If it is up to its next president, Congressman Jair Messias Bolsonaro, God is back to play a central role in Brazil’s politics.
In his first speech after his victory, streamed live on Facebook on Oct. 28, Brazil’s far-right president-elect thanked God and praised voters for allowing the country to “march now on the right path.” Mr. Bolsonaro, whose middle name means “Messiah,” is a Catholic who is married to an evangelical Protestant woman.
“I have been seeking [answers] in what many call the ‘toolbox to repair the man and the woman,’ which is the Holy Bible,” said Mr. Bolsonaro. Carrying out most of his campaign through social media, his first miracle was to get elected after spending only $750,000, according to P.S.L’s reports.
Mr. Bolsonaro’s remarks were made in his home in a wealthy neighborhood of Rio de Janeiro. A Bible was prominent on his dinner table, alongside the Brazilian Constitution. He recited John 8:32: “Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”
God is back to play a central role in Brazil’s politics.
The candidate for the Social-Liberal Party (P.S.L.), he takes office on Jan. 1. Often described as the world’s newest champion of right-wing populism, Mr. Bolsonaro won 55 percent of the vote in the run-off election against his center-left rival Fernando Haddad, a protégé of former president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva.
In addition to God, Mr. Bolsonaro might want to consider thanking Mr. Lula, the falling star of Brazil’s Workers’ Party (P.T.) for his unintentional assistance to the Bolsonaro campaign. Mr. Lula coordinated Mr. Haddad’s campaign from prison, where he currently resides following his conviction on corruption charges.
But faith played a role in Mr. Bolsonaro’s success too. His religion-themed campaign addresses resonated with Brazil’s evangelical Protestants. They have become an increasingly influential presence in Brazilian politics over the past three decades, said Magali do Nascimento Cunha, a consultant to the World Council of Churches Commission on Faith and Order and a communications professor at the Methodist University of São Paulo.
In his Facebook speech, the president-elect said that God reserves something special for him and his people. A sign of this, he said, is the fact that he was virtually reborn after an assassination attempt on Sept. 7. Mr. Bolsonaro was critically wounded after he was stabbed in the stomach at a political rally.
His first mass media appearance as president-elect was alongside Senator Magno Malta, a political ally and evangelical pastor. Mr. Malta led a prayer service thanking God for the president-elect’s victory, and Mr. Bolsonaro’s first interview was broadcast on TV Record, a media network belonging to neo-pentecostal bishop Edir Macedo, leader of the powerful Universal Church of the Kingdom of God.
Mr. Bolsonaro, who has been dubbed the “Trump of the Tropics,” says he plans to make Brazil great again—“similar to the [nation] we had 40, 50 years ago.” His pick for foreign minister, diplomat Ernesto Araújo, is an anti-globalist and a Trump enthusiast.
Mr. Bolsonaro, who has been dubbed the “Trump of the Tropics,” says he plans to make Brazil great again—“similar to the [nation] we had 40, 50 years ago.”
Ms. Nascimento Cunha told America that Mr. Bolsonaro’s explicitly retrograde agenda was welcomed by both evangelical and Catholic conservative voters. Evangelicals are approximately 22 percent of Brazil’s population and Catholics are about 65 percent, according to the 2010 census.
“This is a reaction to the advances we have seen since the 1960s in discussions about the family, the place of women, youth and sexuality. It is a Christian morality that tries to recover an idealized past, a sort of nostalgia that finds an echo in Bolsonaro's campaign,” she said.
Described by rivals as homophobic, misogynist and racist, Mr. Bolsonaro’s discourse attracts those who fear ideas that are associated with the political left—offering more rights to L.G.B.T. people, normalizing abortion, revising the concept of family and redistributing private property.
Unlike evangelicals, who are mostly conservative, Brazilian Catholics are almost equally split between the political right and left. According to an Ibope poll of Sept. 18, 25 percent of Brazil’s Catholics describe themselves as right-wing voters, while 21 percent report they are on the left. For evangelicals, the split widens to 33 percent on the right and only 6 percent on the left.
