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Wendi Muse @MuseWendi
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so you may have noticed that 55% of the brazilian population voted for a fascist by the name of Jair Bolsonaro as their 38th president. this thread is about what he is doing in his first few days (month? we'll see) in office. +
for info on the election that led to his win, please see the thread linked below:
please pardon any typos in advance
also note:if you learn something from this thread, cool. please feel free to share & RT as you'd like, but as i noted on the other thread,pls refer ppl w/questions back to me as i can help add more context and translate the portuguese as needed+
ok, just doing a sweep on a folha de são paulo (a big paper, much like the nytimes), they're noting the following:
some highlights:
- his plan for security is unknown (during the election, he just talked about getting rid of criminals (a very loose category for ppl like him) + killing, jailing, and exiling leftists (no, really) but with no details
-he wants to "restructure" the cabinet, which in his case means getting rid of some ministries entirely and merging some with others. for example, he wants to merge the ministry of environment with the ministry of agriculture (which basically spells disaster for the former)+
-according to one of the articles here, he may face some pushback on the use of the military in place of police for "security" matters (read: murdering poor people with impunity). they've been occupying rio since feb under temer's rule, which rio fascist allies want to continue+
according to this article, military officers are concerned not only about costs but about bloodshed of military personnel involved in these kinds of "public security" operations:…
despite the military occupation of rio's favelas doing little good in reducing violence & instead doing a lot of harm in increasing the death toll (w/residents dying at the hands of the military (w/little reporting btw), 72% of rio state residents want the occupation to continue+
i will translate bolsonaro's acceptance speech later on today and include it here
side note re: election stats: 7.4% of voters (8.6 million people) voted null or left their ballot blank
this is the highest since 1989
(note: i will sometimes cite news orgs i hate w/ a passion for stats)
another 31.3 million people didn't vote at all.
there was a difference of 10 million votes between the two candidates.
(p.s. i don't shame ppl for not voting as a general principle, so pls don't do that here on my timeline. thanks)
thank you, @schizothymous for sending along this translation of bolsonaro's acceptance speech. also, great job on the internal notes to explain terminology for folks unfamiliar!
right before the election, police invaded university campuses to seize alleged campaign materials (that in many cases weren't). now, a history teacher & elected representative from PSL (bolsonaro's party) wants students to report teachers against bolsonaro…
In Santa Catarina, the state this teacher is from, bolsonaro got 76% of the vote
side note: ppl in the US like to talk about regionalism in ways that frame the south as super racist and the north/coasts as somehow void of racism, which is statistically false AF
in Brazil, there tends to be something similar around election time+
people have been saying things like, "thank god for the northeast" or "the northeast will save the country," as the NE went overwhelmingly for haddad/PT against bolsonaro. i see ppl making jokes already abt what areas of the country to avoid (bc they went for bolsonaro)+
BUT i would caution people, just as i do re: the US, from engaging in this kind of rhetoric bc it obscures the fact that violence is happening nationwide against the left, people of color, trans people, and the poor+
of the four people on record murdered by bolsonaro supporters (though there may be more that i missed) during the three weeks between the first and second round of elections, only 1 was from the south (which went overwhelmingly for bolsonaro). the rest were from the northeast+
three people were murdered in bahia, sergipe, and ceará, respectively, and one in são paulo city (capital of the state of são paulo). the former three states al well for haddad/PT. the state of SP went for bolsonaro,but the city of SP is known for being more liberal (ish)+
so please try to avoid replicating the same kind of rhetoric that is harmful in the US when it comes to our discussions of racism in the brazilian case. racism, classism, and general hatred if a nationwide problem. it's not isolated to one state/region or another.
bolsonaro's (likely) finance minister paulo guedes says in an interview that "mercosul is not a priority" and that brazil has been a "prisoner to ideological alliances [which are] bad for the economy"+
he gets aggressive with a reporter asking for clarification saying, "you can see that i have a style like the president. i am not worried about making you feel good."
