Brazil's Elections and current political situation

Submitted by Reddebrek on October 8, 2018

Things look pretty grim in Brazil and it looks like it'll become a pretty big talking point in the discourse soon with the far right candidate Bolsonaro nearly winning the presidential election outright in the first round, just falling short at 46 percent on a high turnout.

In addition the Labour party is in chaos and the nation seems to be lurching to the right with increased violence in response to large social movements.

A friend of mine in Brazil is very worried about what's happening though she's been a good source of news that's often caught in language barriers.

So I think a thread to discuss what's going on and share news would be a good idea.

I'll start,

There's a thread by Black Rose detailing contemporary Brazilian politics, largely criticising the formerly ruling Labour party as a major source of much of what's happened there in recent years.

https://twitter.com/BRRN_Fed/status/1048759819128254464

Its been accused by certain sections of the lefty internet for being "Imperialisitic" but my friend say's its mostly accurate. She also told me that the PT (labour party) social security reforms, coalitions with centre right groups while ignoring social movements, and the "Letter to Brazilians" openly courting CEO's led to PT losing legitimacy and support from its traditional base including her Union organising uncle who'd been with them since the 90s.

Also I was listening to the BBC's History Hour, and it had a segment interviewing two former student protestors in 1968 whom took part in street fighting including the famous battle of Maria Anotnia. Its very interesting but more importantly after the interviews are done they have a discussion about why and how a political candidate like Bolsonaro who openly talks about how great the days of dictatorship, torture and repression were could now be so popular.

https://youtu.be/bJMJDEYKmmY

It goes into detail about how the military, police and intelligence agencies all retained their power after transitioning back to civilian government and how powerful they still are and just how little challenge the mainstream left including PT has presented them over the years since.

That's what I've gotten so far.

sherbu-kteer

5 years 5 months ago

In reply to by libcom.org

Submitted by sherbu-kteer on October 8, 2018

Anyone know what the Brazilian anarchist movement is like at the moment?

Mike Harman

5 years 5 months ago

In reply to by libcom.org

Submitted by Mike Harman on October 9, 2018

Not specifically, but a couple of articles on recent movements:

https://libcom.org/library/brazil-popular-revolt-its-limits

https://libcom.org/library/what-happened-june-2013-brazil-incipient-material-community-its-reactionary-destruction-

See also the comment from Cris Oliveira on the second one which is critical of how... critical the article is about those movements and their legacy (i.e. that there are still anarchist groups and social struggles going on since 2013 and facing a lot of repression).

R Totale

5 years 5 months ago

In reply to by libcom.org

Submitted by R Totale on October 9, 2018

They've not put out anything new on Brazil in the last few months, but Crimethinc's coverage of social movements in South America is generally pretty strong, so for a bit of background you could do worse than (most recent first):
https://crimethinc.com/2018/07/30/brazil-to-burst-ropes-and-chains-on-the-sentencing-of-23-prisoners-for-the-2014-protests
https://crimethinc.com/2018/04/06/brazil-rivers-of-blood-peace-is-war-security-is-hazardous-and-citizens-are-the-targets-of-the-state
https://crimethinc.com/2018/03/12/brazil-2016-17-the-political-crisis-and-coup-detat-an-anarchist-analysis
https://crimethinc.com/2017/06/12/fighting-in-brazil-2013-2015-three-years-of-revolt-repression-and-reaction

Spikymike

5 years 5 months ago

In reply to by libcom.org

Submitted by Spikymike on October 10, 2018

The Left communist take on recent developments in Brazil here:
www.leftcom.org/en/articles/2018-10-09/bolsonaro-and-the-crisis-in-brazil
References to the recent 'truckers strike' may have been commented on and interpreted differently elsewhere on this site if I recall rightly.

