Fernando Alcoforado*
In their escalation to power in Brazil, the fascists gathered after the great social mobilization of June 2013, which began with a wave of protests in São Paulo and spread to several Brazilian cities mobilizing thousands of people to fight for the construction of a new political, economic and social order replacing the current political, economic and social order. Fascism supporters consider that the cause of Brazil’s current ills is related to corruption and the use of the state by parties with a socialist or communist tendency. The fascists seek to purify Brazilian society from the toxic influences of parties and political leaders, especially those linked to the PT (Workers Party) and its allies, who would be to blame for the unfortunate situation in which the Brazilian nation lived.
The advance of fascism in Brazil results from the fact that its economic, social and political organization finds itself in complete disintegration. The inability of the Brazilian government and political institutions in general to offer effective responses to overcoming the recessive economic crisis in which the Brazilian nation has been suffering since 2014 and overcoming unbridled corruption in all the powers of the Republic has contributed to the advancement of fascism as a solution to the problems of Brazil. In the escalation of fascism in Brazil, an alliance was made between the conservative elite and the fascists which was consummated with the support of the conservative elite to the candidate Jair Bolsonaro to the Presidency of the Republic that has a proposal of typically fascist government because his discourse is based on the cult explicit of order, state violence, authoritarian government practices, social disregard for vulnerable and fragile groups, and anti-communism. The conservative elite and the fascists took control of the country with the victory of Jair Bolsonaro in the October 2018 elections.
The conservative elite consists of the economic and financial elite which is a privileged, minority group composed of those who possess economic power and / or social dominance. It is composed of the traditional elite, the business elite and the big offices, the elite of the new rich and the rural elite. The traditional elite is composed of the descendants of the aristocracy of the past who still has a dense social and intellectual role in the construction of conservative standards in Brazil. The business elite and large offices are comprised of lawyers and executives from large Anglo-American and European multinational corporations. The elite of the new rich are the new, successful entrepreneurs who use symbols of wealth such as modern homes, boats, planes, large imported cars, watches and designer pens. The rural elite, from the interior of the country, are a great class of agricultural entrepreneurs who have enriched themselves and have great economic and electoral strength.
Like Hitler and Mussolini, Bolsonaro rose to power in Brazil by popular vote with the support of the conservative elite and broad segments of population as is the case of the middle class that represents 53% of the population of Brazil.. In taking over, Hitler and Mussolini remained within the bounds of legality, but allowed illegalities out of it. Both were able to gain the strategic support of the conservative elite and broad segments of the population that feared the leftist forces. The conservative elite thought that Hitler and Mussolini would be able to keep under control the most exalted right-wing extremists around them. The old German and Italian oligarchs thought that it would be possible to use Hitler and Mussolini to control the red radicals, to turn them into decorative figures, and the old establishment would rule in the shadow, as it had always done. They did not count with the possibility that the owner of popularity (Hitler and Mussolini) could take control of power on his own. The few remaining independent newspapers were muzzled by a series of press restrictions. The way was free for the Nazi dictatorship in Germany and fascist in Italy. The same can be repeated during the Bolsonaro administration.
History tells us that once this alliance between the conservative elite and the fascists is formed and succeeds in pursuit of power, there is no longer any way to stop it. The alliance between the conservative elite and the fascists can destroy the last vestiges of a democratic government in Brazil. From the confrontation among the defending forces and the opponents of the current democratic system may result in the maintenance of representative democracy in Brazil or its end. Despite Bolsonaro’s assertion that he will respect the Constitution and the Laws of the Country, the threat to the current democratic order in Brazil is explicit in his antidemocratic campaign speech. Opposing forces of the current democratic system are the Bolsonaro government, the right-wing and right-center parties, 39.2% of the electorate who voted in Bolsonaro, right-wing civil society organizations and part of the members of Parliament and the Judiciary. These opposing forces of the present democratic system will fight for the Bolsonaro government to adopt an economic policy that serves the interests of the ruling social classes, for obtaining a majority in Parliament, through amendments to the Constitution and draft laws, to put into practice the fascist objectives by winning a majority among the members of the Judiciary to ensure the interests of the government and to promote the dismantling of anti-government social movements.
The defending forces of the current democratic system are left-wing, center-left and democratic-liberal parties, civil society democratic organizations, 60.8% of the electorate who did not vote for Jair Bolsonaro and part of the members of Parliament and the Judiciary. These forces defending the current democratic system must fight for a majority in Parliament to prevent the Bolsonaro government from passing bills and promote amendments to the Constitution contrary to the interests of the population and to win the majority among the members of the Judiciary to change the 1988 Constitution against the democratic, human and social rights of the population. These forces defending the current democratic system must also fight for the strengthening of social movements against government acts and in defense of democracy within the framework of Civil Society.
The objective of the Bolsonaro government would be, therefore, the conquest of the total power encompassing the Executive, the Legislative and the Judiciary to put into practice its fascist project of government. The escalation of fascism is already a concrete fact in Brazil, widespread, rooted and may become irreversible in Brazil at the present moment if there is no resistance. In order to avoid the end of the current democratic system in Brazil, it is not enough to rely on the republican institutions that can undergo changes contrary to the interests of the great majority of the population through draft laws and amendments to the Constitution by the Bolsonaro government. The only way to avoid the escalation of fascism and the establishment of a right-wing dictatorship in Brazil is the formation of an anti-fascist democratic front in Parliament and in Civil Society to defend the 1988 Constitution and to fight against acts of government that are contrary to interests of the vast majority of the population and of Brazil.
* Fernando Alcoforado, 79, 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.
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