“While evangelical discourse is more focused on moral values, Catholics have looked at both social issues, such as the rights of the poor, and the same traditional moral values,” said Francisco Borba Ribeiro Neto, coordinator of the center for Faith and Culture at the Pontifical Catholic University of São Paulo and a religion commentator in Brazilian media.
The National Conference of the Bishops of Brazil (C.N.B.B.) has been critical of proposals that threaten both democratic rights and the pro-life agenda. Officially, the Catholic Church did not support any candidate.
Mr. Bolsonaro’s hard-line agenda on crime during the presidential campaign was supported by many voters.
“The C.N.B.B. had a coherent attitude to its history and is being faithful to what Pope Francis has proposed to the Catholic Church,” said Ms. Nascimento Cunha.
“Still, conservative Catholics have found themselves quite comfortable with some leaders that have shown explicit support to Bolsonaro. Some of them even repudiate the leadership of the C.N.B.B.,” she added. “The Catholic Church is experiencing a crisis in Brazil, a division that has always existed but which now appears within the perspective of this new government.”
The expression of these religious values intensified an already strong backlash against the Workers’ Party. That became the engine carrying Mr. Bolsonaro to power, according to many Brazilian political analysts.
“More decisive was the widespread sentiment that the Workers’ Party has betrayed the interests of both the ‘poor middle class,’ which in recent decades has risen from the poorer sections of the population, and a more established middle class,” said Mr. Ribeiro Neto.
In other words, voters felt betrayed by the left after their 13 years in power were marred by corruption and partisan power plays. At the end of the cycle, Brazil saw its economic stability compromised.
He threatened to banish the “red criminals” of the Workers’ Party from the country and promised to achieve “a cleansing never seen in the history of Brazil.”
“These issues frustrated the ideal of social ascension and self-realization through individual effort and work,” Mr. Ribeiro Neto added. In his opinion, this election was indeed the crowning of “a conservative wave,” but continued Catholic support for Mr. Bolsonaro will depend primarily on the success of his economic plan.
According to Christina Vital da Cunha, an anthropology professor at the Federal Fluminense University who studies the growing influence of evangelicals in Brazil’s politics, Mr. Bolsonaro captured Brazilians’ economic, physical and moral insecurities.
“Most people who are religious in Brazil, either Catholics or evangelicals, are conservative,” she said. She points out that Brazil’s conservatives do not necessarily support authoritarianism, but they do seek a return to social standards that they feel that have been lost because of a leftist social agenda that welcomed diversity and the expression of minority identities. That, in their view, weakens the ideal of family in Brazilian life.
“Despite an incentive to women’s work and to children’s financial autonomy, [the conservatives’] model of family includes the submission of women and children to the male figure.”
Responding to other insecurities, Mr. Bolsonaro appointed a popular figure to the Ministry of Justice and Public Security—Judge Sérgio Moro, seen by many Brazilians as a guardian of political morality. It was an astute political move, as the judge had been in charge of the prosecution of corruption crimes under the vast Operation Car Wash and was the man responsible for putting Mr. Lula behind bars.
Mr. Bolsonaro addressed economic insecurity by nominating a free market economist, Paulo Guedes, as his chief economic adviser. Mr. Guedes has a degree from the University of Chicago, but no political experience.
This choice, his critics say, unpleasantly echoes General Augusto Pinochet’s dictatorship in Chile. During the 1970s and ’ 80s, the “Chicago Boys,” a group of Chilean economists also educated at the University of Chicago under Milton Friedman, pursued a libertarian, pro-American economic policy in Chile, while Pinochet’s bloody regime enabled the experiment through political repression. In the end over 3,200 were dead or missing and thousands were in prison or exiled.
