THE BARBARISM OF FASCISM IN THE UNITED STATES AND BRAZIL

Fernando Alcoforado*  

This article aims to present the barbarism represented by fascism in the United States by Donald Trump and in Brazil by Jair Bolsonaro. The barbarism of fascism manifests itself mainly because it is against the democratic and liberal system and is based on the totalitarian exercise of power. In other words, fascism seeks to impose itself under the dictatorship as occurred in the fascist Italy of Benito Mussolini and in Nazi Germany of Adolf Hitler. In the United States, fascism was aborted with the defeat of Donald Trump in the presidential elections, and in Brazil, fascism continues in gestation with Jair Bolsonaro in power. In its early days, fascism was a political movement that emerged in Italy after the First World War, in the 1920s, under the leadership of Benito Mussolini and, under the leadership of Adolf Hitler in Germany in the 1930s. Ancient fascism represented a reaction by conservative forces in Europe against the rise of workers to power in several countries after the victory of socialism in the Soviet Union in 1917. The ancient fascism implanted during the 1920s and 1930s of the 20th century was based on a strong, totalitarian state , who claimed to embody the spirit of the people, in the exercise of power by a single party whose authority was imposed through violence, repression and political propaganda.

The fascist leader is a figure who is above ordinary men. Mussolini was called Il Duce, which derives from the Latin Dux (General) and Hitler de Fuehrer (Conductor, Guide, Leader, Chief). Both were messianic and authoritarian leaders, with a power that was exercised unilaterally without consultation with anyone. In Germany, ancient fascism received the name of Nazism. This movement, in addition to combating communists and homosexuals, also had a strong racial component, which promulgated the superiority of the Aryan race and sought to exterminate Jews, Gypsies and blacks. Ancient fascism was also characterized by aggressive nationalism, militarism and imperialism at the service of the ruling classes, by the cult of the chief, by anti-communism and by the dictatorship. In order to put its principles into practice, the individual rights of citizens were ignored, Parliament was transformed into a simple consultative body, the Judiciary acted in the service of fascism and the political police was created, which crushed all opposition to the regime.

In the United States, fascism grew on the ground of a mature democracy in crisis. Fascism was fully embraced by the Republican Party, which now defines itself in this line. For decades, the Republican Party represented, abroad, a forward-looking international order led by the United States, and, internally, democratic capitalism with little government intervention in the economy. Trump decimates this and other things that Republicans advocated and represented. The Republican Party is, a party of religious conservatives, angry white men who are becoming a minority in their own country, are opponents of arms control, are against abortion and are owners of companies that are against regulation. It is an openly racist, sexist, repressive, exclusionary and permanently addicted to the politics of fear and hatred, as it happened during the George W. Bush administration and which was deepened in the Donald Trump administration that brought fascism back to life in the contemporary era as president of the United States.

The revival of fascism under the command of Donald Trump in the United States resulted, fundamentally, from the economic decline and the loss of the country’s hegemony on the world stage in a very short time. All world relations in the United States have changed profoundly in recent times, being obliged to share power on a world scale with other countries. The era when the United States sought to impose its will on the international scene in the economic and military fields is over. It happened after the Barack Obama administration. The ongoing global crisis of the world capitalist system is accelerating long-term geopolitical change, heralding the decline of American power and European influence and the rise of China as an economically dominant power. Donald Trump represented a reaction to reverse this trend. His performance led, in practice, to the revival of fascism in the United States.

Trump scored points in the United States with hateful slogans against the so-called political establishment and the media. He conquered a white middle class that was impoverished and destabilized by globalization. “Only I can fix this,” was Trump’s campaign motto. In power, Donald Trump insulted foreigners, women and people with disabilities, preached hatred, snubbed America’s most important global partners, and abolished the program of his predecessor, Barack Obama, and his most symbolic measure, Obamacare and abolished the law on health insurance, which covers the health needs of 24 million Americans who were left unprotected by the outbreak of the new Coronavirus pandemic. His economic program had only one motto: protectionism with the motto “America first”. He promised and conducted a trade war against China, including in particular American companies that moved to Beijing.