he says the "focus of the economic plan is to control public spending" and that that public spending is what "broke" the country's economy. he also wants to reform social security (and we all know what that means)
you can read more about paulo guede's economic ideology here:… (esp in the section entitled "bolsonaro's brain")
a throwback from june i had forgotten about that details bolsonaro's repeated calls for the sterilization of the poor to "combat poverty and crime"…
this is already something that has happened in brazil on repeated occasions, but something that reminds me immediately of what happened under fujimori (though certainly not the only case in the americas ahem):…
note: the campaign was supported in its earlier years by USAid…
excellent interview. please watch in full:
They are doing just as so many outlets did right after trump's election: giving air time to marginal rightj wing extremists, aka free advertising, instead of focusing on the ppl who will be harmed by the right
i mentioned sarah winter a few months ago bc i had come across a video of hers and saw she had gone from femen activist to far right darling. i would argue she's always been on the right, considering the swastika tattoo and all:

(the linked items above are from a whole thread on sarah winter, but it's just crazy now seeing the freaking new york times interview her
i am so sick
i kind of want to RT the whole thread again bc it's important people understand the right-wing figures who are being propped up by the foreign press bc they are dangerous
as i mentioned before, a lot of right wing groups in brazil get backing from right wing orgs/thinktanks/pr firms in the US, and the patterns are similar. pick a woman, esp one previously affiliated w/lefty causes,a gay man, some poc, have them defend the right on any & everything
before becoming famous, they are virtually unknown, but then overnight they seem to be everywhere, and liberal news shows (see: VICE, nytimes, bill maher, the daily show) give them airtime to look "edgy" & in favor of free speech+
remember all the fawning over rich-rd spencer in the beginning? US news outlets are now doing the same thing with the brazilian equivalent. maybe bc they don't care.i think part of it also goes back to the difficulty some USians have re: understanding race in brazil+
people like sarah winter are white and she is a white supremacist. both of these groups exist in brazil and have since the founding of the nation. racial mixing =/= social progress. sarah, for example, has a biracial child. she's still a white supremacist.
and so they interview these people as though they are some sort of anomaly, it helps that winter is cute (and used to do pin-up modeling). she is the cute face to brutality, hatred, and violence.
Speaking of brazilian white supremacists, here's one in a video saying things bolsonaro himself and supporters have been saying openly for months now- "all these n*ggers are gonna die"
Combine those kind of threats (and the literal deathtoll i started tracking in the election megathread) with this reminder abt relaxing gun access:
This is why when i say things like, "i am afraid for brazil," i'm not being dramatic. Police already murder black ppl in numbers exponentially greater than what we see in the US. As to that now armed vigilantes and you are going to see straight up genocide +
Genocide is the word black brazilian activists use when they talk abt police brutality and it's not an exaggeration, but it's abt to get so much worse. I am afraid for them more than i have ever been.
And as i have noted here many times- this racist rhetoric and violence is not contained. It's spilling over in ways that accelerated so quickly that it feels like a virus. It's not just abt words either. Ppl have already been murdered in cold blood in advance of bolsonaro's win+
In three of the four cases, they were black. In 2 of the four cases, they were trans women. (I do not know the race of priscila, one of the women murdered.) bolsonaro's rabid fan base is actively aggressive toward the most marginalized members of brazilian society.
And they get their marching orders from him, who has produced endless footage and audio of literal death threats against leftists and the poor, and a whole host of threats agains black ppl, women, indigenous ppl, and lgbtq. He is explicit abt what he wants done to them.
here is an unrolled version of this running Bolsonaro thread, thus far, for people who don't like/can't read threads. hit "force refresh" at the bottom to see updates:…
bolsonaro has threatened the press. he went on jornal nacional (a nightly news broadcast) and threatened a folha de são paulo, which published investigative reports by some of its writers on bolsonaro when he was a candidate.…
i want to expound upon this and then one other subject that i keep getting asked about (Re: bolsonaro vs. trump):
so, first of all:
1) calling people who voted for bolsonaro "bad names" is the least of our worries. bolsonaro's commentary was out in the open. even bolsonaro's own campaign reveled in his racism and hatred for the poor. it was not hidden. it was celebrated.+
in other words, people who voted for him, in large part knew what they were getting. this is the same garbage we heard from apologists for trump supporters who said, "well, they didn't know he was racist" or "they didn't think he was going to really do that"
lol what?+
both of these sets of excuses require taking fascists at their own word. and what i think what glen sorely misses here is the degree to which brazilians, YES, of all colors, can be incredibly racist and classist, including people who fall within those victimized groups+
and why is that? you may ask
bc 2) the press in brazil is incredibly right-leaning. it always has been. and then, getting into more history,brazil didn't abolish slavery until 1888. slavery still existed well after that (and, oh yeah, still does). it's victims? poor black people+
those people have been cast as the "internal enemy" for a very long time. that sh*t sticks. and the press continues this process of brainwashing people to the degree that they can hate their neighbor & hate themselves while saying in the same breath that there is no racism there+
i've spoken on this page and elsewhere ad nauseum about the racism in the press, but it bears repeating in short form: brazilian media is HYPER racist and classist, in ways you would not believe. it matters and it has an effect on people. that cannot be denied+
and in studies about racism in brazil, what researchers have shown over and over is that there is greater racial mixing in a social sense, but that it operates *horizontally*

in other words, you have friends in your class group. they may be of any race. BUT+
bc of extreme barriers to economic ascension in brazil and a history of slavery and exploitation of the poor people of color, these friend groups end up being segregated too. the wealthy class (and even the middle class) in brazil is overwhelmingly white. and they stick together+
they went to primary and secondary school together. they went to college together. they get jobs together. they live among each other. they marry each other.

