When the Brazilian military dictatorship ended I was 5 years old. I wasn't aware of anything, of course. But I heard the stories. I saw its effects on people. It was taught in school. A...
Exemplary
When the Brazilian military dictatorship ended I was 5 years old. I wasn't aware of anything, of course. But I heard the stories. I saw its effects on people. It was taught in school. A high-school teacher told us of how he used to put cars on fire during protests near our school in the 60s. The movie Eu Me Lembro, by a director born and raised in my own state, is an autobiographical coming-of-age story about a boy growing up while his friends are "disappeared" by the military. There are still people trying to find information on their "disappeared" relatives. Most of our police is still military (it is literally called "military police"), and the military ideology is strong, troublesome and lethal. Our black youth is dying in droves by both criminals and the police. Sexual assault is rarely prosecuted. Gays are openly hated and frequently assassinated.
In this scenario, try to understand what I'm feeling when my country just elected a man who is:
against democracy / pro-dictatorship
against homosexuals / extremely sexist
against black people
against due process His motto: "bandido bom é bandido morto" Translation: "good criminal is dead criminal"
There's a huge celebration near my house. Those things always create trouble. I hear police sirens. But I hear police sirens all the time. I know they're not for me. But, for the first time, I'm terrified.
Brazilian here. I’ll write a proper comment later, for now I’m devastated. I think our democracy is seeing its last days and I’m looking for ways to leave the country for good.
Brazilian here. I’ll write a proper comment later, for now I’m devastated. I think our democracy is seeing its last days and I’m looking for ways to leave the country for good.
This worldwide trend towards populist authoritarianism is worrying. Racism, sexism, homophobia, and all other types of bigotry seem to be increasing everywhere. I don't understand why it's...
This worldwide trend towards populist authoritarianism is worrying. Racism, sexism, homophobia, and all other types of bigotry seem to be increasing everywhere. I don't understand why it's happening. What's making so many people around the world turn towards hate?
You've gotten some interesting theories as replies. I'll add my own: Social media. It used to be we got our news from newspapers, television, and radio. These have in common that they have laws...
You've gotten some interesting theories as replies. I'll add my own: Social media.
It used to be we got our news from newspapers, television, and radio. These have in common that they have laws and regulations they have to abide by, and that they tend to employ professional journalists. They have at least some degree of accountability, although how much can vary a lot from country to country. (Some countries of course lack free media, but that's mostly countries that are already authoritarian.)
Nowadays a frightening number of people get their news from social media, where there is no fact-checking, no accountability, we're free to create echo chambers that never challenge our beliefs, and there are algorithms that feed us exactly what we want to hear. The result is that a large amount of the population is misinformed, often as a result of malicious misinformation campaigns.
Social media has also had a negative effect on the established media. To have any chance of going viral, they have to make their content quicker to digest, and their headlines more provocative.
This is kind of a self-promoting comment, so feel free to label as offtopic, but I've recently posted a link to a Wisecrack video which provides an interesting view on the subject. In short, those...
This is kind of a self-promoting comment, so feel free to label as offtopic, but I've recently posted a link to a Wisecrack video which provides an interesting view on the subject. In short, those political groups learned to tell a compelling story to a significant portion of the population that is very willing to hear and participate in that story. Call it political theatre, kayfabe, or Stand Alone Complex, but the authors of the video argue that for many voters it's not about hate, but about a compelling narrative.
i wouldn't consider it self-promoting or off topic to toss a link to something you've posted that's tangentially related to the subject, personally. i think it actually helps to bring in...
i wouldn't consider it self-promoting or off topic to toss a link to something you've posted that's tangentially related to the subject, personally. i think it actually helps to bring in information like that both for alternative perspective and context/background purposes, especially if someone explicitly asks a question related to it.
It's the failure of liberalism to offer solutions to the problems arising from the rapidly changing and globalizing economy. The fascists promise to return to a time when things were better...
It's the failure of liberalism to offer solutions to the problems arising from the rapidly changing and globalizing economy. The fascists promise to return to a time when things were better (whether that time ever actually existed is unclear), when the (liberal) opposition is just telling you that things are actually fine and that we just need some technocratic adjustments it's hardly a wonder people flock to the authoritarians.
I know Brazil is slightly more complicated since their left opposition figure was jailed on corruption charges I still haven't been able to determine the legitimacy of, but I think that's the explanation for the global trend.
Lula was jailed for receiving an apartment as a bribe, but the apartment is not his and there's nothing connecting him to it. This became kind of a joke around here. I'm not saying he is clean, he...
Lula was jailed for receiving an apartment as a bribe, but the apartment is not his and there's nothing connecting him to it. This became kind of a joke around here. I'm not saying he is clean, he is certainly guilty of other crimes, but the arrest was politically motivated. The judge had a personal vendetta against the political left and wanted to jail him no matter what. But once he was arrested you couldn't beat the optics of it. It was game over for PT (Workers Party). They were an easy target and should never have had a candidate in the race. If they did so, Bolsonaro wouldn't be president. The arrogance of our major left-wing party was our doom.
