Opinion – Thiago Amparo: At the UN, lukewarm Bolsonaro buries the already icy foreign policy of his government

In analyzes of speeches by heads of government at the United Nations, it is commonplace to write that the president of the Republic at the time used the international stage to speak to the domestic public, as if there were another audience with which a campaigning representative, such as Jair Bolsonaro, should be more concerned than his constituents — whether on the green marble stage in New York, or in the playpen of rehearsed supporters in Brasilia.

I wish this was the main problem of the last speech in the UN General Assembly of the current term of Jair Bolsonaro.

Here, in fact, is the main hardship of the speech at the United Nations: Bolsonaro concludes his term by projecting on the global stage a country as insignificant and diminutive as its ability to govern it internally.

He saluted his few global right-wing allies; he repeated expected talking points about religion — forgetting that he himself embraces those who persecute Christians, such as the Saudi Arabian monarchy; he took advantage of the spotlight to try to win over the public that most rejects him, the Brazilian women, even citing the first lady Michelle, who watched him from the audience; and, without mentioning Lula, he criticized corruption from the top of the integrity podium that he pretends to occupy, despite numerous allegations of corruption in his government.

At the UN, Bolsonaro buried his already icy foreign policy: he without enthusiasm repeated old ideas (he defended the Security Council reform already advocated by the country for decades), he emulated Lula’s speech about the war in Europe (voiced against economic sanctions on Russia and in favor of what he called “dialogue” between Ukraine and the latter), he waved to the Brazilian military by recalling the country’s participation in peace missions (something expected) and sometimes repeated the need to respect international law (the which is sadly laughable for a president accused of genocide and crimes against humanity in international courts).

Bolsonaro nodded to the few friends he has among those present in the audience who listened to him: he cited the non-existent “gender ideology”, a mantra of globalist neoconservatives; mentioned countries ruled by their populist peers such as Hungary and Poland; said he defended unrestricted freedom of expression (read disinformation and hate speech) and the prioritization of religious freedom on the human rights agenda (read co-option of the State by Pharisaic leaders), as if these freedoms had not been part of of the pantheon of basic rights in the United Nations itself.

It can be said that the novelty of this speech fell in two aspects. First, note the fact that Bolsonaro was on this Tuesday (20) off, less strident than in previous speeches, like a Brazilian player who fulfills a schedule until the end of the football match in which he is losing 7-1.

This is surprising because he is not used to discursive moderation: for those who made Queen Elizabeth’s funeral the 2nd campaign act, hell is the limit — and because, even stagnant in the polls, Bolsonaro is still not a dead dog to kick himself. .

The second novelty was, after a denialist speech at the UN last year, he positioned himself as a promoter of vaccination in the country, which is a lie, and a defender of emergency aid from the beginning, another fallacy only for the UN to see. Another untruth was posing as an environmental defender, after years of dismantling airline policies.

With the 180-degree turn from denialist to father of the vaccine and guardian of the climate, Bolsonaro softens his speech, but anyone who thinks that means moderation is wrong: in Bolsonaro, lying —even with soft speech— only implies an attack strategy, not withdrawal. .

If in previous speeches at the United Nations it was clear that the country in which Bolsonaro paints the pig with lipstick does not exist, the last speech of his term showed that the calm president projected at the UN also does not exist: it is the silence that is heard before the storm. which the entire international community must pay close attention to and which has a date set: 2 October.