Brazil Goes Far Right!

[seer]

This is big for the fourth largest democracy in the world, and seems to be happening more and more.

Far-right Bolsonaro wins Brazil presidential race

BRASILIA, Oct 28 (Reuters) - Far-right lawmaker Jair Bolsonaro won Brazil's presidential election on Sunday, riding a wave of frustration over corruption and crime that brought a dramatic swing to the right in the world's fourth-largest democracy.

With 94 percent of ballots counted, Bolsonaro had 56 percent of the votes in the run-off election against left-wing hopeful Fernando Haddad of the Workers Party (PT), who had 44 percent, according to the electoral authority TSE.

"We cannot continue flirting with communism ... We are going to change the destiny of Brazil," Bolsonaro said in an acceptance address in which he vowed to carry out his campaign promises to stamp out corruption after years of leftist rule.

http://news.trust.org/item/20181028230046-ovczz

[firstfloor]

This is big for the fourth largest democracy in the world, and seems to be happening more and more.

I thought you might like the "Trump of the Tropics". Hatred is the currency of the right. It will end in tears.

So now Mr Bolsonaro has won, will his obsession with the left disappear? In a Facebook live after the results, the politician vowed to change the country.

"We couldn't keep on flirting with communism, populism and left-wing extremism," he said. "We all knew where Brazil was heading."

That message, say experts, set the tone for what's to come.

"There will be no truce for the opponents and it will be a government of confrontation with all who are identified as the opposition," says Claudio Couto, a politics professor at the Getulio Vargas Foundation. "At no point does he speak of conciliation, dialogue, or understanding."

His fiery rhetoric scares many and his victory ushers in a new, more fearful era for the country.

Mr Bolsonaro has talked fondly of the country's former military dictatorship. I've spoken to dozens of people who back him up, believing the dictatorship wasn't a bad period, just a time of order and respect. It's a hugely controversial view that divides Brazil.

"We already had a dictatorship and people keep denying it happened but it did," says Daniel Figueiredo Velho, who voted for Fernando Haddad. "Torture, killings, repression, no liberty of expression. We shouldn't make the same mistakes history told us not to make."

There's also fear of growing intolerance, with Brazil's new leader having made sexist, homophobic and racist comments in the past.

"Although I didn't totally agree with what the Workers' Party did, I think we are now living in a moment of a lot of hate and we shouldn't support that," says Andressa Couto. "I fear for other people - poor people, black people, gay people. People are doing things in the streets in the name of Bolsonaro and that scares me."

Is there a chance he could soften his stance, now he's won power? Few experts believe it. You only need to look to another firebrand in the continent for guidance.

"The things that Donald Trump outlined and the signals that he gave during the campaign he carried through with," says Kyle Pope of the Columbia Journalism Review, who has studied parallels between Brazil's new president and the leader of the US.

"Anyone who thinks this is a short-term gain or that he's going to come in and combust, that's not only not our experience with Trump but doesn't really hold up around the world."

Many say a comparison with Mr Trump is inaccurate. Instead, they say Mr Bolsonaro is more akin to Rodrigo Duterte of the Philippines.

Whatever the comparison, what is clear is that country's sharp swing to the right will resonate beyond Brazil as another populist takes power.

And the opposition will redouble efforts not to take away the gains that country's made since it returned to democracy 30 years ago.

The future looks messy for Brazil.

[Jedidiah]

I thought you might like the "Trump of the Tropics". Hatred is the currency of the right. It will end in tears.

The currency of the right? Sure.

hate.jpg

[seer]

The future looks messy for Brazil.

Right, Brazil was already a complete mess thanks to socialistic policies and corruption.

[firstfloor]

Right, Brazil was already a complete mess thanks to socialistic policies and corruption.

I fear that your seduction is complete and your grandparents generation will be spinning in their graves.

[Terraceth]

This is big for the fourth largest democracy in the world, and seems to be happening more and more.