this all replicates the same racial and socio-economic divisions+
the working class in brazil, which is huge, is made up of a multiracial group, though predominately black ("preto/a") and multiracial (which is a separate census category in brazil, "pardo/a"). preto means someone who is black with very dark skin. +
studies have shown that there is greater social ascension among people who are "brown" in brazil, though not a ton. all that said, there is still strong rhetoric, much like the american dream idea, that sort of promises social ascension through racial mixing ("racial democracy")+
the idea goes deeper than that, but that's a big part of it

i say all of this BECAUSE: this means that ppl voting for bolsonaro likely have a friend of color OR an employee of color+
there is not the same degree of segregation as in the US insofar as white people of ALL classes don't have a friend/associate of color.
they voted for bolsonaro with knowledge of what he would mean for their friends and employees+
so yeah, stop with the excuses. people have agency. they heard what he said and they voted for him. they didn't have to, btw, bc what he leaves out above is that brazil has a "null" vote option, unlike in the US+
and my argument is that if you vote *affirmatively* for a fascist, you accept some of what he says and ignore (or celebrate) the collateral harm he will cause+
so on this video, 3) the other problem is framing bolsonaro's fame/this election as an "anti-establishment" vote. it's wrong, on its face. here's why:
a) bolsonaro himself IS establishment. he's been in office for around 20 yrs. he is wealthy. he's also white and male. he represents the traditional leadership in brazil (including right now in every branch of brazil's government even in places that are predominately blk/indig)+
b) research has also shown that brazilian centrists overwhelmingly support the return of a dictatorship in brazil and/or the end of democracy+
c) there was a huge anti-corruption movement that was steeped in right wing rhetoric (not to mention being led by them) that went down in brazil for the past 5 yrs that disproportionately targeted PT. it was effective+
but note, and this is very important:
the ire over corruption was built almost entirely around the idea that brazilians' money was stolen to then help the poor (again, almost overwhelmingly black and brown). this is a coded form of racism+
pt was not representative of the establishment. in fact it was the party that was framed as upsetting the *established* social order in brazil (by being "communist" (it wasn't), but helping poor people/blk/indig ppl)+
those who engage in this anti-establishment reading of the vote are literally copy/pasting US 2016 election framing onto brazil's situation and it is not. the. same. thing.
i know i say this all the time, but it's important.+
those who rely on this kind of narrative are ignoring really important aspects of brazilian history regarding race and class as well as accepting rightwing talking points at face value.
this is a good place to segue to why i am uncomfortable with comparisons between trump and bolsonaro that simply refer to the latter as "brazil's trump" (or some iteration thereof)+
i've discouraged people from using this comparison bc it's not only inaccurate, but it overlooks the specific contours of rightwing politics in brazil that have been long tied to militarism that targeted people *domestically* as a tool of local oligarchs and imperialism+
let's start with they have in common:
-engage in violent rhetoric toward marginalized groups
-white men w/political power in large,multiracial nations
-pathological liars
-revel in false, viral propaganda
-both backed by the kkk
this is how they differ:
trump has direct imperial power as the president of the united states and while he advocates violence on domestic populations nonstop, his primary use of the military has been against foreign peoples/nations+
trump also is surrounded by institutions that serve to "check" him to some degree (though i find this argument a weak one considering that both houses of congress and the courts at state and federal levels are overwhelmingly conservative)+
but it's bc of the aforementioned points that bolsonaro differs.
