Mar 21 2025| Nº. 158

Editorial

Eduardo Bolsonaro, the son of embattled former President Jair Bolsonaro, surprised his party, supporters, and political observers by announcing this week that he will be taking a leave from Congress to advocate for his father full-time in the United States. Eduardo hopes to garner support from the Trump administration and its allies. Jair Bolsonaro, who is facing severe legal troubles, including accusations of inciting a violent attempt to overturn the 2022 election results, has been barred from seeking office until 2030 and may face imprisonment. Eduardo, who has long been part of the MAGA political scene, is now attempting to leverage his connections to help his father avoid legal consequences and gain political support abroad. He has been vocal about the notion that his father and his allies are being unfairly persecuted, particularly after the January 8, 2023 riots in Brasília.

Eduardo’s campaign in the U.S. aims to appeal to right-wing figures, including Donald Trump himself, to intercede directly in Brazil's internal affairs. Indeed, his political activities from abroad have raised accusations of treason in Brazil, with critics claiming that his actions could further destabilize the country’s democracy. “It is obvious that if he returned to Brazil, Alexandre de Moraes, at our request, would confiscate his passport and he would not be able to return to the United States to continue his coup plotting,” Congressman Rogério Correia of the Workers’ Party (PT) declared on Tuesday. “That is why he preferred to stay there, afraid of losing his passport. And, look, he is preparing his father’s escape. He is there preparing his escape and his father’s escape for their continued coup.” Trump’s receptivity to Eduardo’s entreaties will be an important marker ahead of next year’s presidential election in Brazil.

Also, this week, the Lula administration formally introduced a measure to exempt from federal taxation those earning up to R$ 5,000 (about US$880) per month, making good on a promise Lula made during the 2022 campaign. Finance Minister Fernando Haddad expressed confidence that proposal will be well-received by Congress. Indeed, the bill must still be debated and voted on by lawmakers, and any changes would not take effect until 2026, ahead of a presidential election. Polls show Lula remains competitive despite a dip in his popularity. Part of the government’s argument is that the tax proposal is a major step toward a fairer tax system, targeting high earners — with people making over R$ 600,000 annually facing a small tax increase — to the benefit of the poor and working class. Haddad reassured the public that the reform will not negatively impact state and municipal revenue or sectors like agribusiness, and he stated that even far-right lawmakers will find it difficult to oppose the measure. 

Highlights

• Coup trial. The Supreme Federal Court rejected by majority vote the request to remove judges Alexandre de Moraes, Flávio Dino, and Cristiano Zanin from the trial of the 2022 coup plot. The request for removal had been made by the defense attorneys of three of those involved in the failed coup d'état, including the defense of former President Jair Bolsonaro. The main argument of the appeal was that these three judges would be interested parties in the case for different reasons. In total, 33 people were indicted for involvement in the coup plot that intended to prevent Lula from taking office as president and exercising his mandate. All were indicted by the Attorney General's Office to the Supreme Federal Court.
  

• Out of the race. Bolsonaro is banned from running for election until 2030 because of the so-called Clean Record Law. This law was created in 2010, long before Bolsonaro became president and was subsequently involved in the coup plot. In the past, for example, it has banned Lula from running for president before his sentences were overturned due to procedural flaws in the so-called Lava Jato Operation. The Clean Record Law, which prohibits candidates who have been convicted from running for office, was adopted 15 years ago due to pressure from civil society, which gathered more than 1 million signatures in its favor. Now that he has been convicted of electoral crimes, Bolsonaro is pressuring Congress to change this law, but the bill currently being processed does not include the changes that could benefit him.

• Foreign Relations. Before fleeing to the United States Congressman Eduardo Bolsonaro was running for chair of the Foreign Relations Committee of the Chamber of Deputies. With his request for removal, the person who took over the position was deputy Filipe Barros, who is from Bolsonaro's party. Barros referred to Eduardo's escape to the United States as a “heroic act.” The new chairman of the Chamber of Deputies' Foreign Affairs Committee will likely act to expand the international disinformation campaign waged by the Brazilian far right, which, after having failed in an attempted coup d'état in 2022, is now trying to convince the public that it is the victim of political persecution, and not of legal and legitimate legal proceedings.

