Jair Bolsanaro Brazilian President Elect: OMG

A good Dia de los Muertos and All Hollow’s Eve to you.

(an open discussion; add more at will)  My contributions with a few Cliffs Notes included, disregard any or all of them, of course if you don’t find the titles intriguing, zip right on by…):

‘Welcome to the Jungle: Jair Bolsonaro Brings Perfect Storm of Facism and Neoliberalism to Brazil, The record reveals Bolsonaro as a racist, misogynist, homophobic, weaponizing thug, favoring a white, patriarchal, hierarchical, hetero-normative and “homogenous” Brazil; an absurdity in a deeply unequal society still ravaged by the effects of slavery and where the majority of the population is mixed race’, (Brazilian-born roving reporter) Pepe Escobar, via consortiumnews.com, Oct. 29, 2018

“His first speech as president exuded the feeling of a trashy jihad by a fundamentalist sect laced with omnipresent vulgarity and the exhortation of a God-given dictatorship as the path towards a new Brazilian Golden Age.
French-Brazilian sociologist Michael Lowy has described the Bolsonaro phenomenon as “pathological politics on a large scale”.

His ascension was facilitated by an unprecedented conjunction of toxic factors such as the massive social impact of crime in Brazil, leading to a widespread belief in violent repression as the only solution; the concerted rejection of the Workers’ Party, catalyzed by financial capital, rentiers, agribusiness and oligarchic interests; an evangelical tsunami; a “justice” system historically favoring the upper classes and embedded in State Department-funded “training” of judges and prosecutors, including the notorious Sergio Moro, whose single-minded goal during the alleged anti-corruption Car Wash investigation was to send Lula to prison; and the absolute aversion to democracy by vast sectors of the Brazilian ruling classes.

That is about to coalesce into a radically anti-popular, God-given, rolling neoliberal shock; paraphrasing Lenin, a case of fascism as the highest stage of neoliberalism. After all, when a fascist sells a “free market” agenda, all his sins are forgiven.” [snip]

“The managers of Brazil’s industrial-military-technological complex largely survived the 1964-1985 dictatorship. They learned everything about psyops from the French in Algeria and the Americans in Vietnam. Over the years they evolved their conception of the enemy within; not only the proverbial “communists”, but also the Left as a whole as well as the vast masses of dispossessed Brazilians.

This led to the recent situation of generals threatening judges if they ever set Lula free. Bolsonaro’s running mate, the crude Generalito Hamilton Mourao, even threatened a military coup if the ticket did not win. Bolsonaro himself said he would never “accept” defeat.

This evolving militarization of politics perfectly meshed with the cartoonish BBBB (Bullet, Beef, Bible, Bank) Brazilian Congress.

Congress is virtually controlled by military, police and paramilitary forces; the powerful agribusiness and mining lobby, with their supreme goal of totally plundering the Amazon rainforest; evangelical factions; and banking/financial capital. Compare it with the fact that more than half of senators and one third of Congress are facing criminal investigations.

After all, Bolsonaro’s top economic advisor, Chicago Boy Paulo Guedes – currently under investigation for securities fraud – had already promised to “cure” Brazil by bearing the usual gifts: privatize everything; destroy social spending; get rid of all labor laws as well as the minimum wage; let the beef lobby plunder the Amazon; and increase the weaponizing of all citizens to uber-NRA levels.

No wonder The Wall Street Journal normalized Bolsonaro as a “conservative populist” and the “Brazilian swamp-drainer”; this fact-free endorsement ignores that Bolsonaro is a lowly politico who has only passed two pieces of legislation in his 27 lackluster years in Congress.”

His WhatsApp Me to the Promised Land section (Brazilians use more than Facebook) and the #FakeNews generated by big bidness tentacles denouncing the Workers Party and Haddad was clearly illegal as they were both undeclared as well as corporate contributions.

“Consider Washington’s outrage at Russians that may have interfered in U.S. elections allegedly using the same tactics the U.S. and its comprador elites used in Brazil.”

Other sections are (foreign policy useful to Washington):

Smashing the BRICS
Can’t Rule Out Military Coup
Talk to Nietzsche…  ending with:

“At least they now know this is hardcore, all-out war. To destroy Lula – the world’s foremost political prisoner – the Brazilian elites had to destroy Brazil. Still, Nietzsche always prevails; whatever doesn’t kill you makes you stronger. The vanguard of global resistance against neo-fascism as the higher stage of neoliberalism has now moved south of the Equator. No pasarán.”

Earlier Consortium News had carried Escobar’s ‘Future of Western Democracy Being Played Out in Brazil, stripped to its essence, the Brazilian presidential elections represent a direct clash between democracy and an early 21^st Century neofascism, indeed between civilization and barbarism’ Escobar, October 9, 2018

“Geopolitical and global economic reverberations will be immense. The Brazilian dilemma illuminates all the contradictions surrounding the Right populist offensive across the West, juxtaposed to the inexorable collapse of the Left. The stakes could not be higher.

Jair Bolsonaro, an outright supporter of Brazilian military dictatorships of last century, who has been normalized as the “extreme-right candidate,” won the first round of the presidential elections on Sunday with more than 49 million votes. That was 46 percent of the total, just shy of a majority needed for an outright win. This in itself is a jaw-dropping development.” [snip]

“Bolsonaro’s ticket is compounded by a barely literate, retired general as his running mate, a man who is ashamed of his mixed race background and is frankly pro-eugenics. General Antonio Hamilton Mourão has even revived the idea of a military coup.