Most people don't understand the nuances of politics, they vote on emotion. There were MANY reasonable right-wingers on the run that would be 100% neoliberals and the total opposite to the Workers Party a lot of people hate. But Bolsonaro resonated as the most anti-establishment of them all. I think it is a failure of our education system that couldn't properly educate our generations about the atrocities of the military dictatorship, so authoritarianism appeals to them when they experience the natural, sometimes difficulty motions of democracy.
Including the president, there will be at least 5 militaries in the executive. It's worrisome.
I am completely against Bolsonaro, and I don’t think here is the place to discuss this kind of thing, but let me just show that there are things that are not as clear as you put (or at least there...
I am completely against Bolsonaro, and I don’t think here is the place to discuss this kind of thing, but let me just show that there are things that are not as clear as you put (or at least there are some disagreement): I strongly disagree with you on (1). The process that led him to jail was very clean, that are a lot of evidence linking him to the apartment, and different judges in different instances maintained the decision. On the rest I’m with you a hundred percent!
I wouldn't pin the failure on Liberalism itself. After all, Liberal Democracies have survived in the face of many challenges they've seen since they became popular during the Enlightenment Era....
I wouldn't pin the failure on Liberalism itself. After all, Liberal Democracies have survived in the face of many challenges they've seen since they became popular during the Enlightenment Era. The US Constitutional Republic has survived 230 years. While European and South American history has been more turbulent, the ideals of Liberal Republicanism have always inspired movements across the continents. The prominence of Liberal Republics and Monarchies has been the defining characteristic of the post-WWII era.
I think the problem lies in the particular brand of Neo-Liberalism that the West has gotten comfortable with over the past few decades. It is this kind of zombie Liberalism where the only thing that matters are free markets, while progress and social justice exist only in the dreams of the rabble. While the Reactionaries on the Right are willing to do whatever it takes to impede justice and equality, the Neo-Liberals on the Left find themselves flabbergasted at the suggestion they should do anything significant. They simply have no idea what to do. I mean, if Occupy Wall Street wasn't a loud enough cry for help, I don't know what the hell they are waiting for. I'm all for technocratic solutions, but what we really need is some damned justice!
So this basically leaves us in the situation we see today, where everyone except the most dedicated have given up on politics. "Both sides are the same," they say. "Two cheeks on the same ass." The Liberals' unwillingness to take decisive action in response to the cries of the public have left the desperate with no choice but to try something else. Despite that, the moderate Conservatives manage to offer the public even less than the Liberals do. So when these "tough guy" Authoritarians show up and promise to tear the whole system a new asshole, it is no surprise why it is so appealing.
Of course, it is a huge mistake to elect Authoritarians, but there is an undeniable sense that the status quo is awfully unjust. The distribution of power and property is not only inequitable and corrupt, but it is getting worse at an alarming pace. We don't have 30 years to sit around and wait until gradual reforms slow it down.
We seriously do need drastic and immediate changes, and we need bold and competent leadership now more than ever, and that is exactly what the Authoritarians are selling. Unfortunately, what they are selling is snake oil. The only thing they are interested in doing is exploiting the tension and being in charge when the system ultimately collapses and lawlessness ensues.
This is what it looks like when the world's sole superpower steps back from the leadership role. This is being orchestrated by anti-Western countries with Russia spearheading things with the help...
I don't understand why it's happening.
This is what it looks like when the world's sole superpower steps back from the leadership role.
This is being orchestrated by anti-Western countries with Russia spearheading things with the help of billionaires like Robert Mercer who started Cambridge Analytica and helped fund Trump and Brexit. The playbook is old - blame your problems on "the Others" - but the extensive reach and resonance that social media has is new.
I tried writing about this worldwide trend recently. While doing research I was trying to develop the thesis, that at least in the case of Brazil, this is largely about crime. I can understand the...
I tried writing about this worldwide trend recently. While doing research I was trying to develop the thesis, that at least in the case of Brazil, this is largely about crime. I can understand the impulse to authoritarianism given the deeply troubling state of law and order in Brazil, but I can't really connect that to the issues of racism, sexism, and homophobia, and I'm still at a loss as to why those things are connected to authoritarian movements worldwide.
Ultimately, I gave up on my writing project because I couldn't make sense of the current political climate and the research I was reading. I also couldn't connect my thesis to the other worldwide authoritarian movements - Geert Wilders, National Front, Brexit, AfS, AfD, Trump and Bannon, etc.
If you read Hannah Arendt's books, you can see that there is an evil that even religion has no concept for, as she puts it at least. There is an evil that cannot be forgiven and put back on the...
If you read Hannah Arendt's books, you can see that there is an evil that even religion has no concept for, as she puts it at least. There is an evil that cannot be forgiven and put back on the road to redemption and forgiveness. The example was Satan being a fallen angel, which means there is a small possibility of return from evil, return from the fall from grace, etc.
But in the case of mass genocidal maniacs and totalitarianism, the evil is the building of a machine that will exterminate groups of people, whatever the criteria of the day is, at will. Today it's one group, the next week it's another. There is no safety in this machine, it just uses up resources and grinds people down and gets rid of them for no reason other than to motivate the rest of the population to keep using up resources in the direction that the leader wants.
