Ahead of Bolsonaro's Inauguration in Brazil, Groups Vow to Fight 'Hateful Rhetoric and Acts of Viole

Thursday, December 27, 2018
by Common Dreams

Ahead of Bolsonaro's Inauguration in Brazil, Groups Vow to Fight 'Hateful Rhetoric and Acts of Violence, Intimidation, or Persecution'

"The election of right-wing extremist Jair Bolsonaro as Brazil's next president represents a crisis for indigenous rights, the Amazon rainforest, and our global climate."

by Jessica Corbett, staff writer

Ahead of incoming Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro's inauguration, scheduled for Jan. 1, 46 global civil society groups issued an open statement warning that he poses "a serious threat to democracy, human rights, and the environment," and vowing to challenge "hateful rhetoric and acts of violence, intimidation, or persecution" against communities and organizations he has attacked.

The statement (pdf), published in English and Portuguese, highlights the president-elect's notable history of making racist, misogynistic, and homophobic proclamations—from declaring that if any of his sons were gay, he'd hope that they would die in an accident, to telling a female fellow lawmaker that she didn't deserve to be raped by him.

"Bolsonaro's hate speech has targeted numerous groups with long struggles against oppression and discrimination," the statement notes. "Beyond these abhorrent verbal attacks, we are particularly concerned about a number of Bolsonaro's policy proposals that, if implemented, can be expected to inflict far-reaching and lasting damage on Brazilian communities and on the environment."

As the statement outlines:

Bolsonaro has threatened to slash environmental safeguards on the Amazon's protected forests while abolishing constitutional land rights over indigenous territories in order to enable the expansion of destructive agribusiness, logging, and mining operations. These plans would inevitably provoke profound and irreversible environmental damage, destroy indigenous communities and cultures, and trigger violent land conflicts. They can also be expected to significantly hinder global efforts to fight climate change.