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AUTHORITARIANISM ELECTION 2018 POLITICS SOVEREIGNTY

7 possible outcomes of Brazil’s shameful election

If they wanted to stop the return to fascism, the hegemonic political forces that seized power in 2016 would have already done so because the danger was clear. I wrote an article warning about this in February, 2017. They did not stop it. They did not want to do it. They built him up and then […]

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ELECTION 2018 HISTORY POLITICS UNDERSTANDING BRASIL

Liberalism without the people: PSDB’s electoral funeral

Faced with the threat that Bolsonaro poses to the nation’s democratic values – values that the founding leaders of the PSDB fought against during the military dictatorship – history will require that a crucial decision be made, one that draws on the party’s traditions, that is if these traditions still provide any moral guidance for […]

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AGRARIAN REFORM CANDIDATES ELECTION 2018 POLITICS SOCIAL MOVEMENTS

MST: Brazilian election is a class struggle

“Our weapon is our vote….We need to elect people who are committed to the working class, instead of their own individual interests or mediocre vanity,” says MST leader João Pedro Stedile by Eduardo Miranda The Landless Worker’s Movement (Movimento Sem Terra/MST), is the largest social movement in Latin America, with around 1.6 million members in […]

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DEMOCRACY ELECTION 2018 INTERVIEW LAVA JATO LAWFARE POLITICS SOVEREIGNTY

Lawfare, Lula and capital’s hand dismantling Brazil’s democracy

The real battle going on in Brazil is over the issues of petroleum, privatization and labor reforms. The left candidates are promising to undo all of these changes that have happened since the coup. That’s the real electoral battle. It’s not really about Lula, it’s about two competing visions for government The Following is the transcript of […]

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DEMOCRACY LAVA JATO LAWFARE POLITICS

Bernie Sanders and Progressive Democrats Demand Lula’s Release

In a letter addressed to Brazilian Ambassador Sergio Silva do Amaral dated July 26th, a group of 29 US lawmakers, including Bernie Sanders and Congressional Black Caucus members Bobby Rush, Keith Ellison and Maxine Waters, demand that the Brazilian Government release the political prisoner Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, who has been held in solitary […]

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AUTHORITARIANISM CENSORSHIP DEMOCRACY ELECTION 2018 POLITICS SOCIAL NETWORKS

Brazilian Fake News Empire Falls, Questions Remain

by Brian Mier On July 25th, Facebook announced that it was shutting down 196 pages connected to the Koch Brothers/Atlas Foundation supported Movimento Brasil Livre (Free Brazil Movement/MBL) a fake news organization disguised as a social movement that is also funded by the DEM party (which is rooted in the official dictatorship party, ARENA). Since the 2016 Coup, […]

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CRIME POLITICS UNITED STATES

PT: Trump Should Be Tried in International Criminal Court

“The images of children locked in cages remind us of Nazi concentration camps.” In April, 2018, The Partido dos Trabalhadores (Workers’ Party/PT) became the largest Bloc in Brazilian Congress, with 60 representatives. Led by former student union leader and Rio Grande do Sul Congressman Paulo Pimenta, on the night of June 20, 2018, they issued […]

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CENSORSHIP MEDIA POLITICS SOCIAL MEDIA

Brasil Wire Addresses Brazilian Congress

Brasil Wire editor Brian Mier addresses Brazilian Congress on fake news, censorship and the independent media.  On Monday morning, June 19th, I was invited to fly to Brasilia to address Congress on the subject of fake news and the independent media. My invitation, extended by the progressive news outlet Brasil 247, was the result of a […]

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DEMOCRACY ELECTION 2018 POLITICS

Behind bars, Lula announces candidacy

Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, who has been behind bars for 2 months on charges of committing undetermined acts with no material evidence, announced that he is the PT party’s pre-candidate for the presidency, in a race that he is leading in all election polls. If Brazilian electoral law is respected, his candidacy can only be […]

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ECONOMY PETROBRAS POLITICS SOVEREIGNTY

Oil Industry, not Brazilians, Spooked by Strike

Brazilians do not scare easily, but a media narrative saying so paves the way for northern acceptance of a return to fascism. by Brian Mier In the seminal book, Manufacturing Consent, Noam Chomsky and Edward Herman depict the commercial media as “powerful ideological institutions that carry out a system-supportive propaganda function, by reliance on market […]