Brazil, September 7, 2022: democracy degraded--disaster deferred?
Brazil commemorated the bicentennial of its independence from Portugal on September 7, 2022. A day of remembrance and celebration of democracy was appropriated by President Jair Bolsonaro, who turned the day into a campaign event and once again demonstrated to the world his usual vulgarities and outrages. I was relieved, however, because it could have been worse. There was widespread speculation that he would use the events of the day as cover for a coup d’etat. He is running for reelection and predicted to lose and has been laying the groundwork for refusing to step down by repeating falsehoods about the security of elections. Sound familiar? Bolsonaro takes a page out of Trump’s playbook and kicks it up a notch, with an authoritarian display of military power.
The day began in Brasília, with a speech by first lady Michelle Bolsonaro, who appealed to one of Bolsonaro’s main sources of support, evangelical Christians. Having the unelected wife of the president call on members of her religion was just the warmup. The skies over the capital were overflown by the Air Force, and Bolsonaro observed the military display with businessman Luciano Hang at his side, a man who is among eight businessmen cited in federal police investigations for actively supporting the idea of a coup d’etat should Bolsonaro lose the election. Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa, the president of Portugal, was relegated to a position to the other side of the businessman.
Bolsonaro was in active campaign mode, fighting for his electoral life in the face of inflation and his mishandling of the Covid pandemic. He waxed nostalgic, as he often does, about the days of the military-civilian dictatorship of 1964 to 1985, hearkening back to “those good times.” He characterized his candidacy as a fight for good over evil, and thanked God for having been born again as an evangelical Christian. He converted from the Catholic faith during his first campaign for the presidency and was baptized in the river Jordan, an event that was streamed online to social media.
Bolsonaro then lauded his wife Michelle, calling her “a princess” who put other, unnamed first ladies to shame. He said single men who are unhappy should marry a woman like her and kissed her in a public display of affection for the ages. He then called out “imbrochável,” and the crowd joined in, repeating the chant. “Imbrochável” is being widely reported in the English language press as “unbroken,” but the real sentido (meaning) is “never limp.” Very presidential.
Bolsonaro characterized his candidacy as a fight for good over evil, saying the fourteen years before he took power had nearly broken the country, and that the opposition “wants to return to the scene of the crime.” It should be noted that campaigning at such public events as the celebration of Independence Day is strictly prohibited, and Bolsonaro’s administration appears to be well aware of that despite their rhetoric on the day. They released a preemptive memo from the Public Ministry, saying that “public acts and the civic-military parade” should not be confused with the acts of a political party. It sure sounds like campaigning when the president says to the crowd, “let’s all vote” and “do what’s best for Brazil.”
Moving on to Copacabana Beach in Rio de Janeiro, Bolsonaro sneered at the Supreme Court and directly attacked his leading opponent, former President Luis Inácio Lula da Silva. He called Lula’s supporters “friends of the gangster” and said they should be extirpated from public life, and he reiterated his support for the businessmen calling for a coup d’etat. Bolsonaro’s message on the occasion of 200 years of independence was a degradation of democracy.
No acts to establish Bolsonaro as a civilian-military dictator occurred on September 7th. But I’m concerned that he has just deferred a take-down of the government until after the election, when he will refuse to leave the presidency. He may not just want to remain in the presidential palace—Bolsonaro likely hopes to create a whole new governmental structure with him as president for life and the military in control. Brazilian dictatorship 2.0, Bolsonaro style.
Photo by Matheus Câmara da Silva on Unsplash