GET A GRIP Profile picture
Jan 11 21 tweets 5 min read
#THREAD

This is a story that starts around 2018, when Jair Bolsonaro – then a lacklustre congressman known for supporting the military dictatorship and publicly praising notorious torturers – launched his presidential candidacy.

theconversation.com/brazil-insurre…
Like so many far-right authoritarians before him, in the name of God, the fatherland and traditional family values, the retired army captain Bolsonarao echoed Trump's banal slogan by vowing to “drain the swamp” of politics and usher in a new era for Brazil.
In Bolsonaro's vision, state policies would no longer be necessary. Political authority would naturally stem from business people, religious leaders, armed militiamen and – above all – the president’s messianic figure.
This combination of authoritarian populism and social Darwinism is not new. It lies at the foundations of far-right movements that have gained momentum worldwide in recent years. And it sheds light on the Bolsonarist phenomenon, helping us make sense of Brazil’s “black Sunday”.
Bolsonarism is a profoundly anti-democratic movement that conflates elements of the US far-right – most notably Trumpism – and Brazil’s long history of social inequality and militarism into a whole new digital language.
Reminiscent of Brexit & the Cambridge Analytica scandal, WhatsApp and social media like @Twitter have been key to attracting supporters that have become increasingly suspicious of the political system over the previous decade.
In Brazil, this popular disillusionment among certain groups has been mostly due to corruption scandals, growing urban violence and to policies under the then – and now again – president, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, that favoured Brazil’s poorest.
In his path to the presidency, Bolsonaro was able to tap into people’s emotions. He brought millions of Brazilians together by mobilising elements of hatred, fear and resentment, and offered them something to fight against – namely, communism.
Echoing the Nazism. from the start of his tenure, Bolsonaro moved decisively to undermine Brazil’s democratic institutions and state capacity on the grounds that he was 'saving the country from communism'.
By pitting his supporters against imaginary enemies he could successfully dodge accusations of incompetence, corruption – and even crimes against public health during the COVID pandemic which killed nearly 700,000 Brazilians.
Again, echoing the Nazis, the Bolsonaro administration’s survival might be down to the loyal support of a coalition of business people, the farming lobby, evangelical leaders and members of the armed and security forces.
A key element of his governing strategy was - just like the Trump, May, Truss, & Johnson administrations - to attack whoever spoke against the interests of these groups: the supreme court, congress, and the mainstream media among his favourite targets.
Bolsonaro’s sect of fanatical supporters seem to want Brazil’s far-right president to be the country’s absolute ruler even without the need for elections, following a distorted interpretation of the constitution.
Just like Trump, in October 2022, anticipating defeat, Bolsonaro spent months sowing suspicion over the voting machines & questioning the integrity of the electoral process. Like Trump, Bolsonaro’s narrow loss was enough for him to refuse to concede.
Bolsonaro’s silence for the two months between elections & Lula’s inauguration appears to have served as a nod & a wink to rally his supporters, who blocked roads, threatened political opponents & built camps in front of army barracks, while calling for military intervention.
Days before the inauguration, Bolsonaro fled the country, to Florida, suggesting that his life was at risk in Brazil. His supporters seem to have interpreted this as a call to action. It was just a matter of time before the Brazilian version of the US January 6 riot took place.
It was shocking to see police officers relaxing while protesters stormed into Brasília’s main public buildings. Army soldiers who should have been securing the presidential palace did nothing as criminals destroyed or stole works of art, furniture & government documents.
Lula issued a decree establishing a federal military intervention in Brasília to stop the chaos, resulting in the arrest of over 1,500 rioters. There is also unprecedented coordination between executive and judiciary branches to investigate who is behind the attacks on democracy.
It is now crucial to identify & clamp down on the members of this violent far-right network - not only those who invaded the buildings, but also those who funded them, who incited the protests, & who created narratives responsible for the coup-mongering.

bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-…
If Lula’s mission is to bring the country together again, his administration must ensure that Brazil will no longer serve as a laboratory for extremist tactics & ideologies as it did over the past few years.

Bolsonaro, meanwhile, remains in Florida.

theguardian.com/world/2023/jan…
Bolsonaro may have distanced himself from the storming of the government buildings. But now the discussion will focus on whether – and when – he will return to Brazil and, if he does, whether he will face charges of inciting insurrection.

