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AUTHORITARIANISM DEMOCRACY SOCIAL MOVEMENTS

2019: a year of resistance and hope

2019 was a year of vicious attacks and great resistance but we finished it on our feet. It is up to us to gather our strength, intensify our base level organizing work and strengthen the resistance in 2020. By Jessy Dayane* When I look back at where we were December 2018, I think we reached […]

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64-85 DICTATORSHIP ARMED FORCES AUTHORITARIANISM DEMOCRACY POLITICS

2019: the year my worst nightmares came true

By Cynara Menezes Never in my worst nightmares did I imagine Jair Bolsonaro would become President of Brazil. To me he was always just a bad joke – an evil folk character and B-level politician who would never rise to greater heights. Imagine my surprise and displeasure to see that millions of Brazilians would vote […]

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AUTHORITARIANISM CRIME RIO DE JANEIRO

69% of Rio residents want to move out

Postcard views and beautiful beaches may be nice for tourists, but most Cariocas want to leave.  Governor Wilson Witzel’s violent security policies and fear of organized crime militias are cited as reasons for residents’ dissatisfaction with the city Results of a survey by the Brazilian polling agency DataFolha, released on Tuesday, December 17, show that […]

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AUTHORITARIANISM POLITICS

UN rules Bolsonaro violated torture treaty

UN ruling deepens Brazil’s credibility crisis on human rights issues Monday, December 16. The United Nations Subcommittee for the Prevention of Torture condemned the Bolsonaro government’s policies for failing to prevent torture. It is the first formal statement issued by a UN agency on the violation of international treaties on torture by Brazil during the […]

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AUTHORITARIANISM DEMOCRACY FOREIGN POLICY INTERNATIONAL MEDIA LAVA JATO LAWFARE NEOLIBERALISM PETROBRAS SOVEREIGNTY UNITED KINGDOM

The Tories’ War on Progressive Latin America

Cosying up to Bolsonaro, supporting coup d’états and facilitating crackdowns on human rights – the Tory record in Latin America today tells you why they were so willing to make friends with Pinochet. By John McEvoy, Daniel Hunt, Nathália Urban. On 9 November 2010, the new Conservative Foreign Secretary William Hague gave a speech at London’s Canning House, […]

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AUTHORITARIANISM LAVA JATO LAWFARE SOVEREIGNTY UNITED STATES

Notorious U.S. Intelligence Official Visits Lula Appeal Court

The controversial TRF-4 (4th Regional Federal Court) in Porto Alegre has been hit by fresh scandal, one which re-opens the question of United States interference in Brazilian law enforcement, and its judiciary, for political ends. On Tuesday 2nd December 2019 Willard Tenney Smith, former DIA and CIA intelligence official and now political advisor at the […]

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AUTHORITARIANISM CRIME CULTURE SÃO PAULO

São Paulo: Police kill 9 unarmed youth at street party

Scandal grows as smartphone videos show laughing police officers beating unarmed teenagers on a night of 9 deaths. São Paulo Governor João Doria defends the police officers involved by Brian Mier Paraisópolis is recognized for an iconic photo of a luxury condo with a swimming pool on each balcony adjacent to a sprawling favela, which […]

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AUTHORITARIANISM DEMOCRACY FASCISM LATIN AMERICA NEOLIBERALISM POLITICS

Lula and democracy at the crossroads

Sooner or later, Brazil, Latin America and the World will have to choose between neoliberalism, fascism and authoritarianism on one side and real, substantive democracy on the other by Marcelo Zero Latin America is going through a deep crisis of political instability, fragilization of democratic institutions, lack of legitimacy of traditional representation systems, intense ideological […]

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64-85 DICTATORSHIP AUTHORITARIANISM DEMOCRACY FASCISM THINK TANKS

Neoliberalism at Gunpoint: Finance Minister invokes AI-5 in Washington, prepares for backlash on the streets

As Brazil’s President Jair Bolsonaro launches his new brazenly Neofascist party ‘Alliance for Brazil’, inspired by ARENA (Alliance for National Renewal) of the Dictatorship era, his ministers and foreign supporters are normalising a return to the repression of the 1960s and 1970s to protect their economic interests. Paulo Guedes, Bolsonaro’s Chicago Schooled Finance Minister, says […]

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AUTHORITARIANISM DEMOCRACY FASCISM NEOLIBERALISM POLITICS

Brasil’s fascist “green hens” are back

During the 1930s, Brazilian fascists, called the “Green Hens” by their opponents, beat up communists and  praised God, family and liberal economic policies. In this article Wilson Luiz Müller says they’re back.  By Wilson Luiz Müller* This is not a “Back to the Future” style science fiction story. If a Brazilian was frozen during the […]