A supporter of Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva holds up a banner expressing his support at a campaign event

The 2018 Presidential election in Brazil will occur in the context of the impeachment of the previous President, Dilma Rousseff, the corruption charges against her successor Michel Temer, the conviction of popular ex-president Luiz Incacio Lula da Silva who is seeking a third term, and the shocking rise of the Brazilian far right in the form of Representative Jair Bolsonaro. Underscoring these complicated and messy recent turn of events is the economic downturn in Brazil, widespread corruption charges, and an extremely low faith in democracy, with approximentaly 13% of Brazilians expressing satisfaction with democracy, and 97% expressing the feeling that the Brazilian government exists to cater to a “small, powerful elite” (Londono and Darlington).

The leading candidate, and the former President of Brazil, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva. Da Silva’s ability to win the election has been challenged by a court ruling upholding a corruption charge against him.

Da Silva and Bolsonaro represent a response to these factors, as they both offer more radical solutions to the some of the issues that Brazil is facing. Voters in Brazil remember da Silva as the president who presided over the country during a time of new prosperity, where new social programs helped many people in poorer parts of Brazil afford basic necessities of life. This memory and his vision gives him broad support across Brazil. However, his ability to be president is tempered by a recent court decision to uphold his conviction for bribery charges, which could result in a 12 year prison sentence (Londano). Da Silva is also a member of former President Rousseff’s party, the Workers’ Party, which at points comprised the largest political party by representation in the parliament (Londono and Darlington).

The second primary candidate, Representative Jair Bolsonaro. Bolsonaro has made shocking and derogatory comments throughout his career as a representative.

On the other side of the race is Representative Jair Bolsonaro, a far-right representative whose claim to fame is a long history of incendiary remarks aimed at women, blacks, and members of the LGTBQ community. Much of his support comes from those who see his brash statements and radical viewpoints as the necessary solution to many of the issues that Brazil faces currently. For instance, Representative Bolsonaro touts his military background as relevant experience for tackling the growing violent crime and corruption issues. As many other viable leaders have been toppled by massive corruption scandals, the radically different approach of Bolsonaro becomes more appealing, as some Brazilians see the current political institutions as failing them, especially those wealthier landowners who the policies of a da Silva administration would disproportionately affect, or young men who have some distance from the relative prosperity and stability of the da Silva administration and who now can project their economic frustrations onto vulnerable peoples (Londono and Darlington).

This article about the political institutions of Brazil presents a largely negative view of the political situation in Brazil that is not necessarily unmerited, but its narrow presentation of Brazil’s political situation does not explore the common factors that contribute to similar political situations in other liberal democracies. For instance, Bolsonaro is not unique, he is merely an example of the type of authoritarian bigots that have become more common in liberal democracies like the United States and European countries that have experienced some degree of economic stagnation.

This graph shows the rise of far right parties that share Bolsonaro’s views in European democracies.

Therefore, given some of the negative stereotypes that exist about Brazil or Latin American countries already, the lack of context in this article could contribute to that negative view. This is further exasperated by some of the quotes they draw from. For instance one of the people they interview for the piece is introduced as someone who lives in an adobe house on a dirt road, and she says that “all politicians are thieves, but at least when they [WP] stole they also gave us back something” (Londono and Darlington). While this may be accurate, its usage in the article could enable readers to extrapolate this individuals situation to be broadly representative, which again, would not give the whole picture.

Interestingly, the way this article describes the political situation in Brazil reminds me of how the indigenous Brazilians were described in some of the primary source readings, especially the Jean de Leary reading about the nature and ways of the indigenous people. In both instances, the Western “developed” viewpoint stands out and shapes how the respective authors “report” on their subjects. Now this perspective is inherent, as the two readings are not written by the people being reported on, but rather by an outside writer looking in. However, this perspective creates a narrow view of the subjects, and distorts reality by applying a different culture’s ideals to the subject. For instance, in the de Lery piece, he juxtaposes the indigenous peoples against the customs of the Europeans to make his point about their appearances (de Lery). In a similar fashion, this article presents the relative dysfunctions of the Brazilian political system with the U.S. system as a reference for most readers, meaning that the U.S.’s dysfunctions are both minimized and the Brazilian dysfunction is presented without the benefit of much historical knowledge of the system for most readers. This example connects to the larger class theme of context, as the ways that the article contextualizes the current political system in Brazil leaves the reader with certain takeaways about Brazil as a whole. Therefore, a better version of this article would benefit from more contextualization of the appeal of Bolsonaro and how his campaign relates to other far right leaders. It could also draw from more direct Brazilian perspectives to paint a broader picture of the country, not one limited to the few interviewed persons.

Sources:  https://www.nytimes.com/2018/01/20/world/americas/brazil-lula-bolsonaro-election.html

www.nytimes.com/2018/01/24/world/americas/brazil-presidential-electionluiz-inacio-lula-da-silva.html

Jean de Lery: History of a Voyage to the Land of Brazil, Also Called America.