Mike Harman

5 years 5 months ago

In reply to by libcom.org

Submitted by Mike Harman on October 10, 2018

Truckers strike commentary is here: https://libcom.org/news/rebellion-truck-drivers-crossroads-iniciativa-revolu-ao-universal-05062018

R Totale

5 years 5 months ago

In reply to by libcom.org

Submitted by R Totale on October 11, 2018

Crimethinc just put out a new podcast with an interview with a Brazilian anarchist: https://crimethinc.com/podcast/hotwire-40 Will try to copypaste relevant stuff later.

wojtek

5 years 5 months ago

In reply to by libcom.org

Submitted by wojtek on October 13, 2018

Radio 4 show:
https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m0000ngx

jef costello

5 years 5 months ago

In reply to by libcom.org

Submitted by jef costello on October 16, 2018

https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/w3cswsns

BBC 9 minutes ofn the battle of Maria Antonia mentioned above.

Reddebrek

5 years 5 months ago

In reply to by libcom.org

Submitted by Reddebrek on October 16, 2018

Someone on a server I frequent just translated a short article by José Pablo Feinmann, about political trends in Brazil and the South American region. Its a largely poisitive take on PT et al from a Populist perspective, so its not great, but like it or not social populism is still a powerful current in South America, so I think its worth looking into at least for some background context.

https://succwc.wordpress.com/2018/10/07/the-macro-and-the-micro/

AndrewF

5 years 5 months ago

In reply to by libcom.org

Submitted by AndrewF on October 18, 2018

The Intercept podcast has a useful context setting followed by an interview with a Brazilian left political https://theintercept.com/2018/10/17/upheaval-brazil-on-the-brink-the-saudi-regime-under-fire/?campaign=homepage-podcast-intercepted

I'd not heard the role of social media pay to promote 'fake news' mentioned before but also fascinating that a Rio cop has more chanced of being killed than a US soldier in Iraq at the height of the occupation. Unemployment, lots of anti-social crime (60k murders), a very sharp wealth divide and a deliberate social media campaign of scapegoating is a pretty explosive mix.

Reddebrek

5 years 4 months ago

In reply to by libcom.org

Submitted by Reddebrek on October 24, 2018

sherbu-kteer

Anyone know what the Brazilian anarchist movement is like at the moment?

They seem very active but I can't read much of their stuff. A few things, Bolsonaro has been threatening to treat opposition as terrorists, particularly the PT and the Landless Workers Movement (MST).

https://www.telesurtv.net/english/news/Bolsonaro-Vows-To-Purge-Brazil-of-Leftwing-Crooks-Designate-them-as-Terrorists-20181022-0006.html?fbclid=IwAR1JaB0Gy4VYOBvyfnqJ0rkGfF4XhtWWt_yvSqRv28GsXICzLtAnbTAPeN0

In response some anarchists and socialists are looking into going underground to prepare.

Others are active in street protests with slogans like (rough translation) "Didn't begin now and won't end in elections."

Reddebrek

5 years 4 months ago

In reply to by libcom.org

Submitted by Reddebrek on October 25, 2018

My Brazilian friend was kind enough to help me transcribe the audio about student street battles and the legacy of the dictatorship and the current political climate.

https://libcom.org/library/brazilian-dictatorship-battle-maria-ant-nia

spartakus25

5 years 4 months ago

In reply to by libcom.org

Submitted by spartakus25 on October 29, 2018

/hey guys! Brazilian here

I will try to summarize what going on here. And sorry for my bad writing, i am not so instructed in english.

Ps:

The situation is pretty bad and probably the fascist candidate will win by a large difference tomorrow

The far-right uprising is an outcome from the deep crisis that plague Brazil since 2014. The slowdown in economic growth in China affected severely the commodities prices, which has badly hit commodity producers like Brazil whose principal source of surplus value is the ground rent. As a result the surplus value available to invest decline. The Worker Party (PT) government tried to avoid that contraction by means of keynesian fiscal and monetary policies that only postpone the crisis by the buildup of debt and inflation. In 2015 GDP fallen staggering 3,8%, unemployment soars and inflation intensified. The things only get worse when a political scandal involving the state oil company put PT as a main corruptor actor.

