Symbols and concepts such as freedom of expression, freedom, family, democracy, sovereignty, the national flag and even the Brazilian national team jersey were hijacked by Bolsonarist groups and became the true flags of the far-right movement. Now, the team of president-elect Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva is considering ways to encourage the recovery of such concepts in an operation that should include domestic actions and foreign policy.
Members of the working groups formed by the transition team pointed to the UOL report that the attack was intended to occur immediately as soon as Lula took office on January 1, 2023.
At least two issues are being considered that could lead the transition team’s closest advisors to put the issue on the agenda in the first year of government.
The first is to save symbols that are actually national. The assessment is that such elements cannot be captured by the far right. The national team’s shirt or flag are the most visible elements, and the hope is that the World Cup will serve to signal progressive leaders that the use of such marks is legitimate.
However, this will only be the most superficial part of the rescue operation. There will also be a debate for the recovery of concepts such as freedom, freedom of expression and even democracy that have been deformed by Bolsonarist groups.
This rescue is not just a ploy to save national symbols. What is predicted is that if kidnapping is undermined by the progressive retake of these concepts, there will be a real impact on Bolsonarist groups as some of their main banners will have migrated to the progressive camp.
The aim, therefore, is to purge the far-right of its slogans, pseudo-motivations and conceptual references. Or at least demand that he start looking for new pillars to gather his most radical supporters.
According to sources on the transition team, a significant part of this recovery package will go through a dispute in international forums regarding these terms. Over the past four years, Bolsonarist diplomacy has used Itamaraty structures and parallel paths with actors such as Eduardo Bolsonaro, Damares Alves, Angela Gandra and Filipe Martins to coordinate actions with ultra-conservative movements abroad.
This was reflected in the measures Itamaraty took to defend resolutions on freedom of expression in debates at the UN, in an effort to fully redefine the concept. In this case, the so-called freedom will be used as an absolute value, and legal loopholes will be opened for lies, slander, misinformation, hate speech and incitement to violence.
On other issues, such as the family, Brazil has formed alliances with ultra-conservative governments to try to influence behind-the-scenes international organizations, including in the healthcare field. However, the family would only consist of one man and one woman.
Therefore, it is promised that there will be a discussion on the concepts and an effort to give them a positive, progressive and rights-expanding connotation once again.
The assessment is that if 20 years ago the Lula government focused on creating new alliances and structures around the world, part of foreign policy in 2023 will focus on foreign bodies in restoring concepts and values to be able to return fully. guides the national debate on the enlargement of rights.
According to USP professor Conrado Hübner Mendes, “The adoption of a vocabulary with great political legitimacy is quite common in the authoritarian and reactionary movements of the 20th century, which resonate with the autocratization movements of the 21st century”.
“In general, a lexicon of liberalism. It is essentially a discursive and rhetorical operation. Authoritarians do not relinquish their monopoly on ideals of freedom, national sovereignty, democracy, rule of law, family. Conceptual about it: all these words collapse strongest, white, male, heterosexual It has evolved into the idea of a simple society organized on the basis of a pre-modern hierarchy, ruled by law,” he explained.
“This group is not subject to borders and its violence is defined as freedom. A national state that refuses to abide by international law is defined as sovereign. The gay is not free to recognize himself as such, but the white man is free. rape,” he said.
According to him, “there are no bonds of solidarity, reciprocity, equality, responsibility. The bonds of community that impose boundaries, which liberal philosophy calls the transition from the state of nature to the civil state”.
He added, “An idea of freedom where pluralism, diversity, and obligations do not fit. And if none of that fits, it’s not really human rights they’re talking about (although they don’t give up on vocabulary) but a demand for raw power that reproduces and crystallizes social hierarchies.”
source: Noticias