I don't know if it's fair to say that a shift to the right is what's happening more and more. It seems more a general rejection of the established parties, which sometimes means a shift to the right but sometimes not. For example, Mexico very much rejected the established parties in its most recent election, but the country moved to the left as a result. And while some attention was paid to Marie le Pen of the "far-right" National Front getting the 2nd highest number of votes in the French election, the actual winner (of the presidency and the National Assembly) was En Marche!, a centrist political party. But this was again an explicit rejection of the established parties, because En Marche was an extremely new party founded in 2016.

We'd probably also see this in the United States if not for the fact the Democratic and Republican Parties have successfully rigged the system against other parties so well.

[seer]

I don't know if it's fair to say that a shift to the right is what's happening more and more. It seems more a general rejection of the established parties, which sometimes means a shift to the right but sometimes not. For example, Mexico very much rejected the established parties in its most recent election, but the country moved to the left as a result. And while some attention was paid to Marie le Pen of the "far-right" National Front getting the 2nd highest number of votes in the French election, the actual winner (of the presidency and the National Assembly) was En Marche!, a centrist political party. But this was again an explicit rejection of the established parties, because En Marche was an extremely new party founded in 2016.

We'd probably also see this in the United States if not for the fact the Democratic and Republican Parties have successfully rigged the system against other parties so well.

How the Populist Right Is Redrawing the Map of Europe

https://www.bloomberg.com/graphics/2...opulist-right/

[JimL]

How the Populist Right Is Redrawing the Map of Europe

https://www.bloomberg.com/graphics/2...opulist-right/

I take you have a preference for far right wing Autocrats?

[seer]

I take you have a preference for far right wing Autocrats?

Over left wing Autocrats? Yes...

[JimL]

Over left wing Autocrats? Yes...

I think that you and many of your fellow conservatives, tend to favor autocrats period, seer. It certainly explains your support for Trump. Hard to believe you people were even raised in a democracy.

[Sparko]

How the Populist Right Is Redrawing the Map of Europe

https://www.bloomberg.com/graphics/2...opulist-right/

I think I mentioned the anti-immigrant stance in europe long ago. I have family in Germany and it is basically being swamped by muslim immigrants from Turkey and other places. The locals have been losing jobs like crazy over the last several years and they are tired of it. And these are legal immigrants that the EU and Germany has welcomed into their country.

islamaphobia.jpg

[seer]

I think that you and many of your fellow conservatives, tend to favor autocrats period, seer. It certainly explains your support for Trump. Hard to believe you people were even raised in a democracy.

And you and your fellow leftists favor liberal autocrats, period, that is why you voted Hillary and Obama...Hard to believe you people were even raised in a democracy...

[JimL]

And you and your fellow leftists favor liberal autocrats, period, that is why you voted Hillary and Obama...Hard to believe you people were even raised in a democracy...

No, actually I despise autocrats and tyrants, but it is telling that you didn't deny my accusation. So sad to know that about you.

[seer]

No, actually I despise autocrats and tyrants, but it is telling that you didn't deny my accusation. So sad to know that about you.

Did you vote for Hillary? So why is Trump more of an autocrat than her? Be specific please. And BTW - none of the people we are speaking of, Trump or the fellow in Brazil are autocrats by definition.

[JimL]

Did you vote for Hillary? So why is Trump more of an autocrat than her? Be specific please. And BTW - none of the people we are speaking of, Trump or the fellow in Brazil are autocrats by definition.

How can you even question whether Hillary is an autocrat, she isn't now, nor has she ever been president. Anyway, Trump demands loyalty to himself, and if he doesn't get it, then he threatens and or fires those who stand on principle such as Comey, Jeff Sessions, John Brennan, James Clapper, etc etc. etc. effectively trying to put the independence of democratic institutions under his control. He brands the media, as did tyrants before him, as the enemy of the people. I mean seriously seer, he just suggested that he was, by executive order, going to end the citizen by birth right guaranteed by the Constitution. He lies like an autocrat lies, and he praises autocrats around the world including Putin, Duerte, Erdogon, MBS, and now Bolsonaro in Brazil. He praises them as strong leaders who murder and imprison their opposition whether they be political or media opposition. Trump is somewhat constrained by the system, but he's following Putins lead in doing everything he can to change that. Fascism doesn't happen over night.