When I returned to the UN offices in Geneva this week, I ran into an old acquaintance. One of the foreign diplomats who accompanied the historic peace negotiations and was part of an elite group of ambassadors, real living collections of our time.

When she saw me she smiled and joked about the heat shaking Europe: “and you who thought you came from a tropical country…”

But the reason for their approach was something else: the election in Brazil. Like dozens of governments around the world, he did not hide his concern about what a democratic break in the country could mean for the region. But the negotiator left with a positive tone. “I hope you give the authoritarian movement around the world a good beating,” said the negotiator. “There’s a lot of people in the crowd,” he added, with his closed fists contrasting with the sophisticated cufflinks he flaunts on his perfect suit.

In fact, all studies point in the same direction: the autocratization of the world is a fact. Today, full democracy is a luxury, affecting only 6% of the world’s population, the lowest rate in 30 years.

But if Brazil overcomes the authoritarian threat in the coming weeks, the country will enter the international spotlight as a sign of resistance to the democracy-smashing movement.

If it resists the lure of the coup, the electoral process in Brazil will be referred to as a kind of hope that there are ways for democracy to survive, even in developing societies.

Easy? Definitely not. But overcoming the crisis will show the world what a mobilized civil society, a free professional press, responsible digital platforms, soldiers who know their place, and a Justice who can answer can do.

Therefore, it is no coincidence that democratic forces consider the 2022 election in Brazil to be one of the most important elections of the year. To halt the progress of the far right or to reveal the extent of the problems facing democracy?

In the biggest test in the history of our young democracy, it is also our position in the world at stake. Who are we and how do we want to be evaluated?

Legitimacy does not come from survey results alone. But the functioning of institutions, the ability to stop lying, and the power to guarantee survival to minorities.

Will democratic adventure be guaranteed? Definitely not. But in the eyes of the world, a Brazilian Spring would recognize the country as a major focus of resistance in the face of one of the greatest threats to fundamental freedoms and human rights in decades.