Bolsonaro must be probed, punished

For the sake of Brazil’s democracy, strong action must be taken against its former President Jair Bolsonaro and his supporters, who recently attempted a violent uprising against the elected government of President Lula.

Over the weekend, thousands of Bolsonaro’s supporters stormed and ransacked Congress, the Presidential Palace and the Supreme Court, demanding that the military remove Lula from power. This was not a spontaneous riot; Bolsonaro’s supporters were bussed down to the buildings that are the pillars of Brazil’s democracy. They pillaged the buildings and dealt blows to the country’s fragile democracy.

Bolsonaro was not in the country when the violence happened; he had left for Florida, US, in the last week of December. But he cannot escape responsibility for the developments that unfolded recently. For months, Bolsonaro had been inciting his supporters to challenge the people’s mandate and to overthrow Lula. He rejected the presidential election verdict and did not participate in Lula’s swearing-in. He did not rein in his supporters who have been crowding outside military camps, calling for a coup. It is evident that his incendiary speeches against Lula instigated the violence.

It is hard to ignore the parallels between the storming of Brazil’s Congress by Bolsonaro supporters and that of the US Capitol by Donald Trump’s supporters two years ago. Both incidents were the outcome of defeated right-wing populist presidents refusing to heed the people’s mandate. In both cases, the defeated leaders accused the winners of stealing the election and, through systematic campaigns over several months, spread rumours that cast doubts on the legitimacy of democratic processes and institutions. They incited violent insurrections against the State.

In the US, efforts to bring to justice Trump and his coterie for masterminding the January 6 insurrection in Washington are yet to bear fruit. The effort to bring Bolsonaro to justice will be even more difficult. Brazil is far more politically polarised than the US, and democracy is yet to take root there. The country has struggled with long spells of military rule and the military is a highly politicised institution. Bolsonaro has strong support in the military and any attempt to haul him before the courts will be challenged by the Generals.

Still, he cannot be allowed to go unprobed, unpunished. Meanwhile, other countries that have powerful right-wing parties need to be on guard. Such parties, whether in power or not, often have an authoritarian/fascist outlook and do not take kindly to voter rejection.