Brazilian man with the words “stop killing us” written across his chest. Photo by Miguel Schincariol

Today, Brazil is seeing a steep increase in violence towards the LGBT community. With the rise of Brazilian Evangelical representation in Congress, anti-LGBT sentiments have transcended politics and have found their way to the streets. According to The Guardian, last year 445 Brazilians of the LGBT community were murdered, a 30% increase from 2016. This strong hatred towards the LGBT community can be linked to the ultra-conservative evangelical leaders in Brazil. Brazilian politicians often associate to the LGBT community with the devil. The Guardian article says that often times, these same politicians equate these people with animals. In September of 2017, a judge approved conversion therapy after a gay art exhibit had been removed by the government. Discrimination towards people with regards to their sexual orientation and gender is not illegal, and justice for people of the LGBT community is rarely ever restored.

Crosses that represent LGBT victims in Brazil. Photo by Elza Fiuza

Unfortunately, the rise of traditional conservatism and evangelicalism is not slowing down. In 2016, 54% identified as traditionally conservative up from 49% in 2010 according to an article by The Atlantic. Anthropologists link this rise in conservative sentiments to the increasing fear of violence in Brazil. According to the Atlantic, Brazilians are favoring capital punishment, life without parole, and lowering the age of juveniles to be tried as adults. People have turned to a stricter religion and the church for help. This shift towards the church has increased the number of evangelicals in Brazil from 6.6% in 1980 to 22.2% in 2010. In a violent war torn country, the people are confiding in Law and Order and punishment for those who do not obey traditional practices, leaving the LGBT community at the mercy of non-evangelical politicians.

Jair Messias Bolsonaro praying at a press conference. Photo by Apu Gomes.

Its important to talk about religion and those who use it as a means of “othering” people. Jair Messias Bolsonaro is one of the most conservative politicians in the larger Brazilian political arena. He has often made extremely homophobic remarks, saying he would rather have a “dead son than a gay son.” Despite backlash for his disgusting remarks, he has declared a run for the presidency in 2018. This related to class themes that talk about the “other” people. Since the Portuguese arrived to Brazil, the social construction of “othering” different people has only caused harm to those deemed as other. In Brazil, as homophobic sentiments are on the rise, a once LGBT welcoming Brazil has turned in the LGBT murder capital of the world. Religion is also associated with this theme of “othering.” Christianity and its influence on these politicians have played a key role in demonizing the LGBT community in Brazil again.

External Links to the articles used:

The Guardian – https://www.theguardian.com/world/2018/jan/22/brazil-lgbt-violence-deaths-all-time-high-new-research

The Atlantic – https://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2018/01/the-evangelical-takeover-of-brazilian-politics/551423/

“Crosses” photo – http://www.humanosphere.org/human-rights/2017/05/un-calls-for-inquiry-into-anti-trans-violence-in-el-salvador/

“Stop Killing Us” photo – http://www.newsweek.com/pride-around-world-sao-paulo-lgbt-community-hosts-bigger-pride-parade-san-628004

We all like to make jokes about stories we hear being ‘fake news’ and poke fun at the politicians who debunk true stories about them as invalid, but the issues of the fake news phenomenon is much more serious than some people realize. A recent example is a story from a Portuguese tabloid that became famous in Brazil. The story surrounded popular Brazilian drag queen Pabllo Vittar was getting funding to host a Kids T.V. show on Globo, that would cause the station to 50 million viewers. The story was debunked soon after its release, but had already become widespread across the internet through media sites like Facebook and shared over 110,000 times. Fake News Researcher Pablo Ortellado, a professor employed at the University at the University of Sao Paulo, argues the articles spread is due to the use of the messaging system WhatsApp.

http://mysterious-song-contest.wikia.com/wiki/Pabllo_Vittar

That’s a lot to take in at first, so let us dive into the Fake News aspect first. This wave of fake news is world wide issue, but Brazil has expressed some of the most concern. The article claims that in 2016 tabloid stories outperformed actual news, and that the National police are planning to punish those who create false articles. Our friend from Sao Paulo ties the growth of these articles to Facebook’s WhatsApp, “We have this new phenomenon of fake news sites specifically targeting WhatsApp — this is probably going to be a problem in the 2018 [national] elections,”. Unlike public social media platforms like Twitter and Facebook, WhatsApp is private. It gives people the ability to ‘create echo-chambers’ of their own opinion. The article reports that the app is used by roughly 60% of the population, and solley used as a social media platform by 35% of its users.

