By Emir Sader on December 15, 2020
Brazil has had governments through coups d’état and ruled in a dictatorial manner, such as those that took place from 1964 to 1985. There were also governments that were democratically elected – such as those of Cardoso and the PT – that governed democratically.
There was a government that came to power through a coup d’état – like that of Temer – and ruled for the elites, re-establishing the neoliberal model and began the destruction of the democratic advances of the PT governments. Now the country has a government that was elected through a mechanism of manipulation of public opinion, lies, and the judicialization of politics, so it is not surprising that it behaves in a manner consistent with its original nature.
Bolsonaro was chosen through lies and a farce. The same scenario that justified the political trial of Dilma, the arrest of Lula, preventing him from participating in the 2018 elections, and that accuses the PT governments as being responsible for every problem, but not for the greatest economic, social and political advances that Brazil has ever known.
Bolsonaro is a puppet who believes or pretends to believe that the lies he invented are true and that he was elected to promote the new politics, eliminate corruption from politics and make the economy grow again. Bolsonaro embodies, within his own government, the lies that the right wing has forged and imposed on public opinion.
Bolsonaro being elected worked as long as the lie did and he became a material force, supported by the media and the judiciary. Bolsonaro is a product of the lie and is responsible for Brazil living in a world of lies.
The right wing, through the media and with the consent of the judiciary, promoted Bolsonaro by making him out to be a political reformer, even though those involved in the farce knew very well it was all a lie. Bolsonaro refused to participate in the debates and the media gave him a pass, as if that were normal. Folha de São Paulo denounced that the robot war promoted by Bolsonaro’s campaign was real, even providing the names of the businessmen who supported it, but the Supreme Electoral Tribunal looked the other way when faced with this crime, as if it were normal. The lie prevailed once again.
Bolsonaro came to believe that everything is possible and that he can continue to deny reality and stay in government. He practices, in fact, through systematic denialism, he claims that the economy is going well, that the pandemic is in its final phase, that the military man who is in the health ministry is one of the best who has ever been there, that the spending limit is being met, that his reelection responds to the needs of the country, that control of the police and other state organizations to defend his children and himself is legitimate behavior, etc., etc.
The same person who was elected because of the lie and realized that the lie is worthwhile, governs with the lie and believes in the lie, or at least in its effectiveness. The truth, science and politics as defense of public interests, democracy, were defeated and Bolsonaro was elected and represents this defeat.
At this time, this farce has reached extreme levels of danger because it is causing hundreds of deaths per day and thousands of deaths per month. The government thought that it was not necessary to develop prevention and containment policies to stop the pandemic, since the key would be economic growth and job creation. It did neither.
The government believed in herd immunity and hoped that even though there would be thousands of deaths, there would come a time when everyone would be immune, naturally, without the government doing anything. The lie prevails in the cynicism and hypocrisy of the president, who does not recognize the dead, even joking with their families about those deaths. The lie is imposed that the generalization of access to and use of weapons favors the defense of people against violence and not its exact opposite.
To the extent that this government was elected through lies and is a government based on lies, the defeat of Bolsonaro and the restoration of democracy represents the restoration of truth and science, justice, peace and respect for the interests of the great majority of Brazilians; not in vain, this government is the kingdom of lies, injustice, arbitrariness and the methods and interests of the militias.
Source: Rebelion, translation Resumen Latinoamericano, North America bureau