Brazil elections

[biggytitbo]

What's the actual point of that man? He just seems to spew out drivel and little else. Can we not replace him with a monkey at a typewriter?

Is that a dig at me :(

Regardless of the content of his article, the point about how 'fascist' and 'fascism' have become devalued by over use and erroneous use is a sound one I think. We all do it. Ditto Nazis and Hitler comparisons.

[Blue Jam]

On the subject of pointless men desperately trying to atay relevant (Brendan O'Neill, not you, Biggy), Instagram have deleted a post by Milo Thingy in which he said he wished all the pipe bombs had gone off and that The Daily Beast had also got one.

[canadagoose]

Is that a dig at me :(

Well, if your chimp fancies a go at being Brendan O'Neill, I wouldn't object.

Instagram have deleted a post by Milo Thingy in which he said he wished all the pipe bombs had gone off and that The Daily Beast had also got one.

Poor Milo, he must miss being the centre of attention. He'll need to go full Hopkins if he doesn't want to fall into obscurity.

[biggytitbo]

On the subject of social media, excellent from Jonathan Cook as usual, about the lessons the mainstream media resolutely refuse to learn https://www.jonathan-cook.net/blog/2018-10-30/bolsonaro-is-a-monster-engineered-by-our-media/

The guardians of the status quo refused to learn the lesson of Trump's election, and so it will be with Bolsonaro. Rather than engaging the intellectual faculties they claim as their exclusive preserve, western "analysts" and "experts" are again averting their gaze from anything that might help them understand what has driven our supposed democracies into the dark places inhabited by the new demagogues. Instead, as ever, the blame is being laid squarely at the door of social media.

Social media and fake news are apparently the reasons Bolsonaro won at the ballot box. Without the gatekeepers in place to limit access to the "free press" – itself the plaything of billionaires and global corporations, with brands and a bottom line to protect – the rabble has supposedly been freed to give expression to their innate bigotry.

[Shoulders?-Stomach!]

Yes, rather than the reaction being borne of establishment stooges lying to the public and the public noticing their lives not changing for the better.

Not sure how Brazil as a developing country fits into that narrative though. And tbh these demagogues will silence you a lot faster than the centrists will.

[ZoyzaSorris]

Thats a really good article.

[gib]

Thats a really good article.

Yes, very good indeed.

[Urinal Cake]

I think the fears in Brazil are real as opposed to the US and UK are at best exaggerated or at worst 'fake news.'

Brazil had over 60,000 murders plus other violent crimes. People want law and order. And the previous government was corrupt.

Despite that if Lula was eligible he would've won against Bolsanaro.

[pcsjwgm]

Atlantic Council to hold a panel on "A New Brazilian Economic Order" and to "discuss steps Bolsonaro should now undertake to deliver on campaign promises":
https://twitter.com/AtlanticCouncil/status/1057486392941514752

[biggytitbo]

As cook implied, the US Empire undoubtedly pulling some strings here to ensure Brazil gets a president pliant to their interests, regardless of how bad he is.

[bgmnts]

As cook implied, the US Empire undoubtedly pulling some strings here to ensure Brazil gets a president pliant to their interests, regardless of how bad he is.

Anyone specific?

[Urinal Cake]

http://www.brasilwire.com/us-doj-and-operation-car-wash-facts-and-questions/

I think it's a stretch that they planned or planted the conspiracy so well but they did seek to discredit the left government.

[biggytitbo]

Yes its not as clear cut as the usual south american regime change ops, but at the bare minimum the forces behind the soft coup in 2016 were heavily aligned to the US, and there will be the standard US backed regime change NGOs and influence ops going on.

[biggytitbo]

Former US southern command boss boasts how great Brazil's lurch to the right will be for the US empire https://www.bloomberg.com/amp/opinion/articles/2018-10-30/brazil-s-bolsonaro-completes-a-u-s-sweep-of-south-america

[biggytitbo]

Also excellent from Glenn Greenwald, on a similar line to Cooks piece the other day - https://twitter.com/ggreenwald/status/1057637236697526272

[BlodwynPig]

Former US southern command boss boasts how great Brazil's lurch to the right will be for the US empire https://www.bloomberg.com/amp/opinion/articles/2018-10-30/brazil-s-bolsonaro-completes-a-u-s-sweep-of-south-america

Commander in cunt

I always came away with an appreciation for the warmth of the people, the vast natural resources

Plunder, rape and destroy.

