Brazil thread 2023-

[Red Velvet]

Great news! Dilma’s role in the new Lula government is now out. She’s going to be the new president from the BRICS bank, working from Chinese headquarters of the institution.

Our allies from Russia, India, China and South Africa already gave the green light for Lula to make the substitution of the current Brazilian who is ahead of the bank, whose term is referent to the 2020-2025 period.

Good to see Dilma back in a big position after what was done to her, rooted in misogyny.

https://www.twitter.com/davidrkadler/status/1623731682929963008

[Red Velvet]

Yay, justice for Dilma! A high-profile international position for her after everything that was done against her.

She’s president of the BRICS Bank for around two years, until mid-2025. She will live in China, where the headquarters of the bank is located.

Besides the main 5 BRICS countries that started it (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa), there are three other non-Brics countries that joined the New Development Bank since it was founded. Bangladesh; UAE and very recently Egypt too! That why you see these other flags in the picture burito shared.

[Red Velvet]

LMAO just after Lula’s comments on USA stimulating the war in Ukraine, now the US government is amping up their proposal to the Amazon fund from the laughable $50 Million initially proposed to $500 Million now. 10 times bigger than their intention announced during Lula’s visit to Biden. You get minimally treated like your worth not when you cuddle to the US, but when you are neutral and starts leaning towards their competition.

Geopolitics is no different than business accords. You gotta know your worth so that others do too. You don’t simply choose a brand that’s ~bigger~ if they don’t give you a good offer in line with what you deserve.

500 Million dollars is definitely a start, but they still need to do lots of catching up to China, who they are lagging behind. The intention of investment calculated during the Chinese visit was $50 Billion and most of that directed not only to environment, but infrastructure cooperation; space programs; etc.

But anyway, I don’t mind turning to different places for different things. US is good for environmental cooperation; China for infrastructure projects and wider strategical ones; Russia can help with the Brazilian Nuclear project since that’s something US closed doors on us for bilateral cooperation; etc.

We’re getting treated with more respect, not less. The colonized media with provincial mentality talking as if Brazil and US were enemies now because of Lula’s comments found in shambles. Truth is that they have the same small-mind (in)capacities of former president Bolsonaro, who gave a lot of stuff to the Americans, like dropping the visa requirement, dropping the status as a in-development economy in the OMC and losing the benefits it brings, all for literally nothing other than empty promises.

There’s nothing as dumb/evil as liberal elites, I hate them so much, they’re the core scum in the country. When you’re in global south, it’s like, they constantly work AGAINST your self-interest, it’s like they try sabotaging their own country out of pure brainwash because they’ve watched too many Hollywood movies and like going to Disney or something. They see themselves as Western/part of the West when outside, nobody there sees them in that way.

[Red Velvet]

Protests were orquestrated by Portuguese right btw, Iniciativa Liberal and ESPECIALLY André Ventura from far-right Chega, which has deep ties with the Bolsonarist Brazilians living in Portugal.

The protests were promoted by Ventura even before Ukraine comments and focused more on calling Lula a corrupt thief and because of that he shouldn’t be allowed into Portugal lmao. Ukraine, once again, is used more as a scapegoat argument in order to broaden their narrative / political goal to be bought by the “normies” camp who aren’t that political but follow what people around them say.

It’s practically a tradition for Lula or any Brazilian leader tbh to be received in a more hostile manner in Portugal than in other European countries though, regardless of reason. It always happens and the more relevant/important the Brazilian leader is, the louder. Some Portuguese (and I don’t mean all and neither a majority, but a good chunk of them clearly) are weirdly butthurt whenever it comes to Brazil or getting closer ties to Brazil.

Lula is set to go to Spain and then UK after the Portugal visit and you don’t nearly hear the same type of anti-Brazil noise from those places. Spain and France usually tend to love and be more welcoming to Brazil politically much more in a broader way (broader because I talk about politicians/people in general, individually there are many Portuguese who are very welcoming and pro-Brazilian), without the same kind of strong opposition.