The building of this machine that turns humanity into mere atoms that are used to push around other atoms is why totalitarianism is evil beyond words. Your thoughts all become guarded, your words are carefully selected, your own person is forced to become disconnected from all others, etc. I think in Arendt's books she refers to it as becoming animal-like? Something like that, it's just the removal of humanity from humans.
can understand the impulse to authoritarianism given the deeply troubling state of law and order in Brazil,
This is the danger of totalitarianism. If it's simple authoritarianism that's one thing, but if it seeks domination of thought and dehumanizes everyone, it's totalitarianism.
Lack of opportunity in poor areas, increasing income inequality, a stunning lack of care for the most vulnerable people in society on both ends, you name it. When people aren't looked after they...
Lack of opportunity in poor areas, increasing income inequality, a stunning lack of care for the most vulnerable people in society on both ends, you name it.
In the simplest form pain and suffering leads to hatred and tribalism. What are possible causes of pain and suffering? Lack of: proper health care, economic prospects, purpose, community, failure...
In the simplest form pain and suffering leads to hatred and tribalism. What are possible causes of pain and suffering? Lack of: proper health care, economic prospects, purpose, community, failure to assimilate( thinking of older folks assimilating into technologically driven culture), health problems ( coming with an aging population, addictions, family problems. ETC.
If I had to make a bet I would say the mostly likely combination of right wing driven extremism are young men with few economic prospects and 50 year old plusers who have been driven out of the economy mixed with an awesome cocktail of facebook/youtube progranda machines. But that's just wild conjecture.
Having watched and participated in Brazilian politics since the end of the military regime, it's not as simple as it sounds. The NY Times, while having a fantastic presence here for many years and...
Exemplary
Having watched and participated in Brazilian politics since the end of the military regime, it's not as simple as it sounds. The NY Times, while having a fantastic presence here for many years and delivering very good reporting, is wrong in a few points.
First of all, let me clarify that I think Bolsonaro is a terrible, horrendous person, truly an awful human. His ideas are poorly construed, his thought process seems to be elementary at best. He shows a very poor grasp of history, has close to zero knowledge of economic matters (which is very worrisome), and display an ability to reason with others akin to a child.
However, he is the product of a spell of terrible government by the Worker's Party (PT), which started Brazil on a culture of polarization and a vicious "Us vs Them" rhetoric that has now produced the perfect environment for this simpleton to be elected president.
PT will spew their customary BS about Lula being convicted without evidence (there are 2.000 pages worth of evidence and the conviction has been upheld by 3 separate instances, most of them filled with appointees from their party), about a "right-wing coup", but the truth of the matter is that PT drove Brazil's economy into the ground trying to stay in power and paid the ultimate price for a political party: loss of power. And they are embarking on another polarization crusade, which has further helped Bolsonaro's rise to power.
Who is he? A congressman since 1991, he has managed to approve 2 laws of his own authorship (one regarding a cancer medicine being allowed in Brazil, another to prolong a tax break for the Amazon region. That is his whole contribution in almost 30 years in Congress. He is a zero in terms of political power and he is now president. How is that possible?
Well, Brazil has had sub-Saharan Africa level of inequality since forever, so that wasn't it. There were gains made during PT's govt, they love to say they lifted X million people of poverty, but it was all a fraud, the country was simply riding the perfect storm of commodities prices and those people, and many more, have gone back to being poor once conditions weren't as good and PT implemented a new economic policy (which anyone with a cursory understanding of the matter knew wouldn't work) which, along with the graft (which was beyond anything the country has ever seen, and we've seen a lot of it), simply drove the economy into the ground. That is what caused PT to lose the Presidential seat, not so shadow conspiracy or other tinfoil hat level BS.
Lula, especially, had the power to drive reforms that would have changed the country and made it more resilient to crisis, but instead of tax and welfare reform, we got corruptions scandals beyond belief (there were mid-level managers at the state's oil company with 100 million dollars in their offshore accounts, one guy gave back 97 million to reduce his prison sentence), no reforms and the country's economy is in terrible shape, prospects for the coming years are grim.
We currently have 20 million people out of work, a large swat of the young people have no job or are studying, basically they do nothing, our educational system is a sham, (68th in 70 OECD countries in a recent study), and because of the economy tanking there's very little support for scholarships and assorted.
Brazil has averaged (AVERAGED!) 100 deaths per day for a long long time. More than 63.000 people were killed last year. Petty crime is not recorded with any precision since most people don't bother reporting it. Just as an example of how ineffective the police is here, there is a special division of police in Rio, Brazil's second biggest city, dedicated to investigation car theft. From 2015 to today, it has concluded 4 investigations...
Add that the fact that we are a very conservative country, especially in social issues, that the country has always loved a "Savior", who promises to solve all our problems (without explaining how to do it) and here we are. It's ripe country for a populist asshole with no shame to rise to power.
And that is where Bolsonaro spotted his chance, upping his rhetoric to insane levels in order to appeal to this angry sentiment that was percolating in the population, and riding that wave to the win. He has been campaigning for a couple of years now, using social media to great effect, and once PT's corruption scandal really broke and people started getting the full story, it was smooth sailing for his campaign. He sided with the evangelical political parties (he was never one, but suddenly he's a super God-fearing, bible thumping religious man), gaining millions of votes almost immediately, stoked the fears of PT returning to power and again driving the country's economy into the ground, just as it tepid shows signs of life, and basically won the presidency as the Anti-PT candidate, which the more established parties were not able to do (because most of them were also involved in the corruption scandal with the constructions companies).
