My friends,

We have reached the end of one of the most important elections in our history. An election that put two opposing projects for the country face to face, and that today has only one great winner: the Brazilian people.

This is not my victory, or the PT’s victory, or the victory of the parties that supported me in this campaign. It is the victory of a huge democratic movement that was formed, above political parties, personal interests and ideologies, so that democracy could win.

On this historic October 30th, the majority of the Brazilian people made it clear that they want more democracy, not less.

They want more social inclusion and opportunities for all, not less. They want there to be more respect and understanding among Brazilians, not less. In short, they want more freedom, equality, and fraternity in our country, not less.

The Brazilian people showed today that they want more than to exercise their sacred right to choose who will govern their lives. They want to participate actively in the decisions of the government.

The Brazilian people showed today that they want more than just the right to protest that they are hungry, that there are no jobs, that their salary is insufficient to live with dignity, that they have no access to health and education, that they lack a roof over their heads to live and to raise their children safely, that there are no prospects for the future.

The Brazilian people want to live well, eat well, have a good home. They want a good job, a salary always adjusted above inflation, they want quality health care and public education.

They want religious freedom. They want books instead of guns. They want to go to the theater, see cinema, have access to all cultural activities, because culture feeds our soul.

The Brazilian people want hope back.

This is how I understand democracy. Not just as a beautiful word written in law, but as something tangible, that we feel in our skin, and that we can build in everyday life.

It was this democracy, in the broadest sense of the term, that the Brazilian people chose today at the ballot box. It was this democracy – real, concrete – that we committed to throughout our campaign.

And it is this democracy that we will seek to build every day of our government. With economic growth distributed among the entire population, because this is how the economy should work – as an instrument to improve the lives of all, and not to perpetuate inequalities.

The wheel of the economy will start turning again, with job creation, wage appreciation and renegotiation of the debts of families who have lost their purchasing power.

The wheel of the economy will turn again with the poor included in the budget. With support for small and medium-sized rural producers, who are responsible for 70% of the food that reaches our tables.

With every possible incentive for micro and small entrepreneurs, so that they can put their extraordinary creative potential at the service of the country’s development.

It is necessary to go further. Strengthen policies to combat violence against women, and ensure that women earn the same salaries as men for equal work.

To fight relentlessly against racism, prejudice and discrimination, so that whites, Blacks and Indigenous people have the same rights and opportunities.

This is the only way we will be able to build a country for all. An egalitarian Brazil, whose priority is the people who need it most.

A Brazil with peace, democracy and opportunities.

My friends,

As of January 1, 2023, I will govern for 215 million Brazilians, and not only for those who voted for me. There are not two Brazils. We are a single country, a single people, a great nation.

It is of no interest to anyone to live in a family where discord reigns. It’s time to bring families back together, to rebuild the bonds of friendship broken by the criminal spread of hate.

No one is interested in living in a divided country, in a permanent state of war.

This country needs peace and unity. The people do not want to fight anymore. The people are tired of seeing the other as an enemy to be feared or destroyed.

It’s time to put down the weapons that should never have been taken up. Guns kill. And we choose life.

The challenge is immense. This country must be rebuilt in all its dimensions. In politics, in the economy, in public management, in institutional harmony, in international relations and, above all, in caring for the people most in need.

We need to rebuild the very soul of this country. To recover generosity, solidarity, respect for differences, and love for one’s neighbor.

To bring back the joy of being Brazilian, and the pride we always had in the Green and Yellow and the flag of our country. This Green and Yellow and this flag that belong to no one but the Brazilian people.

Our most urgent commitment is to end hunger again. We cannot accept as normal that millions of men, women and children in this country have nothing to eat, or that they consume fewer calories and proteins than necessary.

If we are the world’s third largest producer of food and the first in animal protein, if we have technology and a huge amount of arable land, if we are able to export to the entire world, then we have the duty to guarantee that every Brazilian can have breakfast, lunch and dinner every day.

This will, once again, be the number one commitment of our government.

We cannot accept as normal that entire families are forced to sleep on the streets, exposed to the cold, rain and violence.

Therefore, we will resume Minha Casa, Minha Vida (My House, My Life), with priority for low-income families, and bring back the social inclusion programs that lifted 36 million Brazilians out of extreme poverty.

Brazil can no longer live with this immense bottomless pit, this wall of concrete and inequality that separates Brazil into unequal parts that do not recognize each other. This country needs to recognize itself. It needs to reconnect with itself.

Beyond fighting extreme poverty and hunger, we are going to reestablish dialogue in this country.

We have to reestablish the dialogue with the Legislature and the Judiciary. Without attempts to exaggerate, intervene, control, or co-opt, but rather to rebuild a harmonious, republican coexistence among the three branches of government.

Democratic normality is consecrated in the Constitution. It establishes the rights and obligations of each power, each institution, the Armed Forces, and each one of us.

The Constitution governs our collective existence, and no one, absolutely no one, is above it, no one has the right to ignore it or to flout it.

It is also more urgent than ever to resume the dialogue between the people and the government.

That’s why we’ll bring back the national conferences. So that the interested parties can choose their priorities, and present the government with suggestions for public policies for each sector: education, health, security, women’s rights, racial equality, youth, housing, and so many others.

Let’s resume the dialogue with the governors and the mayors, to define together the priority public works for each population.

It doesn’t matter which party the governor and the mayor belong to. Our commitment will always be to improve the lives of the people of each state and each municipality in this country.

We will also reestablish the dialogue between government, businessmen, workers and organized civil society, with the return of the Council for Economic and Social Development.

In other words, the major political decisions that impact the lives of 215 million Brazilians will not be made in secret, in the dead of night, but after a broad dialogue with society.

I believe that the main problems of Brazil, of the world, of the human being, can be solved with dialogue, and not with brute force.

Let no one doubt the power of the word, when it comes to seeking understanding and the common good.

My friends,

In my international travels and in my meetings with leaders from many countries, what I hear most is that the world misses Brazil.

Longing for that sovereign Brazil, that spoke as an equal with the richest and most powerful countries. And that at the same time contributed to the development of the poorer countries.

The Brazil that supported the development of African countries, through cooperation, investment, and technology transfer.

Who worked for the integration of South America, Latin America and the Caribbean, who strengthened Mercosur, and helped create the G20, UNASUR, CELAC and BRICS.

Today we say to the world that Brazil is back. That Brazil is too big to be relegated to this sad role of the world’s pariah.

We will win back the credibility, the predictability and the stability of the country, so that investors – domestic and foreign – will regain confidence in Brazil. So that they stop seeing our country as a source of immediate and predatory profit, and become our partners in the resumption of economic growth with social inclusion and environmental sustainability.

We want fairer international trade. We want to resume our partnerships with the United States and the European Union on new terms. We are not interested in trade agreements that condemn our country to the eternal role of exporter of commodities and raw materials.

Let us re-industrialize Brazil, let us invest in the green and digital economy, let us support the creativity of our businessmen and entrepreneurs. We want to export knowledge as well.

