BRAZIL UNDER BOLSONARO: DAY 1
I’ve decided to from time to time inform y’all about the situation down here from the perspective of an anarchist. When I have more time, I’ll try to write up a more detailed analysis of bolsonarismo and how Brazil’s situation should be carefully monitored by comrades all over the world. For now, however, I’ll give you a simple report of what happened today in my city (Brasília, the capital).
As the poll results were being broadcasted yesterday night, Bolsonaro’s followers were already celebrating in the street in various cities. In Brasília, the main gathering was on the grassy lawns of the Esplanada, where most of the federal government buildings are located. At some point, some students from the University of Brasília (UnB) got up on a makeshift stage and announced that there’d be a march through the University to supposedly “rid it of communists”. See image below:
(Translation: “Protestors celebrating Bolsonaro’s victory in the Esplanada have announced a march, tomorrow, in the University of Brasília, at 5pm. On the stage, they warned that “communists don’t belong in the universities”.)
On the following morning, students found the University’s Dacy Ribeiro campus covered in pro-Bolsonaro propaganda (mainly stickers):
(The stickers read Vote for the family! and Whoever votes in a corrupt politician, is also corrupt – the last one referencing the conspiratorial belief around left-wing corruption)
This combination of news sent the fear running down a lot of people’s backs, and soon enough, rumors were spreading that at 5pm the fascists would physically attack students at the University, among other things. I myself was worried. It should be known that in the span of only one day, to our knowledge one person has already been killed, multiple LGBT+ people have suffered attacks on the streets and two offices belonging to environmental agencies have been burned down in the south of Pará State by illegal miners. Right off the bat, a heads up: this is not Trump, and Brazil is not the US.
Gratefully, less than a dozen yellow-clad idiots actually showed up at the University, where a crowd had already gathered in the hopeful wish to beat on some fascists. Naturally, the assholes were readily protected by the police. But I think we made them feel quite welcome. The video file unfortunately isn’t loading, but I’d say they were outnumbered 5 to one, at least. I arrived after everything happen, but there was a general positive mood and I saw a lot of people talking, debating the situation and planning ways to combat the growing fascist threat.
FASCISTAS, RASCISTAS, NÃO PASSARÃO!