So someone who was a federal representative since 1991 and has done NOTHING, never led any commissions in Congress, never was responsible for any relevant legislation, never gained any meaningful power for almost 30 years, nothing, a zero,
now gets to be president. If it's not a disaster, I'll be very happy.
But Bolsonaro is no Orban. Brazil has no far right as understood in Europe, especially. He's not going to implement most of the bullshit he spewed (he has already walked back on doing a new Constitution), because he lacks the power and, if he wants to have that power, he'll have to cater to the many parties we have here by giving them positions in govt, budget for their regional bases, etc. In social matters, he is a terrible bigot, but that's about it. In economic matters, he's going to implement a very centrist plan, and if that is successful, he might be able to do some of the craziest shit, especially if it caters to the evangelical base he constructed. But it is doubtful whether he'll implement a dictatorship (Brazil's institutions have been tested by PT's corruption and have responded very well in defending the laws of the country), and even more doubtful if he'll walk back Brazil's very liberal social laws. Maybe he'll manage something on abortion and the like, but that should be about it. And, I for one, am more than willing to fight against social changes that take away rights that were hard earned, especially for minorities and LGBTI communities. In a way, this could be an even bigger test of the Brazilian institutions, where they need to put away their prejudices (which are great) and fight for the right of all people, not just their own.
Now we will have four years under an idiot who never did anything, has zero experience in the Executive Branch, only says stupid shit and doesn't know or understand the first thing about the economy (which is the essential issue here, because if the economy is shit, everything follows and the social issues get worse). We will see a few steps back in terms of social issues, which sucks and scares me, but I believe in the end it will be just a terrible govt in a time when we needed a good if not great one.
All in all, we'll have another "lost" decade, when we have had two already (the 80's and the mid-2010's until now). Brazil is always called the Country of the Future, but the future has a tendency of never arriving...
Oh boy, I deeply fear the ramifications of this and can only pray it Bolsonaro doesn't end up being Pinochet 2.0 like people have been predicting. The Amazon is probably fucked too but that seems...
Oh boy, I deeply fear the ramifications of this and can only pray it Bolsonaro doesn't end up being Pinochet 2.0 like people have been predicting. The Amazon is probably fucked too but that seems slightly less important than the immediate human suffering this could bring about.
I don't know if we have any Brazilian friends here, but on the chance we do, stay safe. Solidarity <3
According to the recent unofficial Tildes survey, there is at least one person residing in Brazil on the site. If you are reading this, fique calmo e seguro meu amigo. I hope I didn't butcher it.
According to the recent unofficial Tildes survey, there is at least one person residing in Brazil on the site.
If you are reading this, fique calmo e seguro meu amigo.
Yes, yes they did. However, Bolsonaro used tactics like (widely spammed) fake news WhatsApp messages. (He's getting investigated for that. However, considering his position on everything, he's...
Yes, yes they did. However, Bolsonaro used tactics like (widely spammed) fake news WhatsApp messages. (He's getting investigated for that. However, considering his position on everything, he's just gonna shut down the investigation anyways most likely!)
Nothing will come of this. In Ontario, the Ontario Proud group was essentially advertising for one political party and was texting people and buying up Facebook ads and yet, they weren't...
(widely spammed) fake news WhatsApp messages.
Nothing will come of this. In Ontario, the Ontario Proud group was essentially advertising for one political party and was texting people and buying up Facebook ads and yet, they weren't investigated yet and were able to help sway the election results. The other political parties didn't have the same dirty tricks playbook.
He'll have to succeed in dissolving the lower house (which he stated, many years ago, that he'd do so if he were to become president). This isn't very easy, but he could manage. He'd also have to...
He'll have to succeed in dissolving the lower house (which he stated, many years ago, that he'd do so if he were to become president). This isn't very easy, but he could manage.
He'd also have to put a bunch of supporters in the supreme court, but from my understanding that's easier for him.
We're not 100% guaranteed to end up under a dictatorship, but it's likely to happen
Sadly, for Canadians there may be an economic incentive here: if environmental regulations are torn down and they encourage more foreign investment, then Canadian mining companies will go even...
Sadly, for Canadians there may be an economic incentive here: if environmental regulations are torn down and they encourage more foreign investment, then Canadian mining companies will go even further in strip-mining the environment in Brazil. That makes more money for Canadians and it's Not In My Backyard as the phrase goes so it'll be less noticed by Canadians. Very very sad day for democracy.
The fact that he supports brutal dictatorship (from the country's past) is enough to turn me off, honestly. Not to mention (illegal) whatsapp messages... man.
The fact that he supports brutal dictatorship (from the country's past) is enough to turn me off, honestly. Not to mention (illegal) whatsapp messages... man.
Given the severity of the global security issues, this does raise some awkward questions. If Bolsanaro takes substantive steps toward actions that would severely threaten the rest of the world...
So considering the recent incredibly dire Climate Change report that just came out, the fact is that were all fucked.
Given the severity of the global security issues, this does raise some awkward questions. If Bolsanaro takes substantive steps toward actions that would severely threaten the rest of the world through climate change, at what point would economic sanctions be called for, and at what point, if any, military intervention?
if we're being honest, no thing of the sort would happen ever because there are a number of key players (including current US leadership) who don't give a fuck unless it's impacting their bottom...
