Brazil is a world of its own: a surprising blend of culture and cutting-edge technology trends, with areas still steeped in tradition, faith and old ways of earning a living on the land.
It’s not unusual in my current town in southern Brazil to see a Mercedes driven by a rich kid from the city chain next to a man going to his fields with a cart pulled by two donkeys. One is caught somewhere between the old days and the brave new world.
First I visited Brazil in 2019 shortly before the pandemic and ended up staying for almost a year, mostly in the city of Goiania in the center of the country. Returning to end of 2021, I moved to the south of the country in the state of Santa Catarina with a friend, where I am now.
Here in the south, life is much different than Goias and areas further north. it it’s a bit more reserved and European in some ways. It’s not just the different southern culture that’s evident where I currently live—it’s also the influence of current events.
Things are a a little more tense than usual here in Brazil. The prices are gone until approx 30 percent since I was last here, and A heated election campaign is underway between current right-wing nationalist President Jair Bolsonaro and former leader Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (“Lula”).
The labeling of Bolsonaro as the Trump of South America is largely correct
The election is now in a runoff to be decided at the end of the month after an inconclusive first-round vote on October 2 in which Lula received 48.4 percent compared to Bolsonaro’s 43.2 percent.
To win in the first round a candidate must receive 50 percent plus at least one vote.
The global left-leaning media has regularly portrayed Bolsonaro as a fascist who hates minorities and wants to personally burn the Amazon tree by tree, while his strongest supporters call the former army captain the “Captain of the People” and idealize him. him as a semi-divine savior.
Western media generally imply that Lula is some kind of kind-hearted populist hero who just wants to help the common man, while many of his supporters see him as a flawed but ultimately preferable alternative to Bolsonaro.
The labeling of Bolsonaro as the Trump of South America is largely correct. He speaks without filter and blames “globalists” and progressives for undermining Brazil’s internal interests and identity. Bolsonaro has said he will either win, go to jail or be killed – and that if he loses, it’s a fraud.
Bolsonaro promises to continue to cut government waste, boost the economy and continue to expand rights for gun owners, religious Christians and the private market. Praised by some for infrastructure growth and economic acceleration, Bolsonaro has also been criticized for right-wing social positions and exploitation of indigenous land and Amazonian territory.
Lula served two terms as Brazil’s leader in the first parties and ended up in prison for nearly two years for corruption after a conviction was later overturned. His left Workers’ Party promises to increase government spending on education, social programs, subsidized affordable housing, protect the Amazon more and raise taxes on the wealthy.
With its seventh largest economy in the world and a GDP of 3.2 trillion dollars, the world powers have their eyes on Brazil’s abundant resources and economic potential. Tucker Carlson recently released a documentary on China’s growing influence in Brazil, accusing US administrations of neglecting the country’s importance by focusing on the Middle East and Islamic terrorism.
If Bolsonaro ends up losing to Lula, he will follow a pattern of left-leaning across Latin America, including the recent elections of Gustav Peter in Colombia in JUNE. From Chile and Argentina to Venezuela and Peru, the South American continent has become increasingly socialist, something often depicted in pro-Bolsonaro memes as a blood-red wave of hammer-and-sickle flags surrounding the verdant green of the Brazilian homeland.
Of course, Bolsonaro has a good chance to assemble a coalition and take the elections in the second round, but Lula is far from this fight. Losers from the first round will have the opportunity to play kingmaker, especially Simone Tebet of the Brazilian Democratic Movement with four percent and Ciro Gomes of the Democratic Labor Party with three percent. Both Thebes and Gomes will support and campaign for Lula.
This last election saw the lowest turnout in more than two decades than 30 million who apply for abstention and not to vote. Regardless of whether Lula wins, Bolsonaro won seats in the Oct. 2 election and should still be able to stop most left-wing policies. However, temper is high and The graffiti “Lula Ladrao (Lula the thief)” and “Fora Bozo (Go away, clown!”) are commonly found scrawled on many road signs and bridges.
