Brazil Culture Post for 04/19

A current candidate in the Brazilian presidential race is being charged with inciting hatred and discrimination. Right-wing Congressman Jair Bolsonaro has officially been charged by Brazil’s attorney general with inciting hatred and discriminating against women, Afro-Brazilians, indigenous and LGBTQIA+ communities. Bolsanaro is polling second in upcoming Brazilian Presidential election in October. The conviction cites a list of comments that were made throughout various parts of the country by Bolsonaro. If this sentence is carried out Bolsanaro could face three years in prison and a fine of $117,000.

Jair Bolsonaro

Also in this incident, the son of Bolsanaro who is his largest supporter was also charged with threatening a journalist. Due to their status as congressmen, both cases are required to be tried by the Supreme Court which has a large backlog. Therefore, most likely the case will not be tried before the presidential election in October. This news comes shortly after former President ‘Lula’ turned himself in for a twelve year sentence in prison on corruption charges.

This article stays very neutral on the entire situation and its portrayals of Brazilians. It really focuses on including many direct quotes from Bolsonaro himself in order to remain as objective as possible on the issue. Overall, the tone of the article seemed quite worried about how the Brazilian election will turn out due to current polling of Bolsonaro and that these charges will most likely not be carried out until after the election.

This article relates to the course in many ways. The themes of discrimination and racism within this article speak to our discussions on the Afro-Brazilian movement and the current race relations within the country. This article also goes against the idea of Brazil as a “Racial Democracy” because it shows outright racist remarks being made from a well-supported presidential candidate in modern times. Learning about the current political situation within Brazil is very important in understanding modern happenings within the country.

Article Link:

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/04/14/world/americas/brazil-president-candidate-hate.html?rref=collection%2Fsectioncollection%2Famericas

Further Reading:

http://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/leading-candidate-brazilian-election-charged-racism-54459412

(In Portuguese) https://g1.globo.com/politica/noticia/pgr-denuncia-deputado-jair-bolsonaro-por-racismo.ghtml