ultimately, bolsonaro will be a TOOL of US imperial power. he will be the face of the violence the US wants to unleash+
for example, the US wants to go to war with venezuela, but instead of sending their own soldiers, they will make colombia and brazil supply its own people to die in that war. bolsonaro supports this war,but h'll receive a lot of his orders from the US department of state & CIA+
the other MASSIVE difference goes back once again to this question of imperialism. the US pushed for the coup in 1964 bc of a desire to control brazil's most basic economic operations & to crush any semblance of resistance thereto+
bolsonaro was a member of the military during the dictatorship that followed that coup and that lasted until 1985. his crew of advisors was composed almost entirely of military generals from that era. +
and while the US most certainly engages in acts of authoritarianism, the process tends to be more subtle, indirect, and drawn out toward the citizenry (save, of course, black people, indigenous people, & latinx immigrants)+
the dictatorship in brazil and the proposals bolsonaro has presented casts a MUCH wider net of targets for this violence. we also know that it won't be checked. WHY? bc the US & Europe will hv a great deal to gain economically & they'll ignore what's happening to keep benefiting+
on an economic front, they differ somewhat as well. in rhetoric and in the earlier days of his campaign, trump has taken a more nationalistic tone supposedly in order to protect workers who are losing their jobs overseas.+
bolsonaro,on the other hand,has stressed privatization in order to make state-owned industries "run better" and to "clean up" the corruption therein.this is also what undergirds his defense of the dicatorship,which he claims was corruption free & economically prosperous (false)+
bolsonaoro has also focused on antagonizing lgbtq people in broader ways. trump has focused almost exclusively on trans people (p.s. not saying this is good. just pointing out a difference)+
trump also had NO legislative experience. bolsonaro has around 20 yrs of it.
an argument i've also heard on rhetorical front why trump comparisons can be harmful to our understanding of what's happening in brazil, and which i agree with 100%, is that it cheapens and normalizes the threat bolsonaro poses. "we are surviving under trump, so they will too."
when you make these kinds of comparisons, you may be doing so to make things easier for people to understand, but you are always making it a pill that's easier for people to swallow.
bolsonaro* (as i said above, pls pardon any typos)
in short: it's not "simply" one thing or another.none of this ever is. and i think people trying to give overly simplistic answers as to why bolsonaro is dangerous and/or why he won are avoiding the much more difficult task of explaining actual history (contemporary or otherwise)
side note: while demographic stats have yet to come out re: the election beyond region/city (though i may have missed it, so pls share), and i have covered the bull/blank votes issue above, i want to add some context to my initial tweet for this thread+
i wrote the initial tweet to reflect that of the brazilian megathread (a la "you may have seen that x% voted this way in brazil). it wasn't to get technical (which i do later in the thread), but as @nonlinear & @zeppybrz point out (thank you), this stat could be misleading+
so just to clarify again, 55% of brazilians (as in the entire population) did not vote affirmatively for bolsonaro. 55% of the 100% affirmative votes for a candidate went to bolsonaro. millions, however, did not vote for either candidate (the blanks/nulls i discuss above)+
and millions more didn't show up to vote at all (for whatever reason...which i also discuss briefly above)
so again, just for clarification for anyone who missed my discussion of blanks/null in the middle there, it's not 55% of the entire population but of the affirmative votes
OK here we go:
data regarding votes by demographic categories (race, gender, age, etc):…
this data comes from questions asks of 3,010 voters on october 27th, the day before the election
interestingly, from 2 weeks before the election to the day before, the intention to vote for bolsonaro went down by a few points (-5) while the intention to vote for haddad went up (+4)+
in terms of gender,there's a similar pattern (w/bolsonaro losing points/haddad gaining,which makes u wonder what kind of results one may hv seen over a longer election period)
H = haddad, B=bolsonaro

women:44%H,41%B,12% blank/null,3% undecided/no resp
in short, men voted for bolsonaro overwhelmingly; women voted for bolsonaro and haddad very close (at 41% Bolsonaro vs. 44% Haddad) to being within the margin of error (which 2 pts)
folks: i misread one of the numbers re: age groups, and deleted that post. i'll be back soon with more analysis of the numbers!