We will fight again for new global governance, with the inclusion of more countries in the UN Security Council and with the end of the veto, which undermines the balance between nations.

We are ready to re-engage in the fight against hunger and inequality in the world, and in efforts to promote peace among peoples.

Brazil is ready to resume its protagonism in the fight against the climate crisis, protecting all of our ecosystems, especially the Amazon forest.

Under our government, we were able to reduce deforestation in the Amazon by 80%, considerably reducing the emission of greenhouse gases.

Now, let’s fight for zero deforestation of the Amazon.

Brazil and the planet need a living Amazon. A standing tree is worth more than tons of wood illegally extracted by those who think only of easy profit, at the expense of the deterioration of life on Earth.

A river of clean water is worth much more than all the gold extracted at the expense of mercury that kills animals and puts human life at risk.

When an Indigenous child is murdered by the greed of the exploiters of the environment, a part of humanity dies along with it.

For this reason, we will resume monitoring and surveillance of the Amazon, and combat any and all illegal activity – whether it be mining, logging or illegal agriculture.

At the same time, we will promote the sustainable development of the communities that live in the Amazon region. We will prove once again that it is possible to generate wealth without destroying the environment.

We are open to international cooperation to preserve the Amazon, whether in the form of investment or scientific research. But always under the leadership of Brazil, without ever renouncing our sovereignty.

We are committed to Indigenous peoples, to the other peoples of the forest, and to biodiversity. We want environmental peacemaking.

We are not interested in a war for the environment, but we are ready to defend it from any threat.

My friends,

The new Brazil that we will build on January 1st is not only of interest to the Brazilian people, but to all people who work for peace, solidarity and brotherhood, anywhere in the world.

Last Wednesday, Pope Francis sent an important message to Brazil, praying that the Brazilian people will be free of hatred, intolerance and violence.

I want to say that we wish the same, and we will work tirelessly for a Brazil where love prevails over hate, truth conquers lies, and hope is greater than fear.

Every day of my life I am reminded of the greatest teaching of Jesus Christ, which is to love your neighbor. So I believe that the most important virtue of a good leader will always be love – for his country and for his people.

As far as we are concerned, there is no lack of love in this country. We will take great care of Brazil and the Brazilian people. We will live in a new time. One of peace, of love and of hope.

A time when the Brazilian people will once again have the right to dream. And the opportunities to accomplish all that they dream of.

For this, I invite each and every Brazilian, regardless of which candidate they voted for in this election. More than ever, let’s work together for Brazil, focusing on what unites us, rather than on our differences.

I know the scale of the mission that history has in store for me, and I know that I will not be able to fulfill it alone. I will need everyone – political parties, workers, businessmen, congressmen, governors, mayors, people of all religions. Brazilians who dream of a more developed, fairer, and more fraternal Brazil.

I will say again what I said during the whole campaign. Something that was never just the mere promise of a candidate, but a profession of faith, a lifetime commitment.

O Brasil tem jeito (Brazil has a way forward). All of us together will be able to fix this country, and build a Brazil the size of our dreams – with opportunities to transform them into reality.

Once again, I renew my eternal gratitude to the Brazilian people. A big hug, and may God bless our journey.

The post Priority low income housing, inclusivity, dialogue: Lula da Silvia’s victory speech to the people of Brazil (October 30, 2022) appeared first on SabrangIndia.

Brazilian president Jair Bolsonaro after his swearing-in on Jan. 1, 2019, in the capital of Brasilia. AP Photo/Andre Penner

U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo was among the right-wing world leaders who attended his inauguration in Brasilia, along with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban.

Bolsonaro used a Trump-style populist playbook to win the Brazilian presidency in October with 54 percent of the vote. Spreading angry anti-establishment messages, he persuaded enough disaffected working-class voters to create a victorious if unusual electoral coalition of the working class and the very rich.

Unlike in the United States, however, where Trump targeted rural Americans left behind by economic progress, Bolsonaro’s working-class supporters mostly come from Brazilian cities – particularly the poor urban outskirts.

These areas, the focus of my sociology research on cities and democracy, have been hit hard by the severe crime wave and recession gripping Brazil since 2015, leaving a pool of precarious, disaffected voters ripe for Bolsonaro’s calls for radical change.
 

Brazil’s ‘new middle class’

Paradoxically, many of the working-class Brazilians who voted for Bolsonaro against his progressive opponent, Fernando Haddad, had seen their quality of life improve dramatically under Haddad’s center-left Workers Party.

The biggest gains occurred under Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, Brazil’s president from 2003 to 2010. Some 30 million poor Brazilians – 15 percent of the population – were lifted out of poverty during his two terms.

As incomes rose, working-class Brazilians began attending college, flying in airplanes and buying cars – luxuries previously reserved for the rich.

Ambitious slum-upgrading programs added sanitation systems, public transportation and electricity to long-overlooked urban shantytowns. Affordable housing subsidies put more working Brazilians in safe, stable homes.

Rocinha, a large favela in Rio de Janeiro overlooking the wealthy São Conrado neighborhood. AHLN/flickr, CC BY

Brazil was celebrated worldwide as a South American star.

Lula’s anti-poverty achievements earned his Workers Party the fierce loyalty of poorer Brazilians. They voted overwhelmingly for his re-election in 2006 and supported his hand-picked successor, Dilma Rousseff, in Brazil’s 2010 and 2014 presidential elections.

But in 2018, Bolsonaro won many working-class urban neighborhoods expected to go to his Workers Party opponent, Fernando Haddad.

In São Paulo’s urban periphery, for example, Bolsonaro won 17 of the 23 electoral zones that voted overwhelmingly for Rousseff in the 2010 election.

How did a far-right candidate attract left-wing voters?
 

Brazil’s crime wave

New research from Brazil suggests that support for Bolsonaro among poorer Brazilians was driven in large part by high urban crime.

Brazil has had one of the world’s worst homicide rates for over a decade. On average, 175 Brazilians are murdered every day.

Poor urban neighborhoods are hot spots in this national crime wave. Turf wars between rival gangs and police shootouts terrorize Brazilians daily in the slum settlements and shantytowns that surround even Brazil’s richest cities.

Even in São Paulo, where homicides have actually decreased since 1999, frequent armed robberies, particularly car jackings, have residents feeling perpetually unsafe.

Bolsonaro’s crime-fighting plan is vague but forceful. It includes easing gun restrictions, instructing police to “shoot to kill,” battling gangs and using the military as law enforcement.

Experts say this hard-line approach is unlikely to reduce violence.

Brazilian law enforcement is already extremely aggressive, killing more often than any other police force worldwide. And sending soldiers in to “pacify” Rio de Janeiro’s favelas has actually increased shootings.

Even so, many Brazilians believe this law-and-order message coming from a former army captain like Bolsonaro.
 

Recession, crisis and a backlash

Economic troubles have also left Brazilian workers feeling endangered.
In 2015, Brazil entered a severe recession. Gross domestic product – which since 2004 had averaged around 3 percent growth every year – shrank by 3.5 percent in both 2015 and 2016.