One common complaint I hear about some Portuguese is how Brazilian Portuguese is making European Portuguese (theirs) disappear because of strong influence Brazilian youtubers have on Portuguese children, or how there are many Brazilians living in Portugal changing their language lol. When as a millennial/gen Z, I actually see Portuguese youth talking in English much more than in actual Portuguese and no one gets concerned about that kind of “cultural colonization” as much as they get with the Brazilian accent lol. When I stayed in Lisbon, people my age constantly used this English-Portuguese mix of expressions for literally anything and it annoyed the hell out of me. To the point I knew that if was hearing actual pure Portuguese being spoken in Portugal, it came out of a Brazilian.

I lived in Spain for almost a year and it wasn’t like that. People talked with their language (or languages, in Barcelona’s case). I think it somewhat reflects Portugal own history/trend of being automatically tied with the UK mainly but also Europe as a main part of its identity since it’s a small country with 10M population only. While a national sovereignty aspect is much more alive in bigger places like Spain; Italy; France or the UK. It’s part of why the nationalist far-right didn’t rise so quick in Portugal in comparison to other places, which is that Portugal doesn’t have as much background to be as nationalistic as those places.

Which is why when some of them act that way but towards Brazilians only, it’s completely ridiculous. I 100% get, understand and respect Portugal being even more NATO friendly than their European neighbors and even the use of English being more prevalent because of this aspect. It’s the fact that their concern for their ~sovereignty~ only ever seems to exist when it comes to whatever Brazil-related topic comes out, which inevitably sounds fake as hell and motivated by OTHER reasonings they don’t want to admit as Portugal in general doesn’t have reasons to be like that at all.

And that is the reason it’s ALWAYS the Portuguese right that appropriates an Anti-Brazil narrative. It’s actually pathetic the “nationalism” from the Chega types when many of them are actually butthurt for not having many current reasons to be nationalist these days and despite looking down on Brazil out of jealousy (as we have reasons in the conditions we are in, for better or worse), they still behaved like Bolsonaro simps. While no one here in Brazil really knows who or what an “André Ventura” is.

[Red Velvet]

As I said, I’m not talking of most Portuguese, but the more conservative segments who clearly do often show hatred or resentment towards Brazil/Brazilians.

I know it’s definitely not the majority of people at all, but I’m talking about how this Anti-Brazil element is way more prevalent in the Portuguese conservative segments in a way it isn’t in say, Spain or France. Which are places that their conservative counterparts simply don’t care that much about Brazil, which makes the overall perceived reception much more positive as the left tends to indeed treat Lula as a rock star in general while the conservatives simply don’t really care. In Portugal you always hear some individual people (not even that far-right conservative like in other places, even center-right types!) making this obnoxious and disproportionate kind of noise even during Lula’s first two terms.

Even the notion/joke that “Brazil is colonizing Portugal” that I sometimes hear from people makes absolute no sense to me. It’s something the Portuguese ex-boyfriend of my cousin said to me while I was visiting there, not in a negative offensive sense or anything - only to point out the increasing amount of Brazilians and Brazilian influence that he was noticing in Portugal.

Like, I just don’t understand how the presence of more Brazilians and Brazilian Portuguese is even supposed to be more “noticeable” and news-worthy than the fact many in Portuguese youth almost speak more English than Portuguese these days! Even if we’re just joking about it, shouldn’t that be way more striking and weird for the average person, or in the case of the far-right “nationalist” types, cause of concern? There were occasion where I had to ask some Portuguese people to speak to me in Portuguese instead of English, while I was Brazilian visiting freaking Portugal.

The impression I usually get in general is that the Portuguese feel much much closer to US/UK than to Brazil/the Portuguese community in general. Which I suppose it’s fine on its own and reflects the importance of European/Western identity as a main part of Portuguese national identity, but you would never see the Anglos behaving the same way. Even UK would 100% go to war with Europe before minimally turning their backs against the US.

[Red Velvet]

Portugal of course is aligned and closer with Western countries. Portugal is part of Europe, which is part of NATO. However, that doesn't mean that Portugal should have bad relations with Brazil, on the contrary, we share a history and a link that should be preserved for social, economic and political reasons, but, I also understand that Brazil has different interests. Brazil is a vast continental country, with its own strategy and plans and we have to accept it, even if we disagree with it or not. To compare, look at the relationship between the UK and India, both share a strong link in history and culture, but both have different interests and goals for their place in the world.