So the bourgeoisie put a lot pressure in the PT government in order to ensure a sequence of market reforms like the flexibilization of labour relations, fiscal austerity and restructuring of the pension system as a mean of increase the rate of surplus value extracted from the workers and, by this way, revert the slump. The solution found by the bourgeoisie was a '' soft parliamentary coup' that took out the PT from power and replace them by a neoliberal coalition in 2016. Since them, the political crisis deepens and the economic outlook has remained bleak. This whole dark atmosphere leads to a complete demoralization of the political establishment that affect precisely both right and left situated in the political center, paving the way to the far right growth.

In my point of view the Bolsonaro victory is the political expression of the technocratic illusions that still perpetuate in the left. PT had believed that the capital contradictions could be suppressed in an old fashioned keynesian way, but this resulted in a more acute slump. Capital is fetishized social relation that not can be controlled by a properly political tools or democratic institutions. Capital must be destroyed for the people rescue a truly political autonomy to determine their lives in a non-fetishized way that transcends both the market and the state.

Now the far right will try to handle the capital crisis by means of force and militarization.

spartakus25

5 years 4 months ago

In reply to by libcom.org

Submitted by spartakus25 on October 27, 2018

I wrote a text that explain the political conjuncture here in Brazil but my post was blocked by an anti-spam mechanism

Reddebrek

5 years 4 months ago

In reply to by libcom.org

Submitted by Reddebrek on October 27, 2018

spartakus25

I wrote a text that explain the political conjuncture here in Brazil but my post was blocked by an anti-spam mechanism

That's strange, earlier I could see it but now I can't, its a shame because it was very informative.

wojtek

5 years 4 months ago

In reply to by libcom.org

Submitted by wojtek on October 28, 2018

Tim Vickery on footballers' support for Bolsonero:
https://thesetpieces.com/features/jair-bolsonaro-is-a-throwback-to-the-dark-days-of-brazils-military-dictatorship-so-why-do-so-many-footballers-support-him/

More on Paulo André:
https://www.gazetadopovo.com.br/esportes/atletico-pr/apos-assinar-manifesto-contra-bolsonaro-jogador-dribla-ato-politico-do-atletico-7c136l4gc1rac7ae6t5kjftwf/

jef costello

5 years 4 months ago

In reply to by libcom.org

Submitted by jef costello on October 28, 2018

Reddebrek

spartakus25

I wrote a text that explain the political conjuncture here in Brazil but my post was blocked by an anti-spam mechanism

That's strange, earlier I could see it but now I can't, its a shame because it was very informative.

It was posted twice, I approved one and deleted the other. For some reason it got flagged as spam again as did a third posting of teh text. I have unmarked it as spam and deleted the third post.

radicalgraffiti

5 years 4 months ago

In reply to by libcom.org

Submitted by radicalgraffiti on October 29, 2018

i saw that the fascist won https://www.theguardian.com/world/live/2018/oct/28/brazil-election-2018-second-round-of-voting-closes-as-bolsonaro-eyes-the-presidency-live

Reddebrek

5 years 4 months ago

In reply to by libcom.org

Submitted by Reddebrek on October 29, 2018

Yes, and my friend is now looking into leaving the country with her sister, her University was one of the ones raided by police in a crackdown on antifascist and pro democracy propaganda.

Reddebrek

5 years 4 months ago

In reply to by libcom.org

Submitted by Reddebrek on October 29, 2018

Just read this https://communemag.com/the-parachutist-lands-in-brasilia/

Anti-state and anti-capitalist autonomists will also have to bear in mind the limiting effects of the crisis. Unlike the 1960s, when the military dictatorship was able to ride the postwar boom to economic growth, Bolsonaro’s government will be a government of austerity. Here there is a potential weakness but also an additional danger. If his government cannot supply any kind of economic stability, it may lose its luster for some non-core supporters, especially if confronted and pressured by a strong or at least visible and vocal autonomist movement. The danger is that, without an economic revival, austerity can only stay ahead of dissent through state-linked and permitted violence or a military takeover. Both are nightmares which will be difficult to wake from and which Bolsonaro’s government is terrifying well-positioned to enact.

spartakus25

5 years 4 months ago

In reply to by libcom.org

Submitted by spartakus25 on October 29, 2018

jef costello

Reddebrek

spartakus25

I wrote a text that explain the political conjuncture here in Brazil but my post was blocked by an anti-spam mechanism

That's strange, earlier I could see it but now I can't, its a shame because it was very informative.