Unemployment doubled, to over 12 percent. One in 4 working-age Brazilians suddenly became “underemployed.”

The recession, coupled with a nationwide corruption scandal that had implicated many high-ranking government officials, including Lula, created a sense of political chaos. Brazil’s crisis only deepened after the 2016 impeachment of President Dilma Rousseff.

Rousseff’s successor – her vice president, Michel Temer – pushed through an austerity budget that gutted the social programs helping poor and working-class Brazilians.

By January 2018, when the Brazilian presidential race began, it was clear that Brazil’s lauded “new middle class” had been hit hardest by the crisis.

Ultra-rightists at a Bolsonaro rally. Reuters/Nacho Doce
 

Bolsonaro’s big promises

President Bolsonaro, who wants to reduce the government’s role in the Brazilian economy, has few economic promises for the poor – especially compared to the Workers Party’s phenomenal track record of redistributing wealth.

His campaign made up for it with raw anger.

As a candidate, Bolsonaro pushed a narrative that Brazil’s recession was caused by corruption in the Workers Party, and he promised to clean up politics. He said criminals should die, lauded military dictatorships and proposed jailing leftists. He used racist, sexist and homophobic remarks to blame minorities and political correctness for Brazil’s decline.

Nearly 58 million voters – both rich and not-so-rich, black and white, homosexual and heterosexual – thought this bombastic authoritarian strongman might be just the man to get Brazil back on its feet.
 

Can Bolsonaro help the working class?

Now they’ll find out whether they bet right.

Some political analysts reckon Bolsonaro’s policy agenda will actually hurt Brazil’s working classes.

A plan to auction off Brazil’s state electricity and oil companies to the highest bidder, for example, may give the economy a short-term boost, but economists warn that privatization won’t make these important sectors more efficient or innovative.

Bolsonaro’s promise to shutter the Ministry of Cities, which oversaw Brazil’s federal slum-upgrading investments under Presidents Lula and Rousseff, will hobble poorer cities. Programs for housing, sanitation and transportation are all under threat.

But that doesn’t mean urban working class voters will abandon President Bolsonaro.

After all, Trump’s approval ratings among America’s white working-class base have been relatively durable despite a 2017 tax reform that primarily benefited the rich and tariffs that hurt key sectors of the American economy.

Bolsonaro became Brazil’s president using the tried-and-true playbook of authoritarians worldwide. The resentments he stoked among poorer voters may continue to flourish even if their economic prospects do not.

Benjamin H. Bradlow, PhD candidate, Department of Sociology, Brown University

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.

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Jair Bolsonaro with his son Eduardo. Wikimedia Commons.

“The left must kick-start a response substituting insecurity for collective action and hope.”

On October 12, 2014, a group of artists convened in São Paulo to support Dilma Rousseff, the presidential candidate for the Workers’ Party (PT). Artists like Otto, Karina Buhr and Lucas Santana expressed their critical support for Dilma in an event called Thirteen Shades of Red. Aécio Neves, the conservative Brazilian Social Democracy Party (PSDB) candidate, was leading the polls.

The polarization of the campaign had been building up. The candidates were now adopting a visceral tone. You could sense the hate. Fear was being invoked. Both sides were betting on binary thinking.

Some minority currents within the PT were trying to update the party’s narrative with initiatives such as Podemos Mais, to try connect with the massive protests of June 2013. But Dilma Rousseff’s official campaign was a steamroller compressing the new narratives and practices which had emerged since 2013.

The Thirteen Shades of Red event was a breath of fresh air in the midst of the electoral quagmire. It sent a message to supporters of the PT’s unitary slogans and traditional symbols. Red of course, but thirteen shades of it.

The man behind the concerts’ lights and aesthetics was activist Paulinho Fluxus. Paulinho, who does not hide his leftist leanings, had been going around São Paulo for years dressed in pink, pushing a supermarket cart filled with plastic cannons. Pink was his new red. “That colour of fragility can become mighty. A supermarket trolley can stand up to fifty shock troopers and come out winning in the final picture”, he claimed in 2013 in Folha de São Paulo.

During the June days, Paulinho Fluxus and a group of activists fired a laser from a skyscraper right onto a Rede Globo’s newscaster face in São Paulo. His “aesthetic shots”, which forced the presenter to mention the demonstration that was going on at that moment close to the TV station, served as a metaphor for the polyphonic, fragmented and decentralized revolts in which all unitary messages were discarded. Both the right and the left tried to appropriate, unsuccessfully, the June days.

Dilma Rousseff’s presidential campaign in 2014 tried to wipe out the heterodox character of those protests. Forcing polarization against its traditional enemy, the PT’s aim was to control the game board.

Whipping up fear of the right brought critics from the left back to the fold and Dilma won the elections. But the PT’s strategy had unexpected consequences: an extreme anti-PT feeling which eventually crystallized in the form of a false outsider, Jair Bolsonaro.

Whipping up fear of the right brought critics from the left back to the fold and Dilma won the elections. But the PT’s strategy had unexpected consequences: an extreme anti-PT feeling which eventually crystallized in the form of a false outsider, Jair Bolsonaro. On the other side of polarization, a monster was born.

A new, different monster with a thousand heads. A hyper-fragmenting monster that would end up winning the battle by eschewing face to face combat.

In 2015, the demonstrators at the marches against Dilma defended, paradoxically, progressive guidelines and rejected the presence of politicians. These protests created an atmosphere for the June 2013 fragmentation which the PT disregarded.

The protests had not yet tilted to the far right. In 2016, Lula himself buried the possibility of understanding the segmented messages of the June days. On March 18, 2016 he gave a speech on Paulista Avenue in São Paulo which gave a finishing touch to the “them or us” frame of mind:
They “buy clothes” in Miami, he said, and we “by buy them at 25 de março” (a popular São Paulo street market). Left or right, red or blue, good and bad.

He did not suspect that his definition of a closed “us” was in fact feeding a vigorous, inclusive and diverse “them”. The “we” was wearing only red. The Brazilian flags waved by “them” at demonstrations were already 1001 shades of green-and-yellow and the demonstrators chanted 1001 cries of outrage.
 

Ready-to-wear speeches

A few months ago, Jair Bolsonaro’s campaign was just a slogan: “Brazil above everything, and God above us all”. Nationalism and religious morality. Family as a space for action. Fear lurking in the background.

Bolsonaro’s aggressive attacks against the left were the fuel. The simplicity of the campaign favoured appropriation. The people themselves created the messages, the memes, the videos. Everything was worthy, everything fitted.

Aesthetics, fonts, claims of all sorts. Civil society’s techno-political self-organization which had characterized the 2011 cycle of the occupied squares happened to be, in the Brazilian case, on Bolsonaro’s side.

Whereas the campaign of the PT was built on unitary messages of inclusion, justice and equality, Bolsonaro offered different, segmented speeches to address different audiences. And people broke the messages up and circulated them.

