Jair Bolsonaro- (or “The Legend’, as his supporters like to call him) -an ex Brazilian Army Captain, is flying high in the polls for the Brazilian Presidential elections in October.
He appears to be extending his lead over his major left-wing rival , who replaced the imprisoned ex President Lula on the ballot list. Senator Bolsonaro stands, he says, for economic stability and an end to the corruption that characterised the left wing governments of Lula and Rousseff, and their right wing successors led by President Temer.
The Brazilian and international media tend to describe Bolsonaro as a ‘firebrand’, ‘misogynist’ or a ‘far-right’ politician- adjectives which do nothing to describe the brutal reality of this pathetic little man. Bolsonaro has consistently informed the media and his supporters that he is in favour of mass-murder ( 30,000 deaths will not be enough he says) , torture and terrorising those political opponents.- a return to the ‘good old days’ of the U.S. supported Brazilian military dictatorships (1964-1985) which tortured and murdered the left, the poor , and the indigenous populations of Brazil, and enabled vast tracts of Brazil rainforests to be forever destroyed – all in the name of ‘economic stability’; ( which in reality means big business giving little ‘favours’ to the military in exchange for their brutal support).
Bolsonaro’s stream of vicious and violent narratives are even, in the Latin American press described as simply ‘outrageous”, rather than the obscene ravings of an extremely damaged human being. Bolsonaro in reality exhibits all the incoherent rage and ignorance of one who has been systematically brutalised himself.
His tirades of threats and abuse against the left, Brazilian LGBTIQ communities, the poor, the native American populations, Chinese business and environmental agencies, are classical examples of one who has spent his entire life in fear of that which he cannot understand. His short incoherent streams of angry invective characterise one who has been brain damaged; whose only known response to these perceived threats is to lash out with brutality and anger.
In a world where the remnants of the Brazilian rainforests- the ‘lungs’ of our world; may be the one thing which sustains life on this planet for a little while longer, we now have the very real potential for this supremely damaged man to lead our world faster and deeper into disaster.
In a world where the wisdom of the indigenous populations of South America may be the one thing that can lead us back from the brink of global environmental catastrophe; we find Bolsonaro- the ultimate symbol of the folly of mankind.
Postscript
Read the fascinating account of Bolsonaro’s triumphant first round lead in the Brazilian presidential elections here and the role of the ultra-rightests in world politics.
A very detailed account of the rise of Jair Bolsonaro, and the fate of the major Brazilian political parties over the past few decades here
Links
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jair_Bolsonaro
https://www.telesurtv.net/english/pages/Especiales/Brazil_Decides_2018/index.html
https://www.lrb.co.uk/v41/n03/perry-anderson/bolsonaros-brazil?
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