It could be a lot worse: "fascism is not just a foreign problem"

When I talk with volunteers on the Reno campaign, they pretty much all say something like "I felt I had to DO something." And they are doing something.

Obviously I'm necessarily fixated these days on the domestic USofA, but I was pulled up short by this from a new friend describing what the descent into fascism and terror feels like in Brazil. In Brazil, it is a lot worse. It's long, but worth reading. We're working not to even have to be under a threat this acute.

Jair Bolsonaro, who is likely to win Brazil's presidential election next Sunday, just promised to purge the country of his leftist political opponents, threatening that "either they go overseas, or they go to jail." These are my dear friends--people who have dedicated their lives to social justice-- whom he has repeatedly promised to kill, imprison, torture, and exile.

I am feeling terrified and overwhelmed right now, unsure of the path forward. But as a first step, I am calling on my friends from other parts of the world to stand in solidarity with my friends in Brazil who are fighting to defend democracy. Please sign this international petition against fascism and be prepared to take further solidarity actions.

I have seen Bolsonaro speak, and it is hard to describe how repulsive he is (I was nearly arrested for flicking him off at one of his rallies). But just to give you a sense, below are some of his words that I have compiled from news articles. Keep in mind that the Wall Street Journal endorsed his candidacy, and Steve Bannon advised his campaign--fascism is not just a foreign problem!

ON TORTURE, POLITICAL PERSECUTION AND DICATORSHIP

• The former army man has spoken fondly of the military dictatorship that ruled Brazil between 1964 and 1985.“ The dictatorship’s mistake was to torture but not kill,” he told a radio interviewer in 2016.

• “I’m pro-torture, and the people are too.”

• “You won’t change anything in this country through voting – nothing, absolutely nothing. Unfortunately, you’ll only change things by having a civil war and doing the work the military regime didn’t do. Killing 30,000, starting with FHC [former president Fernando Henrique Cardoso]. Killing. If a few innocent people die, that’s alright.”

ON WOMEN

• Mr Bolsonaro got into a heated exchange with congresswoman Maria do Rosario in the lower house of Congress. “I wouldn’t rape you because you don’t deserve it,” he said, in response to remarks made by Ms Rosario claiming he had encouraged rape. Mr Bolsonaro later said he was not a rapist, but if he were he would not rape do Rosario because she is “ugly” and “not his type”. 

• “I had four sons, but then I had a moment of weakness, and the fifth was a girl.”

ON LGTBQ PEOPLE 

• In an interview with Playboy magazine in 2011 Bolsonaro said that he “would be incapable of loving a homosexual son … I would prefer my son to die in an accident than show up with a moustachioed man.”

• In May 2002, Bolsonaro threatened gay people after then-President Fernando Henrique Cardoso was seen in a photo holding a rainbow flag at an event in support of gay marriage. “I won’t fight against it nor discriminate, but if I see two men kissing each other on the street, I’ll beat them up,” he said.

ON BLACK PEOPLE AND INDIGENOUS PEOPLE

• “You can be sure that if I get there [the presidency], there’ll be no money for NGOs. If it’s up to me, every citizen will have a gun at home. Not one centimeter will be demarcated for indigenous reserves or quilombolas.”

• In a speech made last year, Mr Bolsonaro spoke about a black settlement in Brazil founded by the descendants of slaves. “They do nothing. They are not even good for procreation,” he said. 

• He has also reportedly referred to black activists as “animals” who should “go back to the zoo”

• During an interview aired by the Bandeirantes TV network in March 2011, Bolsonaro responded to a question about what he would do if his son fell in love with a black woman. “I won’t discuss promiscuity,” he said. “I don’t run that risk because my sons were very well educated.”

• He called Hatian and Syrian refugees "the scum of the earth"

ON THE LANDLESS WORKER’S MOVEMENT

• He has said that the Landless Workers Movement “should be treated as terrorists” and pushed for legislation arming landowners to kill them.

• “Here I want to say to the MST scumbags that we’re going to give guns to agribusiness, we’re going to give guns to the rural producer, because the welcome mat for a land invader is a bullet, 247 caliber."

This man is expected to win Brazil's presidency on Sunday.