important to understand (+ that Greenwald knows of what he speaks - doesn't he live in Brazil too?)

but at a point the origin doesn't matter as much as the output which is clearly tied into the global alt-right by nw
 

padraig (u.s.)

a monkey that will go ape
ah right beat me to the punch again

I can see why he'd think it's important to make clear Bolsonaro isn't just Brazilian Trump
 

version

Well-known member
beat me to the punch there

ya I'm sure there's a distinction and that it's important to understand (+ that Greenwald knows of what he speaks - doesn't he live in Brazil too?)

but at a point the origin doesn't matter as much as the output which is clearly tied into the global alt-right by nw

Yeah, he's definitely part of it now anyway. Trump's in, Bannon's in. I'm sure Farage, Putin, Le Pen and the rest will get behind him soon enough.

- - -

Greenwald lives in Brazil, yeah. He's been there for years and lives with his husband and two kids. His husband's also a member of a socialist party so I imagine he's pretty worried given Bolsonaro's homophobia and rhetoric regarding the left.
 

padraig (u.s.)

a monkey that will go ape
Yeah, he's definitely part of it now anyway
yeah I mean it's important to clarify that he (or really, his operation) is a native iteration of that Cold War/post-Cold War far right in Brazil's particular historical context, filtered thru the current moment of global reactionary blut und boden populism, rather than just a spontaneous Brazilian version of it, but the result is the same

it is meaningful that we're starting to witness the first generation of fully realized post-Trump campaigns and elections
 

padraig (u.s.)

a monkey that will go ape
its tfw when you (Russian hacking ops, Cambridge Analytica, social media algorithms, dog whistle U.S. politics) unleash a force you can't control

drop that fucking seething mess and general current existential fears into the history of Latin American political strife

PT really dropped the ball too, has to be said. granted it's much more slippery to govern well than to courageously resist, and they got snowed, but still.

your enemies are powerful and their hatred of you runs bone-deep. don't leave them a giant opening.
 

version

Well-known member
I try to hope for the best and plan for the worst but it sounds as though the former's already out of the question for the people of Brazil if this is legit -
- - -

More than 20 Brazilian universities were invaded by the military police in the past 2 days. They confiscated material on the history of fascism, interrupted classes due to 'ideological content', removed anti-fascist banners and posters claiming that it was electoral propaganda.

In the state of Rio, the court ordered the UFF faculty to remove from the Law School facade a flag with the message "UFF Law Against Fascism". The judge even determined the arrest of the director unless the flag was removed within 12 hours.

UERJ also reported police forces removing flags in support of Marielle Franco and another one that reads "Anti-fascism UERJ". In Rio Grande do Sul, an event entitled "Against fascism, Pro Democracy" was also prohibited by the electoral court.

In Mato Grosso do Sul, a public class entitled "Crushing Fascism" was also censored. In Pará, a lecture was interrupted by the military police that questioned the professor about the ideological content of the class and threatened to arrest him.

Many other student movements and organizations reported military police forces inside classrooms, student units, academic directories, confiscating any sort of materials with 'anti-fascist' or 'pro-democracy' content.
 
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