Desperation leads to crazy results.
Desperation leads to crazy decisions.
Desperation leads to corrupted morality.
Desperation can even lead to a deal with the devil.
Brazil has gone through political and economic hell and back, and in the undercurrents of all the insanity was the rise of a far-right candidate whose window of opportunity was able to open only because Brazil had been wrecked with arguably the biggest political scandal in the entire history of the Western Hemisphere. I’m not selling this short. Trump’s potential deals with Russia, Watergate, Reagan selling weapons to Iran (which has created consequences lasting decades, look at Nicaragua today) has nothing on Operation Car Wash.
Operation Car Wash exposed the rampant corruption amongst a massive corporation and an entire political party, and although it brought justice, it may have also drowned Brazil into an even deeper hole and into levels never before imagined. But desperate moves from other countries opened new doors and opportunities for new voices that otherwise would have never spoken before. Brazil is about to reach a unique civil war---one that is fought online, through protests, through a rising youthful resistance. But the next four years is going to be an oil and water swirl that will test the entire social and cultural infrastructure of a country that has seen it all in the past century---and this is a repeated story because another country is going through the exact same phase.
Operation Car Wash is a complex and multi-layered investigation that not only exposed political dishonesty and complete betrayal of the Brazilian public, but it even led to the imprisonment of a multitude of politicians----something the United States has never, ever, ever seen---and even with this ongoing Muller investigation we still probably won’t see because there are certain American elements that are simply too big to fail. But Operation Car Wash did the unthinkable, held powerful people accountable and even tossed them (deservedly I shall add) to prison for years. There’s a catch: the best and most feasible option for the future of Brazil was in the same political party wrapped up in the disastrous scandal, and this investigation plunged the Brazilian economy into an even darker place.
And this allowed for the far-right party to rise up.
And yes, before we drift this any further, there are definite parallels between this election and the 2016 United States election. Just like in 2016, a nation that had experienced years of drastic change, a continuing gap of understanding between generations, and of course incidents above our pay grade but nonetheless contributing to economic collapse wanted to aim towards a drastic political change in hopes that some improvement can be seen in front of their eyes.
Donald Trump was Heartland America’s answer (and via an outdated electoral college system gave him the win) and Jair Bolsonaro was Brazil’s answer.
Jair Bolsonaro is the worst candidate imaginable and in any other election would have been an afterthought. And for the longest of times, he was actually an underdog longshot afterthought, interviewed only to display how ridiculous he was as a politician. He is full of hate, full of controversial statements and actions, and has this nostalgia for a period in Brazilian history that should never be duplicated. But most of the Left in Brazil were caught laundering money during a recession and during a century that has seen a lot of economic turmoil in the beautiful country. The leading candidate to win the presidency before Bolsonaro is literally in prison for related crimes.
Jair Bolsonaro is a horrible candidate that wants to bust out the military to solve the violence of the streets, but how can you honestly solve the problem of the rising and tragic homicide rates in the country (especially in Rio)? Jair Bolsonaro is racist, sexist, homophobic, and has tons of violent tendencies, but can Brazil really look at the Left political party in the face and trust them again after all they’ve been put through? Could Brazil really look at Fernando Haddad, a political descendant of an impeached president and a jailed ex-president and choose them as their next leader? It was the hardest pill to swallow so the big question festered: how much am I willing to overlook in order to defy the political party that definitely wronged me and vote for the bitter pill of a candidate?
The same question came out towards the election eventually won by Donald Trump: how much am I willing to look past and/or accept while voting him as president? Can I look past his sketchy history, his sketchy behavior, his controversial statements, and his obvious lack of experience in order to show America that we do indeed need a massive shift? As a Christian can I forgive all of Donald Trump’s misdeeds on his way towards potential presidency? How much can the United States honestly endure with my wild card candidate? The man doesn’t even have a dog in the White House.
50 million plus were willing to swallow the pill and do it; whether it’s because they want a successful businessman as president, or because Hillary Clinton is the embodiment of everything they dislike, or because they have to vote Republican no matter what, or because they felt betrayed by the Obama years, or because (and this is true whether you like it or not), White America is under attack from minorities and it’s time to gain the power back. The range of people that voted for Trump included the Heartland, the businessmen of NYC and Miami, prominent Republicans, and all the way to the far-far right which includes KKK members and white supremacists.
Half of America didn’t want a calm charismatic figure’s understudy running the country (despite her accomplishments, much of America did view Hillary as Obama’s understudy), they wanted someone who appears strong, who appears to be bigger than them, like a God. After the Obama years, Donald Trump became the God of the niche Republican Party. Jair Bolsonaro out of nowhere became a God because in many peoples’ eyes he fears nobody, he hates things he perceives as weakness, and he wants Brazil to stand strong like it used to, and not be tainted and hampered by people secretly absorbing money from underneath.
And if it means neglecting the pleas from women, minorities, and the LGBT community, then so fucking be it. Jair wants to make Brazil Great Again, under the guise of God of course.
United States and Brazil produced similar results in their elections but through wildly different circumstances. The United States wasn’t in economic crisis at the time of the election, but was at a morality war with gay marriage being legal, abortion ban being out of reach, and the melting pot of the United States receiving more ingredients than what most of America wanted to see. A United States that admires consistency just experienced eight years of what is easily the most unique president in the history of the United States---from background to demeanor to behavior to decisions he made. And it was a president that presided over a nation thriving in the coasts while the Middle America wasn’t quite growing as vibrantly.
