We're right now in the worst stage of pandemic. Both death rates and new infections are climbing one day after another and our health system is overwhelmed by massive waves of hospitalizations. In spite of this, the federal government is unwilling to take any measure to slow the virus spread, and bolsonaro is making a straightforward campaign against lockdown and other governors who try to do something , so Brazil doesn't have any national plan to coordinate a reasonable response to alleviates the explosion of the curve, which means that the new variants are flowing at frenetic pace and making room for a new round of mutations that may lead to further new variants. We're facing a multiple collapse of the entire health system. Also, a full blown breakdown of the funeral system is around the corner. The current vaccination rate has been slow because of the bottlenecks caused by the negligence of the federal government which only lately decides to buy vacines after refusing several proposes made by pharmaceutical companies
To make things even worse, the economic situation is abismal: mass unemployment and the ending of the cash transfer since December led millions of people to the misery. The brazilian currency is facing the most severe devaluation among all the emergent economies and inflation has crushing the buying power of the poorest. Workers who depends on driving cabs or uber or trucks are seeing their business bankrupting as fuel prices soars. There's a rumor that the truck drivers will stop and make a national strike.
It's unbelievable that until now we didn't have any social turmoil on the streets; the left opposition is meaningless and incapable of organizing any solid movement to put Bolsonaro under pressure. The brazilian society has been paralyzed by apathy and sinister fatalism. And at least 1/3 of the population supports bolsonaro despite of all the chaos and destruction that he caused.
Thanks for the update. I
Thanks for the update. I don't follow events in Brazil closely, but it seems like the same dilemma as encountered in other places, where people are forced to choose between safety against coronavirus versus hunger, which is really a capitalist dilemma. Bolsonaro's rhetoric of downplaying the virus and pointing to the economy, which is not without justification, seems similar to Trump's rhetoric, as well as others in the republican party. I'm guessing both also contrast with governments who've used the pandemic for social control in some way. I'd be curious how things are in Brazil's favelas/shanty towns?
adri wrote: Thanks for the
adri
These dilema between health vs economy is further aggravated because of the neoliberal dismantling of the social security system and the pressure made by the finance markets to balance the government budgets. There's no political interest in taxing the rich or restructuring the economy to provide essential goods and payment reliefs to the people staying home as the neoliberal consensus is very rooted in the government. The cash transfer that we had was product of the opposition, otherwise we would have much lower benefits.
About the situation in the 'favelas' the mortality rate has been staggering as many workers who live there haven't any means to stay home, most of them are informal workers whose income depends on dally trade at the streets. In some cities as "Manaus' the majority of the deaths happened at home, especially in the poorest neighborhood. Some favelas in Rio de Janeiro have more accumulated deaths than entire countries such as Paraguai, even if we ignore the unnoticed cases and deaths that are massive. But even the wealthy and the upper middle class aren't free from the death drive policy: the private health system is already overcrowded, so doesn't matter if you have money or not because there'no oxygen, equipment and clinical rooms available to take care the new patients that are coming.
Shortly after reading this
Shortly after reading this thread I was recommended this video report,
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qE5WqLPLBWY
It looks very grim.
Allegedly, 2,840 people died
Allegedly, 2,840 people died of COVID yesterday. According to scientist Miguel Nicolelis, the state of MG declared 28 COVID deaths, but 23 of those were in the city of Uberlândia only. In short, COVID deaths are grossly underreported. It's clear we already passed 3k deaths/day.
https://twitter.com/MiguelNicolelis/status/1371974042782171147
The minister of justice has been summoning people to be questioned by the police for criticizing Bolsonaro under the law of national security, issued during the last dictatorship. Since Bolsonarist congressman Daniel Silveira tried to intimidate federal justices and was controversially arrested for threatening one of the three powers, more and more people are being summoned and investigated for criticizing Bolsonaro, since Bolsonarists want Silveira's case to be a precedent allowing them to lash out in revenge.
