Dec 13 marks the 50th anniversary of the deadliest act issued under Brazil’s military dictatorship (1964-1985). With fewer than three weeks until Jair Bolsonaro’s inauguration, it is more urgent than ever that Brazilian society reckons with its authoritarian past.
The ascent of Jair Bolsonaro to the highest executive office in the world’s fourth-largest democracy and former slave state reflects Brazil’s long, enduring, and foundational antiblackness.
Little more than three decades after the end of dictatorship, Jair Bolsonaro’s win in the Brazilian elections forebodes a crackdown on democratic institutions from the university to the press to the judiciary.
Jair Bolsonaro has propelled anger and vitriol against the Left, the poor, and so-called identity politics to the surface of Brazilian society. After his win, what’s next?
The Workers’ Party’s presidential candidate stands between Brazil and fascism. Fernando Haddad’s time as both Education Minister and mayor of São Paulo attests to the kinds of progressive policies he would promote as president.
The fascistic Jair Bolsonaro nearly scraped a first-round victory in Brazil, an ominous sign for both the Left and for the country’s democracy. But the values he espouses go far beyond Brazil, and it is up to the Left to devise new alternatives.
The strength of far-right demagogue Jair Bolsonaro in the first round of the Brazilian elections puts the country well on its way to being the next victim of a reactionary-populist international groundswell.