Here lies a major lesson for the left. Progressive intellectuals make manifestos; the far right encourages people to make videos and come up with memes for family WhatsApp groups. The left speaks about high ideals; Bolsonaro, Trump or Salvini deliver explosive speeches full of emotion, pride or violence.

Indeed, they make use of fake news. But the political lesson to extract here is not that they lie, but that disinformation fits perfectly with people’s real discomfort, wishes and subjectivities.

“Alternative facts are affective facts, bits of information evoking a feeling that is preferable than the truth underlined by facts”, writes Peter Zuurbier in a recent article, an academic who does research on affective theory.

The paradox is that the far right candidates appeal to order while sowing chaos. They present themselves as saviors after using a military strategy called psycho ops, which has been introduced in election campaigns by the SCL Group, the mother company of Cambrigde Analytica, accused of encouraging Brexit and helping Donald Trump get elected.

If the new left abandons its anti-establishment tone, the far right will fill in the vacant space strategically. If it were to talk only about order, it would lose its voter base. The great challenge for the left is to be able to present itself as an orderly solution to chaos while maintaining an anti-establishment tone.

On the other hand, not only does the Fascist label not fit with the hyper-fragmented reality of the 21st century, but it is almost harmless. Evoking anti-fascism awakens popular resistance for the most politicized sectors of the population, especially in Europe. But it seems inadequate to face the far right’s thousand-headed monster.

The maximalist discourse against fascism is not efficient against the millions who vote for the far right and do not consider themselves fascists.

The maximalist discourse against fascism is not efficient against the millions who vote for the far right and do not consider themselves fascists. As long as anti-Fascism remains a discourse and not a practice, a set of slogans and not neighborhood community action, the far right will keep on growing by presenting itself as a solution to people’s concrete problems and fears.
 

Simple people

In his campaign speeches, Jair Bolsonaro mentioned constantly the “simple citizens”. He also alluded to the cultures that are ill-considered (such as sertaneja or caipira music) and to forgotten regions (like the Midwest and the Amazon).

Bolsonaro won a landslide victory in these regions, forgotten and stigmatized by the progressive cultural elite. The brega Brazil (a term used for anything considered tasteless or tacky) raised its voice and voted. Brazilian journalist Leando Demori points out that Bolsonaro has brought into the fold the “less literate” people, the people who according to the left do not “have the level of education required to know what a transgender person is”, or do not understand the priority of bike lanes.

Bolsonaro’s core constituency is class C (lower middle class), just as Trump’s or Le Pen’s are the working class sectors confused and disoriented by globalization and ignored by cultural elites.

The moral superiority of the left, which stigmatizes “right-wing workers”, the unfortunate cultural decisions of the favela dwellers or the inhabitants of the Empty Spain described by Sergio del Molino, widens the gap.

The moral superiority of the left, which stigmatizes “right-wing workers”, the unfortunate cultural decisions of the favela dwellers or the inhabitants of the Empty Spain described by Sergio del Molino, widens the gap.

Talíria Petrone, who got elected member of the Brazilian Federal Congress for the Socialism and Liberty Party (PSOL) in Rio de Janeiro, is categorical: “the left must go back to the territories, not to carry any truth, but to listen”. The assertion applies equally to all of the world’s metropolitan areas and rural regions.

Bolsonaro’s boom in the most violent territories is related to the rise of the Evangelist churches. While progressive organizations were losing space in the favelas and in inland Brazil, the Evangelical churches were building a real mutual support and solidarity community network.
Even though some progressive Evangelical currents – such as the Integrated Mission Theology – do exist, the left has stigmatized the Evangelical world, and this has resulted in practice in an Evangelical-run monopoly of social action in many peripheries. The left, if it wants to dispute disenchantment in the peripheries, must go back to the territories.

Listening, building spaces to live in, facilitating self-organization without co-optation. The left in Spain has to also tolerate the tastes of the popular classes, however “unfortunate” it may consider them to be. Otherwise, Hurricane VOX will grow and grow.
The Homo Velanime collective is right in urging the “in-lawing” of political language, by which they mean that it is crucial to dispute the political field of the family. A progressive family discourse, especially in Latin America and Southern Europe, may be more useful to dispel fears of the future than the great values of the left.
 

National symbols

After the shock at the first round of the elections, the PT’s campaign changed radically. The green-and-yellow flag replaced the red one. It was a delayed reaction to Bolsonarism, which had taken control of the Brazilian flag.

Since the June 2013 revolts, the left had distanced itself from the patriotic symbols. From 2015 onwards, the green-and-yellow tide tide grew, and the flag and the Brazilian Football Confederation (CBF) T-shirts became its icons.

Abandoning the flag, in a nationalist country where even candomblé terreiros have their own flags and national football team is a religion, was the PT’s catastrophic mistake.

The right is taking advantage of identity patterns, especially of nationalism. Its economic nationalism, however, is a falsely inclusive, cheater patriotism. Disputing national symbols, resignifying them, weaving alliances with citizens in other countries, is one of the most complex tasks facing the left.

To avoid falling into simplistic nationalist populism, the strategy should combine popular and citizen narratives. Popular and red tinted narratives (even anti-fascist ones) for the already politicized. Multiple citizen narratives for a new mass of people who prefer specific campaigns to constant activism. Hyper-segmented discourses to win over each of the publics of neo-fascism’s highly fragmented Leviathan.

At the same time, the new left in government must implement forceful public policies aimed at the new excluded sectors of the population (especially the impoverished middle classes), without losing its anti-establishment tone regarding the elites.

And it must build digital and face-to-face platforms and devices to channel people’s discomforts and to give a voice to all cultural manifestations, including the unfortunate ones.

The left must kick-start a response substituting insecurity for collective action and hope. And it must bring forth a range of wishes larger than fear.  

This article was previously published by eldiario.es. Read the original here.

Bernardo Gutiérrez (@bernardosampa en Twitter) es un periodista, escritor e investigador hispano-brasileño residente en Madrid. Escribe de política, sociedad, tecnopolítica y tecnologías de la participación. Ha publicado el libros Calle Amazonas (Altaïr, 2010), colaborado en libros colectivos como ‘Amanhã vai ser maior’ (Anna Blume, 2014) o sido uno de los editores de ‘JUNHO: potência das ruas e das redes’ (Friedrich Ebert Siftung, 2014). Su último libro: “Pasado Mañana. Viaje a la España del cambio” (ARPA editores, 2017). Trabaja en el MediaLab Prado de Madrid.
 

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Repression in Rio de Janeiro on June 21, 1968, which became known as “Bloody Friday”.

“I am going to turn this country into a democracy and if someone is against it, I’ll stop them and crush them.”
– General João Baptista Figueiredo

Manuel Serrano: Jair Bolsonaro has been elected president of Brazil. What does his election mean for your country, for Latin America and for the future of democracy in the region?

Reginaldo Nasser: When former President Nixon was asked, in the 1970s, if he feared that Brazil would become a “new” Cuba, he said no. He said that he feared, in fact, that Brazil could become a “new” China.