In terms of age,it was vry close to the youngest group
(btw,cutting blank/null/no resp from the following twts to save chars,but u can see on the chart)

16-24: 45%H,43%B
25-34: 49%H,50%B
35-44: 40%H,48%B (the orig twt i had mixed up these 2)
45-54: 38%H,48%B
55+: 41%H,47%B
all age groups went to bolsonaro except 16-24 (the "neném" generation, and that's within the margin of error
now for education levels:
people who only had schooling up to around the age of 9 or 10 voted
overwhelmingly for haddad, w/ 54%H, 36%B
those w/school of up to btwn the ages of 10-14, voted for haddad as well, but in a much smaller margin (45%H, 43%B)
those who had some high school/graduated from high school, voted overwhelmingly for bolsonaro (37% H, 50%B), as did those who had college or higher (35% H, 53% B)
the very poorest population, earning less than minimum, voted overwhelmingly for haddad (56%, 32%B)
as the incomes go higher, there is a direct correlation to favorability for bolsonaro:

less than min wage: 56%H, 32%B
1-2x min wage: 43%H, 43%B
2-5x min wage: 33%H, 55%B
5x min wage &up: 29%H, 63%B
here is the % breakdown for region:
the northeast went overwhelmingly for haddad 59%H, 32%B, as did north/northwest: 40%H, 51%B
while the southeast went overwhelmingly for bolsonaro: 34%H, 51%B, as did the south: 59%H,30%B

(lots of important points on this i will get into later)
i need to take a break, but i am going to go into racial stats upon my return
there is some weird merging of racial categories going on in the results that i want to find a better breakdown for
let me discuss religion first. this actually was an important factor in this election, as evangelical leadership went overwhelmingly for bolsonaro & have had a growing influence in brazilian politics over the past few years+
catholics: 45%H, 43%B (within the margin of error)
evangelicals: 31%H, 58%B
then the weird part. in the polls from the first round of votes, they separated the different religions beyond catholic and evangelical, but in this one no:
"other religions": 44%H, 40%B
in the polls from the first round, they broke down this "other" group as kardecistas, afro-brazilian religions,& atheist/agnostic. all three groups went for haddad,w/the 1st two groups voting overwhelmingly for him. but in this round, they didn't show this full breakdown.
in the section on race, something similar happens: they combine black and multiracial/brown, which is unusual, as on the census (and in previous polls) they are separate categories. i am going to find a version that includes the normal breakdown, but in the meantime+
race (again, missing data separating black/brown as well as for other racial categories, i.e. indigenous & asian):
white: 31%H, 58%B
black/brown*: 47%H, 41%B
"other": 44%H, 44%B

in the original poll from the 1st round,dark skinned black ppl went 45%H,37%B & brown ppl 39%H, 47%B)
i explained in the election megathread, but just icymi, the census categories in brazil are by color:
preto/a (dark skinned black person)
pardo/a (brown - can mean light-medium toned black person, mixed person)
branco/a (white)
amarelo/a (asian)
indígena (indigenous)
race in brazil is determined by appearance
so, to give you an idea: both of my parents are african-american, as am i. i identity as black in the united states. on the brazilian census however, i'd be classified as parda. +
negra/o is the term used in brazil as we use "black" in the US. it is more political & refers to black people of light + dark skin. there has been some mobilizing to include this as a census category. +
but, tbh, i appreciate being able to have easy access to data that differentiates the groups bc we can see how colorism and the like have played out. the use of black/african-american in the US case can at times obscure economic inequality between dark/light skinned blk ppl
i checked online and i cannot find anything at the moment that goes into greater detail to break down the race and religion categories a bit further as had been done in earlier polls. i will post back here when i get more information. in the meantime, i'll make some gen comments+
when i review stats taken from shortly after the first round and those taken right before the second, a few things are clear:
a) support for bolsonaro correlates w/income & education level
b) whites went overwhelmingly for bolsonaro, as did men and evangelical christians+
the wealthier you are in brazil, the likelihood of your being white rises exponentially. the wealthy vote consistently in their economic interests (as we see everywhere). +
the absolute poorest and least educated went for haddad in overwhelming numbers. & in stats from the first round that are not fully fleshed out in the research i discuss above from this round, the darkest ppl voted overwhelmingly for haddad as well. there's a lot of overlap here
so when we look at these numbers,you can see that those who are likely still reliant on/eligible for government economic assistance programs that PT put into place voted for PT.+
i also discussed the regional question in the megathread, but it bears repeating: the northeast is predominately black/brown & poor, especially compared to the much wealthier (and whiter) south/southeast region.rhetoric against PT in the latter region has also been the strongest+
i want to discuss blank and null votes at some point too, and anyone with additional data on this, please feel free to share and i will RT.
but one thing i notice here is that there was a large percentage of women who voted "null" (12%)
this was more than men (7%)
thank you for sharing this! this is great to understand white vs. nonwhite, but i want to see the nonwhite numbers broken down further. i'll be on the lookout over the next few days.
check out this map, folks:
i have been following but tweeting less about the situation of indigenous lands and the environment during the brazilian election bc it's not my area of expertise, but someone whom you should definitely follow for more on this is @PersonalEscrito. their coverage if amazing.
