Thousands of Brazilians came together on September 29 to protest against presidential candidate Jair Bolsonaro. He has proved himself a threat to human rights, morality and Brazilian democracy, but nevertheless will most likely become Brazil’s next president.
My mom and I joined many of the other Brazilian residents of New York City in Union Square to express our concern and stand together with protesters in Brazilian cities. As soon as we arrived, we were handed balloons that said #ELENÃO (not him), and a sheet of the chants and songs we would sing in accompaniment with the group of drummers in the center playing Brazilian samba beats. Signs read, “He said: ‘The poor are only good for voting; they have the right to vote and a diploma of stupidness,’” “He said: ‘I prefer that my son died than having a gay son,’ and “‘Ele é preconceituoso (he is prejudiced).’” There was power and beauty in the ability of Brazilians to unite in a city like New York, and to allow our voices to overwhelm the sound of traffic around us.
Brazil has long been suffering from homophobia, extreme social class divisions, racism, and sexism, and Bolsonaro would instantly worsen the situation. He has openly made discriminatory comments that are hateful and prejudiced. According to the Washington Post, he said, “A gay son is the result of a lack of beatings,” and has repeatedly insulted the lower class as fat and lazy. Furthermore, according to Globo.com, Bolsonaro called Maria do Rosario (a female Congresswoman) unrapeable because she was “too ugly” and not his type. As stated in the Economist, his plan on combating crime is more killing and to allow the population to hold guns. He additionally described an Afro-Brazilian as weighing “7 arrobas”, which is a weighing system that was used to weigh slaves and livestock by the Portuguese. Lastly, he said that if he were to be elected, every inch of land occupied by Indigenous tribes would be stripped from them completely. All these comments prove that Bolsonaro holds no values or respect for any being other than white upper-class men, is morally prejudiced in every way possible, and has no right to lead any country.
Brazil’s future in the hands of Bolsonaro will not only be characterized by a lack of values, but also by the dismantling of Brazil’s young democracy. As written in the Guardian, he supports the military dictatorship that occured in Brazil from 1964 to 1985, and said that it’s only issue was that they should have killed more people instead of just resorting to torture . Brazil’s 33-year-old democracy is too young to be torn apart, and deserves to live on. The Economist wrote that, “Were he to win, it might put the very survival of democracy in Latin America’s largest country at risk.”
Before leaving the loud chants from the mouths of rightfully angry Brazilians in Union Square, I approached an equally passionate Brazilian to ask, ‘why not him?’ Katiana responded simply:
He is in favor of torture, and because he is a person that is bringing absurd regression, the last thing that Brazil needs is a leader that only promotes people’s ignorance. He promotes separation, he promotes hate, he promotes torture, he promotes that us women are inferior, so this to me doesn’t make any sense.
I believe that Katiana’s thoughts are what others should believe. This immoral candidate has no right to lead a country, and if elected, is bound to plummet Brazil to its expected downfall, not just politically, but morally and ethically. We should not elect a candidate that could remove our right to vote, and turn a country of beauty into one of torture and killings. However, many will Bolsonaro as a way to avoid a comeback of Brazil’s workers party, PT, that holds a history of corruption.
A week after the protest my mom and dad went to the Brazilian consulate in New York City to vote for anyone but Bolsonaro, and I hope others will do the same.
