Bolsonaro threatens the world, not just Brazil’s fledgling democracy | Noam Chomsky and 14 others

Women and LGBT activists, human rights defenders, environmentalists and indigenous peoples are all at risk from the far-right candidate

Brazil is going through the worst crisis in its history since the civil-military coup and the establishment of the dictatorship in 1964. On 7 October, in the first round of the presidential election, far-right candidate Jair Bolsonaro obtained an impressive 46.03% of the votes cast, or one-third of the registered voters. This result triggered a first wave of hate violence: more than 70 attacks were recorded against LGBT people, against women, against any opponents of extreme rightwing candidates or against journalists.

On the evening of the first round, capoeira master Moa do Katendê, an antiracist activist and educator, was stabbed to death by a Bolsonaro supporter. Katendê had declared that he had voted for leftwing candidate Fernando Haddad. In the south of the country, a 22-year-old woman was attacked on the street. We fear that this is only a foretaste of a deadlier wave of violence.

Continue reading...

from The Guardian https://ift.tt/2CHSSDF

Comments