stylist suffers homophobic attack in são paulo (city)
note: this happened in one of former favorite neighborhoods in sampa: consolação, which was more of an artsy, club-y, alternative space that has become super gentrified…
the attack broke juliano pessoa's nose, dislocated his jaw, and knocked out several of his teeth
&while homoantagonistic & transantagonistic violence is common in brazil, there prevalence seems to hv increased during the election, including not only multiple beatings, but murder
.@CUT_Brasil sign in alagoas (state in the northeast of brazil) shot at shortly after bolsonaro's win. thankfully, no one was hurt, but the workers' organization (justifiably) recognizes this as a threat:…
according to @MidiaNINJA (which i highly suggest you follow and support), 30,000 people came out for this public act in defense of democracy
the protest was later met with violence from the military police.

on that note: attorneys have created a group to defend leftist organizations and protesters from criminalization:
the reason they are coming together for this initiative is bc of the work of legislators like senator magno malta, who has proposed a bill that would classify social movements (esp those fighting for land rights) as terrorist organizations:…
for some of you who follow me, this name might look familiar. that's because i posted about magno malto very recently during the elections. he ruined a man's life and that of his entire family by falsely accusing him of pedophilia:
the man was tortured w/in an inch of his life - terror malta himself oversaw - & later was cleared of all allegations of sexual abuse. malta, like bolsonaro, has an unhealthy obsession w/the idea of pedophilia. +
but what's fascinating is that all these rightwingers seem to be friends w/ actual sexual predators (from the election megathread):
more public threats of racist and homoantagonistic violence by bolsonaro supporters. this is in addition to what is already a series of nationwide harassment, beatings, rape, and murder, in bolsonaro's name:…
remember the woman i mentioned many tweets ago who is a representative (from bolsonaro's party, PSL) from Santa Catarina (a state that went overwhelmingly for the fascist) who wants students to report teachers if they say smthg negative abt bolsonaro?
these monsters don't even hide themselves anymore. they are proud of what they are doing. they are happy about what is happening. and if there is karma, may it be a real b****:…
(article via @daninava. thank you)
just for some background, the guy who wrote this was over US Southern Command, you know, the people who trained a bunch of death squads and oversaw violence at the hands of US-backed dictators. them.
they gave on the ground training and support for what happened during the honduran coup in 2009 and the terror that has escalated since:
tim kaine met with them recently too, back in 2015, well after we knew what was happening in Honduras:
the man who wrote the disgusting bloomberg article was also floating around as a potential VP for hillary clinton during the 2016 elections. he backed her campaign:…
after writing about what bolsonaro's election will likely mean for brazilians, he then says, "for the U.S., this election represents a real opportunity"
this is what i mean when i keep saying things like this:
i don't rly know how else to say this, but things are going to get rly bad. they're already signaling that they welcome the terror that could happen bc it will mean econ opportunity. i wasn't exaggerating when i suggested that. they are just coming out & saying it themselves now.
i encourage everyone to read the article (it's short), then write the author to give him a piece of your mind. we cannot tolerate this kind of baldfaced terror against the brazilian people (or anyone, for that matter):
James Stavridis:
“We congratulate President-elect Jair Bolsonaro and aplaude his message of truth and peace. Count on the commitment of the Secretary General of the OAS to work together for democracy, human rights, security and development in the region"
(via @OLAASM)
OAS also said everything looked "normal" in the brazilian election
"mesmo em um contexto 'extremamente polarizado' os brasileiros elegeram o novo presidente de forma "pacífica"/"even in an 'extremely polarized' context,brazilians elected the new president in a 'peaceful' manner'"
nevermind the people who were beaten, harassed, or murdered. the election went just fine. everything was "peaceful"
including this minithread on the specter of corruption:
Equal parts frightening and ridiculous, money-obsessed evangelical preacher and conman silas malafaia visits bolsonaro & says "moro is the man. He's a symbol of the fight against corruption"

bonkers bits from this bolsonaro interview (oct28)
-still defends lowering the age for trying someone as an adult
-cares abt education (lol) but says they need to drop the paulo freire
-police are afraid to act for fear of prosecution (sounds familiar,no?)…
and as @gugamaia points out, a very strange bit about democracy, which he hates feeling "obliged" to say he cares about
manuela davila,former presidential candidate for PCdoB & former vp candidate for fernando haddad of PT notes that bolsonaro's restructuring of cabinet will set back brazil economically by 100 yrs,returning it to being little more than a source of raw goods
what is going on here? good cop/bad cop?