If Bolsanaro takes substantive steps toward actions that would severely threaten the rest of the world through climate change, at what point would economic sanctions be called for, and at what point, if any, military intervention?
if we're being honest, no thing of the sort would happen ever because there are a number of key players (including current US leadership) who don't give a fuck unless it's impacting their bottom line and who probably benefit from the sort of government bolsonaro wants--as long as bolsonaro isn't fucking around with US interests or whatever, he's never going to earn brazil any sort of sanctions or military response. but really, if bolsonaro were to go through with everything he stands for and what he says he wants, at some point internal violence or revolution up to and including assassination would probably be the only realistic, pragmatic response--and that assumes such action isn't already necessary.
in general i don't think violence is a good option for solving problems, but when the dude who just got elected is on the record as saying "leftists, opposition, LGBT people and undesirables leave or we might take steps to exterminate you from civil society" and "i think military dictatorship is cool and that previous south american military juntas didn't go far enough in killing people" peaceful protest is probably off the table.
Business media is already talking about how it's a good opportunity to start investments in Brazil. They don't care about anything but the chance for monetary gain
Business media is already talking about how it's a good opportunity to start investments in Brazil. They don't care about anything but the chance for monetary gain
Military intervention, I'm not sure, but we're already well past the point where several countries, including the United States, should be facing sanctions due to crimes against the climate. The...
Military intervention, I'm not sure, but we're already well past the point where several countries, including the United States, should be facing sanctions due to crimes against the climate. The issue is that there's no precedent for it, and no mechanism for imposing them.
When the Brazilian military dictatorship ended I was 5 years old. I wasn't aware of anything, of course. But I heard the stories. I saw its effects on people. It was taught in school. A high-school teacher told us of how he used to put cars on fire during protests near our school in the 60s. The movie Eu Me Lembro, by a director born and raised in my own state, is an autobiographical coming-of-age story about a boy growing up while his friends are "disappeared" by the military. There are still people trying to find information on their "disappeared" relatives. Most of our police is still military (it is literally called "military police"), and the military ideology is strong, troublesome and lethal. Our black youth is dying in droves by both criminals and the police. Sexual assault is rarely prosecuted. Gays are openly hated and frequently assassinated.
In this scenario, try to understand what I'm feeling when my country just elected a man who is:
His motto: "bandido bom é bandido morto"
Translation: "good criminal is dead criminal"
I could find links for all of this, but John Oliver already did a great job at summarizing this individual and the situation surrounding him. I'm not a staunch left-winger, I am aware that Haddad was not immaculate. But Bolsonaro is so much fucking worse. He threatens not just our lively hood, but the very core of our democracy.
There's a huge celebration near my house. Those things always create trouble. I hear police sirens. But I hear police sirens all the time. I know they're not for me. But, for the first time, I'm terrified.
Brazilian here. I’ll write a proper comment later, for now I’m devastated. I think our democracy is seeing its last days and I’m looking for ways to leave the country for good.
This worldwide trend towards populist authoritarianism is worrying. Racism, sexism, homophobia, and all other types of bigotry seem to be increasing everywhere. I don't understand why it's happening. What's making so many people around the world turn towards hate?
You've gotten some interesting theories as replies. I'll add my own: Social media.
It used to be we got our news from newspapers, television, and radio. These have in common that they have laws and regulations they have to abide by, and that they tend to employ professional journalists. They have at least some degree of accountability, although how much can vary a lot from country to country. (Some countries of course lack free media, but that's mostly countries that are already authoritarian.)
Nowadays a frightening number of people get their news from social media, where there is no fact-checking, no accountability, we're free to create echo chambers that never challenge our beliefs, and there are algorithms that feed us exactly what we want to hear. The result is that a large amount of the population is misinformed, often as a result of malicious misinformation campaigns.
Social media has also had a negative effect on the established media. To have any chance of going viral, they have to make their content quicker to digest, and their headlines more provocative.
Social media really is an amplifier for lies, propaganda & misinformation. Fast, easy and low cost for bad actors.
This is kind of a self-promoting comment, so feel free to label as offtopic, but I've recently posted a link to a Wisecrack video which provides an interesting view on the subject. In short, those political groups learned to tell a compelling story to a significant portion of the population that is very willing to hear and participate in that story. Call it political theatre, kayfabe, or Stand Alone Complex, but the authors of the video argue that for many voters it's not about hate, but about a compelling narrative.
i wouldn't consider it self-promoting or off topic to toss a link to something you've posted that's tangentially related to the subject, personally. i think it actually helps to bring in information like that both for alternative perspective and context/background purposes, especially if someone explicitly asks a question related to it.
It's the failure of liberalism to offer solutions to the problems arising from the rapidly changing and globalizing economy. The fascists promise to return to a time when things were better (whether that time ever actually existed is unclear), when the (liberal) opposition is just telling you that things are actually fine and that we just need some technocratic adjustments it's hardly a wonder people flock to the authoritarians.
I know Brazil is slightly more complicated since their left opposition figure was jailed on corruption charges I still haven't been able to determine the legitimacy of, but I think that's the explanation for the global trend.
