NOT TO FASCISM VOTING IN FERNANDO HADDAD

Fernando Alcoforado *

In the first round of the presidential elections, I did not vote either in Fernando Haddad or Jair Bolsonaro because neither would be able to unite the nation in search of the common good and, consequently, would not be able to govern promoting the development of Brazil. My vote went to Ciro Gomes who, besides having a government program capable of reactivating the Brazilian economy, would be able to promote social peace in Brazil. In the second round of presidential elections, I seriously thought of voting zero because Bolsonaro has a neoliberal (anti-social and anti-national) government program and Haddad has a government program that does not contribute to restructure the Brazilian economy on new bases. In other words, neither Haddad nor Bolsonaro presented government programs capable of reactivating the Brazilian economy.

Very reluctantly, I will vote on October 28 in Haddad because it is the last alternative that exists to avoid the rise of the neo-fascist Bolsonaro to the Presidency of the Republic that, in addition to threatening the fragile democratic institutions in the country, will intensify the conflict between left and right which could lead Brazil to a social conflagration or to an unprecedented civil war in its history, which could result in the establishment of a far-right fascist dictatorship. I will vote unwillingly in Haddad to prevent a Bolsonaro government from burying democracy in Brazil and committing an act of homeland injury by proposing to sell all of the public assets with its privatization policy, a fact that would compromise the future of Brazil.

I will be unwilling to vote in Haddad because since 2002 I have always been a critic of the PT governments since, in the 13 years of the Lula and Dilma Rousseff governments, the neo-liberal, anti-social and anti-national policies of the Fernando Collor, Itamar Franco and Fernando Henrique Cardoso governments were followed up according the Washington Consensus addopted in the 1990s. Instead of continuing the process of economic and social development in Brazil and of national emancipation triggered by presidents Getúlio Vargas and João Goulart to overcome Brazil’s dependence on foreign capital and the strengthening of the productive sectors belonging to Brazilians in the PT governments, what happened was the increase in Brazil’s financial and technological dependence on the outside world, the de-industrialization of the country and the denationalization of the Brazilian economy.

I have always been critical of the Lula and Dilma Roussef governments because they maintained the flexibilization of labor relations that came into being since the Fernando Henrique Cardoso administration to the detriment of the workers and contributed to the escalation of corruption that was revealed through the processes of the “Mensalão” and “Lava Jato”. In addition, the disastrous government Dilma Rousseff contributed to the insolvency of federal, state and municipal governments, the widespread bankruptcy of about half of the country’s small, medium and large companies and the underutilization of the workforce by more than 27 million of workers as a consequence of the overwhelming current economic recession that compromises Brazil’s economic future.

Despite what I have just criticized the PT governments, I will vote on Fernando Haddad to prevent Bolsonaro from implanting a fascist dictatorship in Brazil. In his last speech, broadcast on Sao Paulo, Avenida Paulista, Bolsonaro said that his opponents have two options: “either they go out of Brazil, or they go to jail.” That is, it threatens to expel or arrest those who oppose its hypothetical government. He threatens the newspaper Folha de S. Paulo press vehicle that denounced its box 2 to disseminate the fakenews scheme. Since the beginning of the campaign, as well as throughout his political trajectory in the last 28 years, Bolsonaro disseminates fascist ideas by stimulating violence and hatred, preaching that those who oppose him should be exterminated or “banished.” Not for other reasons, this presidential election has been marked by an aggression never seen in other electoral periods. Bolsonaro threatens to close the Federal Supreme Court according the assertion of his parliamentary son.

Bolsonaro’s speech is based on the explicit cult of order, state violence, authoritarian government practices, social disregard for vulnerable and fragile groups, and anti-communism. The Bolsonaro danger lies in oppression, machismo, homophobia, racism, hatred of the poor. What is at stake in Brazil at the present moment is, above all, our right to life, our right to freedom of thought and opinion, our right to speak what we think. At stake in these elections is the preservation of democracy with the set of rights conquered after the military dictatorship. For all this, Bolsonaro must be defeated in the October 28 elections. NOT TO FASCISM VOTING IN FERNANDO HADDAD.

* Fernando Alcoforado, 78, holder of the CONFEA / CREA System Medal of Merit, member of the Bahia Academy of Education, engineer and doctor in Territorial Planning and Regional Development by the University of Barcelona, ​​university professor and consultant in the areas of strategic planning, business planning, regional planning and planning of energy systems, is the author of 14 books addressing issues such as Globalization and Development, Brazilian Economy, Global Warming and Climate Change, The Factors that Condition Economic and Social Development,  Energy in the world and The Great Scientific, Economic, and Social Revolutions that Changed the World.