Mr. Bolsonaro’s hard-line agenda on crime during the presidential campaign was supported by many voters. A former army paratrooper and a defender of the repressive dictatorship that ruled the country for 20 years between 1964 and 1985, Mr. Bolsonaro has signed on several ex-military officers as members of his government. That includes the vice-president, General Hamilton Mourão; the future defense minister, General Fernando Azevedo e Silva; the head of the Cabinet for Institutional Security, General Augusto Heleno; and the first indigenous woman to become a soldier in Brazil, Lieutenant Silvia Nobre Waiãpi, who is part of the transition team.
Those choices raise questions about the preservation of human rights and individual freedoms under his rule. General Heleno, for example, told the media that his conception of human rights only extends to the “right humans,” meaning only those who obey the law.
At an election rally, Mr. Bolsonaro threatened to banish the “red criminals” of the Workers’ Party from the country and promised to achieve “a cleansing never seen in the history of Brazil.” He also said that minorities have to bow to the will of the majority or simply leave the country.
“Bolsonaro’s position on human rights will depend on his success on the economic and social front,” Mr. Ribeiro Neto concludes. “If he is able to reverse the path of deepening economic crisis, he will gain political support and will not resort to controversial measures in the socio-cultural field, including [repressing] democratic freedoms. If he fails, he will have to create an enemy that unifies his political and social base.”
What do you mean by "far right?" It is a meaningless term anymore. The term "left" does still have meaning. But "right" as opposed to "left" does not.
Everyone should read the link below by Pedro Barreto. Translate it into English and you will see the corruption of Catholic bishops in Brazil we are seeing in much of the world. Nothing to do with sex.
Far right has a meaning. It means no social benefits, limiting the role of government to policing, the military and subsidizing corporations. It also means lower and lower taxes for the very wealthy. Thar's the economic part. The far right can't win on that agenda. So they need a populist part. Its populist part means defining clear enemies and attacking them in rhetoric and legislation. Enemies include LGBT people, women who want abortion,s feminists, foreigners, liberal professors, liberal students, liberal priests. Roughly in that order.
Everything you say is nonsense. You have just made my point. Thank you.
The rise of LL Duce Benito Mussolini had a similar agenda. LL Duce also a Catholic and embraced by the Catholic Church Hierarchy, targeted the Socialists and the Communists. Be weary of a Leaders who claim to “know all” of what is morally right and wrong for their countrymen. A Far Right Label is frightening to think that he will be a Dictator. There is nothing wrong in being a Conservative to control Debt and enacting helpful economic policies. Where the Right and the Left gets into trouble is when they both weigh in of having a higher moral authority. The Church gets into trouble by picking sides like they did in the 1930’s with Mussolini and Hitler. This is one reason why I believe the Church should divorce itself from government politics.
Mussolini was a man of the left. He was once near the top of the Italian Socialist party and was in the process of rewriting the Communist Manifesto when he was captured and shot. Fascism is another form of leftist ideology. One person described the struggles between the fascists, socialists and communist as just mad dogs fighting over the same bone.
Mussolini, a Magnetic Leader, came to power by exploiting widespread dissatisfaction by the Italian people by promising all things to all people. His movement began in 1919, in a Milan meeting room with just 54 members signing a Manifesto and them appointing Benito as their leader. His popularity grew because millions of Italians hated what they were seeing in their country, labor strikes, unemployed Veterans from the Great War, and what they were seeing in Bolshevik Russia.
LL Duce offerer an alternative, he railed against the Capitalist, against the Socialist who were disrupting their lives with labor strikes, and the crooked politicians. He called on his Followers to believe in an Italy that would be great again because it was self- sufficient and respected because it would be feared.
Mussolini tried a number of times to patch relations with his former Socialist Comrades but they didn’t trust him and the extreme members of his Movement were furious at his attempts.