Lula was jailed for receiving an apartment as a bribe, but the apartment is not his and there's nothing connecting him to it. This became kind of a joke around here. I'm not saying he is clean, he is certainly guilty of other crimes, but the arrest was politically motivated. The judge had a personal vendetta against the political left and wanted to jail him no matter what. But once he was arrested you couldn't beat the optics of it. It was game over for PT (Workers Party). They were an easy target and should never have had a candidate in the race. If they did so, Bolsonaro wouldn't be president. The arrogance of our major left-wing party was our doom.
Most people don't understand the nuances of politics, they vote on emotion. There were MANY reasonable right-wingers on the run that would be 100% neoliberals and the total opposite to the Workers Party a lot of people hate. But Bolsonaro resonated as the most anti-establishment of them all. I think it is a failure of our education system that couldn't properly educate our generations about the atrocities of the military dictatorship, so authoritarianism appeals to them when they experience the natural, sometimes difficulty motions of democracy.
Including the president, there will be at least 5 militaries in the executive. It's worrisome.
I am completely against Bolsonaro, and I don’t think here is the place to discuss this kind of thing, but let me just show that there are things that are not as clear as you put (or at least there are some disagreement): I strongly disagree with you on (1). The process that led him to jail was very clean, that are a lot of evidence linking him to the apartment, and different judges in different instances maintained the decision. On the rest I’m with you a hundred percent!
Could you share some links about this evidence?
I would suggest you to read the first judicial sentence, which were confirmed by other judges.
It's 260 pages!
I'd rather believe you.
Yup, neoliberalism's failure on the global scale plays out with people turning to right wing authoritarians.
I wouldn't pin the failure on Liberalism itself. After all, Liberal Democracies have survived in the face of many challenges they've seen since they became popular during the Enlightenment Era. The US Constitutional Republic has survived 230 years. While European and South American history has been more turbulent, the ideals of Liberal Republicanism have always inspired movements across the continents. The prominence of Liberal Republics and Monarchies has been the defining characteristic of the post-WWII era.
I think the problem lies in the particular brand of Neo-Liberalism that the West has gotten comfortable with over the past few decades. It is this kind of zombie Liberalism where the only thing that matters are free markets, while progress and social justice exist only in the dreams of the rabble. While the Reactionaries on the Right are willing to do whatever it takes to impede justice and equality, the Neo-Liberals on the Left find themselves flabbergasted at the suggestion they should do anything significant. They simply have no idea what to do. I mean, if Occupy Wall Street wasn't a loud enough cry for help, I don't know what the hell they are waiting for. I'm all for technocratic solutions, but what we really need is some damned justice!
So this basically leaves us in the situation we see today, where everyone except the most dedicated have given up on politics. "Both sides are the same," they say. "Two cheeks on the same ass." The Liberals' unwillingness to take decisive action in response to the cries of the public have left the desperate with no choice but to try something else. Despite that, the moderate Conservatives manage to offer the public even less than the Liberals do. So when these "tough guy" Authoritarians show up and promise to tear the whole system a new asshole, it is no surprise why it is so appealing.
Of course, it is a huge mistake to elect Authoritarians, but there is an undeniable sense that the status quo is awfully unjust. The distribution of power and property is not only inequitable and corrupt, but it is getting worse at an alarming pace. We don't have 30 years to sit around and wait until gradual reforms slow it down.
We seriously do need drastic and immediate changes, and we need bold and competent leadership now more than ever, and that is exactly what the Authoritarians are selling. Unfortunately, what they are selling is snake oil. The only thing they are interested in doing is exploiting the tension and being in charge when the system ultimately collapses and lawlessness ensues.
This is what it looks like when the world's sole superpower steps back from the leadership role.
This is being orchestrated by anti-Western countries with Russia spearheading things with the help of billionaires like Robert Mercer who started Cambridge Analytica and helped fund Trump and Brexit. The playbook is old - blame your problems on "the Others" - but the extensive reach and resonance that social media has is new.
Dark times ahead.
In case you want to read more about Russia and Brexit:
https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2017/may/07/the-great-british-brexit-robbery-hijacked-democracy
I won't bother posting a source for Trump/Russia as there are literally books about it.
I tried writing about this worldwide trend recently. While doing research I was trying to develop the thesis, that at least in the case of Brazil, this is largely about crime. I can understand the impulse to authoritarianism given the deeply troubling state of law and order in Brazil, but I can't really connect that to the issues of racism, sexism, and homophobia, and I'm still at a loss as to why those things are connected to authoritarian movements worldwide.
Ultimately, I gave up on my writing project because I couldn't make sense of the current political climate and the research I was reading. I also couldn't connect my thesis to the other worldwide authoritarian movements - Geert Wilders, National Front, Brexit, AfS, AfD, Trump and Bannon, etc.
The word you’re looking for is “fascism”.
If you read Hannah Arendt's books, you can see that there is an evil that even religion has no concept for, as she puts it at least. There is an evil that cannot be forgiven and put back on the road to redemption and forgiveness. The example was Satan being a fallen angel, which means there is a small possibility of return from evil, return from the fall from grace, etc.
