Jun 27 2024 | Nº. 123

Editorial

On Wednesday, June 26, as news of an attempted military coup in Bolivia spread, Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva reacted with firm condemnation and a call for the preservation of democratic order. Lula emphasized the importance of respecting the electoral process and the will of the Bolivian people, denouncing any efforts to undermine Bolivia’s constitutional government. As Brazil marks the sixtieth anniversary of the 1964 coup, which plunged the country into two decades of dictatorship, Lula expressed solidarity with Bolivian president Luis Arce, who is in heated political spat with former president Evo Morales, a key former ally, and urged regional and international communities to support Bolivia’s democratic institutions. His response was marked by a commitment to regional stability and the principles of sovereignty and non-interference, reflecting Brazil’s stance on promoting democracy in Latin America.

When it comes to another major South American leader, Lula remains much cooler. In a lengthy interview this week with UOL, Lula said that while Brazil’s relationship with Argentina remains productive and important for both sides, he has no immediate plans to speak with right-wing libertarian Javier Milei, who won a landslide victory in last year’s presidential election. Lula insists that Milei owes an apology to him and the Brazilian people after referring to Lula derisively during the campaign and associating himself closely with former president Jair Bolsonaro. “He said a lot of stupid stuff,” Lula said, “and I just want him to, you know, say sorry.” 

Meanwhile, it was reported this week that fires in the Pantanal, the world’s largest tropical wetland, has seen an unprecedented number of fires, with the 2024 season surpassing previous years in both intensity and area affected. These fires are causing extensive damage to the region's unique biodiversity, threatening numerous species of flora and fauna. The escalating situation is attributed to a combination of drought, rising temperatures, and human activities such as deforestation and land clearing, prompting urgent calls for increased firefighting efforts and stronger environmental protections. The opposition claims the world is giving a pass to the Lula administration after it took such pains to condemn Bolsonaro for deforestation on his watch. The government has not yet articulated a clear response to such criticisms.

Highlights

• Decriminalization of Marijuana Use. Brazil this week became the largest country in the world – in terms of territorial extension and population – to decriminalize marijuana. The decision of the Brazilian Supreme Court concerns the possession of up to 40 grams of the substance for personal consumption. If caught, the user may still be taken by authorities to a police station, where they may face administrative sanctions. Possession of marijuana above the stipulated weight is classified as trafficking and is therefore treated as a crime punishable by imprisonment. Previously, Brazilian justice did not clarify how to differentiate users from drug dealers. In practice, the police classified young people, Black people, residents of low-income areas as drug dealers, and young, white people, residents of upscale areas, as users, even when both carried the same amount of marijuana.

   

• Clash with Congress. The court's decision on marijuana provoked a new clash between the Supreme Court and the Congress. Arthur Lira, the president of the lower house Chamber of Deputies, considers that the Supreme Court is usurping the legislative functions of Congress. Lira's argument is based on the fact that Congress had already been analyzing in its committees a Constitutional Amendment Proposal (PEC) prepared by Senate President Rodrigo Pacheco, which deals precisely with the issue of drugs in Brazil. Lira said that Congress will continue to analyze and vote on the amendment, regardless of the Supreme Court's decision on the matter. In the same week, President Lula also made a statement saying that he preferred to see the issue decided by Congress, and not by the Supreme Court.

   

• Judiciary in Lisbon. The Brazilian judiciary, which is already suffering from strained relations with Congress and harassment from a far-right Bolsonarist party protesting against the punishments of those involved in the frustrated coup on January 8, 2023 had to deal this week with yet another embarrassing episode: the holding of a million-dollar meeting in Lisbon with the presence of 160 Brazilian authorities. The meeting was sponsored by the Brazilian Institute of Education, Development and Research, which has a Supreme Court Justice Gilmar Mendes as a partner and one of the justice's sons as director. The Supreme Court changed its work calendar to facilitate the presence of its members at the event, which was dubbed “Gilmarpalooza,” in reference to the mega rock festival Lolapalooza. Criticisms of the event concern public spending on daily allowances and security for the authorities who participate, in addition to the fact that it is a meeting outside of Brazil, surrounded by luxurious spending and intended to promote political lobbying under a veneer of academic activity.