mourão, bolsonaro's VP (& former military general) says they should not turn the press into the enemy (after bolsonaro did just that)…
it looks like they are playing the "adults in the room" crap we have seen before. you know, where the people who have the real power and who can do the most damage present themselves as the "good guys" who will reign in the immature tyrant.
moro accepted the position to work for bolsonaro's administration as AG.
just in case you didn't need more proof that this anti-corruption stuff is a total farce.
they don't even care, it's just out in the open now.…
btw, that bit above i posted that translated what lula's team was up to is related to this. in short: moro had gone after a variety of political figures over an anti-corruption crusade. he claimed to be neutral, but every move showed he was hyper political in his actions+
now he's going to work for bolsonaro,which shows clear as day that this man has no interest in taking on corrupt politicians,& instead is more interested in a)his own power & b)fulfilling the demands of the right wing.
lula's team was preparing when moro was still in talks w/jb+
to add here: it's worth noting for those who may not know, this is the guy who pushed the case against lula, who demanded lula be sent to jail, and who demanded that he not be able to run for president+
the case that he built against lula for allegedly receiving a bribe in the form of a small beachside apartment (that the person who testified to this effect later renounced and for which moro had no concrete evidence) is what set everything in motion (at least re: lula)+
and the funny part is that a) bolsonaro himself is mad corrupt, b) that w/moro as AG and with a weak electoral and supreme court, lula will probably never get out of prison unless there is some sort of miracle, and c) people applauded moro for being "neutral" which was always bs+
some additional background on moro here:…
i appreciate this dispelling of sev. myths of the election…
anecdotally spking,some ppl of lower-economic status did cite safety as a reason they voted for JB (though that's not to say there weren't other reasons too),but i'm happy to see this problematized
this bit from brian winter, who admits knowing (read: likely pals with) moro in this article, is disgusting:
i guess he's taking his mask off now too
p.s. background:…
this is the person people like brian want to negotiate with, to talk some "reason" into (also known as: he doesn't care what happens to brazilians so long as he gets to keep writing about it at their expense)
Bolsonaro is rly afraid of the press. He avoided debates the entire 2nd round and has just barred the entire mainstream press (a folha, o globo, estadão, & more) from his first press conference since his win.
It feels like the country's on a silent retreat w/their racist uncle
same-sex marriage has been legal in brazil since 2011 - then recognized as civil unions, & later recognized as formal marriages from 2013 on. senator magno malta (whom i discuss earlier in this thread) wants to ban it.+
there's now on online poll where brazilians nationwide can decide whether or not the senate should revoke the right to same sex marriage:…
thanks to the poll going viral, thousands have weighed in to vote "no" against the proposal.…
in fact, bolsonaro's (& the brazilian right's) main reason for connecting w/ israel is related to weapons technology (next tweet)
they plan to buy drones that will shoot people
(read: for targeted murder of poor poc)
wietzel, the man in this article, just won his election for governor of rio de janeiro. no one even knew who was in the first round.…
bolsonaro's son flávio, is going with him…
egypt cancels visit by brazilian foreign minister aloysio nunes ferreira bc of bolsonaro's promise to recognize jerusalem as the capital of israel
(via @daninava)… +
despite claims that he would strengthen brazil's economy, this move was a really bad one on bolsonaro's part bc it does the exact opposite. egypt, among many other predominately muslim countries in north africa & the middle east, is one of brazil's biggest trade partners+
more specifically, they buy massive amounts of beef from brazil, which has long had a strong cattle market. now countries are threatening to do business with other countries, which would isolate brazil economically from exporting on behalf of one of its most lucrative industries.
i argue that egypt doesn't really care all that much abt what's going on in israel bc they've looked the other way for decades at this point in terms of what the israeli government does, particular with sisi and netanyahu in control of both nations. BUT this was an unforced error
p.s. for folks *still* commenting on the 55% note in the beginning,i was talking abt valid votes. i discuss null and blank votes within the thread and further explain my reasoning for the title tweet of the thread, which if you actually read, you would see! ok,back to business :)
"In 2017, AS/COA invited Bolsonaro to New York for a closed door meeting with US business leaders. Shortly afterwards, Bolsonaro announced that his economic chief would be former Augusto Pinochet adviser and University of Chicago educated neoliberal economist Paulo Guedes."
