A bleakly-humorous WhatsApp message, which has apparently gone viral among Brazilian WhatsApp users, gives a poignant insight into the reaction of ordinary people who don’t support fascism to the victory of far-right Jair Bolsonaro in the Brazilian presidential election.
Bolsonaro has been accused of trampling democracy, being anti-women and an extremist ‘barbarian’ and organising criminal gangs – and on the Sunday before the ballot he gave a speech with a chilling message for Brazilian left-wingers:
Either they go overseas, or they go to jail.
In an apparent response to this threat, left-wingers have been circulating a ‘chain-letter’ via WhatsApp:
Left-wingers in Brazil, although meeting the election result stoically, clearly have no confidence that Bolsonaro’s threats were mere election rhetoric.
Bolsonaro’s victory means that a majority of the world’s most populous nations are ruled by premiers either personally fascist or sympathetic to the extreme right, as journalist Adity Chakrabortty observed:
Three of the five most populous countries in the world are now led by figures you might describe as far right, or willing to court the far right: Brazil (Bolsonaro), India (Modi) and the US (Trump). https://t.co/QvsccWcWj7
— Aditya Chakrabortty (@chakrabortty) October 28, 2018
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“Either they go overseas, or they go to jail.”
Ever heard of the International Brigade, dickhead?
Got to draw the line somewhere and I hear the weather’s nice in Brazil.