Bolsonaro’s election will have consequences for all the countries in the region, even though each country has its own peculiarities with regards the role of the military, the elites and the different sectors in society.

Historically, the dictatorship in Brazil, unlike countries like Argentina or Chile, has always been a red flag in order to allow a degree of conciliation between the different social classes.

It is a pending question which has made this force suddenly reemerge. Although it appears to be a transitory wave, it will be so only if there is resistance and mobilization and if these count on international allies.

Manuel Serrano: Several analysts describe the new president as the “Trump of the Tropics.” However, you recently wrote that “Bolsonaro tries to mimic Trump’s language and style, but he seems to forget that he is not the leader of a world power”. Where do the similarities between them begin and end?
Although it appears to be a transitory wave, it will be so only if there is resistance and mobilization and if these count on international allies.
Reginaldo Nasser: For now, comparisons can be made only in relation to the election campaign. It is quite likely that Bolsonaro will decide, when he accesses power, to keep on imitating Trump’s style of contempt for the mainstream media and of using Twitter as an informal means of communication, through controversial and shocking phrases which help to divert attention from the country’s real problems.

Manuel Serrano: What do you think about the appointment of Judge Sergio Moro as Minister of Justice? Is this the “fraud of the century”? Does this cast doubt on the investigation of the Lava-Jato operation and the impartiality of the Brazilian judicial system?
Reginaldo Nasser: I think that the appointment of Judge Moro as Minister of Justice is part of a plan that has been in the making for some time. Just like with a big jigsaw puzzle, the pieces are fitting together little by little.

It all started with the mensalão, and everything that has come after that has gone in the direction of the main objective: to prevent the PT from returning to power.

The coup against President Rousseff showed that there are broad sectors of society combined with different structures of the State – the police, the judiciary, parliament – trying to get the PT out of power, making use of the constitution and the law.

The incarceration of Lula confirmed both the objective and the approach. Vice president-elect General Mourão acknowledged that Judge Moro was consulted during the election campaign.

The coup against President Rousseff showed that there are broad sectors of society combined with different structures of the State trying to get the PT out of power.

Manuel Serrano: Bolsonaro’s program includes measures that run counter to the rights set forth in the Brazilian Constitution. The right to life, for example, would be violated if the police were allowed to “kill at will” in the exercise of their functions.
Do you think that the Supreme Federal Court will be able to prevent the President from violating the fundamental rights of Brazilians?
Reginaldo Nasser: I think that Bolsonaro’s government will find resistance within the judiciary, especially in the Supreme Federal Court (STF). Recently, Minister Carmen Lúcia determined, by way of a preliminary decision, that the only legitimized force to “invade a university is the force of free and plural ideas.”

This decision guarantees the free expression of thought and ideas and therefore opposes the decision of the electoral judges, who authorized the search and seizure of pamphlets and campaign material in universities and teachers’ associations and prohibited electoral issues in the classrooms, in addition to meetings and political assemblies.

This is a positive decision indeed, but it shows that there are sectors within the State that systematically threaten the rule of law.

The only legitimized force to invade a university is the force of free and plural ideas.

Manuel Serrano: How come the far right has reached power in Brazil? What causes proved to be the main catalysts for this result?
Reginaldo Nasser: For some time now I have been studying the question of the counterrevolution, which is something that currently attracts very little attention. If we analyze the works of Marx, such as the Manifesto of the Communist Party and Louis Bonaparte’s 18 Brumaire, we can appreciate his concern for counterrevolution. We must be conscious of the fact that counterrevolution exists regardless of whether the revolution has been successful or not.

In Brazil, what happened was a process that, timidly and in a conciliatory way, promoted the fight against poverty and the access of the less well-off to higher education.

This process also allowed significant profits for the business and financial sectors. This small revolution provoked however a reaction when the right circumstances arose, which is something that usually happens at times of economic crisis.

It was at then that the elites reached a consensus agreement: to put an end to the PT era. What happened, though, was that during that movement, the far right advanced beyond what many had expected.

Counterrevolution exists regardless of whether the revolution has been successful or not.

Many journalists, politicians and even some activists who helped in promoting anti-petism are now regretting what they did. But let us not be deceived: these sectors will happily adjust to the situation if things are “going well”.

Jair Bolsonaro during a plenary session of the House of Representatives to celebrate the 30º anniversary of the Constitution. Geraldo Magela/Agência Senado/Flickr. Some rights reserved.

Manuel Serrano: Polarization, attacks on the press, the military in government. Is this the way in which democracies commit suicide?
Reginaldo Nasser: When we analyze the advances and setbacks in history, we must always correctly place the situation in context. It is unquestionable that the constitution of 1988 and the process of social and political mobilization after the civic-military dictatorship produced some significant advances and generated a number of social movements, such as the Movement of Rural Landless Workers (MST) and the Movement of Homeless Workers (MTST).

However, at the same time, democracy deteriorated over time in different ways. Despite the progress made during the PT governments, Brazil is today an extremely unequal and violent country, where those footing the bill are usually the most vulnerable.

What is emerging now is the tip of the iceberg of the reaction by the most conservative sectors of society to years of progress. We are witnessing how some groups seek a settling of scores: against universities, against LGBT movements, against the free expression of ideas.
Despite the progress made during the PT governments, Brazil is today an extremely unequal and violent country, where those footing the bill are usually the most vulnerable.

Manuel Serrano: A year ago, we were discussing about fake news and the bias of the media in Brazil. What influence have these factors had in the elections?
Reginaldo Nasser: In these last elections, it was social media, especially WhatsApp, that has been truly decisive as opposed to huge media giants. Many analysts commented that Bolsonaro’s candidacy would not take off because he did not have enough space in the allocated electoral time in the media.

But his supporters, rooted in a very well organized industry, had a decisive influence. A journalist of Folha de São Paulo, Patrícia Campos Mello, revealed how fake news was used to boost Bolsonaro’s campaign.

The elections also showed the inability of the judicial institutions to contain this. In December of 2017, a report by BBC Brazil revealed that electoral and public opinion manipulation strategies have been used in Brazil since 2012, a threat up-against the passiveness of the authorities.

In these last elections, it was social media, especially WhatsApp, that has been truly decisive as opposed to huge media giants. 

Manuel Serrano: Uruguay’s Pepe Mújica recalls that “there is no final defeat or triumph”. What can the opposition and human rights defenders do to ensure that Brazil remains the largest democracy in Latin America?
Reginaldo Nasser: It is understandable that some are panicking at seeing a man who is a warmonger and who threatens his opponents. Some remember 1964, and rightly so, since Bolsonaro has been open about his praise of Colonel Ulstra, a symbol of torture in Brazil.
Young people seem surprised: after all, was the dictatorship not a thing of the past? We need to watch out, but we must not allow fear to paralyze us – which is precisely what terror aims for. Nor should we forget that the winning candidate got about 40% of the total votes.
And that, excluding the null and blank votes and the ones of those who did not vote for him; Bolsonaro obtained 55% of the votes, against Haddad’s 45%.