Yup, I completely agree with this particular paragraph. Brazil position has nothing to do with Portugal and Portugal position has nothing to do with Brazil either. I wish the mainstream media types were aware of this though, instead of acting scandalized.

[Red Velvet]

Portugal of course is aligned and closer with Western countries. Portugal is part of Europe, which is part of NATO. However, that doesn't mean that Portugal should have bad relations with Brazil, on the contrary, we share a history and a link that should be preserved for social, economic and political reasons, but, I also understand that Brazil has different interests. Brazil is a vast continental country, with its own strategy and plans and we have to accept it, even if we disagree with it or not. To compare, look at the relationship between the UK and India, both share a strong link in history and culture, but both have different interests and goals for their place in the world.

Yup, I completely agree with this particular paragraph. Brazil position has nothing to do with Portugal and Portugal position has nothing to do with Brazil either. I wish the mainstream media types were aware of this though, instead of acting scandalized.

Many pundits here in Portugal have pointed out that the Foreign office should for once understand that present-day Brazil is not the same of the 70's, 80's, 90's or even early 2000's, it has changed and that Portugal, and other countries, should recognized that. But, because of this change, Brazil has also to understand that it cannot "dar uma no cravo e outra na ferradura" (give with one hand and take with the other) and not expect reactions, some of them very negative.

Oh there are multiple Brazils going on simultaneously, which is something to be resolved because the elites had their say for way too long. I believe the entire global south, not just Brazil, is under a transition period where they tend to become more assertive and driven by their self-interests but they all still suffer from some significant level of influence from those groups who are a minority but have lots of power/influence in making themselves heard. Which is where the mixed signals probably come from.

I think we only really disagree regarding Portugal’s natural position being inherently with NATO/US-alliance sphere of influence just because it’s European though. Europe and US to me are natural competitors and the only big common ground that pushes them together is Russia. Though I appreciate the understanding that we naturally have different interests even if we disagree on what exactly those interests would be.

As I said, despite the mainstream media hysteria on the matter, there are many nuances to the discussion that more and more Portuguese are becoming aware of, even if Portugal in general tends to be even more NATO friendly than its neighbors like France or Spain. Like in this video, I think the Portuguese woman expresses pretty well not just the Brazilian position but how she questions Portugal and European role as a whole in the new world order dynamics.

https://twitter.com/OssandaLiber/status/1650057678134157313?cxt=HHwWgoC9weitl-Yt...
And she’s apparently a conservative, from the nationalist “new right” brand, which shows again the distinctive sides from both the right and left emerging.

https://twitter.com/OssandaLiber/status/1647887515922186240

https://twitter.com/OssandaLiber/status/1647891595168034819

[Red Velvet]

https://twitter.com/lazarorosa25/status/1650836206945546242?ref_src=twsrc%5Egoog...
Great moment in Lula’s speech to the Portuguese Parliament today.

Some few far-right and right-wing Portuguese members of congress tried interrupting the speech and were reprimanded with anger by the president of Portuguese Assembly, Augusto Santos Silva, whose attitude was applauded by most congress members who stood to clap.

I love how he angrily demands same respect that is given to the Portuguese president and literally demands for those people to not put shame in Portugal’s name. I knew the Anti-Brazil butthurt resented crowd was always a (very loud and amplified by media) minority in the country like they always were. Most Portuguese love and respect Brazil and the difference of positions

Lula heads to Spain today to also sign deals with this other Iberian partner and then I think he heads to UK for the Charles ceremony, but not sure.

[Red Velvet]

https://news.gallup.com/poll/474596/russia-suffers-global-rebuke-invasion.aspx

This number took me by surprise, but a whopping 75 percent of Brazilians currently disapprove of the Russian leadership, the most in all of South America. Maybe Red Velvet is not the spokesperson for the people of Brazil he seems to believe he is, nor is the concept of a Global South a true alliance.