It was posted twice, I approved one and deleted the other. For some reason it got flagged as spam again as did a third posting of teh text. I have unmarked it as spam and deleted the third post.

I tried to edit in order to fix some grammatical issues but again my post was considered as a spam =X

Khawaga

5 years 4 months ago

In reply to by libcom.org

Submitted by Khawaga on October 29, 2018

For some reason it seems most (all) of your posts are marked as spam. Your last post was also marked as such, I did as other mods have marked it as "not spam". I'm not sure how the antispam system works, but hopefully the algorithm will have been taught you're not a spammer. I suggest you send a message to the admins, though I'll do it on your behalf later when I'm on my laptop.

wojtek

5 years 4 months ago

In reply to by libcom.org

Submitted by wojtek on October 29, 2018

The Claws of Empire, the Rise of Fascism: Brazilian Anarchist Statement on Bolsonaro:
https://freedomnews.org.uk/the-claws-of-empire-the-rise-of-fascism-brazilian-anarchist-statement-on-bolsonaro/

Mike Harman

5 years 4 months ago

In reply to by libcom.org

Submitted by Mike Harman on October 29, 2018

spartakus25

jef costello

Reddebrek

spartakus25

I wrote a text that explain the political conjuncture here in Brazil but my post was blocked by an anti-spam mechanism

That's strange, earlier I could see it but now I can't, its a shame because it was very informative.

It was posted twice, I approved one and deleted the other. For some reason it got flagged as spam again as did a third posting of teh text. I have unmarked it as spam and deleted the third post.

I tried to edit in order to fix some grammatical issues but again my post was considered as a spam =X

I've just given you a role that will bypass the spam checks, so you should stop running into this from now on.

jef costello

5 years 4 months ago

In reply to by libcom.org

Submitted by jef costello on October 29, 2018

I just unmmarked spartakus25's first post as spam.

Is this automatic ? That is the third time if I am not mistaken.

spartakus25

5 years 4 months ago

In reply to by libcom.org

Submitted by spartakus25 on October 29, 2018

Mike Harman

spartakus25

jef costello

Reddebrek

spartakus25

I wrote a text that explain the political conjuncture here in Brazil but my post was blocked by an anti-spam mechanism

That's strange, earlier I could see it but now I can't, its a shame because it was very informative.

It was posted twice, I approved one and deleted the other. For some reason it got flagged as spam again as did a third posting of teh text. I have unmarked it as spam and deleted the third post.

I tried to edit in order to fix some grammatical issues but again my post was considered as a spam =X

I've just given you a role that will bypass the spam checks, so you should stop running into this from now on.

that's fine! thanks!

little_brother

5 years 4 months ago

In reply to by libcom.org

Submitted by little_brother on October 29, 2018

Brasil group Black Pheonix (Fenikso Nigra), part of the Federal initiative linked to IFA, have written the following on http://i-f-a.org/
This is in English and Portuguese

spartakus25

5 years 4 months ago

In reply to by libcom.org

Submitted by spartakus25 on October 29, 2018

this is a footage that show a little bit the collective paranoia and the hate speech against the whole left.it's very frightening

Reddebrek

5 years 4 months ago

In reply to by libcom.org

Submitted by Reddebrek on October 30, 2018

meerov21

I'm amused by your reaction. What you gonna do? You can only continue the rudeness, because you have nothing to argue.