Celebrity youtuber Felipe Neto has been subpoenaed for alleged crime against national security:
https://twitter.com/felipeneto/status/1371551189154807810
Sociologist is being investigated for setting billboards that read Bolsonaro isn't worth a nibbled fruit:
https://twitter.com/domphillips/status/1372229179396210693
A lawyer reported that 25 people in Uberlândia were summoned:
https://twitter.com/JoseCMuniz/status/1372231646079025153
Third health minister gone during the pandemic:
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/mar/16/brazil-loses-third-health-minister-pandemic
Brother and business associate of former health minister took part in death squad, kidnapped teenagers, tortured, raped and filmed them:
https://deolhonosruralistas.com.br/2021/03/15/irmao-de-pazuello-foi-acusado-de-participar-de-grupo-de-exterminio-no-amazonas/
Bolsonaro interviews possible new minister, tries to force her to adopt his genocidal health policies, discards her, says "If you do the lockdown, you're gonna fuck me and make me lose reelection!":
https://www.opovo.com.br/noticias/politica/2021/03/15/voce-nao-vai-fazer-lockdown-no-ne-para-me-foder-e-eu-perder-a-eleicao--ne----diz-bolsonaro.html
Bolsonaro finds a Bolsonarist to put in the ministry of health:
https://www1.folha.uol.com.br/equilibrioesaude/2021/03/novo-ministro-da-saude-descarta-lockdown-como-politica-contra-covid.shtml
Court fines the federal government 1mi BRL/day until it removes illegal miners from Yanomami native reserve:
https://twitter.com/SamCowie84/status/1372260621161496585
What people should have in mind is that Bolsonaro is a Malthusian besides an authoritarian and a mobster. He praised former Peruvian dictator Alberto Fujimori's birth control policies. He blames poverty and violence on overpopulation, stating poor parents are not able to grow useful citizens. Children, according to him, don't go to school to learn anymore, but to be fed. He used to defend mass sterilization of poor people, as the upper classes already "control their offspring", although he himself had five children. He can be heard saying such monstrosities like it was normal stuff one'd say in these videos (In Portuguese, of course):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9f7xfZ7HvwY
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0dxK1ua_VhI&t=1s
Most poor people are of African descent, and poor people are the majority of people, which means that in Bolsonaro's perfect Brazil, black people would be down to a minimum. Regarding native populations, Bolsonaro encourages land miners, loggers and illegal settlers (including land speculators) to just take whatever they can from native lands; native individuals should be assimilated into non-native society in order to feed the economy. This, of course, is ethnocide and would increase poor populations in cities, those same populations Bolsonaro would rather see them vanish from existence.
Bolsonaro's vice-president once said his grandson was handsome because he was "whitening the race", meaning his family is becoming whiter with each newer generation. Hamilton Mourão usually repeat Brazilian military's racist mantra that the country is marred by the flaws of 3 "lesser races" (blacks, natives and the Portuguese) and it's up to the military to raise Brazil up to standards. After being called out, Mourão declared himself as native.
https://www1.folha.uol.com.br/poder/2018/10/meu-neto-e-um-cara-bonito-branqueamento-da-raca-diz-general-mourao.shtml
During the 19th and 20th centuries, Brazilian government set to whiten Brazilian population by promoting mass immigration and giving out economical incentives for said immigrants:
http://www.asbrap.org.br/documentos/revistas/rev21_art1.pdf
Back to COVID, it seems Bolsonaro has found his perfect method of population control: feeding the people misinformation while letting us fend for ourselves amidst a pandemic. By the way, our health system has collapsed:
https://www.cnnbrasil.com.br/saude/2021/03/12/saude-ja-esta-em-colapso-no-brasil-dizem-especialistas
It does look quite bad, and
It does look quite bad, and as with climate change it's not merely a Brazil/single country issue. The crises capitalism helps generate in a way force people to recognize their interdependence, which is really part of the essence of socialism/communism where people have "mastery" (to borrow Engels' language) over their social organization or relations with one another, rather than being dominated by capitalist social relations. I think for people living in the US, slavery outside the US like in colonial/independent Brazil doesn't receive as much attention (for whatever reason). Portuguese-Brazil took the most people from Africa (as well as enslaved the indigenous populations) and was the last in abolishing slavery. Similar to the US there is, as mentioned, the legacy of people of African/Indigenous descent making up the poorest segments of the working class.
I think nowhere on Earth, the
I think nowhere on Earth, the colonialist project was as perfectly realized as in Brazil. Even under late capitalism, the logic of a slavery-based society lives on. Bakunin used to say that in order for the poor to start a revolution, poverty and violence are not enough. It takes the notion of a universal right that we all share just because we are living human beings. That notion is what most Brazilians lack. Inequality is naturilized in the most insidious way, in which rights are not given, but earned (although they can be inherited). And as such, abuse may be seen as a right of the oppressor over the oppressed.