Lol not in any place every person agrees on everything and therefore no one can be a 100% spokesperson of anything. I do represent however, a significant share and growing trend that has gained track in the global south since the early 00s. And despite some disagreements I have with Lula/PT in internal matters, I can comfortably say that foreign policy is what I love about him the most and where he has my absolute trust.

The poll is a nothing burguer btw, it only shows that Brazil has a leadership position on the matter while still not approving Putin, destroying the Western narrative that everyone against unilateral sanctions or hawkish anti-peace discourse necessarily supports Putin lol

It’s what the current leadership believes in though: global south cooperation and multilateralism. No country should be able to impose economic punishments outside multilateral organizations that are truly representative of how the world looks. If he isn’t the best spokesperson for Brazil, idk if anyone can really be:

https://twitter.com/BTnewsroom/status/1648076298445619200

[Red Velvet]

I will say one thing though. I think Lula speech in China and stuff like putting Dilma out of all possible people in the BRICS bank presidency actually has the main focus of giving those matters more visibility in the center of discussions - both in the domestic and international arena.

Kinda like he was resuscitating the vibe from when he governed in the 00s because it has been 10 years since I’ve seen those topics being so discussed as they are being now. And with the advance/popularization of the internet, they now seem to be in the mouths of literally everyone instead of just a more politically educated group.

Here’s some of the content (analysis/discussions/funny and weird memes) in Brazil I’ve seen being produced ONLY after Lula’s visit to China and his calls for a less hawkish approach from western nations, showing a huge rise in the amount of interest for these discussions regardless of what exact position each person has:

https://twitter.com/JornalOGlobo/status/1650901369505845250
https://twitter.com/1eozinho01/status/1648696738142732289
https://twitter.com/loopsieart/status/1649065449563488258
https://twitter.com/jairmearrependi/status/1649035215346466816
Which is a LOT of content coming from everywhere, even being consumed outside the ultra-political niche, by average people and casual observers. So if the point was just to stimulate these discussions (nationally and internationally), whatever people’s positions are, the positioning was already a success.

[Red Velvet]

I’ve never seen so much international interest on Brazil before.

Reuters is reporting internal stuff like the raise of minimum wage and tax exemptions for the lower middle class. And NYT comes up with an uneducated hit piece on the MST (Movimento dos Sem-Terra) movement, which calls for unused land redistribution. It really feels like the NYT piece was written by a Bolsonarist based on the same talking points lol

https://twitter.com/Reuters/status/1652832873202819074
https://twitter.com/nytimes/status/1652789946699112451
https://twitter.com/BrianMteleSUR/status/1652648259616120832
Stuff like Telegram restriction and Bolsonarists being crazy I always saw as normal reporting because it ties with discussions the Americans are already having and they find a way to associate/relate to themselves more easily, like censorship of online platforms or the Trump populist far-right movement.

But there’s this increasing trend of stuff very specific to internal and casual Brazil matters (other than the usual cliches/stereotypes) getting a spotlight that I don’t remember them getting before.

We’ve really made it, it seems. Lula is saying too many inconvenient truths that aren’t internationally said or embraced in western spaces and it’s hitting a nerve. Besides all that Ukraine stuff there was also this in his visit to Spain:

https://twitter.com/OnlinePalEng/status/1652612652579815427

[Red Velvet]

I think this PL das Fake News is the first policy I strongly disagree with the government tbh.

It’s way too short-sighted imo. The government is “trustworthy” to regulate what it judges misinformation on the internet only if you like the government or if it’s a serious pragmatic one.

Imagine a crazy leader like Bolsonaro or someone like him in power, having control over whatever agency regulates social media? The past four years would have been even more unbearable because you wouldn’t know there was such strong opposition to him. And while governments come and go, policies/legislation stays. What if another person like that comes to power and finds themselves with this power?

I genuinely think the solution to fake news is people being vaccinated by it simply allowing it happen. With time, people gain the critical sense and adapt to the new “dangers” from an evolving society. So much that it’s more older people that are subjected into falling for fake news more often.

All the mainstream TV media strongly aligning with government by convenience to support this legislation also smells. Their interests are in play as they’ve lost space AND credibility to social media, so any internet speech regulation must sound like their favorite proposal yet from the government. When the talk some years ago was about regulating Media in general - in order to break up media monopolies and strengthen the rise of independent medias - they were all strongly against.

