Far beyond the variations in the polls, Jair Bolsonaro’s (PL) detachment from the reserve inherent in the presidential institution was the true political fact of the week of September 7. A symbolic process, launched by his abject speech on the official platform in Brasília, and practical, with the multiplication of violence associated with his movement.
It manifests itself at the local level, with the murder of at least two leftist militants by Bolsonaro supporters, and at the national level, due to the multiplication of threats against state and national leaders. The president has always played on ambiguity when he was asked to condemn these acts, as if he were leaving open the possibility of one day endorsing them.
These incidents of the last few weeks need to be discussed. Brazilian society suffers from many pathologies, but political violence has never gained the breadth of countries like Colombia.
The effects of this escalation are being felt in the daily life of the campaign. Such as Sheet has reported, voters of Democratic candidates, especially women and blacks, are afraid to take to the streets. In large capitals, the climate of imminence of a serious accident prevails, reminiscent of the United Kingdom in 2016.
Poisoned by the lies dispersed on social media, the dispute over the Brexit referendum ended with the murder of Labor Jo Cox by an individual linked to extremist groups. The trauma is remembered to this day by the population’s loss of confidence in democracy.
In this context of accelerated radicalization, the hesitation of Brazilian journalism to deviate from international conventions and continue calling Jair Bolsonaro a right-wing, ultra-right or populist candidate is worrying.
The absence of an association of Bolsonarism to the extreme right, its historical current, which has roots in Integralism, has already been addressed in this column and discussed on other occasions in this newspaper. It has been justified by the need to distinguish between institutional politics and armed struggle or by the imperative to prevent the right from becoming the only pole to be associated with political violence.
These justifications have long since ceased to make sense. In the image of the United States, Brazil left the process of polarization, marked by the intensification of positions between PT and PSDB, and entered another, that of radicalization, led exclusively by Jair Bolsonaro.
This debate has practical and immediate implications. Positioning Bolsonarism on the extreme right is necessary to demarcate the conservative camp and create incentives against new opportunist alliances. As was clear in the recent defection of the mayor of Marília (SP), reported in the Panel, politicians from Rodrigo Garcia’s (PSDB) base already seem willing to abandon the legacy of Bruno Covas, the only toucan to establish the difference between the right, and to support a project of power in São Paulo that denied vaccines during a pandemic and tries to overthrow the New Republic.
The absence of a debate on the rights ends up delaying the reconstruction of the moderate right, the most urgent and universal challenge for the survival of liberal democracies. Opinion makers need to make the extreme right explicit to prevent the country’s historic moment from becoming permanent.
With a wealth of experience honed over 4+ years in journalism, I bring a seasoned voice to the world of news. Currently, I work as a freelance writer and editor, always seeking new opportunities to tell compelling stories in the field of world news.
