Brazil

Bolsonaro’s economist takes aim at workers

Brazil’s newly-elected far-right president Jair Bolsonaro has famously admitted that he does not understand economics, but he doesn’t think that understanding is a necessary qualification for being president. He was “running a political campaign and not studying for university entrance exams”. He stated that all economic policy would come from his adviser Paulo Guedes, a free-market economist and co-founder of Brazil’s free-market think-tank, the “Millenium Institute” in Brazil. Guedes is now Minister for the Economy in the Bolsonaro administration. Guedes’ ultra-free-market economic views...

Working as a CSA in São Paolo

JB, a worker-militant working on the railway in São Paolo, Brazil, recently visited London, and spoke to a number of radical workers' organisations including Tubeworker and the Angry Workers of the World. He is involved with the Invisíveis collective.

He wrote a document describing his experiences...

Bolsonaro sets out plans

Many Brazilians — especially those who are (or care for the rights of) women, black people, LGBT folk, workers, or leftists — feared the coming of New Year’s Day 2019, as far-right evangelical fundamentalist Jair Bolsonaro took power as president. In his first speech as president, behind lines of armed police to intimidate the press, Bolsonaro promised to fight socialism, “gender ideology”, and the colour red. His inauguration was boycotted by the Workers’ Party (PT) and the Socialism and Liberty Party (PSOL) in protest, but neither those parties nor any other group organised major protest...

“Democracy Brigades” in Brazil

Since the far-right candidate Jair Bolsonaro won the second round of Brazil’s presidential election on 28 October — he takes office in January — the resistance has been limited to small initiatives focused on self¬defence of LGBT individuals, or legal representation of activists. Large demonstrations such as those seen after Trump’s election in the US have not happened. The Workers’ Party (PT) and the PSOL (Socialism and Liberty Party, left split from the PT) have both called meetings of their national leaderships to make plans for the months ahead, and the MTST (movement of homeless workers...

Bolsonaro's threat to Brazil

Shortly before he was elected president of Brazil on the second round (28 October), Jair Bolsonaro made clear the extent of his intolerance to political opposition, saying of his political opponents “either they go overseas, or they go to jail”. He plans vastly to increase the powers of the militarised police, which will have a significant impact on working-class, predominantly black, communities. A few days after his election, one of his political allies in the chamber of deputies proposed amendments to anti-terrorism, and stated openly they want to criminalise social and political movements...

Brazil: time to regroup

Andressa Alegre is a Brazilian socialist. She talked with Solidarity from the city of Salvador in north-east Brazil. I kind of expected that when Bolsonaro won, we would have a reaction similar to Trump’s victory in the USA. That wasn’t what happened. In Salvador, we went to see the election results in the place where the left usually meets up for that. It was all very sad. People were crying. But there were no demonstrations or protests on the days following. None in other cities too, that I’ve heard of. The left is not organised. It is left to individuals. For example, LGBT people are trying...

Brazil after the election of Bolsonaro

The left and the labour movement, feminists and LGBTQ people, are on the defensive after the election of far-right candidate Jair Bolsonaro as president on 28 October 2018. Bolsonaro takes office on 1 January, but already the right wing are energised. Street parties were held all over the country on the night of his election. Many places saw military vehicles parade through the streets. Thousands of people poured out to show their support. More than 20 universities have been subjected to invasions by military police and the confiscation of teaching materials relating to anti-fascist history...

Brazil: rising of the women

Three weeks before the first round of the Brazilian presidential elections now won by the fascistic Jair Bolsonaro, some 150,000 people, the majority women, took to the streets in Brazil to declare their opposition. In London protests against Bolsonaro have also been mainly women. They rebel against Bolsonaro’s aggressive sexism and his disregard for democracy. Advance estimates of the second round poll on 28 October were that although Bolsonaro would win (as he did), he would be in a clear minority among women. The anti-Bolsonaro women’s movement now needs our solidarity in its efforts to win...

Women rise up against Bolsonaro

Jair Bolsonaro [the leader in the race to be president of Brazil] is known as the man of three Bs. B for Bala, the army bullets. Jair Bolsonaro was trained in a Brazilian military school during the dictatorship. He came into politics through campaigning to increase officers’ salaries. In 2016, he dedicated the vote he cast in parliament in favour of impeaching Dilma Rousseff, Brazil’s elected president standing in for Lula (Workers’ Party, PT), to the recently deceased colonel Ustra, who had tortured Dilma Roussef as a young guerrilla. According to Jair Bolsonaro this is ethical, the way the...

Threat in Brazil

As we go to press, the latest polls for Brazil's presidential election on 7 October shows far-right candidate Jair Bolsonaro on 31% and Fernando Haddad of the pale-pink Workers' Party on 21%. In the run-off vote on 28 October, the polls suggest Bolsonaro and Haddad head-and-head on 42%. Bolsonaro is a Brazilian equivalent of Trump or Orban or Salvini or Erdogan or Duterte, only worse. He explicitly praises the military dictatorship which ran Brazil between 1964 and 1985. Brazil's constitution would give him, as president, more power than Trump in the USA, though not as much as Erdogan or...

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