And now, the news:
Filipe G. Martins, Bolsonaro's international affairs advisor, did yesterday the white supremacist ok sign during a live senate session:
https://twitter.com/OliverStuenkel/status/1374866478034456577
He also adopted, in his Twitter banner, a line from the poem used by the Christchurch mass shooter:
https://twitter.com/OliverStuenkel/status/1374866482979598340
When Steve Bannon was arrested, Martins said in support "Let they hate, as long as they fear" (Oderint dum metuant), a phrase associated with neo-nazi group Combat 18:
https://twitter.com/jpdoficial1/status/1297003814147493888
He also used a falangista phrase, "Ya hemos pasao", "We have passed", to congratulate Bolsonaro's son, Carlos:
https://twitter.com/OliverStuenkel/status/1374901832531709953
Two months after HBO series Watchmen's conclusion, Martins posted, without explanation, an image of Rorschach, who in the series inspired a group of white supremacists:
https://twitter.com/CrisMiniBakunin/status/1375089204124909574
Holocaust Museum of Curitiba repudiates Martins's gesture.
https://oglobo.globo.com/mundo/museu-do-holocausto-repudia-gesto-feito-por-assessor-internacional-de-bolsonaro-24940295
Martins claims he can't be a nazi because he is a Jew. According to Lucas Baqueiro, Marins's family is not Jewish. Such claim was come up by his uncle, prosecuted in South Africa for smuggling weapons and in the USA for fraud and tax evasion. He also claims to be a Scottish baron.
https://www.revistaamalgama.com.br/12/2019/o-homem-que-sabia-javanes/
Martins' uncle's stock market fraud case report from the court in Florida:
https://www.sec.gov/litigation/complaints/comp17616.htm
Jair Bolsonaro is aware of the meaning of the gesture and admonished a supported who did it for a selfie with him:
https://twitter.com/SamPancher/status/1374871984299859968
Bia Kicis, who presides over the ethics committee in the congress, ridiculed the claims of Martins being a white supremacist / neo-nazi:
https://twitter.com/jnascim/status/1374868261184081921
She is also censoring the opposition for calling Bolsonaro genocidal as the covid toll in Brazil surpasses 300k deaths:
https://www1.folha.uol.com.br/poder/2021/03/presidente-da-ccj-bia-kicis-tenta-impedir-que-oposicao-chame-bolsonaro-de-genocida.shtml?utm_source=twitter&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=comptw
Bia Kicis is condemned to pay compensations to an exiled former congressman she libelled:
https://blogs.oglobo.globo.com/sonar-a-escuta-das-redes/post/presidente-da-ccj-deputada-bia-kicis-e-condenada-pagar-r-418-mil-por-fake-news-contra-jean-wyllys.html
Quote: I think nowhere on
Do you happen to have any decent texts or a documentary that would go in some depth on this?
And thanks to you and other Brazilian comrades for these updates.
Things are escalating
Things are escalating quickly. A police officer from the state of "Bahia' did some random shootings across the city of "Salvador' and did open fire against a military squad, which reacted by killing him with several shoots. That policial officer was with his face painted with the colors of brazil and apparently in state of total madness, saying sentences without any sense at all. As reaction the main political voices from the 'bolsonarismo'' started to post texts and videos praising the 'heroism' of the mad police, considering him as symbol of resistance against the 'tyranny' of the state governors who have been imposing measures of social distancing to curb the virus spread. This political movement lead by 'bolsonaristas' has the aim to mobilize the police force to put pressure and even take down any governor who try to confront the federal government- whose policy consistes in leave the virus circulate freely in a country which has already a heath system collapsed and daily deaths escalating frenectly.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-bgpq8yrkuc
EDIT: Sorry, I double-posted.
EDIT: Sorry, I double-posted.
Khawaga wrote: Cris Oliveira
Khawaga
When I say that, I'm venting my frustration with how much Brazil inherited from the colonial model. The ruling class is still very much linked to land property, which they to this day take by conquest or buy from those who took it by force. Social inequality is naturalize to the point where we are, today, much less prone to rebel in situations most countries would see mass insurrections, despite the many insurrections there has been in the past history.
That said, I'm not intimate with other countries' experiences and depending of the intent of the colonizers, a country where social fabric is completely torn appart may be a "success".
