Brazil is burning and Jair Bolsonaro is accountable. Here’s why

Supporters of the previous far-right president, Jair Bolsonaro, have stormed Brazil’s Congress, Supreme Court and presidential workplaces. And Bolsonaro is in charge.

New Delhi,UPDATED: Jan 12, 2023 13:32 IST

Jair Bolsonaro’s protesters, upset by their chief’s electoral loss, stormed Brazil’s establishments (Reuters)

By Sumana Nandy: Supporters of the ousted far-right President Jair Bolsonaro camped exterior the Brazilian Army headquarters for the final 10 weeks demanding that the military overturn the presidential election of October. And in these weeks, the protesters confronted little resistance from the federal government.

Then, on Sunday, a number of of those protesters left their tents within the capital Brasilia to affix tons of of different protesters just a few miles away and storm Congress, the Supreme Court and the presidential workplaces.

By Monday morning, authorities had been sweeping by the camps, dismantling the tents, tearing down banners and detaining 1,200 protesters earlier than ferrying them away for questioning.

Also Read | Brazil Supreme Court springs into motion, suspends governor; probe ordered in opposition to mob

But why are the protests occurring and why is Jair Bolsonaro in charge?

It all started with the presidential elections in October when Jair Bolsonaro, the far-right chief and the incumbent president, was defeated by his political opponent Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva by a slim margin. Bolsonaro’s supporters, pejoratively termed Bolsonaristas as a result of their espousal of the right-wing ideology of Bolsonarismo, had been sad with the outcomes and commenced a sit-in. This catapulted into the storming of the nation’s Congress, prime court docket and the workplaces of the president.

The protesters consider that Bolsonaro’s loss within the common election of 2022 was as a result of widespread electoral fraud. During his presidency, Bolsonaro categorically and continuously questioned the nation’s establishments. He accused the Supreme Court of working in opposition to him politically, and claimed that the electoral system is susceptible to fraud. Although there was no proof to help these claims, his supporters wholeheartedly believed the narrative he peddled. These protests are a method of them expressing their displeasure with the election outcomes.

Also Read | Brazil braces for contemporary protest by Bolsonaro supporters, safety beefed up in capital

The police and the safety forces considerably let the protest simmer for weeks and months till it reached a boiling level over the weekend. Bolsonaro, throughout his tenure, has spoken quite a bit about Brazil’s safety and the security of the folks. His narrative ensured he had allies throughout the armed forces and the police, who lean extra on Bolsonaro’s aspect than Lula’s. So what occurred on the intervening evening of Saturday and Sunday was only a matter of time.

While the protesters’ anger over Bolsonaro’s October loss has been mentioned at size, the protests have lots to do with the person who electorally defeated him – Lula. The present president was jailed in 2017 for corruption, and spent 18 months in jail earlier than the convictions had been annulled. But, for the protesters, Lula is corrupt and belongs in jail, and undoubtedly not within the presidential palace. He has been accused of being a communist, of desirous to impose a regime like Venezuela or Cuba by Bolsonaro’s supporters.

Even as his nation continues to boil in protests, Jair Bolsonaro is in Florida. Since his defeat in October, he has been away from the general public eye, vacationing within the United States and getting remedy for an stomach wound from the time he was stabbed in 2018. He is but to concede publicly and hand over the baton to Lula. He has, in a method, allowed his protesters to fume over an election he misplaced honest and sq. by not addressing them even as soon as.

Also Read | Capitol Hill-like riot in Brazil: Why Bolsonaro’s supporters raided Congress, prime court docket

Published On:

Jan 12, 2023