#GlobalFascism

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More from @docrussjackson

Jan 12
#THREAD

So grabbing & removing people's hats is now known as "triggering" by the anti-woke mob. No doubt these clowns would gracefully accept people grabbing & removing their hats. But who is Mahyar Tousi, seen here with broken far-right dimwit #30pLee?

Image
Mahyar Tousi is a "youtuber" apparently, who keeps popping up with all the usual suspects, in all the usual places, & who last year attended the relaunch event of Steve Baker's swivel-eyed hard-right free-market fundamentalist 'Conservative Way Forward'.

The 'Conservative Way Forward' relaunch event was not only attended by swivel-eyed climate-sceptics, Brexiters, & libertarians of all stripes, but also by various media figures connected with fringe, anti-‘woke’ Conservative groups.

bylinetimes.com/2022/07/14/the…
Read 9 tweets
Jan 12
#THREAD

Helen Steel is a left-wing activist known for her involvement in #McLibel, that lasted 10 years, & was eventually taken to the ECHR, where Helen & David Morris won their case against the UK Govt on the grounds they'd been denied a fair trial.

Helen & David were part of London Greenpeace, a small campaigning group that existed from 1972 to 2001.

In 1986 they distributed "a few hundred copies" of the leaflet: "What's wrong with McDonald's: everything they don't want you to know", in London

mcspotlight.org/case/pretrial/…
The leaflet accused the company of paying low wages, of cruelty to animals used in its products & other malpractices. The group were not affiliated with the larger Greenpeace International organisation, which they declined to join as they saw it as too "centralised & mainstream".
Read 52 tweets
Jan 12
#THREAD

The draconian strike Bill suggests sweeping powers will be given to employers: they could determine what the minimal service level will be on any strike day, precisely who should be required to work, & even the power to sack anyone refusing.

theconversation.com/rishi-sunaks-n…
Not only this, but Unions could be taken to court & forced to pay for an employers’ losses caused by strikes. And if a strike compromises the minimum level of service, those continuing to observe the action would be doing so illegally.
Someone going on strike would therefore not receive legal protections, such as from being fired, if they went on strike under these conditions. Their employer could consider them in breach of their contract and personally liable. Effectively, it removes the right to strike.
Read 18 tweets
Jan 11
#THREAD

So who is AN Wilson, who is happy to go on Rupert Murdoch's Times Radio to compare Harry's #Spare with Mein Kampf?

Well, he's an occasional columnist for Harmsworth's Mail, & has written in Murdoch's Times Literary Supplement, & billionaire Fred Barclay's Spectator... Image
Somewhat ironically, Wilson's 'Hitler: A Short Biography' was criticised by historian Richard J. Evans (author of eighteen books, including the "masterpiece" 'The Third Reich Trilogy') for factual inaccuracies & lack of original research & analysis, as well as personal biases. Image
In August 2006, Wilson's biography of Sir John Betjeman was published. It was then discovered that he had been the victim of a hoax perpetrated by Betjeman's disgruntled biographer Bevis Hillier.

thetimes.co.uk/article/betjem…
Read 9 tweets
Jan 11
#THREAD

Chris Loder (middle name 'Free'?) is part of the hard-right 'Common Sense Group' of swivel-eyed Tory MPs, who - devoid of common sense - like to push the debunked antisemitic conspiracy theory of 'cultural Marxism' which inspired far-right terrorist Anders Breivik. 😬
Tory MP & member of the ironically named 'Common Sense Group', Chris Loder, has denied he advocated for food shortages by suggesting at a Tory Party Conference event that it would 'be a great opportunity' if supply chains were to collapse.
#LoderBollocks

bridportnews.co.uk/news/19625925.…
In a December @BBC interview, Loder appeared to threaten Mick Lynch: "I think he's on very thin ice with this now because there are a lot of frontline staff who think [striking] in a cost of living difficulty running up to Christmas is too much & he needs to be very careful." Image
Read 4 tweets
Jan 11
A #THREAD of quotes from #Spare NOT on the front pages of the tax-avoiding non-dom billionaire-owned toxic UK press.

Credit: @brokenbottleboy

brokenbottleboy.substack.com/p/harried-4-mo…
"I couldn’t think of a single human being in the 300,000-year history of the species who’d done more damage to our collective sense of reality." - Harry on Rupert Murdoch.

#Spare
"Everyone who knew her was in full agreement that she was an infected pustule on the arse of humanity, plus a shit excuse for a journalist." - Harry on News UK’s CEO, Rebekah Brooks, the former editor of The Sun and News of the World.

#Spare
Read 7 tweets

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