Dictator's New Groove
Fifty million Brazilians voted for an advocate of military dictatorships as a way to solve deep societal problems
What causes people to voluntarily sign away their freedom? The answer can often only be found in painful stories, memoirs written in blood, all later washed away by tears. Under any normal circumstance it would be unthinkable to resign your rights to a higher power. However, dire times call for measures that at the moment seem rational, as fear and anger eat away the remnants of reason.
Over the past few decades, the western world has reassured us that democracy will never perish. In spite of this, mentions of authoritarian politics, brought about by extremely polarizing candidates that cast doubt on their approach to leadership, have skyrocketed. Pay close attention: elections now feature the usual old parties, as well as an “outsider” that presents themselves as the only alternative for a failed system. No country is exempt from this pattern: from Mexico to the United States, and only recently Brazil. The last elections for the mentioned countries have been dictated by an intense desire for change; yet, the last one stands out for a very particular reason.
Fifty million Brazilians voted for an advocate of military dictatorships as a way to solve deep societal problems, a politician that many call a real threat to the largest democracy in Latin America. Jair Bolsonaro, a retired army captain turned politician, is by most people’s judgment, a racist, sexist, homophobe, xenophobe, basically any type of -phobe; he swept through his opponents and won the election. With comments such as, “I’d rather have my son die than for him to be gay”, “you’re unrapable”, and “the only mistake was to torture, not kill”, many would go on to call his supporters a basket of deplorables. However, the same people that elected a peace-loving socialist a decade ago have now opted for its polar opposite. Now more than ever, Brazilians crave something different, for their hope on traditional politics has reached a limit.
Imagine living in a country where the last president was voted out of office due to corruption, and whose most popular politician, also a former president, now serves 12 years in prison for money laundering. Amid the worst recession in the country’s history and violence that can only be compared to Afghanistan’s, logically only 15% of Brazilians agree that the country is heading in the right direction. Voting for the same party that has failed to solve all of these issues is no longer an option. Now, no one else stands out as an actual game changer, except Bolsonaro.
I’ve realized why faith plays such an important role in politics, in a sense, it’s the only thing holding a fractured society together. Fifty million people have chosen to bring out the defibrillator in the hopes of stabilizing a deeply ill country, fully aware that the “pulse” might come to an irreversible, deadly stop. Journalists and historians fear that Brazil will slide back into a dictatorship, as its next president, a defender of previous authoritarians, heads in with a remarkable support from the military.
In the absence of order, there’s chaos. The cost of a lawless country can no longer be withstood in this democracy. For many, the way forward does not rely on superficial elections every few years, but on an iron-fisted leader, determined to bring back the meaning of Brazil’s motto at any cost, Ordem e progresso. Can we really judge them?