But in the case of mass genocidal maniacs and totalitarianism, the evil is the building of a machine that will exterminate groups of people, whatever the criteria of the day is, at will. Today it's one group, the next week it's another. There is no safety in this machine, it just uses up resources and grinds people down and gets rid of them for no reason other than to motivate the rest of the population to keep using up resources in the direction that the leader wants.
The building of this machine that turns humanity into mere atoms that are used to push around other atoms is why totalitarianism is evil beyond words. Your thoughts all become guarded, your words are carefully selected, your own person is forced to become disconnected from all others, etc. I think in Arendt's books she refers to it as becoming animal-like? Something like that, it's just the removal of humanity from humans.
This is the danger of totalitarianism. If it's simple authoritarianism that's one thing, but if it seeks domination of thought and dehumanizes everyone, it's totalitarianism.
Brexit might be a terrible idea, but it's not fundamentally authoritarian. It has support from both more liberal and more authoritarian politicians.
Lack of opportunity in poor areas, increasing income inequality, a stunning lack of care for the most vulnerable people in society on both ends, you name it.
When people aren't looked after they get bitter.
In the simplest form pain and suffering leads to hatred and tribalism. What are possible causes of pain and suffering? Lack of: proper health care, economic prospects, purpose, community, failure to assimilate( thinking of older folks assimilating into technologically driven culture), health problems ( coming with an aging population, addictions, family problems. ETC.
If I had to make a bet I would say the mostly likely combination of right wing driven extremism are young men with few economic prospects and 50 year old plusers who have been driven out of the economy mixed with an awesome cocktail of facebook/youtube progranda machines. But that's just wild conjecture.
Having watched and participated in Brazilian politics since the end of the military regime, it's not as simple as it sounds. The NY Times, while having a fantastic presence here for many years and delivering very good reporting, is wrong in a few points.
First of all, let me clarify that I think Bolsonaro is a terrible, horrendous person, truly an awful human. His ideas are poorly construed, his thought process seems to be elementary at best. He shows a very poor grasp of history, has close to zero knowledge of economic matters (which is very worrisome), and display an ability to reason with others akin to a child.
However, he is the product of a spell of terrible government by the Worker's Party (PT), which started Brazil on a culture of polarization and a vicious "Us vs Them" rhetoric that has now produced the perfect environment for this simpleton to be elected president.
PT will spew their customary BS about Lula being convicted without evidence (there are 2.000 pages worth of evidence and the conviction has been upheld by 3 separate instances, most of them filled with appointees from their party), about a "right-wing coup", but the truth of the matter is that PT drove Brazil's economy into the ground trying to stay in power and paid the ultimate price for a political party: loss of power. And they are embarking on another polarization crusade, which has further helped Bolsonaro's rise to power.
Who is he? A congressman since 1991, he has managed to approve 2 laws of his own authorship (one regarding a cancer medicine being allowed in Brazil, another to prolong a tax break for the Amazon region. That is his whole contribution in almost 30 years in Congress. He is a zero in terms of political power and he is now president. How is that possible?
Well, Brazil has had sub-Saharan Africa level of inequality since forever, so that wasn't it. There were gains made during PT's govt, they love to say they lifted X million people of poverty, but it was all a fraud, the country was simply riding the perfect storm of commodities prices and those people, and many more, have gone back to being poor once conditions weren't as good and PT implemented a new economic policy (which anyone with a cursory understanding of the matter knew wouldn't work) which, along with the graft (which was beyond anything the country has ever seen, and we've seen a lot of it), simply drove the economy into the ground. That is what caused PT to lose the Presidential seat, not so shadow conspiracy or other tinfoil hat level BS.
Lula, especially, had the power to drive reforms that would have changed the country and made it more resilient to crisis, but instead of tax and welfare reform, we got corruptions scandals beyond belief (there were mid-level managers at the state's oil company with 100 million dollars in their offshore accounts, one guy gave back 97 million to reduce his prison sentence), no reforms and the country's economy is in terrible shape, prospects for the coming years are grim.
We currently have 20 million people out of work, a large swat of the young people have no job or are studying, basically they do nothing, our educational system is a sham, (68th in 70 OECD countries in a recent study), and because of the economy tanking there's very little support for scholarships and assorted.
Brazil has averaged (AVERAGED!) 100 deaths per day for a long long time. More than 63.000 people were killed last year. Petty crime is not recorded with any precision since most people don't bother reporting it. Just as an example of how ineffective the police is here, there is a special division of police in Rio, Brazil's second biggest city, dedicated to investigation car theft. From 2015 to today, it has concluded 4 investigations...
Add that the fact that we are a very conservative country, especially in social issues, that the country has always loved a "Savior", who promises to solve all our problems (without explaining how to do it) and here we are. It's ripe country for a populist asshole with no shame to rise to power.
And that is where Bolsonaro spotted his chance, upping his rhetoric to insane levels in order to appeal to this angry sentiment that was percolating in the population, and riding that wave to the win. He has been campaigning for a couple of years now, using social media to great effect, and once PT's corruption scandal really broke and people started getting the full story, it was smooth sailing for his campaign. He sided with the evangelical political parties (he was never one, but suddenly he's a super God-fearing, bible thumping religious man), gaining millions of votes almost immediately, stoked the fears of PT returning to power and again driving the country's economy into the ground, just as it tepid shows signs of life, and basically won the presidency as the Anti-PT candidate, which the more established parties were not able to do (because most of them were also involved in the corruption scandal with the constructions companies).