   

• Accounting Fraud. On Thursday, June 27, the Federal Police attempted to carry out two arrest warrants against Miguel Gutierrez, the former CEO of the mega Americanas store chain and Anna Saicali, the company's former director. Both live abroad and have not been found. Another 15 search and seizure warrants were carried out by the Federal Police in the operation called “Disclosure.” The targets of the warrants are accused of defrauding Americanas' accounting balance sheet to cover up financial losses and multiply their own earnings in bonuses. The Americanas scandal was revealed in 2023, when those responsible for the company admitted for the first time that they had covered up a deficit of more than R$20 billion (US$3.6 billion). The company's debts have reached R$42.5 billion (US$7.7 billion).

• Barred Palestinian. This week, the São Paulo Court banned a Palestinian named Muslim Abuumar from disembarking at Guarulhos international airport accompanied by his wife, who is seven months pregnant, his son, and his mother-in-law. All were sent back to Malaysia, where he has resided for 20 years. Muslim Abuumar is an academic and activist for the Palestinian cause. He came to Brazil to visit his brother, who lives in the country, and to spend the summer holidays with his family, but was banned from entry after the Brazilian Federal Police received information from the US and Israeli police about links between him and Hamas. Groups linked to the Palestinian cause accused the Brazilian police and justice of acting illegally, based on false accusations, to veto the entry of Muslim Abuumar, who had already been to Brazil before and had a visa granted by the Brazilian embassy in Kuala Lumpur. His lawyers announced that they will appeal the decision and seek legal redress.

News from the WBO, Organizations and Social Movements

USA-Brazil. In response to the actions that Brazilian far-right groups have been taking in the U.S. Congress, the WBO published this week a note that clarifies exactly what the U.S. Congress’s powers are and what is the real scope of actions that U.S. congressional representatives and senators can carry out on decisions that are being taken by Brazilian Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes against those involved in the frustrated coup of January 8, 2023. The Brazilian extreme right is coordinating a campaign with Trump supporters in the U.S. Congress to internationally embarrass Moraes. The WBO note clarifies the limits of these actions based on the U.S. Congress' own internal guidelines, 

Geneva-Argentina. The coordinator of the WBO Europe program, Paulo Lugon Arantes, participated on Thursday, June 27, in Geneva, Switzerland in a United Nations “side event” on “The Situation of Human Rights in Argentina,” which specifically dealt with “extreme right-wing movements and their implications for human rights.” The issue of the extreme right is also the subject of an article in this edition of the WBO's weekly bulletin.

Internet and Democracy. On July 11, the Pact for Democracy and the Fernando Henrique Cardoso Foundation will hold an event in São Paulo entitled "The Challenge of Social Media Regulation in Democracy" with the participation of João Brant, Secretary of Digital Policies at the Secretariat of Social Communication of the Presidency of the Republic; Francisco Brito Cruz, executive director and founder of InternetLab; Patrícia Campos Mello, reporter for Folha de São Paulo; Flávia Pellegrino, executive coordinator of the Pact for Democracy; and Sérgio Fausto, general director of Fundação FHC. The event is free and registration can be done via this link.

Feature Article

The Expansion of the New Extreme Right

By Michel Gherman* and Stephanie Assaf**

In mid-June 2024, all major global press outlets reported the fact that the extreme right – or ultra-right, in the definition of some authors – made significant advances in the European elections. As a result of this progress, of the 720 vacancies available in the European Parliament, approximately 130 were allocated to politicians linked to this political field in the various organizations where they are organized.

However, it is important to note that for more than a decade far-right political representatives have been assuming important positions, both in politics and in public management. This has occurred gradually in both the Global North and the Global South. In this context of the rise of the extreme right, there is a growing presence of ultra-conservative politicians elected in several countries. Viktor Orbán has been prime minister of Hungary since 2010; Donald Trump was president of the United States from 2017 to 2021; Jair Bolsonaro was president of Brazil from 2019 to 2022; and Javier Milei was elected president of Argentina in 2023.