Your right there's nothing to argue for or against, like I said your posts are just meaningless word salads with no relevance to any discussion. Who were you replying to and what information were you basing that jumble on?

Have you read any of the sources shared so far? If not what sources are you using and would you mind sharing?

Khawaga

5 years 4 months ago

In reply to by libcom.org

Submitted by Khawaga on October 30, 2018

Meerov, are you even aware of what is happening in Brazil? Otherwise you would not be making idiotic comments like that.

Craftwork

5 years 4 months ago

In reply to by libcom.org

Submitted by Craftwork on October 30, 2018

In what sense is Bolsonaro a "fascist"?

Bolsonaro is not a fascist, he is a democrat, a product of this disgusting thing called democracy and the victor of free and fair elections.

He is certainly a right-populist, misogynist, homophobic, and all-round reactionary with authoritarian tendencies, but he's also pro-free market and anti-gun control, whereas fascism is about total control of society by the state.

What does applying "fascist" to any right-wing politician you dislike achieve? It turns "fascist" into trivial insult, and instead serves to defend the honour of democracy by treating the result as illegitimate.

Mike Harman

5 years 4 months ago

In reply to by libcom.org

Submitted by Mike Harman on October 30, 2018

craftwork

but he's also pro-free market and anti-gun control, whereas fascism is about total control of society by the state.

lol. When your description of fascism is so restrictive it excludes Germany under the Nazis you should take a deep breath and get a bit less outraged about people using a broader one.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Economy_of_Nazi_Germany#Privatization_and_business_ties

Wikipedia

The Great Depression had spurred increased state ownership in most Western capitalist countries. This also took place in Germany during the last years of the Weimar Republic. But after the Nazis took power, industries were privatized en masse. Several banks, shipyards, railway lines, shipping lines, welfare organizations, and more were privatized.[40] The Nazi government took the stance that enterprises should be in private hands wherever possible. [41] State ownership was to be avoided unless it was absolutely necessary for rearmament or the war effort, and even in those cases “the Reich often insisted on the inclusion in the contract of an option clause according to which the private firm operating the plant was entitled to purchase it.”

..

The rhetoric of the Nazi regime stated that German private companies would be protected and privileged as long as they supported the economic goals of the government - mainly by participating in government contracts for military production - but that they could face severe penalties if they went against the national interest. However, such threats were rarely carried out in practice, and "companies normally could refuse to engage in an investment project designed by the state without any consequences."[66] Private firms refused government contracts and directions on many occasions. In 1937, de Wendel, a coal mining enterprise, refused to build a hydrogenation plant. In 1939, IG Farben denied a government request to increase its production of rayon and refused to invest in a synthetic rubber factory despite this being an important project for the regime. Froriep GmbH, a company producing machines for the armaments industry, successfully demanded cheap credit from the Nazi government under a threat of cutting back investment if its demand was not met.[67] The regime generally used monetary incentives, such as guaranteed profits, to persuade businesses to support its goals, and freedom of contract was generally respected even in projects important for the war

meerov21

5 years 4 months ago

In reply to by libcom.org

Submitted by meerov21 on October 30, 2018

Craftwork

In what sense is Bolsonaro a "fascist"?

Bolsonaro is not a fascist, he is a democrat, a product of this disgusting thing called democracy and the victor of free and fair elections.

He is certainly a right-populist, misogynist, homophobic, and all-round reactionary with authoritarian tendencies, but he's also pro-free market and anti-gun control, whereas fascism is about total control of society by the state.

What does applying "fascist" to any right-wing politician you dislike achieve? It turns "fascist" into trivial insult, and instead serves to defend the honour of democracy by treating the result as illegitimate.

I am not sure that fascism necessarily means state control over society. For example, in Hitler's Germany, despite widespread nationalization, there were private enterprises, large and small, and the leadership of the SS consisted of supporters of market economy and liberalism. For example, one of the SS intellectuals and their leaders Otto Ohlendorf was a supporter of the free market and criticized the forced monopoly in the politics of the Reich.