For the most part, Brazilians are not the type to let politics get in the way relations, but this is changing recently. Recently there has been a disturbing trend of people blocking friends and family members and cutting them out of their lives because of their politics views. Unfortunately, there has also been fatal political violence, committed by supporters of Lula and Bolsonaro.
Bolsonaro himself won the presidency in 2018 in a surprise victory after a near-fatal stabbing attack on him at a campaign rally. His documentation of the hospital recovery process and masterful use of social media is part of what helped land him at the Palácio da Alvorada in Brasilia, where he has since launched an ambitious project of economic expansion, infrastructure modernization and reforms of the free market.
The October 2 results paint a picture of a country that is extremely divided geographically, not just culturally. Northern Brazil, from the state of Amazonas through Acre, Rondonia, Para, Tocantins, maranhao, Bahia and many others voted a lot for Lula. The center and south of the country, from Goias to Mato Grosso to Santa Catarina and Rio Grande I DO Sul, shifted heavily in favor of Bolsonaro, with the exception of left-leaning Minas Gerais.
It’s not just the culture war that informs votes
This north-south divide is often generalized as a class divide. Even the south of the country has a significant movement for independence called “South is my country”.“. In 2016 unofficial referendum, Paraná, Rio Grande do Sul and Santa Catarina polled three percent of active voters (about 616,000), of whom 95 percent wanted their own independent nation. These states even fought an unsuccessful oneA year campaign against the rest of Brazil between 1835 and 1845 to try to gain independence under the leadership of Anita and Giuseppe Garibaldi.
The south of Brazil is more developed and richer than the rest of the country, with more direct connections to Europe. It is clear to see that it is not just the culture war that informs the votes; it’s also an economic angst and suburban and urban voters want to protect Theirs wealth and security and accept Bolsonaro’s characterization of himself as a president of law and order.
The presidential election on the 30th Octoberober between Bolsonaro’s Liberal Party and Lula’s Workersdon’t The party will be a referendum on the economy, social issues, crime, education and the wider role of the state.
During a live debate with a background in synthesizing waveforms at 16 OctoberHowever, Bolsonaro focused heavily on the corruption surrounding Petrobras and Lula’s corruption, saying that Lula wants to drag Brazil into the poverty and misery of Argentina and Venezuela. Bolsonaro said he is a man of resultsAND he is really helping students and the marginalized, contrary to Lula’s empty rhetoric. “Enough lies,” asked Bolsonaro. “You are living in a fantasy land.”
“You are the liar,” Lula responded with indignation, later adding that Bolsonaro “doesn’t respect the Amazon“.
Making fun of Lula as if she had eaten badly legume (bean) and referring disparagingly to Lula’s friendship with Nicaraguan dictator Daniel Ortega, Bolsonaro responded that Lula had zero real accomplishments and had “done nothing” in all his years in office except buddy up to drug traffickers. drugs and was a “national shame”.“.
“You should HAVE “Stayed at home,” Bolsonaro noted, riffing on the slogan that had spread during COVID and slamming Lula for supporting church closures during the pandemic.
Lula denied Bolsonaro’s characterizations and portrayed Bolsonaro as a clever liar who is trying to unfairly tarnish his reputation and deceive Brazilians for the sake of power.
“I’m coming back to take care of the Brazilian people because they someone needs to take care of them,” Lula replied. After a recession that started nearly a decade ago and bad inflation, Brazil was hit hard by COVID, something the left has blamed on Bolsonaro.
Brazil is definitely polarized in a way it rarely has been, with many people telling me that politics and terms like “left” and “right” have never been much of a topic here, but HAVE become commonplace in discussions – and arguments – among family and friends.
How will the country withstand this storm? We will know very soon. What is already clear is that this left-right divide Brazil and South America more broadly, will continue to intensify.