In the United States government, Donald Trump created a dangerous phase of international political instability. Donald Trump promised and canceled the climate agreement signed by the United States in Paris, the hard-negotiated nuclear pact with Iran and various trade agreements, as well as failing to pay billions of dollars for the UN to develop programs to combat climate change. In summary, Trump worked to endow with nuclear weapons Saudi Arabia to fight Iran and Japan to fight China and to weaken “obsolete” NATO by forcing European allies to pay for US military protection, thereby creating the risk of a Russian incursion into the Baltic countries, started a trade war with China through protectionism, started building a 3,200-kilometer-long wall along the Mexican border, barred Muslims from entering the country, renegotiated all major trade deals and raised military spending significantly. This sparked significant conflicts, sparked new rivalries and sparked new international crises. Trump harassed the media hostile to him, attacked women who accused him of sexual harassment, reduced taxes, especially for the super-rich, abolished Obama’s health care reform leaving 24 million people without medical coverage who were at the mercy of pandemic of the new Coronavirus, dismantled all environmental regulations, relaunched the coal industry, deported illegal immigrants by the millions, and filled the Supreme Court with ideological conservatives as vacancies arose. Trump launched his attack on liberal democracy during his government. Donald Trump has demonstrated a personality similar to that of Mussolini and Hitler.

Joe Biden’s victory over Donald Trump in the last presidential elections represents civilization’s victory over barbarism because it will enable the United States government to undo the legacy of barbarism from the Trump years. The Joe Biden government will seek to undo the legacy of barbarism from the Trump years by implementing a government program that will certainly be the most progressive in the history of the United States. With control of the Senate and the House in the hands of the Democrats, Biden will be able to make a very progressive government, more than the Barack Obama administration. It is essential that the Biden government’s program work to neutralize the fascist horde that grew considerably in the United States during the Donald Trump administration. A demonstration of the strength of fascism in the States was presented yesterday (01/06/2020) when, instigated by Trump, a neofascist horde led by him invaded the American Congress, the Capitol, and caused the paralysis of the session held to tell the votes of the Electoral College and certify the victory of Joe Biden in the presidential election of November, the last formal stage of the electoral process before the inauguration of the democrat, on January 20. Donald Trump made a speech urging a crowd to invade the seat of the Legislative Branch and avoid ratifying the victory of his opponent.

The Capitol invaders – some in costume and others with weapons – occupied the plenary of the two Houses of Parliament, destroyed equipment and furniture, and forced congressmen and vice president Mike Pence, who presided over the session as president of the Senate, to hide in their rooms under the protection of security officers. The area used by the press was also invaded. A woman was shot and died, without knowing the source of the shot. Another three people also died from “medical emergencies”, police said. Washington City Hall declared an evening curfew. Donald Trump crossed a line that an American president had never crossed. It was an attempted coup d’état with Trump trying to prevent the normal flow of democracy from shifting command after an election. This is the true face of fascism in the United States.

Unlike Mussolini’s Italian fascism, Hitler’s German Nazism and Trump’s fascism in the United States, which had a strongly nationalist focus on defending national interests, in Brazil, the fascism put in place by Jair Bolsonaro differs radically because his government it is not a nationalist assuming, quite the contrary, a subordinate stance in relation to the United States and international capital. Ever since he brought Paulo Guedes, a fundamentalist of neoliberalism and a vassal of bankers, to the Ministry of Economy, Bolsonaro has shown enthusiasm with the idea of selling all state properties, defending the independence of the Central Bank and seeking the approval of reforms supported by the banking sector.

In addition, like any fascist government, the Bolsonaro government features disrespect for human and social rights and democracy as a characteristic. The Bolsonaro government’s disastrous human and social rights policy is characterized by demonstrating disregard for the fundamental rights provided for in the 1988 Constitution, its detachment from democracy and the lack of respect with which it addresses broad social sectors. Brazil, from January 2019, witnesses the institutionalization of violations of civil liberties and fundamental rights. Government initiatives (bills, provisional measures, decrees), added to the declarations and attitudes that come from Bolsonaro and his ministers, create a serious environment that encourages violence and authoritarianism. Bolsonaro attacks the health of the Brazilian population by rendering the Ministry of Health inoperative in the fight against the new Coronavirus contributing to the high number of infected and about 200 thousand killed by the virus, acting against all the measures put in place by governors and mayors to combat the virus in Brazil and to have supported and participated in anti-democratic acts that sought to close the National Congress and the Supreme Federal Court.