I talked to some friends from the areas of History and Sociology and they suggested some authors, but I don't know about the availability in languages other than Portuguese. You may try Florestan Fernandes ("A integração do negro na sociedade de classes"), Caio Prado Jr. ("Formação do Brasil contemporâneo") and maybe "Ralé Brasileira" by Jessé Souza, although the rest of his work reflects typical viewpoints of the Workers' Party, so a friend of mine (Sociology teacher and anarchist comrade) says. He also recommended Eduardo Galeano's "Open Veins of Latin America".
spartakus25
Yeah. They already did that during a mutiny in the state of Ceará. A senator took a backhoe and drove it against the gate of the barracks the mutineers had taken. And then he was shot by the mutineers:
https://www1.folha.uol.com.br/poder/2020/02/entenda-o-motim-e-as-reivindicacoes-dos-policiais-militares-no-ceara.shtml
For people outside of Brazil, it may look weird, but ostensive police work like patrolling is done by military police, while local investigation and burocracy are done by civil police. Military police has no legal right to strike. It's mutiny.
Bolsonaro's new minister of justice used to be a federal police chief until now.
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-brazil-politics-police-analysis/analysis-brazils-bolsonaro-seeks-police-support-before-elections-with-reshuffle-idUSKBN2BO529
Bolsonaro intends to get even closer to the police as his disapproval ratings increase, even among the police force, part of which feels betrayed by him. By keeping his proximity to the police, he'll go on trying to shield his sons against corruption investigations.
It was found out that in the investigation on a mobster involved in the assassination of Marielle Franco, the recording of his cell phone was deliberately paused while he was meeting with Flávio Bolsonaro's former advisors.
https://ultimosegundo.ig.com.br/brasil/2021-04-02/miliciano-teve-grampo-telefonico-pausado-em-reuniao-com-ex-assessores-de-flavio.html
Brazilian mobs are usually called militia and they are formed by former and active policemen (both military and civil), firemen (which are also military in Brazil), prison officers and politicians. Militias run racketeering, and real estate schemes among other businesses. Some people used to say militias differed from mafia as the latter is organized among families while militias are not. Since the rise of Bolsonaro, we have seen that's not true, as his family is a bunch of mafiosi. Also, other mob bosses have put their sons into the business, like Colonel Jairo (Jairo Souza Santos) and his son, Dr. Jairinho (Jairo Souza Santos Jr.). Jairo Jr. is a psycopath who beats, possibly rapes and kills children. They have both also been accused of torturing journalists.
https://veja.abril.com.br/brasil/caso-henry-os-relatos-de-agressoes-do-dr-jairinho-contra-outras-criancas/
Militias are also involved with evangelical churches.
I was reading an interview
I was reading an interview with Vladimir Safatle (a Marxist philosopher) and he said this about Brazil:
Interview with Vladimir Safatle: ''there was no election in 2018''
"Brazil was the largest necropolitical experiment in history. Of 4.5 million slaves who were sent to the Americas, 35% went to Brazil. There is no comparison with what was done in Brazil. This is what Celso Furtado writes, who says that “Brazil was an economic experiment of export-oriented plantation before it was a society”. It was an export-oriented, slavery plantation. And it is the basis of the national imagination until today and is part of the current political project."
This is what I meant!
This is the book Safatle is talking about:
The economic growth of Brazil : a survey from colonial to modern times
Mind you, it's not revolutionary reading, but it doesn't take a revolutionary to see how backwards Brazil is.
Thanks for those suggestions
Thanks for those suggestions and explanation Cris.
Thanks for sharing all this
Thanks for sharing all this information with us, though I'm quite late in reading it.
I'm curious what's going on in terms of resistance to the state, to capitalist power, and to reactionary movements. Any recommendations of news sources or people to follow online to stay current with the situation in Brazil?
Cris Oliveira
What is happening these days with the MST, Brazil's Landless Workers Movement? I don't hear about them anymore, but I remember being very impressed with their militant direct action and their horizontal forms of organizing and decision making both within local communities and across the movement as a whole.
Reddebrek
I watched this around the time it came out. I recommend this video to anyone wanting a basic overview of the COVID related political situation in Brazil, although I'm sure it's a bit outdated now.
Bolsonaro is an asshole
Bolsonaro is an asshole alright...