It’s bizarre how nowadays it increasingly feels like the most reasonable position is the opposite of what most people on TV are saying.

[Red Velvet]

I believe the matters that would be regulated are listed in the project and most of them sound pretty reasonable, especially regarding ones about actual crimes committed online, but the framing of this as “PL das Fake News” creates so many problems…

I don’t think fake news should ever be restricted tbh. If anything people should get more of a critical sense in order to investigate and decide for themselves.

Even some of the “hate speech” restriction sounds kinda off even if less bad. Because the interpretation of what exactly constitutes or not stuff like sexism or racism can change depending of the observing person in power. Imagine Bolsonaro (agencies under his control) using idk, valid criticisms/attacks on his wife as “sexism” in order to repress people from talking it. Same thing could be used by others too.

I do think it’s a more complex discussion though because censorship and/or abuse of power already exists by these big tech foreign companies and their algorithms dictating what gets discussed, so I do think SOMETHING needs to be done but not sure what exactly. I am not sure more regulation over whatever is said is necessarily best path though.

In the end I think the most ideal should be more transparency from these platforms regarding their guidelines, algorithms, etc. But not just them tbh. Let’s be real: a bias always existed and will always exist from all sides, even TV news have their own interests when reporting the news and that was never considered a problem even if the Brazilian mainstream media has already done stuff like, supporting and validating a military coup in 1964 through the use if their influence.

The main differential component this time is that these big tech companies are all gringos, which adds the national sovereignty concern discussion this time - and it’s actually the strongest main argument IMO in favor of the PL. After all, we’ve seen these big tech companies allowing, sometimes even pushing, specific narratives over others during the past decade, many of which are regarded now as an embarrassment.

So I guess it’s like, a matter of what your bigger fear is and who you trust less tbh. Your own national government, which can eventually easily became authoritarian as we’ve seen in 2018, OR some US private company who holds zero stakes on the national interest and who knows whether they can be used to promote instability when convenient to foreign interests?

[Red Velvet]

Spain and I think France are the best potential Brazilian allies inside the West for the construction of a peace plan.

Spain has always been a moderation voice inside NATO while also having Latin friendship ties to us and France is naturally more independent, giving value to an independent European sovereignty.

Other countries are culturally more distant or with smaller weight in geopolitical dynamics. Germany is with a leadership vacuum post-Merkel and still has not found its voice, they feel lost and confused in this whole thing. Portugal should have been our biggest supporters on paper but as I said before, there are old historic European internal dynamics + actual resentment from a minority against us that makes this not be possible. Eastern Europe otoh seems set on harsh warhawk path, so any initial movement you can get for this will have to come from Western Europe.

Pedro Sanchez from Spain is meeting with Biden soon and will probably ask for the US to give more weight to Brazil and China peace proposals, according to a Spanish diplomatic source to Reuters.

[Red Velvet]

Interesting questions regarding the PL das Fake News. I think it’s the first I see actually. Most people support more regulation, so that shouldn’t be a winning issue for the right to make noise about:

- Do you consider necessary regulation/control of communication in message apps, websites and searching online platforms?

51% say “Yes, it is necessary”
38% say “No, it isn’t necessary”

- Do you consider democratic the regulation/control of communication on the internet?

49% say “Yes, it’s democratic”
38% say “No, it isn’t democratic”

Regarding international issues, the government is aligned with the population regarding Ukraine, with its actions being perceived as neutral and population defending exactly this neutrality.

It was also a correct decision to not lend money to Argentina through BNDES, as that would be an actual international issue that most people would take issue with. The “good brother” internationalism from 00s would be extremely unpopular nowadays with the popularization of nationalism combined with Argentina’s bad reputation as a reliable payer. Which is why Lula turned to China to possibly help Argentina through the brics bank instead.

[Red Velvet]

Lula questions the legitimacy of the G7 at the bloc's summit and attacks minimal state

Invited to participate in the G7 summit, President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva used his speech at the event this Saturday (20) to question the very legitimacy of the group and defend a reform of global institutions to allow emerging countries to have more voice in decisions.