There is a lot of political unrest in Brazil at the moment. It is broiling with political corruption, racial tension, and political polarization. From the University of Texas-Austin professor Rosental Alves brings discusses how WhatsApp is a breeding ground for more instability, “Families and every group you can imagine creates their own private social media network on WhatsApp, and those bubbles are totally out of the control of anybody else…”. Take the issue of echo chambers that was already mentioned into considerations. People who enter these species are looking for a specific voice and opinion that allains with their own, and articles that validate their opinions are going to be widespread in these chat rooms without any question to the articles validity.

https://www.wsj.com/articles/SB10001424127887323836504578553643435119434

The national police have already stated that it is prepared to release a statement that they would release a task force to suppress the app use. This response is heavy handed, but not entirely new. Brazilian judges have already banned the app on three separate occasions, and a Facebook official was briefly arrested in 2016 for similar charges. The Superior Electoral Court in Brazil has already decided that the military will not be involved in repressing the app, but the app will come under fire again soon as Brazil enters into one of its most politically charged elections.

Something that struck out to me in this article is the way Brazil is painted as a place of political turmoil, and military strength to the point where it can decide to suppress news articles. To me it seemed to play on the stereotype of the Latin American dictatorship. The article emphasized the military power Brazil holds over its population, and stressed the political tension in the country today. It compared the political tension and discourse of tabloid articles to that of the U.S., and how our 2016 election controversy is similar to the issues that Brazil faces today.

The most recent article that we read for class, “The Country of the Present, or Leaving the Future in the Past”, discusses the rapid growth and political stability of Brazil. This article paints a picture of Brazil that mirrors what this article reports. While what we read does nod toward the racial tension and inequality present in Brazil, it seems to be overshadowed by Brazil’s rapidly growing economy. Brazil now seems to have caught up to the world powers today and has come to face the same issues of political instability that they face.

Here’s the URL of the article with the sources it used,

https://news.vice.com/en_us/article/mbpkyv/whatsapp-is-causing-a-serious-fake-news-problem-in-brazil

QueerMuseu Logo

Last August, the first major exhibition of queer art was shut down earlier than scheduled at the Santander Cultural in Porto Alegre, Brazil. The art exhibition was called Queermuseu or Queer Museum, and promoted gender and sexual diversity. Protests were initiated by a group called Movimento Brasil Livre (Free Brazil Movement), which is a right-wing group that was also responsible for the protests against former president Dilma Rousseff. The Free Brazil Movement accused the exhibit of promoting pedophilia, child pornography, bestiality, and blasphemy. Out of the 263 works by 85 different artists, the 3 pieces that evoked such a negative response include an image of the Virgin Mary carrying a baby monkey, altar bread with the words “vagina” and “tongue” written on them, and portraits of children with the words “transvestite” and “gay child” written on them. The Free Brasil Movement organized protests inside and outside of the museum, which included harassing museum patrons. Since Santander Cultural, a cultural center, is sponsored by the Santander Bank, the bank made the decision to close the exhibit early and came out with a statement apologizing for the exhibit and disapproving the content within the exhibit.

Felipe Scandelari’s “Last Resort” piece that produced backlash. Photo taken from NY Times.

“Gay Children” by Bia Leite. Photo taken from Freemuse.

However, backlash over the abrupt cancellation occurred as well. Specifically, the freedom of speech has been a concern among some Brazilians, especially since the new president (Michel Temer) came into power. In addition to the closure of this exhibition, there has also been other acts of censorship by the government regarding political film. The curator of the Queermuseum, Gaudêncio Fidelis, responded by comparing these actions to the censorship Brazil experienced under the military dictatorship from 1964-1985. Along with the curator of the Queermuseum, the district attorney and some major artists have condemned the closing of the exhibit, explaining that no pedophilia was observed in the art. Although protests and a petition has been signed by over 60,000 people, the Queermuseum has not been reopened, but the city of Belo Horizonte is interested in having the exhibit in their municipal museum.

Inside the Queermuseu. Photo taken from GoFundMe.

Protests against the closure of Queermuseu. Photo taken from The Conversation.

This article emphasized the importance of Christian values among Brazilians and how far right movements have advocated for these beliefs to influence politics. The article portrayed a negative depiction of the current Brazilian president, Michel Temer, for mixing his evangelical beliefs with politics and other questionable actions. However, this has produced backlash from other Brazilians, such as those from the LGBT, to the extent in which the democratic practices of Brazil is being questioned. The article also portrayed artists and musicians as being heavily involved in Brazilian politics, especially due to the government’s censorship of the arts.

Current president of Brazil, Michel Temer. Photo taken from Yahoo.

The importance of artists and musicians in Brazilian society was talked about in class last Thursday. Marina brought up the power of musicians when it comes to race and the documentary also touched upon this topic. Interestingly, the theme of celebrities playing a role in politics came up again in this article too, as the article emphasized the disapproval many celebrities had for the closure of the exhibit. Another recurring class theme this article presented is religion. The early readings we have had for class has focused on how Portuguese colonists brought Catholicism to Brazil and promoted it as the superior religion among indigenous people. The colonists were appalled by some of the natives’ actions, such as homosexuality and cannibalism, and viewed them as immoral (Seed, 96). Today homosexuality is not viewed to this extreme, but as evangelical beliefs are growing prominent in Brazil, opposition may be rising.

References

Seed, Patricia. American Pentimento the Invention of Indians and the Pursuit of Riches. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 2001.