• High interest rates. Brazil's basic interest rate was raised to 14.25% per year, which represents the highest level since October 2016, a period that coincides with the political and institutional crisis that was being experienced by then-president Dilma Rousseff. This latest increase in the interest rate – of one percentage point – was the third increase in a row. The decision was made by the Central Bank's Monetary Policy Committee to try to contain the impact on the economy of an “adverse scenario.” One of the elements of this scenario is inflation, which is projected to be 5.1% for 2025 and is above the target of 4.5%. Raising interest rates is one way to try to contain inflation, which has the adverse effect of increasing debt and curbing consumption.

• Truth and justice. The Ministry of Human Rights has officially declared journalist Vladimir Herzog, who was tortured to death by agents of the Brazilian military dictatorship in 1975, a political amnesty recipient. This decision reinforces a series of measures that have been taken in the legal and political spheres to bring justice to an emblematic case of torture. Herzog was the director of journalism at TV Cultura. On October 25, 1975, he was called to testify before the dictatorship's censorship and repression agency, which was interested in investigating his links to the PCB (Brazilian Communist Party). The journalist was tortured and killed, but the military stated on the death certificate that he had killed himself by hanging. In 2013, the courts ordered the rectification of Herzog's death certificate, which now refers to the crime committed against him.

• Grijalva passing. Raúl Grijalva, a Democratic congressman for the state of Arizona, has died in the United States at the age of 77. He was the son of Mexican immigrants and was born in Canoa Ranch, south of Tucson. Grijalva was first elected to the House of Representatives in 2002 and was reelected 11 times, becoming one of the most active and influential progressive voices on issues of the environment, climate change, democracy, and human rights. The congressman had been battling cancer. He is survived by his wife and three daughters.

News from ABO and social organizations and movements:

Course. In April and May, the Brazil Office will be holding a course on the functioning of the Inter-American Human Rights System, in partnership with the Behner Stiefel Center for Brazilian Studies at San Diego State University. The course is online and free for those selected. It takes place once a week, over eight sessions, always on Fridays, except on holidays. It will begin on April 4. Applications must be submitted via the link.

New columnist. James N. Green, president of the WBO Board of Directors, is the newest columnist for Agência Pública. Every other Tuesday, he  will publish a text about his perceptions of the Donald Trump administration. Green will also explain how the Republican's actions reverberate in Brazil and why this matters to the lives of Brazilians. In his debut column, he answers the question: is there resistance to the Trump administration in the US? Read the link.

Black women. The March of Black Women for Reparation and Well-Being, also known as the 2nd National March of Black Women, has been scheduled for November 25 in Brasília. The organizations involved consider this to be a milestone in the fight to guarantee the rights of black women in Brazil. The projection is that around 1 million black women from all states and regions of the country will be in the federal capital. More information at the link.

World of work. The Center for Studies on Labor Relations and Inequalities (Ceert) will hold the “International Seminar Reintegration with Race and Gender Equity: Decent Work for Prison Survivors” on March 26 and 27. The idea is to create a “strategic space for dialogue between government, business, social and academic sectors, considering the importance of improving the effectiveness of affirmative action policies and guaranteeing the fundamental right to decent work for former inmates of the prison and socio-educational systems. It is online and free, with registration via the link.

Feature Article

Abdias Nascimento Celebrated at African Studies Center’s 65th Anniversary Honoring a Legacy of Black Activism and Thought

By Leonora Souza Paula*

The African Studies Center (ASC) at Michigan State University (MSU), a leading institution for African studies in the United States and globally, marks its 65th anniversary with a yearlong celebration featuring events highlighting the global reach of Black activism and thought. Among the honorees is Abdias Nascimento, the renowned dramatist, professor, visual artist, activist, and author whose contributions to Black consciousness and transnational dialogues on race continue to shape discourse worldwide.