Lula also criticized what he called the "mistake" of neoliberalism and, before the presidents of the richest democracies in the world, questioned the failure of the main powers to deal with international crises.

When listing the various challenges facing the world, Lula stated that the solution "does not lie in the formation of antagonistic blocs or answers that contemplate only a small number of countries".

"This will be particularly important in this context of transition to a multipolar order, which will require profound changes in institutions", he said.

"Our decisions will only be legitimate and effective if they are taken and implemented democratically," he said, referring to the need for more countries to be part of global decisions. At the meeting, Lula was sitting next to Joe Biden, president of the USA.

The Brazilian was hesitant to accept the invitation from the Japanese hosts and only agreed to go to the summit after it became clear that the invited countries would have more space. In addition to Brazil, governments such as India, Indonesia, Vietnam and others are in Hiroshima.

“It makes no sense to call on emerging countries to contribute to resolving the 'multiple crises' facing the world without their legitimate concerns being addressed, and without them being adequately represented in the main global governance bodies”

In the midst of the G7, Lula preferred to highlight the existence of another group, the G20. But he defended that it be expanded to the African continent.

“The consolidation of the G-20 as the main space for international economic concertation was an undeniable advance. It will be even more effective with a composition that dialogues with the demands and interests of all regions of the world. This implies more adequate representation of African countries”

Lula once again defended UN reform: "Coalitions are not an end in themselves, and serve to leverage initiatives in plural spaces such as the UN system and its partner organizations".

"Without reform of its Security Council, with the inclusion of new permanent members, the UN will not recover the effectiveness, political and moral authority to deal with the conflicts and dilemmas of the 21st century", he said.

“A more democratic world in decision-making that affects everyone is the best guarantee of peace, sustainable development, the rights of the most vulnerable and protection of the planet. Before it's too late”

Criticism of neoliberalism, the minimal State and insufficient reforms

While speaking, Lula also recalled that the last time he participated in the G7, in 2009, the world was facing "a global financial crisis of catastrophic proportions, which led to the creation of the G20 and exposed the fragility of the dogmas and mistakes of neoliberalism".

But he regretted that all the reforms proposed at that time were not implemented.

"The reforming impetus of that moment was insufficient to correct the excesses of market deregulation and the apology of the minimal State", said the Brazilian president.

“The global financial architecture has changed little and the foundations of a new economic governance have not been laid”

Lula also pointed to "important setbacks, such as the weakening of the multilateral trade system". "The protectionism of rich countries has gained strength and the World Trade Organization remains paralyzed. Nobody remembers the Development Round", he insisted.

According to him, the challenges accumulated and got worse. "With each threat we fail to face, we generate new urgencies", he highlighted.

Lula also pointed out that, today, the world is experiencing the overlapping of multiple crises: the covid-19 pandemic, climate change, geopolitical tensions, a war in the heart of Europe, pressures on food and energy security and threats to democracy.

"To face these threats, it is necessary to have a change of mentality. It is necessary to overthrow myths and abandon paradigms that have collapsed", he defended.

"The global financial system has to be at the service of production, work and employment. We will only have real sustainable growth directing efforts and resources towards the real economy", he said.

He also criticized the way the world deals with indebted countries.

"The foreign indebtedness of many countries, which victimized Brazil in the past and today devastates Argentina, is the cause of blatant and growing inequality, and requires a treatment from the International Monetary Fund that considers the social consequences of adjustment policies", he said.

"Unemployment, poverty, hunger, environmental degradation, pandemics and all forms of inequality and discrimination are problems that demand socially responsible responses", he spoke, defending a "State that induces public policies aimed at guaranteeing fundamental rights and well-being collective".

Lula called for "a State that fosters the ecological and energy transition, green industry and infrastructure".

"The false dichotomy between growth and environmental protection should already be overcome. The fight against hunger, poverty and inequality must return to the center of the international agenda, ensuring adequate financing and technology transfer. For this we already have a compass, multilaterally agreed upon: the 2030 Agenda", he added.