All true, but he was still a person of the left. The left is anything but homogeneous. There are even some disillusioned souls who think it can be achieved by democracy. It always requires a dictator because it is counter to human nature. Mussolini envisioned a solution that would be quicker than traditional socialism and communism whereby the state was supreme and all subservient to it. Same end game but quicker
But remember the Catholic Church got behind LL Duce for fear of Communism and to prevent the Leftist from confiscating their lands. The Catholic Church went as far of Letting Mussolini pick the Church Bishops. I agree his early political ambitions were to the Left. His Father was a Socialist and his Mother a devout Catholic. He grew up despising the Wealthy kids at his priest run Academy School were he ate his meals with the poor students. But as his power grew, though hating the Capitalist, he took the their money to hold onto Power. I might believe that II Duce in the end was neither Right or Left but a man of his own personal Ambition for Absolute Power.
In the end Mussolini was shot with 4 others and hung upside down. Next to him was Nicola Bombacci, close friend of Lenin and a leading communist theorist of his time. Bombacci was traveling with him when they were caught and they were writing a new communist manifesto. Here is an Italian site that talks about Mussolini and Bombacci http://bit.ly/2TwzPC1. It's in Italian so have your browser translate it. I use Chrome for this.
The left since the 1930's has been lying to everyone by trying to portray fascism as a doctrine that was not of the left. It started with Stalin but has been perpetuated till today by the elites in our world. But the truth is the Fascism of Mussolini and Hitler's movement were variations of leftist ideology. The use of the term "right" is an attempt by the left to associate anything against it as hateful because most associate fascism as "right" but they are wrong.
“Far right” has become a general swear word, to characterize anyone who is not left wing. The author throws this label around without any factual indication for its use. The only thing ha talks about repeatedly and at length is that the new president-elect is religious. So, it must be far right then.
Brazil has the highest number of murder victims worldwide per year...50-60,000 and the highest rate of a large country...26 per 100,000. She is non death penalty which is statwise ok for affluent countries but disaster for countries with large post slavery problems. She needs the death penalty badly. China with 7 times her population has 1 fifth her murder victims. Popes are not doing reality checks. They are weaving dream scenarios ( safe prisons) as being worldwide. No...they don’t even occur in the usa let alone the tropics.
I don't know why these Brazilians are crazy about this NBA 2K19 APK Android. But, I have seen awesome people who have literally addicted this game.
U Chicago Economics - trickle down - has never worked. But attacking enemies does work. Will Europe give asylum to the lefitss he cleanses? The US certainly won't.
If trickle down does not work how come poverty is being mostly eliminated from the world. The economic miracle started a little over 300 years ago in England when about 95% of the rest of the world was frequently starving. Since then when there was less than a billion people on the planet, there are now over 7 billion with the percentage extremely poor getting smaller and smaller.
If you want a decent analysis of the ecclesial consequences of Bolsonaro's victory in Brazil, please read:
https://fratresinunum.com/2018/10/29/as-implicacoes-eclesiais-da-vitoria-de-jair-bolsonaro/
If you don't read Portuguese, try translating it to Spanish. Thank you.
Everybody should read this link. Translate it into English. Chrome will do that. It is very long. It shows the corruption of the Brazilian bishops. It has nothing to do with sex. PT is the Workers Party and CNBB is the Brazilian bishops association. Read the comments by readers at the bottom.
To me, this article is agitprop, not reportage and devoid of mature analysis.
The experimental theoretical and atheistic philosophy of human group management founded on collectivism has been tried many times and found by experience to be faulty, giving rise to appalling living conditions, widespread injustice, state murder and oligarchic tyranny. Cuba, North Korea, China, USSR, Cambodia, East Germany ,,, the list goes on with Venezuela a very recent example.
Is it not a clue to Catholics that the Mother of Christ encouraged prayer and fasting for the defeat of Communism?
So, the Queen of Heaven is far right? If so, I am with her.
I would like to express my appreciation for the URL to the wonderful and insightful article in Portuguese - Google translate made it perfectly legible except for the use of shorthand initials like PT and CNBB