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