“Shall we have no illusions. No country will be able to face today's systemic threats through isolation”

https://noticias.uol.com.br/colunas/jamil-chade/2023/05/20/lula-questiona-legitimidade-do-g7-em-cupula-do-bloco-e-quer-reforma-da-onu.htm

[Red Velvet]

Some other stuff from Brazil in G7:

- Japan is saying it will end visa restrictions for Brazilian travellers after a Brazil-Japan meeting.

- There were also Bilateral meetings between Brazil-Australia; Brazil-Indonesia; Brazil-France and Brazil-Germany that happened. Also a meeting with the IMF director.

- There’s a scheduled bilateral meeting of Brazil-India, before the arrival of Zelenskyy

- Ukraine is requesting meetings with leaders from both India and Brazil

- USA wants a meeting to talk with Brazil (and India too) about the Ukraine War as well but that isn’t scheduled by the Brazilian agenda that was publicly announced by Brazil

[Red Velvet]

Well, the global south/multipolarity theory clearly is making a lot of important people clutch their pearls, but including also some posters here if a random team no one in Brazil even heard if in middle of a Paraná Ukrainian immigrant reduct is now more representative of the country than… the last two presidents we had and that summed up >90% of the vote in the past election lol

Both were/are attacked by Western pro-Ukrainian fanatics, Bolsonaro for calling Zelenskyy a comedian clown and meeting in person with Putin just as the war was starting, Lula for saying both sides have responsibility for the war and asking for more pragmatism for the sake of peace.

And guess what? That’s seen as neutral behavior by each of their supporters. Tru for both of them. Finally at last there’s an unspoken consensus regarding some major foreign policy matter despite the big differences.

The world order you guys seek to defend has already ended. You can either accept to take a new role in the new world we’re seeing being drawn or try to postpone the inevitable. Because the future clearly is in the South and belongs to it.

[Red Velvet]

The UK chancellor, James Cleverly, says Brazil has a decisive role in the remodelling of a new world order and defended a Permanent Seat for Brazil in the UN Security Council as a way to reflect power shifts that have moved the center of gravity to the South.

https://twitter.com/cabrestosemno/status/1661771096142626819

[Red Velvet]

Brazilian Congress is the dirtiest entity in the entire world, it’s like being forever subjected to the “Big Center” corrupt rule thirsty for power and money, no matter who is elected president.

Has always been like this but it has been largely exacerbated after past decade with “Big Center” emboldened after doing Dilma’s impeachment and Bolsonaro basically giving up governing and giving up his entire power to these people in exchange of support.

We basically have a White Parliamentarism in Brazil these days with a congress that is completely shameless about doing open blackmail. They know they can eternally govern the country now because no one ever holds the Congress accountable for anything, population only kills themselves on fights about the president.

To add to this, the past decade we passed through largely weakened the Executive with the delegitimization of Executive leaders (Dilma; Temer; Bolsonaro) opening a vacuum of power that these people were quick to go after.

Lula is acting like it was like when he governed and not immediately giving everything what these people demand, rightfully so as we need SOME minimal executive leadership. But I think it’s not going to last, he’s just pretending to resist because if you give up to their demands too soon the bunch of leeches will be soon be bolder and be asking for even MORE.

At least I hope it’s this and not a more ideological decision of finally putting a full stop for congress blackmail for more hold at power that belongs to the executive.

You couldn’t stand up to congress in 00s, imagine if that would be viable now after they got to taste even more power in the last decade thanks to the population infighting. Just bribe these leeches from congress when it’s inevitable, as long as you don’t give them full power to rule the country like Bolsonaro did you’re still being responsible as hell. It’s the absolute most you can do in this country if people just choose to do nothing about the congress.

The “Big Center” politicians are elected by the people and if they still vote for parties that basically exist just for the sake of getting more power for themselves, then they AGREE with this behavior even if it’s by omission, lack of interest or full political ignorance. So I don’t get why presidents are always expected these high moral purity standards when working with an ELECTED congress that is the scummiest scum from Planet Earth and are never expected to be something different or better because “there’s nothing you can do about it”.

Bolsonaro was right in getting these people support, his mistake was fully giving up his power to these people in exchange of this. There has to be a middle ground where you don’t let these people govern for you while still attending some of these leeches demands.