p.s. i know i cite @BrasilWire a lot,but that's bc their coverage is solid & they're able to condense very complicated topics into articles you can digest in one sitting. here's another one that's relevant to things i always mention in passing:
one of the things that i always leave out (by accident) when i am talking about brazil to people in the US is the education system. if you look at the breakdown of pro-bolsonaro votes, those who were most educated went for him, which seems odd, BUT+
it's important to bear a few things in mind:
1) college entrance was initially based on ONE exam (which differed by university). this has since changed, but only in recent years (in part due to some of the work done by activists & pt to democratize higher education)+
2) the best universities are free in brazil, but getting into them is very difficult. SO wealthy ppl would send their children to private schools and special tutoring sessions to prepare to college entrance. at private schools, they teach toward this test.+
i'll never forget that when i as in brazil in 2010 & 2011 translating & TAing for a course on affirmative action in higher ed,public high school administrators told us they were focusing on "making good citizens," while private hs admins were focusing on "passing the test"+
so, 3) private school students were already from middle & upper class backgrounds, while public school students were overwhelmingly poor. the system kept these class hierarchies (which are also highly racialized) in place.+
so when you see that people with better educations voted for bolsonaro, that means ppl with higher incomes who are predominately white and inhabit predominately white social circles too.
as i have already covered how trump and bolsonaro are alike and very different, another quick topic i want to cover is why i (and many other people on the left) refer to bolsonaro as a fascist. it's not an exaggeration.+
i call bolsonaro a fascist, first b/c he is one, but also for these reasons:
a) he calls for the fortification of the military & the expansion of the military into all aspects of brazilian life (incl education). he is also surrounded by generals leftover from the dictatorship+
b) he doesnt engage in the same type of protectionism fascism typically involves.on the contrary,he wants to deliver all of brazil's resources to western countries for the personal fulfillment of brazilian oligarchs & foreign corporations, so he has the backing of big business+
c) he engages in *targeted* hate campaigns & he and his supporters exercise/threaten to exercise violence against marginalized communities (the poor, people of color, indigenous communities, lgbtq) and the left+
d) he has the backing of and is closely aligned with the church - in this case, capitalism+hatred driven extremist evangelical sects that have increased & consolidated their political power in brazil over the past decade +
e) he pushes an ideology of "family" that relies on heteronormative,white procreation w/a solid male figure as the head of the household & primary breadwinnner. he has an obsession w/protecting white female sexual "purity" (note his obsession w/chemical castration of rapists)+
this also involves an obsession with any people or acts considered sexually "deviant," by which he means lgtbq+ people. he has made violent statements about and encouraged violence toward them as well.
f) though he supports the military and the complete militarization of brazilian life, his followers already act as a provisional militia, enacting violence against those whom he has framed as & whom they believe are their political & social "enemies"+
g) he believes in eugenics for the poor and has encouraged sterilization programs for poor women (predominately women of color, btw) to reduce reproduction among such groups and thus, according to his philosophy, reliance on govt aid+
h) he has encouraged extreme censorship of the press and limits on education - the latter of which he wants to defund entirely & place in the hands of private corporations and the military. he also supports reporting teachers on the basis of left political leanings+
i) he supports the expansion and privatization of the prison system and wants to form camps along the border for immigrants. he has also advocated the imprisonment of leftists (if they refuse to leave the country)
j) he'd have (& already has) the backing of the elite classes, corporations, and governments of western countries who serve to benefit from his economic proposals, regardless of the violence & oppression he enacts upon the brazilian people.
**** for reasons i do not yet understand, @threadreaderapp will not unroll this entire thread, and even upon clicking "force refresh," is not capturing all of the tweets. i will post an unrolled thread link once it cooperates ****
yay, it's working now!
here is the unrolled version of this thread on brazil following the election of bolsonaro (incl stats on the election results, govt plans, & much more)…
oh and one quick correction: in the election results breakdown above, i accidentally noted haddad got the northwest. that was a typo on my part bc i constantly stress how bolsonaro did well in those states and note those stats accordingly here and elsewhere.
also, last tweet on this thread for tonight:
i am still answering questions, which i encourage, as i can get to them. BUT if you ask me a question i already answer in the thread, please understand that i am not obligated to answer what i already have just bc you chose to not read
one more:
the brazilian bar association is now recommending for same sex couples to get married by the end of the year to guarantee rights...(my comment: but those can always be overturned, so...)…
considering bolsonaro and his money man paulo guedes are going to cut the social safety net entirely, none of these protections will likely have any meaning for any couples in the coming yrs. i understand the reasoning here, but i am uncertain it will work sadly
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