The fascist Franco regime used, like the anti-fascist Spanish Republic, broad state control over the economy, but Franco from a certain moment began the process of economic liberalization and privatization.

Bolsonaro is a "fascist" If we call "fascism" the system of domination of large state and private monopolies, which is based on the ideas of nationalism and xenophobia, terrorist methods, dictatorship, and attempts to mass mobilization of the population through nationalist propaganda. If so then Bolsonaro is under the definition of fascism. He speaks of the need to eliminate parliamentary democracy, if it interferes with him, he glorifies military dictatorship and terror against dissenters.

But I agree with you to some extent. The line between fascism and democracy, or between fascism and anti-fascism, is much thinner than many leftists try to imagine.

Actually millions of Brazilians, voting for the opponent of democracy, or simply refusing to come to the polls (30 million), showed that they are not interested in protecting democracy and in anti-fascism.

admin - we've unpublished several off-topic posts from meerov on this thread (and some of the responses to them), if we have to keep doing this it'll be a temp ban

Reddebrek

5 years 4 months ago

In reply to by libcom.org

Submitted by Reddebrek on October 30, 2018

Craftwork

In what sense is Bolsonaro a "fascist"?

Bolsonaro is not a fascist, he is a democrat, a product of this disgusting thing called democracy and the victor of free and fair elections.

He is certainly a right-populist, misogynist, homophobic, and all-round reactionary with authoritarian tendencies, but he's also pro-free market and anti-gun control, whereas fascism is about total control of society by the state.

What does applying "fascist" to any right-wing politician you dislike achieve? It turns "fascist" into trivial insult, and instead serves to defend the honour of democracy by treating the result as illegitimate.

Huh? This is just he laziest right wing myths trotted out to paint the "cold dead hands" USA as the bastion of liberty. Never thought I'd see it on this forum.

Both Hitler and Mussolini were leaders of elected parties. Indeed is kinda crucial to how both came to power. Hitler's state terror began in January 1933 after the Conservatives offered him a coalition government which he used to gain control of state interior ministries and police forces which he immediately used to attack opponents, before making a pact with every other political party apart from the SPD and KPD to gain sweeping powers.

Mussolini was offered the government post by the King who had the power thanks to Italy's constitution. And just like Hitler he initially ruled as part of a coalition of right wing parties in the Italian Parliament. He then consolidated his power until 1925 when the Fascists were strong enough that they didn't really need the parliament and the other parties anymore.

The Nazi party passed the 1938 German Weapons Act, apart from the Jewish population who were already being repressed by that time it loosened restrictions on a German citizens right to own a gun.

And members of the party and state employee's no longer had any restrictions on their gun ownership at all.

And regarding free market, the Nazi's privatised so much state assets they inherited from the previous administration that they're the reason the word came into popular usage in the English language.

https://libcom.org/history/against-mainstream-nazi-privatization-1930s-germany

Nationalization was particularly important in the early 1930s in Germany. The state took over a large industrial concern, large commercial banks, and other minor firms. In the mid-1930s, the Nazi regime transferred public ownership to the private sector. In doing so, they went against the mainstream trends in western capitalistic countries, none of which systematically reprivatized firms during the 1930s. Privatization was used as a political tool to enhance support for the government and for the Nazi Party. In addition, growing financial restrictions because of the cost of the rearmament programme provided additional motivations for privatization.

So under your definition of Fascism, not only do the Nazi's not qualify but the Weimar Republic was more fascistic than the Third Reich.

In addition I'd think you'd be hard pressed to find a Fascist government from the 20s and 30s that didn't have a very pro business relationship, Mussolini didn't take any action to curb Italian capital, same with Franco whose government let the Co-op Mondragon grow into an international corporation.

