Bolsonaro takes office :/

[camberiu]

maintain my vigilance in this regard , it's only days since he took office. These sorts of para military units are apt for misuse by authoritarian leaders after all.

I find the timing of your vigilance rather curious considering that such paramilitary force was originally created and extensively used by the former president, who to this day expresses admiration and support for the Maduro regime, to Cuba and Nicaragua, none of them batons of freedom, democracy and time of law.
I find it interesting that in all my years in this forum, I have never witnessed concern about the use of this paramilitary force until now.

 

[PoorSoul]

It is "selective-vigilance". I think that is the correct term to describe highly partisan people who suddenly show concern over every small action when someone not fitting their particular political views are in office. There was not a whisper about Lula and his ilk directly robbing the people yet now there is lots of concern of even the possibility that Bolsonaro will do the same despite the evidence not yet being in yet.

There is a lot of this selective-vigilance, on both political spectrums, and all it does is raise the FUD (fear, uncertainty, doubt) generated in society as everyone rushes to turn small, normal (or normalized) actions into huge crazy problems all dependent on who the one doing the action is. Of course, the general line of reason is that this normal action is being done to destroy society, benefit the few, etc, all because it does by someone in the out-group (someone not with same political affiliation). Basically sensationalizing things that should not be sensationalized.

It is a real disease that is infesting society and it is preventing people from having rational, reasoned, cool-headed conversations.

 

[camberiu]

I
It is a real disease that is infesting society and it is preventing people from having rational, reasoned, cool-headed conversations.

It is a sad state of affairs indeed. I do not particularly care for Bolsonaro. I personally think he is a populist demagogue that more likely than not will conduct a shitty presidency. I did not vote for him and never would. But the hysteria about him has gotten so bad that I am now frequently put in the absurd position of actually defending the guy.
No, he is not the devil incarnate. He is actually no worse than Lula was, he is just different. And even if he was, I see no evidence that he could undermine the republican institutions, the Constitution, the press and almost 50% of the population who fiercely dislikes him and turn Brazil into a dictatorship.
If Brazil could have been easily turned into a tyrant state, Lula would have done so years ago.

 

[camberiu]

This is an example of how bad things are:

Brazil's Bolsonaro begins firing 'left-wing' public servants


For the reader unaware of how things work in Brazil, this sounds terrible. A political witch hunt taking place where public servants are being targeted because of their political affiliations. Dictatorship is night, right?

Expect that this article is BULLSHIT.

Bolsonaro cannot and is not firing career public servants. That would be illegal. He is firing politically appointed public servants. The ones that were appointed by the previous administration and work for the elected official in charge at the time, not for the government. This is normal and standard operating procedure in any administration. Those are POLITICAL positions and he is within his right to fire whomever he wants on those roles and replace them with people politically aligned to him. Lula did the exact same thing once he replaced Fernando Henrique Cardoso as president. And his predecessor did the same thing...and so on.



FROM THE ARTICLE ITSELF, AFTER THE INFLAMMATORY HEADLINES:

" The purge will not affect those civil servants who enter the services through a competitive exam and are protected from partisan politics by the constitution. "



I am all for criticizing Bolsonaro, but that must be done right and for the right reason. This is fake news and only spreads hysteria and makes it more difficult to oppose him.

 

[camberiu]

Human Rights Watch - Hundreds of detainees face abuse, torture in Venezuela

Gleisi Hoffman, president of Brazil's Workers Party, goes to Caracas to honor Maduro's second term inauguration

Because torture and oppression are only bad when the right wingers do it.
I cannot help but wonder: Where are the "ever watchful" guardians of human rights/democracy that seem to inhabit this forum?

 

[Rich One]

Human Rights Watch - Hundreds of detainees face abuse, torture in Venezuela

Gleisi Hoffman, president of Brazil's Workers Party, goes to Caracas to honor Maduro's second term inauguration

Because torture and oppression are only bad when the right wingers do it.
I cannot help but wonder: Where are the "ever watchful" guardians of human rights/democracy that seem to inhabit this forum?

We need Camboriu, to unmask those left wingers , that in spite of the world wide failure of Democracies ruled by Socialist and Populist governments , for ideological reasons continue to support the dictatorial regimes of, Venezuela, Nicaragua and Cuba. For some individuals Human Rights apply only for violations committed by right wingers.

Michelle Bachelet a former Communist guerrillera, heads the UN Human Rights Committee in Geneva, will she ever visit and issue an honest report on Human Rights violations in Venezuela...?

 

[London2Baires]

As usual more whataboutism.

This thread is about Bolsonaro and the threat HE poses.

If you want to open a new thread about Venezuela feel free.

No one here has defended faux-leftist populist kleptocracies like maduro et Al.

But of course it's easier for those that support right wing populists to point to straw men and unrelated 'what about...'bs. instead of dealing with the issue at hand.

In case some here are unclear. Social-democratic political methodologies and ideologies are the way forward. If camberue et al had bothered asking any details about what alternative I think would be better to avoid the risks that Bolsonaro poses, I could have talked about that.

Instead all we get is : 'bla bla, you are a histerical maduro supporter or communist !!'

It's laughable , but totally expected.

Still not one of you Bolsonaro defenders commented on the extremely important economic and environmental issues in relation to the links I posted. Links by political scientists and well researched academics etc.

But that would be too hard right, to talk about the actual science and stats. Instead just point and laugh and say anyone who is anti Bolsonaro is a leftist provocateur

Same old baseless quotes and assertions, but nothing below the surface.

Such is life.

For those of you who actually care to look into details and not rhetoric, feel free to look again at the evidence I posted before.

And again, stop miacharectarising the alternative to Bolsonaro as being Venezuela under maduro. No one ever suggested that. What about some social democratic models instead of libertarian neo liberalism??

Really not sure why I'm bothering engaging as my substantive points get ignored.

"Never argue with a fool, they'll only drag you down to their level, where they'll then beat you with experience"

Cheers!

 

[camberiu]

This is my one great fear from the Bolsonaro administration: That he will dramatically escalate the drug war. A war that cannot possibly be won. If that happens, that conflict will spill out to nearby countries, including Argentina.

Brazil's Drug Gangs Are Prepared To Go To War With Bolsonaro (HBO)

 

[camberiu]

Brazil's acting president: We will not interfere on Venezuela's internal crisis.

 

[jantango]