Despite being very significant, all the examples above refer only to the highest positions in the government bodies of each State in question, which is already quite important and illustrative of the strength of the extreme right's advances in this century. However, the reach of the extreme right in the global political arena is still much greater than the aforementioned cases illustrate, since, also on a global scale – although widespread and in positions of less relevance – such advances are present in the public sphere and in the world of politics.

The current Brazilian situation is an example. Even though today the president of Brazil is a politician elected from a front of center-left parties, it is important to note that in another branch of the government the situation is different. In the Senate and the Chamber of Deputies, there is a massive and very strong presence of the extreme right at work.

It is also important to realize that outside of governmental bodies, the strength of far-right parties around the world cannot be ignored.

One of the most alarming cases is in Germany. Since its reunification, the country has been predominantly governed by center-right and center-left parties. It turns out that these days its second most relevant political party in terms of popular support is precisely the far-right party Alternative für Deutschland (AfD) that is known for its unrestricted use of references, allusions, and homages to Nazism in its platforms, as well as by its main leaders.

Regardless of the context, the tendency is for this process to continue expanding, at least in the coming years. It is essential to note that this new situation has two complementary and threatening paths as possible consequences. Firstly, the rise of the far right threatens the very functioning of democracies. Secondly, the growth of these groups calls into question the rights of minorities and long-consolidated social and political agreements.

In this aspect, it is essential to highlight that the term extreme right is a kind of umbrella category. In other words, it is a term that includes several different phenomena that converge because of their similarities.

This is a political category that has many historical and social resonances. On the one hand, there are links of continuity and rupture with historical fascism, supposedly defeated in the twentieth century. On the other hand, there are extreme right-wing positions today that relate not only to regimes and governments, but also to anti-politics and “anti-system” positions.

The possibility of “politics,” properly speaking, understood as the existence of groups with different positions in a position of equality in the public debate, is what guarantees democracies. A refusal to follow this political arrangement not only threatens the rules of the democratic game, but also, not infrequently, makes clear nods toward authoritarian ideologies and regimes.

It is no coincidence that the politician Jair Bolsonaro, for example, refers in such a positive and constant way to the civil-military dictatorship that ruled Brazil between 1964 and 1985. In addition to the denial of politics – often performed as being anti-system – there are other equally dangerous ideas that reflect these ideologies and groups that are referred to as extreme right-wing. They are campaigns promoting xenophobia, racism, and various prejudices against minority groups.

With their due differences, such efforts represent not only the denial, but also the repudiation of an “other,” which may be different from the subject referred to. This “different” being, who is not accepted by such groups, is classified in this way because this person or this group is not from the same country or of the same race, or has a non-normative sexual orientation, just to name a few examples.

For other subjects and from the hegemonic perspective of the extreme right, there is a real possibility of denying rights guaranteed in a democratic State. But also, as has already been seen in the past, the denial of full citizenship rights can lead to the dehumanization of such subjects and the groups to which they are linked. In short, the very denial of the other as a political project.

*graduated in history from the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro (UFRJ). He has a master’s degree in anthropology from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and a doctorate in history from UFRJ . He did postdoctoral studies in social history at the same university and at the Ben Gurion Center for Israeli and Zionist Studies. He has publications in the areas of contemporary history, political history, political anthropology, studies on Zionism and Israel, the Palestinian-Israeli conflict and the Middle East, and on the Far Right and Judaism in Brazil. He is currently a professor in the Department of Sociology at UFRJ in the Postgraduate Program in Social History, where he coordinates the Interdisciplinary Center for Jewish and Extreme Studies – Laboratory of Religion, Violence and Politics. He is also a collaborator with the Brazil Israel Institute.

**is an architect and urban planner from the Federal University of Minas Gerais (UFMG). She holds a master’s degree in social anthropology from UFMG; a specialization in urban policy and planning from the UFRJ, and doctorate in urban and regional planning from the same university. She is currently doing a postdoctoral internship under the supervision of Michel Gherman at UFRJ where she researches the themes of the city and the extreme right in the twenty-first century with an emphasis on the Brazilian context and Bolsonarism, as well as issues related to language, space, and the public sphere. She works with themes of the city and culture, major urban projects and interventions, historical fascism and the contemporary extreme right-wing.

Feature articles express the opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of the editors or WBO.