Bolsonaro’s fascist government also features disrespect for the environment as a characteristic. Jair Bolsonaro’s Brazil is the new environmental villain for planet Earth. The Bolsonaro government’s disastrous environmental policy gained prominence in the international community due to the growth of fires and deforestation in the Legal Amazon and disobedience to the Paris Agreement to combat global climate change. The Bolsonaro government has adopted a series of measures that collaborate to increase deforestation. Bolsonaro’s speech works as deforestation approval. Never before has there been such an incentive for deforestation in any Brazilian government. Another consequence is the complete dismantling of the inspection bodies. This is a major catastrophe produced by the Bolsonaro government whose action could lead to the destruction of the Amazon Forest with the manifest intention of paving the way for mining, agriculture, livestock and timber activities.

Like all fascist government, the Bolsonaro government presents, as one of its characteristics, the identification of enemies as a unifying cause. Leftist enemies are seen as bandits and deserving of punishment and extermination. Another great feature is the emphasis on militarism. Bolsonaro housed military in various ministries and government agencies and defended the military governments from the dictatorship by stating that “that was a wonderful time”. The control of the media is carried out by Bolsonaro to delegitimize the work of the press, in addition to spreading false news. Bolsonaro makes use of religion to gain political support when he says that Brazil is a Christian country, God is above all and minorities who bow. There is the intentional use by Bolsonaro, and his “intellectuals” of the figure of Christ, of the Messiah. The “intellectuals” of the Bolsonaro government seek to create in Bolsonaro the figure of the “good Christian” and in doing so he assumes himself as president of Christians in confrontations between “good and evil”. In this arrangement, the conflict occurs between those who represent evil, in the caricature of “communists” or “members of the PT” (left-wing political party), and “citizens of good”. The political operation of religious use further legitimizes authoritarianism in Brazil, here referred to as “Brazilian Cristofascism”. Precisely in 2020 on the day that Christians celebrated the resurrection of Christ and the victory over death, it was compared, by Bolsonaro, in his social media messages to the stab he suffered in the 2018 electoral process. He puts himself as the “Messiah” to save Brazil.

Another characteristic of Bolsonaro’s fascism is the attack on labor rights because he understands labor rights as obstacles to the growth of companies and the Brazilian economy. There is also a disdain for intellectuals and the arts by systematically disqualifying scientific works that go against their conservative ideas. Conducts censorship and siege to art. Bolsonaro repeats the military dictatorship, which feared culture. There is the obsession with crime and punishment. Bolsonaro defends the armament of the population and a more punitive prison system. Bolsonaro gained great support from a large part of the population in Brazil saying that in the Presidency of the Republic he would loosen restrictions on firearms and give more power to the police. Authorities should have more lethal weapons, according to Bolsonaro, who argues that those who kill criminals should receive medals and not go to trial.

Like every fascist government, the Bolsonaro government has the purpose of creating a police state. The Bolsonaro government seeks to create a police state by presenting the anti-crime bill that has several unconstitutional measures, especially on imprisonment after second-level conviction, the prescription of crimes, and changes in the institute of self-defense and the Jury Court, in addition to lower a decree that authorizes the summary deportation of people “dangerous to the security of Brazil”, violating the presumption of innocence for foreigners, which is openly unconstitutional. One of the basic fronts of the Bolsonaro government is the destruction of critical memories of the 1964 civil and military dictatorship, as well as all the horror experiences that Brazil experienced, such as those that put us at the head of incarceration, deforestation, murders of vulnerable groups, destruction of public health and education, judicialization of social life and overexploitation of work.