You may wish to read Fascism and Big Business by Daniel Guerin since its exclusively about the economies of Fascist regimes and not the propaganda about them https://libcom.org/library/daniel-gu-rin-fascism-big-business

When fascism takes power, overflowing with gratitude for big business which financed it, its words and its deeds exhale the purest sort of laisser-faire economic doctrine. It announces its intention of favoring and protecting in every possible way private property and individual initiative. It rejects with horror the idea that the state might meddle in production. But the fascist state stands aside only so long as Messieurs Capitalists request it not to interfere in their private affairs. It imposes on them the lightest possible taxes, the most tenuous sort of control. But it is always ready to come running whenever these gentlemen cannot pull through by themselves. In any such crisis, it is immediately at their service, "socializing" their losses, refloating their enterprises, and keeping them alive with its orders.

I used to be really annoyed when people called Pinochet's dictatorship Fascist because of its commitment to neo-liberal economics and marginalisation of the classical fascists in his coalition like the Fatherland and Liberty group. But then I read about both the economies in Italy, Spain and Germany under fascist rule actually operated and just how involved Pinochet's government was in supporting the market economy, complete with massive bailouts and credit schemes.

For Bolsanaro, he's openly neoliberal in economics, but he also openly gushes about the old Dictatorship period, which also much like all of the above while officially quite laissez-faire gave capital in Brazil as much support as it could.

spartakus25

5 years 4 months ago

In reply to by libcom.org

Submitted by spartakus25 on October 30, 2018

Bolsonaro IS a fascist. Fascism is all about counteract the inner ''a-social'' nature of capitalism by means of fictitious community as a mass movement identified with the nation-state. the commoditized socialization leads a weakening in the social bonds which brings about the emptying of the individuals. the capitalism crisis undermine further the atomization of individuals that fuels the demand for a ''true community' founded upon a neurotic nationalism. that's the core concept of fascism that pass through by different political archetype from statist corporatism to the neoliberal corporatism.

Brasil is in a deep crisis that threats the social unity. Fascism is a brutal political way of put together the fundamental elements of capitalism reproduction in unity. capitalism is unity in separation. When separation tends to exacerbate, the authoritarianism comes to claim the unity upon the separation. In the particular case of Brasil the only way to reach this unity, and maintain the capital social reproduction, is by the neoliberal program which means savage privatizations and further exploitation of natural resources. Ironically that will creates a lot exclusion -exclusion of blacks, indigenous people, poor etc-, which will further the separation, but the ''social unity'' will confine in the withe upper-middle class situated in the industrial south and south east. It’s a very restrictive nationalism. The social reproduction of capital in Brazil needs to ‘‘expurgate’’ the ''superfluous'' people that not will be more useful to the capital accumulation, and this will be reached by mass incarceration and bloodbath.

meerov21

5 years 4 months ago

In reply to by libcom.org

Submitted by meerov21 on October 31, 2018

Here's a good text about Brazil, though I disagree with the last paragraph.
https://www.paperrevolution.org/the-proletariat-of-brazil-was-defeated-by-democracy-not-dictatorship/?fbclid=IwAR0QQISYFRHFJVHcgzYLCsxm9fvAjA4085QwsjG074pxnGGKmkaXqHaRcUY

Lucky Black Cat

5 years 4 months ago

In reply to by libcom.org

Submitted by Lucky Black Cat on November 1, 2018

I agree that this Bolsonaro piece of shit is a fascist. But an interesting question is raised. If nationalism is the essence of fascism, at what point does nationalism become fascism?

Most people are nationalists, though it gets called patriotism, and from an extremely young age we are fed a steady-diet of seemingly "benign" nationalism, like standing for the national anthem everyday in school, big celebrations with fireworks for Independence Day or whatever equivalent national-celebration day a country might have, being taught to take pride in your country, and so on. Of course none of this is benign, and it's the foundation on which bigotry is built.

At what point is the line crossed from nationalism to fascism?

