Fernando Alcoforado*
This article aims to present how to overcome the threats to the governability of the Lula government represented by the difficulties in promoting economic and social development in Brazil and by the anti-democratic and anti-social actions promoted by right-wing extremists entrenched in the National Congress and in society. The promotion of Brazil’s economic and social development has been hampered by the fiscal policy of the public spending ceiling imposed by the National Congress, which restricts public investments and social policies, and by the extremely high interest rate monetary policy imposed by the Central Bank, which restricts the growth of the national economy. The Lula government faces threats from right-wing extremists entrenched in the National Congress because it does not have a majority in parliament, which prevents the federal government from implementing its national developmentalist project, meeting social demands in full and avoid approval of retrograde bills and retrograde constitutional amendments. In other words, the Lula government is not in a position to exercise governability.
All these facts demonstrate that it is not enough to elect a President of the Republic committed to the country’s progress to carry out the required economic and social changes. In addition to electing a progressive president, it is also necessary to win a majority in the National Congress and in state and municipal parliaments by establishing a broad front and mobilizing civil society to elect as many progressive parliamentarians as possible who are committed to the political, economic and social advances to overcome the obstacles that impede Brazil’s development. This article emphasizes the need to stop the advance of neo-fascist right-wing extremists ensconced in the National Congress to prevent them from seeking to impose their will on the Brazilian nation by proposing retrograde bills and amendments to the Constitution, such as the bill against legal abortion, which authorizes child labor, which establishes the end of plea bargaining, which provides for amnesty for coup plotters on January 8, 2023 and the constitutional amendment that establishes the privatization of beaches, among other absurdities.
The case of the inhumane bill (PL 1904/24) that equates abortion of a pregnancy over 22 weeks to the crime of homicide, if approved by the National Congress, will bring to an end the right to legal abortion acquired by women. The bill (PL 1904/24) took just 23 seconds for the Chamber of Deputies to approve, on June 12th, the emergency regime. It is worth noting that, in Brazil, abortion is not qualified as a crime only when it occurs naturally or when performed by a qualified doctor in three situations: in case of risk to the woman’s life caused by pregnancy, when the pregnancy is the result of rape or if the fetus is anencephalic. This episode of the bill (PL 1904/24), among others, which seek to end rights painfully won by the Brazilian people throughout history and impose new, extremely reactionary legislation, which are taking place in the Brazilian parliament, demonstrate that the current National Congress is the most retrograde in Brazilian history. There was and is still taking place in Brazil the necessary mobilization of civil society organizations against this insane act carried out by the Federal Chamber with the holding of several demonstrations in several capitals against the project and in defense of the lives of women, girls and pregnant people who caused that this bill has lost its urgency.
The mobilization of civil society organizations against this insane act carried out by the Federal Chamber demonstrates the need for them to be permanently mobilized to confront the regressive policies of the National Congress sponsored by far-right parties and to stop the advance of the far-right in Brazilian society. After the popular movement of “Eleições Diretas Já” (1984) and the “Citizen Constitution” (1988), a widespread feeling was created that the Brazilian people had overcome Brazil’s secular backwardness and that we were on the way to becoming a country modern. Everything indicated that we had found the way, that it was just a matter of time, for the maturation of our institutions and the free flow of ideas and information, in a democratic society, to elevate Brazil to the level of fully developed nations. How did we arrive at the regrettable political situation Brazil finds itself in today? What happened to make pure barbarism reign in Brazil in recent years with the barbarians ruling with the tolerance of many in Brazilian society?
Four factors contributed to the barbarism that currently exists in Brazil: 1) the erosion of the country’s political institutions with their inability to meet society’s demands; 2) the erosion of Lula and the PT because of Lavajato Operation; 3) the advancement of evangelical churches in society and parliament; and, 4) the emergence of Bolsonarism. The erosion of the country’s political institutions, Lula and the PT created the conditions for the advancement of the Bolsonarist extreme right in Brazil. The expansion of evangelicals in the political field has been happening since 1930 during the Vargas government, which encouraged the creation of some religious representations/organizations. During the military dictatorship, there was indirect support for the military regime from sectors of the Catholic Church and evangelical churches, such as the Assembly of God, the Baptist and the Presbyterian. They silently supported the military dictatorship from 1964 to 1985. The evangelical presence in Brazilian politics began to occur effectively from 1986 with the official representation of evangelicals in party politics. Already this year, evangelicals managed to elect some cadres, who will begin to form the outline of the beginning of the evangelical bench in the Brazilian parliament. This gained more and more proportion and, from the 2010s onwards, they managed to create the Evangelical Parliamentary Front [1].
The PT governments helped the Evangelical Parliamentary Front to gain strength. The evangelical group participated in the PT governments, whose area of human rights was for a time in the hands of the so-called progressive evangelical sectors, but this alliance fell apart when the evangelicals contributed decisively to the impeachment of Dilma Rousseff. The break between evangelicals and the PT occurred because the Dilma Rousseff government was not so favorable to the so-called “traditional Brazilian family”. Then, evangelicals became part of the Temer government. In this context, the intention of evangelicals to build a Christian government emerges. This is where Jair Bolsonaro comes in, who during Dilma Rousseff’s impeachment, realized the need for the Evangelical Parliamentary Front to have a Christian as a future president. Jair Bolsonaro presented himself as an alternative for the evangelicals who helped in the construction of Bolsonarism. The deterioration of the country’s political institutions, Lula and the PT paved the way for evangelicals and Bolsonarism to come together with a Christofascist power project [1]. The arrest of Lula, who was prevented from running in the 2018 presidential elections, facilitated Bolsonaro’s victory.
