Still under the impact of the coup attacks in Brasília on the 8th, having the opportunity to preside over the G20 meeting in 2024 gives Brazil the conditions to be the protagonist of a global pro-democracy alliance —a priority established by Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva Silva (PT) for the replacement of the country in the arena of diplomacy.
Even more so because the meeting of the world’s main economies, which is usually the stage for crucial debates for international relations, should not advance in the construction of pacts of the type at this year’s meeting, chaired by India.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi has been successfully implementing the illiberal playbook of the new nationalist ultra-right leaders — including attacks on the press and the instrumentalization of justice. No wonder, in the main indices that measure the health of the planet’s democracies, the country was downgraded to “partially free democracy” (Freedom House), “electoral autocracy” (V-Dem) or “deficient democracy” (The Economist).
It’s a familiar story for Indian Salil Shetty, global vice president of programs at the Open Society Foundation (OSF), the philanthropic organization of mega-investor George Soros, now barred from operating in New Delhi under Modi.
“In India, the situation is difficult for many organisations. OSF has been placed on a government watch list and cannot fund activities,” says he, who was Secretary General of Amnesty International from 2010 to 2018. closed, as well as Greenpeace’s. And Oxfam’s license has its days numbered.”
A longtime activist in justice and the fight against poverty, Shetty today also leads research at Harvard University on resistance to authoritarian regimes that have been elected, in which she scrutinizes grassroots movements and organized civil society that fight against setbacks in seven-year-old democracies. countries: Brazil, USA, Philippines, Hungary, India, Kenya and Turkey.
For him, Brazil under Lula is the nation capable of joining pro-democracy and human rights forces to face the advances of the global extreme right.
“The country can start this alliance right now, from the Global South, and involve other democracies in the 2024 meeting”, evaluates him, who also directed the Millennium Campaign of the United Nations and was executive director of the NGO ActionAid.
Shetty claims that the similarities between the attack in Brasilia and the invasion of the Capitol in the US, two years earlier, did not go unnoticed. “Just as anti-democratic forces are collaborating with each other globally, it is crucial for pro-democracy and human rights forces to come together at a global level, between public and private actors. The Lula government, and he personally, can play a key role in that.”
For the OSF executive, the vandalism of the 8th of January, in addition to shocking the world by the destruction in the headquarters of the Three Powers and by the inaction of the state security forces, represents “a somber reminder of the enormous work needed by the new government to guarantee the compliance with the law and reverse the deep divisions of society” in Brazil.
“It was a call for the whole country to wake up to the fragility of Brazilian democracy and the need for social movements to remain alert and mobilized in massive support for human rights and democracy,” he says.
In this sense, he continues, the post-electoral challenges are as great as those won in the election that defeated Jair Bolsonaro (PL). “It was an important victory, but a very close one. The new government has to step up its pace in bridging society’s divisions and in an education for democracy.”
Shetty was in Brazil in early December to meet with activists and gather strategies that potentially corroborated for the defeat at the polls of the now ex-president, who had the state machine in his favor. “What Brazilian activists seem to have done, which I haven’t seen elsewhere, is overcome their own circles. Maybe the situation was so bad that people banded together to become part of something bigger.”
While some groups imposed challenges to the government through legal actions, others articulated public protests or acted on digital platforms, exposing government abuses in posts, videos and websites using language of denunciation and humor. “This public communication did an amazing job and broke down barriers between groups,” says Shetty.
He assesses that Bolsonaro imposed an existential crisis on various social groups, which joined forces in the face of the challenge. “Afro-Brazilians, indigenous people, environmentalists, feminists and other activists have come together. And these are groups that don’t come together easily,” he says, laughing. “In Brazil, they crossed their borders in an impressive way. And this articulation became a source of inspiration for resistance in other parts.”
For Shetty, other countries have a lot to learn from Brazil in the field of articulated resistance by movements —which will be fundamental, in his view, to support and monitor the new government. “The world is looking to Lula to play an important role on the international stage and in foreign policy. To challenge attacks on democracy and make proposals, both in resisting autocrats and in building a democracy that delivers results for people in tip.”
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