Bolsonaro has been open about his praise of Colonel Ulstra, a symbol of torture in Brazil.

The votes of the PT candidate came mostly from the northeast, from the poorest and from women. Brazilian society is divided and we must be aware that the PT won four consecutive presidential elections, and that it would have probably won again this year if Lula had been able to run.

I think this is an unprecedented fact in Brazil, and possibly in the world, where alternation of power between parties is usually the norm.

We need therefore to differentiate between discourse and actions, although it is true that words and gestures configure a state of opinion in society that encourages people to act on their own.

There are elements and gestures in Bolsonaro’s speeches that are typical of fascism. So far, though, we cannot say that there are any coordinated fascist actions.

I think he will try to act “within the law”, since there is a permissive enough institutional structure within the State to allow him to carry out a real “witch hunt”.

Hence the importance of the pressure that the international community may be able to exert. If we agree that the character of the current actions by the far right is markedly international, the democratic struggle must assume the same form.

Reginaldo Nasser holds a master’s degree in Political Science from UNICAMP and a Ph.D. in Social Sciences from the PUC (São Paulo). He is professor of international relations at the Pontifical Catholic University of São Paulo (PUC-SP).

Reginaldo Nasser es maestro en Ciencia Política por la UNICAMP y doctor en Ciencias Sociales por la PUC (SP). Es profesor de relaciones internacionales de la Pontificia Universidad Católica de São Paulo (PUC-SP).

Courtesy: https://www.opendemocracy.net/

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In 2015, two years before the #MeToo campaign got Americans talking about sexual harassment, Brazilian feminists launched #MeuPrimeiroAssedio, or #MyFirstHarrassment. In its first five days, the hashtag racked up 82,000 tweets detailing the chronic sexual harassment of women in this South American nation. It soon spread across Latin America in Spanish translation as #MiPrimerAcoso.

The viral success of #MeuPrimeiroAssedio spurred a spate of social media activism in Brazil, where despite decades of feminist efforts gender inequality remains deeply entrenched.

With #MeuAmigoSecreto – #MyAnonymousFriend – women documented misogyny on the streets and at work. Tagging #MeuQueridoProfessor – #MyDearTeacher – university students outed sexism in the classroom.

And when the weekly news magazine Veja described the wife of Brazil’s president, Michel Temer, as “beautiful, modest and a housewife” in April 2016, feminists transformed that stereotype into a meme showcasing empowered women.

Temer came to power following the impeachment of Brazil’s first female president, Dilma Rousseff. Many saw Rousseff’s ouster as misogynistic. Feminists were determined that Brazilian sexism would no longer go unchecked.
 

Black women’s bodies

As race and gender researchers, we’ve been watching Brazil’s feminist resurgence closely to see whether it reflects the needs of Afro-Brazilian women, who make up 25 percent of the population.

Though the country has long considered itself colorblind, black and indigenous Brazilians are poorer than white Brazilians. Women of color in Brazil also experience sexual violence at much higher rates than white women.

For example, domestic workers, who are predominantly Afro-Brazilian, have been systematically harassed by their male employers. This centuries-old power play dates back to slavery.

Since both of us have recently published books – “The Biopolitics of Beauty” and “Health Equity in Brazil” – examining the impact of Brazilian medical practices on black women, we are particularly interested to see if Brazilian feminists will tackle two issues that particularly affect black women: health care and plastic surgery.

These may seem unrelated to each other and to black women’s rights, but in Brazil they are deeply intertwined. All Brazilian citizens get free medical care under the Sistema Único de Saúde, the national health care system.

Despite universal access to health services, black women do not always receive the best care. Though Brazil’s colorblind approach to health has resulted in scant documentation of differential health outcomes by race, one study found that black women are two and a half times more likely to die from an unsafe abortion than white women.

The startling discrepancy probably reflects a lack of high-quality prenatal and obstetric care for black women, which is a problem in U.S. hospitals as well. Discriminatory treatment by medical professionals, which includes a lack of attention to the specific health needs of black Brazilians, also factors in.
Black activists have also pointed out for decades that Afro-Brazilian women have higher rates of sterilization and abortion, which in Brazil is mostly illegal – and thus very risky.

Overall maternal health is also markedly worse among black women. In Brazil’s impoverished northeast, which has the country’s highest concentration of African descendants, black women are 10 to 20 times more likely to die in childbirth than white women.

Black women in Brazil have significantly higher maternal mortality rates than white women. Nacho Doce/Reuters
 

The ‘negroid nose’

Medical doctors may neglect black Brazilian women, but plastic surgeons pursue them. Since the 1960s, Brazilian cosmetic surgery has been included in Brazil’s national health care system.

In Brazil, white beauty standards remain the cultural ideal. That means many Brazilian plastic surgeons operate on the basis that more European features – facial features in particular – are better.

Specifically, our research has found, they tend to target black women’s noses, which they deem a “problem feature” in lectures, publications and websites.

In conversation, some doctors even expressed their belief that the “negroid nose” is a “mistake” caused by racial mixing. Fortunately, they would add, it’s nothing a nose job can’t fix.

This occurs within a broader culture, familiar to women worldwide, of bombarding all Brazilian women with opportunities to “improve” their imperfect bodies. Brazilians are among the top consumers of plastic surgery in the world. It is estimated that more than a million cosmetic procedures are carried out every year.

Some Brazilian plastic surgeons refer to their jobs as helping women achieve “the right to beauty.” When, in 2016, a famous plastic surgeon who promoted this idea died, his obituary read like that of a national hero.

And since most plastic surgery is covered under Brazil’s public health system, our research uncovered, surgeons have found it lucrative to develop procedures targeting the entire topography of the female body.

Treatments that aren’t paid by insurance come with long-term payment plans. For the poorest patients, doctors have made plastic surgery accessible by exchanging their professional services for permission to use these operations as a teaching exercise for young medical residents.

Taking online to the ground

Historically, feminist critiques of this industry were largely subdued. But plastic surgery is now in the spotlight of Brazil’s “Women’s Spring.”

In October 2017, one of Brazil’s biggest newspapers, Folha de São Paulo, ran an article extolling the “ideal vulva” and describing the surgical interventions necessary to attain it. Women lambasted the piece on social media, calling it “absurd,” “unacceptable” and “sad.”

The assumption that some vaginas are more desirable than others, feminist commentators pointed out, imposes the male gaze on the female body. Additionally, they argued, the article’s emphasis on “pink” vaginas and its suggested use of skin-whiteners was patently racist.

Black feminist bloggers likely started this particular line of critique. As early as 2014, they were denouncing Brazilian cosmetic surgery as “racism cloaked as science.” Plastic surgeons, wrote Gabi Porfírio in a June 2014 post on Blogueiras Negras, have become “experts at using demeaning terminology for the noses of black people.”

But in a country where only 63 percent of households have internet access, black feminists also have also used more traditional forms of protest to engage women of color.