Theologian Fábio Py states that relations with evangelical churches are what elected and sustained the authoritarianism of President Bolsonaro’s government [1]. Regarding Christofascism, it is a term that represents the combination of Christianity and fascism. In 1970, German theologian Dorothee Sölle, a defender of liberation theology, coined the term “Christofascism” to define a political stance that combines Christianity with fascism, based on the fact that the German Nazi party’s relations with Christian churches had contributed to the development of the Third Reich. In Brazil, there are similar positions on the part of evangelical church movements and their leaders who supported Bolsonaro with his policies of intolerance and hatred [2].
Christofascism is on the rise in Brazil. They are believers guided by their leaders, proclaiming a religion that considers the Christian cross only as a magical talisman and not as the historical sign of the experience of a poor man who was violently tortured to death by the Roman Empire due to his preaching in favor of justice, sharing of goods, equality and fraternity among human beings. It is important to highlight that, historically, fascism is a political doctrine anchored in devotion to a leader mythologized by ideological manipulation that seeks the unification of a people through nationalist and militaristic ideals, in a totalitarian way, imposing the dominance of the leader and his party group, in an unlimited authority with totalitarian powers to control public and private life, as occurred in Nazi Germany and fascist Italy. There is no diversity, only uniformity of thought and customs. To this end, it develops a violent practice, inciting aggression against all his opponents, whom he declares to be enemies of the State. Consequently, fascism is a great supporter and promoter of physical violence in the streets, whether through the actions of individuals or paramilitary militias [3].
Christofascism also seeks to win over believers by spreading fear, that is, the existence of supposed conspiracies by bandits, terrorists and communists is disseminated. Bolsonarist Christofascism emerged, according to Fábio Py, from the alliance between some evangelical churches and Bolsonarists to implement an authoritarian government, with neo-fascist and ultra-liberal characteristics. Like Hitler, Bolsonaro also participated in events promoted by evangelical churches, interacting with their pastors. According to Py, Bolsonarist Christofascism is promoted through an authoritarian political theology, based on hatred of democratic plurality. This hatred is peppered with government techniques that promote discrimination and hate against heterodox sectors. The ruse constructed by the evangelical leadership points to Bolsonaro as the messiah, suffering, anointed and elected servant of the nation. He did this to regroup the forces in order to maintain, with harsh whips, the implementation of ultraliberal measures that today leave the most vulnerable to death, says Py [1].
During his period in government, Bolsonaro went to various religious celebrations at the Assembly of God, the Universal Church, the Worldwide Church of the Power of God, among others. He opportunistically attended these churches in a very direct way and, in doing so, trying to amplify his dialogue with the evangelical base. Therefore, Bolsonaro sought to assert himself as a convert, and at the same time, attend a series of celebrations with the evangelical sector [1]. Despite having made great efforts to prevent Lula’s return to power, Bolsonaro lost the 2022 presidential elections, but Bolsonaroism remains alive in society, as evidenced by the attempted coup d’état on January 8, 2023, and also the strong participation of the extreme right in the National Congress. This article emphasizes the need for Lula and the PT to stop the advance of the extreme right in Brazil by promoting an alliance with political forces from the democratic center and mobilizing organized civil society to elect future mayors, governors, President of the Republic and parliamentarians at all levels committed to the political, economic, social and environmental progress of Brazil.
To re-elect President Lula in the 2026 presidential elections and obtain a parliamentary majority in the National Congress committed to political, economic and social advances, the progressive forces need to commit themselves, from the 2024 municipal elections onwards, to constitute a broad front aimed at electing as many mayors and councilors as possible committed to Brazil’s political, economic and social advances. These are the conditions to prevent, in 2026, right-wing extremists from regaining the Presidency of the Republic, expanding their participation in state governments and the National Congress and putting their nefarious anti-social and anti-national project into practice.
REFERENCES
- PY, Fábio. Pandemia cristofascista. São Paulo: Recriar, 2020.
- SOLLE, Dorothee. Beyond Mere Obedience: Reflections on a Christian Ethic for the Future, Minneapolis: Augsburg Publishing House, 1970.
- ALBUQUERQUE, Alexandre Aragão. Cristofascismo: o que é isso? Available on the website <https://segundaopiniao.jor.br/cristofascismo-o-que-e-isso-alexandre-aragao-de-albuquerque/>.
* Fernando Alcoforado, awarded the medal of Engineering Merit of the CONFEA / CREA System, member of the SBPC- Brazilian Society for the Progress of Science, IPB- Polytechnic Institute of Bahia and of the Bahia Academy of Education, engineer from the UFBA Polytechnic School and doctor in Territorial Planning and Regional Development from the University of Barcelona, college professor (Engineering, Economy and Administration) and consultant in the areas of strategic planning, business planning, regional planning, urban planning and energy systems, was Advisor to the Vice President of Engineering and Technology at LIGHT S.A. Electric power distribution company from Rio de Janeiro, Strategic Planning Coordinator of CEPED- Bahia Research and Development Center, Undersecretary of Energy of the State of Bahia, Secretary of Planning of Salvador, is the 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), Como inventar o futuro para mudar o mundo (Editora CRV, Curitiba, 2019), A humanidade ameaçada e as estratégias para sua sobrevivência (Editora Dialética, São Paulo, 2021), A escalada da ciência e da tecnologia e sua contribuição ao progresso e à sobrevivência da humanidade (Editora CRV, Curitiba, 2022), a chapter in the book Flood Handbook (CRC Press, Boca Raton, Florida United States, 2022), How to protect human beings from threats to their existence and avoid the extinction of humanity (Generis Publishing, Europe, Republic of Moldova, Chișinău, 2023) and A revolução da educação necessária ao Brasil na era contemporânea (Editora CRV, Curitiba, 2023).
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