Projection at UN building in New York calls Bolsonaro a ‘Brazilian shame’

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Hours before president and reelection candidate Jair Bolsonaro (PL) arrived at the UN headquarters in New York for the opening speech of the 77th General Assembly, it was possible to see gigantic images of him projected on the side of the building flanked by expressions such as “Brazilian shame” (Brazilian shame).

The intervention in the 39-story, 155-meter-tall United Nations building was an initiative of the US Network for Democracy in Brazil, which brings together academics from more than 50 American universities, activists and organizations of civil society, such as the Black Coalition for Rights and the Association of Indigenous Peoples of Brazil (Apib), among others.

The images projected in the early hours of Tuesday (20) bring words such as “shame”, “disgrace” and “lie” in four of the UN’s official languages ​​- English, French, Spanish and Mandarin -, in addition to Portuguese.

“We are staunch opponents of this Brazilian government for all the atrocities it represents,” says Mariana Adams, national organizer of the US Network for Democracy in Brazil. “Our action communicates to the world that Bolsonaro is supported by a system of fake news to advance his personal project of power and enrichment, not a national project for the development of Brazil.”

According to her, Bolsonaro’s international appearances “dismantled, in a systematic way, the image of Brazil abroad, either through the disastrous Brazilian foreign policy, or through international appearances aimed at electoral political benefits”.

A recent example, she says, was the president’s visit to the United Kingdom to attend the funeral of Queen Elizabeth II. Amid the solemn ceremonies, the Brazilian used the trip to campaign for elections, speaking to supporters.

“The idea is to resume and subvert the platform that he has made international institutions. For us, this is shameful”, says Adams, who says that the network’s members act on a voluntary basis and are not linked to political parties or NGOs. . The group collected funds for the action from the collective donation of its members.

The activists worked out the combinations of images with words and hired a projector capable of casting them on the blind gable of the building about 1 kilometer away.

“At a time when Brazil is being discussed so fervently on the international stage, we want the international community and Brazilians living outside the country not to be deceived by Bolsonaro’s attempts to legitimize his project, which is not a country project. .”

With less than two weeks to go before the presidential elections, at a time when he appears in second place in the polls, Bolsonaro will spend less than 24 hours in New York. He arrived in the city shortly before 8 pm, local time (9 pm in Brasília), this Monday (19).

This Tuesday, the president opens the speeches of the General Assembly before having lunch, in a Brazilian steakhouse, with supporters who traveled in a caravan scheme from other American cities.

In addition to this morning’s intervention, the surroundings of the UN building —designed by the Brazilian architect Oscar Niemeyer and the Swiss-French Le Corbusier and inaugurated in 1952— may become a battleground between Bolsonaristas and activists, who must protest against the passage and Bolsonaro’s speech.

Bolsonaro’s previous visits to New York for the United Nations event also included interventions with criticism of the president. Last year, a truck with big screens called him a climate criminal.

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