Manipulating the ticket, we find massive economic interests, tied to mineral wealth, agro-business and most of all the Brazilian Bible Belt. It is complete with death squads against Native Brazilians, landless peasants and African-American communities. It is a haven for the weapons industry. Call it the apotheosis of tropical neo-pentecostal, Christian-Zionism.

Praise the Lord

Brazil has 42 million evangelicals – and over 200 representatives in both branches of Parliament. Don’t mess with their jihad. They know how to exercise massive appeal among the beggars at the neoliberal banquet. The Lula Left simply didn’t know how to seduce them.”

It’s about nine feet longer, and sorry for so much Pepe, but I like his free-wheelin’, tequila-laced vernacular as well as his ability to see how the ever-shifting global puzzle pieces fit together…or don’t, as the case may be.  Plus…he’s Brazilian.

Brazil: The Indispensable Need for Resistance’, Carlos Aznárez on October 28, 2018, resumen-english.org

‘Brazil: how could a far-right demagogue win the election?, Jorge Martin,  October 2018, marxist.com

Martin makes his case for why Bolsonaro isn’t a fascist, nor is Trump, but does blame the pseudo-leftists in Brazil for his election, from Dilma’s sliding rightward and on, and the many ways that Haddad knuckled in the face of Bolsonaro’s lies and deceptions, and the ways he should have fought back.

In his ‘Brazil, Fascism and the Left Wing of Neoliberalism’’, Rob Urie, Oct. 29, 2018, counterpunch.org makes a somewhat similar case.

Andrade, 29 October 2018, wsws.org argues similarly, including the fact that in the run-off election: over 40 million out of a total of 146 million adults able to vote choosing not to cast a ballot for either candidate.  He describes the dangers of the new administration.

“…Bolsonaro was able, with populist criticisms of corruption and cronyism, to pose as the sole opposition to the anti-working class policies of these three parties. With a candidacy backed by an array of senior military officers and gradually embraced by big business, Bolsonaro’s election will mark the first time since 1985 that the reviled Brazilian military, formerly completely demoralized by the exposure and abject failure of its brutal repression and class war policies, will play a dominant role in government.”

Bolsonaro’s vice-presidential running mate, the right-wing general Hamilton Mourão, who retired from the military only this year after making speeches affirming the need for “military intervention” to secure “law and order,” stated bluntly on the eve of the election that the first task of the new government would be to carry out economic adjustment programs, including a sweeping pension “reform.”

Following the release of the results of the election, Bolsonaro delivered a rant on social media denouncing socialism and communism. Shortly afterwards, he appeared on national television vowing his support for the democratic rule of law and property rights as well as fiscal responsibility. He also signaled that he would more closely align Brazil’s foreign policy with that of Washington. He added that he had received a congratulatory call from US President Donald Trump, who said that the two could reach “great partnerships.”

His path to power was paved by the PT…”

The entire Brazil page on Telesur english goes to error 404: page not found.  Among others, there was a short video claiming that Bolsonaro’s Defense Minister said they won’t militarily attack Venezuela.  You can take that to the bank…the IMF Bank.

‘Venezuela Opposition Invites Newly Elected Brazilian President to Intervene in Venezuela; The result sparked deep concern among Chavista sectors fearing a possible military escalation from the ex-military man, whom they describe as a “neo-fascist.”, by Paul Dobson, mintpressnews.com, Oct. 30, 2018

Updated Nov. 1:   Bless Whitney Webb who has her fingers on the pulse in so many venues.

‘Israeli PM Set to Attend Inauguration of Brazil’s Bolsonaro, Highlighting Likud Support for Ethno-Nationalist Politicians Abroad’,European and American ethno-nationalists in recent years have combined anti-Semitic rhetoric with fervent support for Israel’s apartheid policies and efforts to fortify its status as an exclusively Jewish ethnostate, by Whitney Webb, mintprenews.com

“Over the course of his controversial campaign, Bolsonaro lavished praise upon Israel on numerous occasions, making it no secret that he is a great admirer of Israel’s current ruling party, Likud, and Israel’s current prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu. In August, Bolsonaro announced that – if elected President – he would close the Palestinian Embassy in Brasilia, cut off relations with Palestine completely, and move the Brazilian Embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem.

Following Bolsonaro’s electoral victory, Netanyahu called Bolsonaro to congratulate the country’s new president-elect and stated that “I am confident that your election will lead to a great friendship between the two peoples and to the strengthening of ties between Brazil and Israel,” while also extending an invitation for Bolsonaro to visit Israel. A senior Israeli diplomat, quoted by Israeli newspaper Haaretz, stated that – with Bolsonaro in charge – “Brazil will now be colored in blue and white,” referring to the colors of Israel’s flag. Soon after, Brazilian media reported that Netanyahu would most likely attend Bolsonaro’s inauguration on January 1, which would make Netanyahu the first Israeli prime minister to ever visit Latin America’s largest country.”

the gaggable, chokeable rest is here, including Jair’s having been baptized by an evangelical preacher in the River Styx…in Israel.

 (cross-posted at caucus99percent.com)