Diasporic Engagement

One of the highlights of the celebration was a lecture delivered by Eliza Larkin Nascimento, co-founder and director of the Afro-Brazilian Studies and Research Institute (IPEAFRO). Her talk focused on the life and legacy of Abdias Nascimento and the significance of diasporic engagement in shaping his art and activism. She underscored Abdias’s multidisciplinary impact on Brazilian theater, Black political organizing, and transnational dialogues on self-determination for peoples of African descent. His work, she emphasized, embodies a rich archive of diasporic epistemology that remains a global reference for liberation movements.

Exploring the African Diaspora Research Project

During her visit, Nascimento also explored materials from the African Diaspora Research Project Special Collection, a significant archival initiative at MSU. The African Diaspora Research Project (1987-2003) was created by MSU sociology professor Ruth Simms Hamilton, who played a pivotal role in recruiting and mentoring graduate students in the field of African Diaspora Studies. Hamilton also edited the Conexões newsletter (1987-1994), which focused on the cultural and geographical connections between Africa and its global diaspora. Hamilton’s work laid the groundwork for a number of studies about the complex transnational exchanges that have defined Black intellectual and artistic movements. By exploring the archive, Nascimento highlighted the dynamic connections between Black intellectuals based in Latin American and Africa as well as American scholars, a crucial movement for consolidating the now established field of Diaspora Studies.

As Nascimento noted, the Research Project was remarkably successful in inviting key figures to campus, including representatives from Brazil. One particularly important scholar was Luiza Bairros, who served as the Minister of Brazil's Secretariat for the Promotion of Racial Equality from 2011 to 2014 and co-authored UNESCO's General History of Africa. Bairros conducted her doctoral research in sociology at Michigan State University from 1994 to 1997, under the guidance of Hamilton. 

Celebrating Abdias Nascimento’s Artistic Contributions

Abdias Nascimento’s artistic and intellectual contributions were further recognized in the exhibition Project a Black Planet: The Art and Culture of Panafrica at the Art Institute of Chicago Dec 24-Mar 25. The multimedia exhibition focused on Pan-Africanist thinkers and their profound influence on global art and culture over the past century. Curator Antawan I. Byrd noted that as “a show centered on the circulation of ideas,” the various meanings of Pan-Africanism are meant to be understood by mapping the hemispheric routes and transits that have forged paths of memory toward a future of interconnectedness. 

Quilombismo and Black Diaspora Thought

A central theme of the exhibition was Abdias’ theory of Quilombismo. The curators positioned Quilombismo as one of the most influential 20th-century movements, recognizing its role in imagining an emancipatory future across global Black communities. By conceptualizing part of the exhibition through the lens of Quilombismo, the organizers underscored Nascimento’s central role in shaping contemporary Black intellectual and cultural landscapes, which extends across various traditions and territories in a continuous process of reinvention. 

Looking Ahead: Pan-Amefricanism 

As we celebrate the 111th anniversary of Abdias Nascimento's birth on March 14, new approaches to his work continue to emerge. This is effectively illustrated by the new conceptual framework of Pan-Amefricanism developed by MASP curator Amanda Carneiro. In dialogue with Lélia Gonzalez's concept of Amefricanity, which emphasizes the Afro-Indigenous constitution of the Americas and the Pan-African repertoire of ideas, Pan-Amefricanism acknowledges the anticolonial and decolonial principles present in Abdias's extensive intellectual contributions. In this context, Carneiro’s Pan-Amefricanism repositions Abdias as a central figure in contemporary discussions regarding hemispheric approaches to Blackness and the evolving discourse surrounding the interconnected geographies and epistemologies of the diaspora.

*Leonora Souza Paula is Assistant Professor of Arts and Humanities at Michigan State University. Her current research examines the role of Black spatial imagination in claiming literature and culture as a form of heritage preservation and epistemic reparation. Leonora is a Fellow of the American Council of Learned Societies, the Research Institute for Structural Change, the Human Rights Center at the University of California, Berkeley School of Law, and Vital Voices Global Partnership. 

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