[hermitical]

Brian Mier from Brasil Wire on The Majority Report right now - just started

[bgmnts]

I believe he'll be a good president, you should try to stop believing everything they say on TV and actually try to know more about Bolsonaro, he's not a monster, he's said a lot of stupid things but he was nervous and ignorant, he's changing, and he can't do anything to others, he'll just make our country better hopefully

A 17/18 year old Brazilian person I talk to wrote this.


Its scary shit.

[mothman]

Fucking hell.

[BlodwynPig]

A 17/18 year old Brazilian person I talk to wrote this.


Its scary shit.

Jenna?

[Urinal Cake]

Bolsanaro is Snape.

[Howj Begg]

Mainly been following Caetanao Veloso's facebook posts about this, and under each of them it's scary to see how many of his fans have turned on him, calling him all sort of abusive names, one of the worst being socialist. His NYT article on this is good.

[marquis_de_sad]

Mainly been following Caetanao Veloso's facebook posts about this, and under each of them it's scary to see how many of his fans have turned on him, calling him all sort of abusive names, one of the worst being socialist. His NYT article on this is good.

Imagine listening to his music for years and only just now discovering that Caetano is against right-wing authoritarianism.

[finnquark]

Had a frustrating conversation with my sister about this, as her partner is Brazilian. He's famous enough that I suggested he post a message pre-election to his 100k+ instagram followers about not voting Bolsonaro, but understandably he didn't want to politicise his image. Less understandably to me, she suggested he could see the sense in voting for the guy, largely based on what he sees as almost irretrievable levels of crime. When I pointed out all of the alarming things in this man's world view, I was told about an episode where a friend or distant relation (I forget which) was shot dead on the street for no reason. Wasn't sure what to say about that, other than 'but it doesn't justify voting for a fascist'. His view seems to be the other guy was more corrupt, so wasn't worth voting for. How much he reflects a majority of Brazilians, I couldn't say - I just hope he doesn't get a nasty surprise.

[shh]

https://www.lrb.co.uk/v41/n03/perry-anderson/bolsonaros-brazil

It's not always easy (or enjoyable) wading through a Perry Anderson piece but I admire the scope of his vision and the detachment from commentariat hysteria.

How then is Bolsonaro to be classified? Often heard on the left in Brazil, and in the liberal press in Europe, is the opinion that his rise represents a contemporary version of fascism. The same, of course, is a standard depiction of Trump in liberal and left circles in America and the North Atlantic at large, if typically assorted with escape clauses – 'much like', 'reminiscent of', 'resembling' – making clear it is little more than lazy invective.​ The label is no more plausible in Brazil. Fascism was a reaction to the danger of social revolution in a time of economic dislocation or depression... Nothing remotely comparable either in terms of a danger to the established order from the left, or of a disciplined mass force on the right, exists in Brazil today...Breathing fire, Bolsonaro could win an election. But there is scarcely any organisational infrastructure beneath him and no need for any mass repression since there is no mass opposition to crush.

Is Bolsonaro better pigeonholed as a populist? The term now suffers such inflation as the all-purpose bugbear of the bien pensant media that its utility has declined. Undoubtedly, his posture as a valiant foe of the establishment, and style as a rough-hewn man of the people, belong to the repertoire of what is generally viewed as populism.. . But in the gallery of right-wing populists today, Bolsonaro does not fit the standard bill in at least two respects. Immigration is not an issue in Brazil, where just 600,000 of a population of 204 million are foreign-born – 0.3 per cent, compared with some 14 per cent in the US and UK, or 15 per cent in Germany. Racism, of course, is an issue, to which Bolsonaro like Trump has made covert appeals, and whose violence in the practices of the police he will encourage. But unlike Trump, he won a large black and pardo constituency in the polls, and is not likely to risk this by anything approaching an equivalent of the xenophobic anti-immigrant rhetoric in the North Atlantic. A third of his party in parliament, indeed, is not white – a higher percentage than in the much vaunted progressive Democratic contingent in the 116th US Congress.

[Paul Calf]

...bien pensant...

There should be some sort of law that if you're going to use phrases like this, they should be in the first paragraph to avoid wasting too much of everyone's time.

[Mr. Internet]

Yeah, as long as someone doesn't give too much of a fuck (heaven forbid) and writes with style, who cares if they're wrong, eh?

[Urinal Cake]

So Bolsanaro is right-wing scum not facist scum.

[Mr. Internet]

I see a lot of people are getting het up about a right-wing scumbag who wants to minimise violence against women and delegitimise LGBT communities, but not me because I'm a totally normal person.