A year before the the hashtag #MeuPrimeiroAssedio would go viral, black feminists began working across Brazil to organize women who don’t generally participate in activism. Their efforts culminated in the Black Women’s March Against Racism and Violence and in Favor of Living Well in Brasilia, the capital.

There, 50,000 Afro-Brazilian women of all ages and backgrounds came together to denounce violence against black women – not just sexual violence but also deadly abortions, mass incarceration and medical neglect. It was the first ever national march of black Brazilian women.

The first-ever national march of black Brazilian women had ‘living well’ as a central demand. Brazilian Ministry of Culture

In a country that has long ignored inequality, the protest put race squarely on the feminist agenda. By contrasting the diverse forms of violence black women face with the idea of “living well,” the Black Women’s March voiced an alternative vision of racial and gender justice for Brazil.

In doing so, they join #MeToo, #MeuPrimeiroAssedio and a whole chorus of female voices around the globe. Online and on the ground, Brazilian feminists demand equity from the surgeon’s table to the office.
 

Alvaro Jarrin, Assistant Professor of Anthropology, College of the Holy Cross and Kia Lilly Caldwell, Associate Professor, African, African American, and Diaspora Studies, University of North Carolina – Chapel Hill

This article was originally published on The Conversation. Read the original article.

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Former President of Argentina, Cristina Kirchner, and the former President of Brazil,Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, president of Brazil.19 November 2007. Fabio Rodrigues Pozzebom/A. Brasil/Wikimedia Commons.

Lenin Moreno won the presidential elections in Ecuador and the Latin American Left, after several consecutive setbacks, has been able to take a breath of fresh air. But it is rather a sigh, for Moreno lacks the charisma, the economic resources and the popular support needed to carry on with the Correísta agenda. The challenge in Ecuador and in most Latin American countries is not to resist the end of the progressive cycle – a process with growing contradictions and setbacks – but how to rearm the forces working for progressive social change.

The news is good, for there are other forces on the left showing the way: they are pulling off micro-revolutions at the local level. Those who remain in power, and those who want to get it back, should take good notice and start reinventing themselves if they want to avoid definitely losing the battle against the steadily advancing Right throughout the continent.

End of cycle

The wave that started with Hugo Chávez in 1999 was an innovative proposal: a reaction to neoliberal policies and to the need to rebuild politics with the "kick them all out" social demand as a backdrop. Evo Morales, Rafael Correa and Lula da Silva brought new players into the political system, whole sectors of the population who had never been a part of it, and Kirchnerism too activated previously apathetic social sectors. Bolivia and Ecuador reformed their constitutions to include indigenous rights and the rights of nature. Tens of millions became middle class, public services were expanded, and wealth distribution improved.

Opponents explain that these advances were due to high global commodity prices. They indeed made it possible, but they do not explain it. There were other high commodity price periods in history, such as that of the agro-mining export model (between 1870 and the First World War), or the 1970s, which it is doubtful whether they in fact contributed to advancing rights. As opposed to these previous periods, an agenda was now in place for the extension of rights.

We have of course been talking about the end of the progressive cycle for some time now. The fall in the price of commodities left bare many of the contradictions of the region’s left-wing governments. Some critics, both on the Left and the Right, complain that these governments consolidated the extractive model, re-primarized the economy, signed free trade agreements, and implemented neoliberal adjustment plans, alienating popular sectors and indigenous groups who had been supporting them.

Most serious still, they became a force that stopped looking ahead. They entrenched themselves in government, concentrating and verticalizing power, co-opting other institutions and the media, and furiously resisting any criticism. I myself heard one of the main figures of the Workers' Party in Brazil complain about the "ungrateful" people who were taking to the streets to protest. We have recently seen the followers of impeached Paraguayan president Fernando Lugo reach an agreement with the current president, Horacio Cartes.

That is, the Left has stopped listening to the street. In the more extreme cases of late Chavism in Venezuela and Sandinism in Nicaragua, the Left has reached absolute degradation.

At the same time, the Right has been reinventing itself. It has stopped talking about the past and has begun to promise a future. With a positive discourse and plenty of colour balloons, it is now competing for public spaces by organizing marches, or choses to create political parties (the Republican Proposal in Argentina, the NOVO Party in Brazil, Creating Opportunities in Ecuador, the Anti-Corruption Party in Honduras), instead of knocking at the doors of the military barracks, as it used to do in the past.

Of course, this has allowed leaders linked to the Panama Papers to take power, it has made it possible for a bunch of deputies and senators involved in corruption cases to remove a president from office on charges of administrative irregularities, and has led a banker linked to the worst crisis in the history of Ecuador to having real chances of becoming president.

There are no contradictions this time around: the neoliberal agenda is coming back, social spending is being frozen, salary increases are being negotiated in a Spartan way, while payment to international creditors and tax exemption to mining companies are being decreed.

This is why it is crucial that the Left (in all its diversity) should renew itself. Not to romantically long for the return of those gone by, but to reinvent itself. Which means proposing again an agenda for the expansion of rights, for the redistribution of income, for political autonomy, for diversity and for defending the environment – and carrying it out.

Political experimentation

The good news is that this agenda is already under way. Not in the parties’ establishment, but in the streets. A constellation of creative initiatives is making its way, experimenting from below with new narratives and new power forms. Traditional groups and social movements which defend human rights, biodiversity, sustainable economies, inclusion and gender diversity are now being joined by actors who are also contending for political power.

The Wikipolititians in Guadalajara, Mexico, are pursuing a national strategy aiming at changing the noxious relationship between money and politics, and they are not only proposing it but actually following it.

Former Chilean student leaders who are fighting in Congress for public education are currently organizing the Broad Front, which includes Valparaiso’s municipal experience.

Porto Alegre in Brazil is experimenting with citizen candidacies. And in Brazil also, the Activist Bench has been calling upon a great variety of organizations to support candidates from different parties who defend agendas for citizen participation and the inclusion of Afro-descendants, feminists and LGBTI people.

In the Colombian periphery, a group linked to the Green Alliance won the elections, established the first open government platform in the country and is now experiencing with creative teaching in public schools.

In Nicaragua, a political party is emerging that intends to organize itself through "sociocracy", a decision-making methodology which avoids verticality. And they are all looking very closely across the ocean at the two women mayors of Madrid and Barcelona in Spain, ​​who are constantly innovating in participatory and collaborative public policy mechanisms.

For reasons of virtue, survival, or strategy, the Left must necessarily get back to listening to the streets. This is what recently elected Lenin Moreno in Ecuador, Evo Morales in Bolivia, and the Coalition of Parties for Democracy in Chile must face if they want to stay in power, the Workers’ Party and Kirchnerism if they want to get it back, and Morena in Mexico if they want to win it next year.