The advance of fascist political figures like Jair Bolsonaro and Sérgio Moro in Brazil is driven by the strong idea of creating an enemy responsible for all the country’s problems. In Brazil, left-wing political forces and the PT were held responsible for the corruption problems in the country that were fundamental to Bolsonaro’s victory in the presidential elections. Bolsonaro’s great appeal to the general public is related to anger against traditional politicians and against corruption. Research shows that it is supported mainly by middle and upper class men. Bolsonaro’s speech does not only give voice to the political dissatisfaction of the population, but, above all, to internalized hatreds. There is a very big class hatred in Brazil, a hatred against communists and the PT, of gender as well, as well as a hatred of LGBT people. Bolsonaro manages to gather several of these hatreds. However, Bolsonaro’s speech against traditional politicians and against corruption was demoralized because he articulated with the parliamentary bloc called “centrão” to win support in parliament for his projects and avoid being impeached through impeachment for the countless crimes of responsibility and, also, put the GSI- Institutional Security Office and ABIN, linked to the GSI, at the service of the interests of his son, Senator Flávio Bolsonaro, who is responsible for the crime of corruption for embezzlement when he was a state deputy in Rio de Janeiro.

The political objective of Jair Bolsonaro is the achievement of total power with the dominance of the Legislative and Judiciary, in addition to the Executive Power and, if necessary, with the closure of the first two to put into practice his fascist government project. The escalation of fascism is already a concrete, widespread, ingrained fact and could become irreversible in Brazil at the present time if there is no resistance against its advance. To avoid the end of the current democratic system in Brazil, therefore, it is not enough to rely on republican institutions that may undergo internal changes contrary to democracy and the interests of the vast majority of the population through bills and amendments to the Constitution by the Bolsonaro government, the appointment of ministers in the Judiciary and even carry out a coup d´etat. In order to avoid the escalation of fascism and the implantation of a fascist dictatorship in Brazil, it is urgent to form an anti-fascist democratic front in Parliament and in Civil Society in order to promote the mobilization of the Brazilian people in defense of the 1988 Constitution and in the fight against acts government that are contrary to the interests of the vast majority of the population and Brazil.

* Fernando Alcoforado, 81, awarded the medal of Engineering Merit of the CONFEA / CREA System, 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 author of the books Globalização (Editora Nobel, São Paulo, 1997), De Collor a FHC- O Brasil e a Nova (Des)ordem Mundial (Editora Nobel, São Paulo, 1998), Um Projeto para o Brasil (Editora Nobel, São Paulo, 2000), Os condicionantes do desenvolvimento do Estado da Bahia (Tese de doutorado. Universidade de Barcelona,http://www.tesisenred.net/handle/10803/1944, 2003), Globalização e Desenvolvimento (Editora Nobel, São Paulo, 2006), Bahia- Desenvolvimento do Século XVI ao Século XX e Objetivos Estratégicos na Era Contemporânea (EGBA, Salvador, 2008), The Necessary Conditions of the Economic and Social Development- The Case of the State of Bahia (VDM Verlag Dr. Müller Aktiengesellschaft & Co. KG, Saarbrücken, Germany, 2010), Aquecimento Global e Catástrofe Planetária (Viena- Editora e Gráfica, Santa Cruz do Rio Pardo, São Paulo, 2010), Amazônia Sustentável- Para o progresso do Brasil e combate ao aquecimento global (Viena- Editora e Gráfica, Santa Cruz do Rio Pardo, São Paulo, 2011), Os Fatores Condicionantes do Desenvolvimento Econômico e Social (Editora CRV, Curitiba, 2012), Energia no Mundo e no Brasil- Energia e Mudança Climática Catastrófica no Século XXI (Editora CRV, Curitiba, 2015), As Grandes Revoluções Científicas, Econômicas e Sociais que Mudaram o Mundo (Editora CRV, Curitiba, 2016), A Invenção de um novo Brasil (Editora CRV, Curitiba, 2017),  Esquerda x Direita e a sua convergência (Associação Baiana de Imprensa, Salvador, 2018, em co-autoria) and Como inventar o futuro para mudar o mundo (Editora CRV, Curitiba, 2019).