Brazil on the other hand is a beautiful country with so much going on. Brazil is like a beautiful red rose with dozens of thorns; beautiful to look at, hard to touch without getting hurt. Unemployment is at 20%, entire cities were decimated by Operation Car Wash, crime has risen significantly since the World Cup and Olympics ended and the emphasis on crime fighting dipped, Sao Paulo is a megacity growing way too fast, the favelas continue to drift away from government support leading to rampant activity that usually seeps into where the money and tourism is, and the country is getting more expensive but the money isn’t flowing into the hands of the public. Brazil celebrates its culture constantly while simultaneously fearing its future. Hence the desperation.
Desperation gave us Donald Trump. Desperation gave us Jair Bolsonaro. But a funny thing happened in the United States after Trump got elected: the dissident yells became louder, and louder. The marches became larger and larger. The protests became more and more successful. The rebellion in America has reached unfathomable levels to a point in which the approval rating of Donald Trump is absolutely pointless. Five million people marched on the streets in the United States back in January 2017. March For Our Lives, another organized event battling gun control issues, delivered hundreds of thousands of people, and students even walked out of class as a display of how change is needed. And even though technically if all these millions had done their job in the first place, the election would have gone to Hillary Clinton---but that’s another subject for another day.
Long gone are the failure days of Occupy Wall Street, a movement that had the right idea but yielded sad results. A new wave of political revolution has begun, and its starting from teenagers in college all the way to the older supporters of the Bernie Sanders’ infamous Bernie Bros gang (which, not gonna lie, has caused a few problems sometimes). This time, the presidency wasn’t going to be accepted without a vicious and well-organized fight.
And not every major protest and battle against Trump and the current administration has garnished a win, but it has gotten the attention of the rest of the world. Gun control is still a problem but universal health care is becoming a widely accepted idea. Ridiculous tax cuts benefiting the rich still happened, but Amazon and Disney have caved in and will start paying their employees fairer wages, with major cities even following suit. Sexual assault victims from members of the administration may never see justice, but we’ve seen a grandiose sweep of troublesome personalities from Hollywood lose everything they’ve earned as justice for their terrible behavior, from Harvey to Spacey to Cosby. The rise of racist and hate groups is quite alarming, but voting might hit record numbers in the coming weeks as midterms are arriving and the Republican Party has to ponder its future with Trump at the helm.
In other words: from the heaps of desperation and shocking results emerges a nation of voices that once silent, are speaking louder than ever anticipated. Brazil is a young country run by older people with older mindsets and scary nostalgia. Brazil nonetheless remains a diverse country full of strong independent minds who have spoken up about the chaotic election, and if they continue to shout into the heavens about the mistakes they’ve committed then change just might happen. We go back to Operation Car Wash: would this have ever been a successful investigation under a military-led Brazil back in the 80s? Would an investigation of this magnitude even existed and succeeded back in the 1960s? No way. But a new generation of Brazilians are ensuring that no awful nation-crippling deed goes unpunished.
So if there’s a light at the end of the tunnel, it comes in the form of a country that succeeded in doing something that not one major nation on this entire hemisphere has been able to pull off---not even the United States. They assassinated an entire political party and made sure to remind them not to damage Brazil in such a way ever again. Honduras and Nicaragua remain under the government’s thumbs, Chile had to survive a horrendous dictatorship before they could recover. But Brazil, they single-handedly fought a seemingly invincible political party, and actually won. So why couldn't it happen again? Why couldn't Brazil face off against politicians and defeat the crappiness again?
But the Resistance, the Rebellion, the Elenao will not be easy. For every Leia Skywalker there is a Stormtrooper battling for Darth Vader. There’s still half of a country that under similar desperate measures launched a political hail mary and voted for a president that’s pro-torture and wished that the Chilean dictator had killed more people. This level of forgiveness for such words shows how angry, how hurt, and how desperate the Brazilian public has become. And unlike the United States’ ghoulish fears about immigrants taking over a country of 300 million (seriously guys), Brazil’s current broken status is legitimate. Brazil is mostly poorer and in need of change, this is true.
The people that voted for him (for the most part) didn’t do it out of spite, didn’t do it to kill their neighbor, they did it because they didn’t see a better solution, even if there DEFINITELY were better options—they just happen to wear the political clothing of those that betrayed them in the first place. The Rebellion shouldn’t fight with guns, they should fight with words, facts, movements, ideas, and receipts of statements and decisions made by the trigger-happy upcoming president. March, organize, plan, yell, scream, and prepare for the next election. And the election after that. And after that one too. No nation has ever risen from the ashes with just half a country invested. It takes everyone, at the very least a majority. So you have to stamp out the sexism, stamp out the racism, stamp out the immoral disgust towards immigrants.
The United States has endured and suffered a lot lately, but there remains a hopeful future. Puerto Rico may have been devastated by the lack of response from a racist regime, but Florida is well on its way to becoming one of the most important states in the nation economically and socially---and this is mostly because of the wave of Hispanic immigrants led by Puerto Ricans. Trump and his friends may not care about the environment but we are seeing states like California and Washington make strides in environmental protection. Even Disney is joining in by soon banning lids and straws in the near future. There’s been ugly yins that’s been countered by productive and good yangs.
Brazil, you are going through a tough time, and in the midst of the devastation placed your trust in a man with dangerous ideals. Whatever ideas he decides to go through with is all up to him beginning in January 2019. But this isn’t the end. United States survived Bush’s two terms, the Dominican Republic survived Trujillo, Germany survived (barely) Hitler, Italy survived Mussolini, and Colombia survived a government that worked with the drug cartels. Brazil can and should survive Bolsonaro and with the proper resistance will allow Brazil to enter a new era of fresh ideas, fresh ideals, and more separation from its ugly past.
So go out there and fight. Bust out some Rage Against the Machine and fight.
For your county, for your neighbor, and for your future.
The truth is it will truly be impossible for Brazil to fall apart if there are millions willing to stand up and keep her elevated.
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