So someone who was a federal representative since 1991 and has done NOTHING, never led any commissions in Congress, never was responsible for any relevant legislation, never gained any meaningful power for almost 30 years, nothing, a zero,
now gets to be president. If it's not a disaster, I'll be very happy.
But Bolsonaro is no Orban. Brazil has no far right as understood in Europe, especially. He's not going to implement most of the bullshit he spewed (he has already walked back on doing a new Constitution), because he lacks the power and, if he wants to have that power, he'll have to cater to the many parties we have here by giving them positions in govt, budget for their regional bases, etc. In social matters, he is a terrible bigot, but that's about it. In economic matters, he's going to implement a very centrist plan, and if that is successful, he might be able to do some of the craziest shit, especially if it caters to the evangelical base he constructed. But it is doubtful whether he'll implement a dictatorship (Brazil's institutions have been tested by PT's corruption and have responded very well in defending the laws of the country), and even more doubtful if he'll walk back Brazil's very liberal social laws. Maybe he'll manage something on abortion and the like, but that should be about it. And, I for one, am more than willing to fight against social changes that take away rights that were hard earned, especially for minorities and LGBTI communities. In a way, this could be an even bigger test of the Brazilian institutions, where they need to put away their prejudices (which are great) and fight for the right of all people, not just their own.
Now we will have four years under an idiot who never did anything, has zero experience in the Executive Branch, only says stupid shit and doesn't know or understand the first thing about the economy (which is the essential issue here, because if the economy is shit, everything follows and the social issues get worse). We will see a few steps back in terms of social issues, which sucks and scares me, but I believe in the end it will be just a terrible govt in a time when we needed a good if not great one.
All in all, we'll have another "lost" decade, when we have had two already (the 80's and the mid-2010's until now). Brazil is always called the Country of the Future, but the future has a tendency of never arriving...
Oh boy, I deeply fear the ramifications of this and can only pray it Bolsonaro doesn't end up being Pinochet 2.0 like people have been predicting. The Amazon is probably fucked too but that seems slightly less important than the immediate human suffering this could bring about.
I don't know if we have any Brazilian friends here, but on the chance we do, stay safe. Solidarity <3
According to the recent unofficial Tildes survey, there is at least one person residing in Brazil on the site.
If you are reading this, fique calmo e seguro meu amigo.
I hope I didn't butcher it.
Thank you my friend!
Jesus fuck...did Brazil people just voted for a dictatorship? WTF
Yes, yes they did. However, Bolsonaro used tactics like (widely spammed) fake news WhatsApp messages. (He's getting investigated for that. However, considering his position on everything, he's just gonna shut down the investigation anyways most likely!)
Nothing will come of this. In Ontario, the Ontario Proud group was essentially advertising for one political party and was texting people and buying up Facebook ads and yet, they weren't investigated yet and were able to help sway the election results. The other political parties didn't have the same dirty tricks playbook.
This is part of a plot to get more awesome John Oliver segments about my country.
He'll have to succeed in dissolving the lower house (which he stated, many years ago, that he'd do so if he were to become president). This isn't very easy, but he could manage.
He'd also have to put a bunch of supporters in the supreme court, but from my understanding that's easier for him.
We're not 100% guaranteed to end up under a dictatorship, but it's likely to happen
Sadly, for Canadians there may be an economic incentive here: if environmental regulations are torn down and they encourage more foreign investment, then Canadian mining companies will go even further in strip-mining the environment in Brazil. That makes more money for Canadians and it's Not In My Backyard as the phrase goes so it'll be less noticed by Canadians. Very very sad day for democracy.
The fact that he supports brutal dictatorship (from the country's past) is enough to turn me off, honestly. Not to mention (illegal) whatsapp messages... man.
Given the severity of the global security issues, this does raise some awkward questions. If Bolsanaro takes substantive steps toward actions that would severely threaten the rest of the world through climate change, at what point would economic sanctions be called for, and at what point, if any, military intervention?
if we're being honest, no thing of the sort would happen ever because there are a number of key players (including current US leadership) who don't give a fuck unless it's impacting their bottom line and who probably benefit from the sort of government bolsonaro wants--as long as bolsonaro isn't fucking around with US interests or whatever, he's never going to earn brazil any sort of sanctions or military response. but really, if bolsonaro were to go through with everything he stands for and what he says he wants, at some point internal violence or revolution up to and including assassination would probably be the only realistic, pragmatic response--and that assumes such action isn't already necessary.
in general i don't think violence is a good option for solving problems, but when the dude who just got elected is on the record as saying "leftists, opposition, LGBT people and undesirables leave or we might take steps to exterminate you from civil society" and "i think military dictatorship is cool and that previous south american military juntas didn't go far enough in killing people" peaceful protest is probably off the table.
Business media is already talking about how it's a good opportunity to start investments in Brazil. They don't care about anything but the chance for monetary gain
Military intervention, I'm not sure, but we're already well past the point where several countries, including the United States, should be facing sanctions due to crimes against the climate. The issue is that there's no precedent for it, and no mechanism for imposing them.