R Totale

5 years 4 months ago

In reply to by libcom.org

Submitted by R Totale on November 7, 2018

Not read enough of it to have a super-clear idea of their perspective and how far I'd endorse it, but this site has a lot of Brazilian coverage: https://newmilitant.com

wojtek

5 years 4 months ago

In reply to by libcom.org

Submitted by wojtek on November 16, 2018

Podcast:
https://revolutionaryleftradio.libsyn.com/battleground-brazil-jair-bolsonaro-the-military-dictatorship-fascism

Cooked

5 years 4 months ago

In reply to by libcom.org

Submitted by Cooked on November 16, 2018

Lucky Black Cat

Most people are nationalists, though it gets called patriotism, and from an extremely young age we are fed a steady-diet of seemingly "benign" nationalism, like standing for the national anthem everyday in school, big celebrations with fireworks for Independence Day or whatever equivalent national-celebration day a country might have, being taught to take pride in your country, and so on.

Most of the bolded are unique to USA no? Nationalism is obviously a feature of nation states but it tends to be a lot more subtle. USA is extreme.

There's a fair bit in the UK masquerading as ww2 related stuff. I imagine, could be wrong, that it wouldn't work half as well if was straight up nationalism without the ww2 pretext.

Lucky Black Cat

5 years 4 months ago

In reply to by libcom.org

Submitted by Lucky Black Cat on November 19, 2018

It would be interesting to hear about how nationalism/patriotism is inculcated into people in the UK (other than WW2 stuff).

Reddebrek

5 years 3 months ago

In reply to by libcom.org

Submitted by Reddebrek on December 8, 2018

A video about the dictatorship period and its impact on modern Brazil.

Bolsonaro and Brazil's Struggle for Truth and Memory

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TrUXs-5Ins4

spartakus25

5 years 3 months ago

In reply to by libcom.org

Submitted by spartakus25 on December 13, 2018

News from Brazil..a political member from bolsonaro family was target by an investigation that found solid evidences of money laundering involving him and his car driver. Some analysts suggests that the move against Bolsonaro family is a way to remove Bolsonaro from power and replace them for a high ranked office military that have the capacity and political strength to organize the government in order to implement complex and problematic reforms like the neoliberal restructuring of pension system. Bolsonaro is too immature and unstable for this task, and could severely damage the political viability of the neoliberal agenda, and his party is even worse with a lot internal conflicts lead by egocentric and bigotry politicians.

Reddebrek

5 years 3 months ago

In reply to by libcom.org

Submitted by Reddebrek on December 13, 2018

spartakus25

News from Brazil..a political member from bolsonaro family was target by an investigation that found solid evidences of money laundering involving him and his car driver. Some analysts suggests that the move against Bolsonaro family is a way to remove Bolsonaro from power and replace them for a high ranked office military that have the capacity and political strength to organize the government in order to implement complex and problematic reforms like the neoliberal restructuring of pension system. Bolsonaro is too immature and unstable for this task, and could severely damage the political viability of the neoliberal agenda, and his party is even worse with a lot internal conflicts lead by egocentric and bigotry politicians.

That's interesting, I heard something similar about Trump, though mainly from his diehards worried that some of the people around him were trying to manoeuvre his populist platform out of the way for more of the same "deep state globalism". Of course it looks like Trump is perfectly on board with that so most of the fallout from his administration were members with different outspoken priorities.

I guess we'll see how fragile this coalition of the right is.

Reddebrek

4 years 11 months ago

In reply to by libcom.org

Submitted by Reddebrek on April 25, 2019

This tweet caught my eye

https://twitter.com/BenjaminFogel/status/1121190154490851333

"Bolsonaro's son stole his dad's password for his social media accounts is currently sulking at a shooting range because daddy is trying to undo the damage his son caused by going to war with his vice-president on behalf of his deranged ex-astrologist guru"

It eventually links to this article
https://mg.co.za/article/2019-04-12-00-bolsonaros-three-month-rule-a-disaster

The strangeness of the tweet and the constant references to Black Mirror confused me so I spoke to my Brazilian friend and she said that yes somehow its all true and even stranger than the article makes out.