Matías Bianchi is a political scientist with a PhD from the Institute d´Études Politiques de Paris (Sciences Po) and the director of the think tank Asuntos del Sur. He tweets as @matiasfbianchi
 

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Image: BoomLive

“India specialises in the production of cheap and abundant buffalo meat and will continue to lead the global beef trade in volume, amidst increasing demand for inexpensive meat in Asia and the Middle East,” BMI Research said in the report.

The report noted that after more than a year since the implementation of a ban of cow slaughter and consumption in the Indian state of Maharashtra and following the growing opposition to cow meat nationally, the country’s beef sector remains one of the faster growing agribusiness markets, as per the news report.

“India’s beef sector will continue to be one of the country’s agribusiness bright spots despite the rise of nationalistic Hindu sentiment,” it stated.

“We forecast beef meat production to grow at a steady 4 per cent annually over 2016-2020, to reach 5.1 million tonnes at the end of that period,” BMI Research said in the paper.

Low local consumption of beef has also allowed the country to record very large exportable surpluses, as only 50 per cent of production is consumed locally, compared with 80 per cent in Brazil, according to the report.

As reported by The Indian Express, India, which overtook Brazil as the world’s largest beef exporter in 2014, will maintain a head start over its competitors in terms of exportable supply in the coming years as the country will record a surplus of 2.2 million tonnes on average over 2016-2020, compared with 2 million tonnes for Brazil and 1.5 million tonnes for Australia, the report said.

“We forecast beef meat production to grow at a steady 4 per cent annually over 2016-2020, to reach 5.1 million tonnes at the end of that period,” BMI Research said in the paper.
 
The report stated that beef production growth will be mainly driven by the domestic growth in the dairy sector, following the steady demand in the international market, BMI Research said.

The paper highlighted that a significant part of India’s beef trade is done through illegal channels, as live cattle is exported to Bangladesh (prohibited by the Indian government) and frozen meat reaches China via Vietnam (which is prohibited by China).

The news report quoted the research paper, which says, “India’s beef market is at a high risk of a change in trade regulation or a crackdown on illegal trade. In particular, China could seal the fate of India’s exports; exports to Chinese markets would boom should the 2013 Memorandum of Understanding over beef trade between the two countries be finally enacted after years of negotiations.”

Several India states mainly controlled by the BJP and large producers of beef meat, including Maharashtra and Haryana strengthened the legislation against cattle slaughter to include all types of cattle (male, female, at all age), reports The Indian Express.

Related Story: Muslims in meat industry mull countrywide strike to protest against rising vigilantism, harassment

Also Read: Muslims in meat industry mull countrywide strike to protest against rising vigilantism, harassment

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The bodies of murdered women should not have to be the catalyst for responsible development, writes Erin Kilbride.

Last week, a human rights defender’s body was found drowned in the hydro-electric dam she spent three years fighting. Nilce de Souza Magalhães was a fierce opponent of the Usina Hidrelétrica Jirau, a rock-fill dam in north-western Brazil. She was murdered in January 2016 by a man who said he wanted to ‘silence’ her. On 21 June, dam workers found Nilce’s body washed up on the side of the dam’s river bank. Her hands and feet had been tied with ropes and attached to large rocks that kept her body submerged under water for six months.

Brazil is one of the deadliest countries in the world for those who work to defend people’s right to land. Front Line Defenders has documented almost 30 killings of environmental, indigenous, and land rights defenders in Brazil in 2016 alone – Nilce is the 27th. In 2015, Global Witness ranked Brazil as the deadliest country in the world for environment rights defenders.

The Jirau dam was first commissioned in 2013, with most of the power set to be exported 2,000 miles across the country to south-eastern Brazil. Despite laws that lay out a strict approval process for water development projects, critics say many criteria were rubber-stamped before consulting with local communities that would be most impacted. In 2010, a coalition of local and international rights groups criticized the ‘highly-flawed’ environmental impact study prepared by the energy and construction companies prior to launching the project.

The dam uprooted Nilce’s community and forced them onto a compound with no running water or electricity. It diverted the Madeira River that Nilce’s family had lived off for decades and destroyed their lives as fisherfolk.

After three years of campaigning against the project, Nilce went missing on 7 January, 2016. On 15 January, police detained Edione Pessoa da Silva after an anonymous caller tipped them off. He confessed to murdering Nilce, and escaped from prison days later. Authorities stated that Nilce’s murder followed personal accusations she made against da Silva, but members of her community and organization, Movement of People Affected by Dams, say the killing was a response to her powerful activism.

From 2013 to 2016, Nilce led public demonstrations against the dam, spoke at hearings, and submitted legal complaints that initiated civil and criminal proceedings against the Usina Hidrelétrica company and Sustainable Energy of Brazil (ESRB), the consortium responsible for developing the dam. Her work led to a Public Prosecutors’ Office investigation into ESRB for failing to compensate displaced fisherman, and another criminal inquiry into data manipulation to obscure how destructive the dam would be. After Nilce spoke at a federal negotiation last December, the government commissioned a state delegation to visit the region and investigate reports of violations.

Nilce was effective and her advocacy was smart. She will never see the results of the investigations she initiated, but her murder is a morbid testament to her power.

Since Brazil’s President Dilma Rousseff was suspended in May, political discourse in the country has become openly hostile to human rights. One of the interim government’s first moves was dismantling the Ministry for Human Rights. What used to be a ministry devoted to promoting Women, Racial Equality, and Human Rights has become one ‘Secretary’ at a desk in the Ministry of Justice. The new Minister of Justice has referred to the peaceful protests of some land rights organizers as ‘guerrilla tactics’, and the interim president just set up an all-white, all-male cabinet. The National Programme for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders lacks resources to provide adequate support, and HRD ‘beneficiaries of the program routinely say their reports of death threats and attacks go unanswered.’

The scope of the degradation in human rights mechanisms in Brazil does not simply signal a threat to human rights defenders at large. It sends a targeted message to women human rights defenders, Afro-Brazilians, and indigenous activists bold enough to declare their rights to land that they will see no protection from the Brazilian state.

Nilce lived and worked in a marginalized region of Brazil, where the National Programme for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders does not even operate. Her death was not unavoidable, but its prevention was not prioritized. Brazilian authorities need to thoroughly investigate Nilce’s murder and bring to justice the people responsible for planning and executing the killing, but the government itself must be held accountable for demolishing the human rights mechanisms that could have protected her.

In the weeks after environmental rights defender Berta Cáceres was murdered in Honduras – a killing that shook the international community in a way that few attacks on human rights defenders do – major shareholders and investors pulled out of the dam Berta was fighting. Following a week of very bad public relations, most decided that bankrolling a controversial dam in Honduras – a state known for violence against indigenous communities and impunity following HRD murders – was not worth the headache. In the months since Nilce’s muder, some local Brazilian community organizations have demanded that international funders withdraw support for the Jirau dam.

Whether or not the project stops, the killing of human rights defenders should not have to be the catalyst for responsible development. The degradation of human rights mechanisms and structural violence against marginalized communities are cause enough for concern – companies need not wait for the dead bodies of vocal women to prove the point.

Courtesy: ​newint.org

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