I think this difficult balance (that became even harsher after last decade) is what the government is trying to measure right now even if it costs some losses in congress. Because the lesson from Bolsonaro is that it’s dangerous and damaging to the country interests to open the door for the congress to hold even more power but at the same time, you have the Dilma lesson that if you don’t somewhat do it to a level they can be comfortable with, they will just cut your head off until someone who is submissive to them is in power.

Brazilian Congress is nothing more than one giant militia gang anyways, designed to extort us. You shouldn’t stimulate their abusive behavior even more but sometimes you have to pay the fees in order for the gang to not murder you in a public square as a “warning” to the rest of the population. You postpone and be resistant to paying them until it’s literally impossible to keep doing so.

[Red Velvet]

The Ministry MP easily passed, with no surprises for anyone who didn’t have doubts about the congress bluff in an attempt to get more compromises by the Executive Government.

But it’s noticeable that the Supreme Court did this on the same day of these tensions:

https://twitter.com/nadanovonofront/status/1664082923845308417
The only thing I disagree with this tweet is that nothing had to be given to congress. It had a cost of R$ 1.7 Billion in amendments for congress to allocate - which is money that should be distributed by the executive, the legislative function is to legislate and not execute stuff by deciding where the money goes to.

Still good balancing move by both Lula and the STF who suddenly got their senses during the past years. With the Judiciary countering the Strong Legislative after a whole decade of active and continuous weakening of the Executive + the Senate also being way more reasonable to dialogue with than the generalized crooks and clowns in the Congress, there is also very limited opening for Arthur Lira to be Brazil’s Prime Minister like he think he is.

We need to put the congress back on its place, not easily compromising to any crying demand from theirs but still accepting that we will have to often give some stuff in exchange of limited victories considering this Congress composition and how it had its worst characteristics emboldened alongside the past 10 years.

There’s a middle ground between being a Dilma (excessive moral integrity to get involved with congress, refuses to give them anything, gets f***ed over) and a Bolsonaro (shameless and weak, gives congress full power in exchange of support, survives being a pointless Queen of England with more news headlines than power) and that’s what most people expect and want

[Red Velvet]

Lula decided to appoint his former personal lawyer Cristiano Zanin to the Supreme Court, in order to replace Ricardo Lewandowski, who will get retired. Zanin needs approval of the Senate.
Since presidents name the judges of the Supreme Court, we expect that they follow the political views of the president, like it happens in the USA. But appointing a personal lawyer is not a good idea in ordinary times. However, we don't live in ordinary times.
A further problem: we don't really know Zanin ideological views. We know only that he was Lula's lawyer when the president was sued during the Lava Jato Operation.

What?? How can a lawyer become a judge of a Supreme Court? Isn't it mandatory to have a judge certification? It doesn't make any sense and it doesn't look good.

No, it’s not mandatory. Most of current members weren’t. Actually, technically you don’t even need a Law degree to be nominated to the Supreme Court. The only requirements from the constitution are these:

O Supremo Tribunal Federal é o órgão de cúpula do Poder Judiciário, e a ele compete, precipuamente, a guarda da Constituição, conforme definido no art. 102 da Constituição da República.

  É composto por onze Ministros, todos brasileiros natos (art. 12, § 3º, inc. IV, da CF/1988), escolhidos dentre cidadãos com mais de 35 e menos de 70 anos de idade, de notável saber jurídico e reputação ilibada (art. 101 da CF/1988), e nomeados pelo Presidente da República, após aprovação da escolha pela maioria absoluta do Senado Federal (art. 101, parágrafo único, da CF/1988).

Notable juridic knowledge is a vague description that any people with Law formation can fit. But like I said, technically you don’t even need a degree if you can prove or convince the senate that you have “notable juridic knowledge”.

[Red Velvet]

Those seem like weird requirements to be a Supreme Court judge. Is it also a direct and final appointment by the President, thus not passing by a vote in Congress?

There is a vote in the senate for approval where they need 50% of the vote. In the congress there is nothing, rightfully so.

The person appointed by the president goes through a public questioning in the senate, where the senators can test their technical knowledge if they want and also make other personal questions if they had doubts. After that, they vote and they decide whether to approve the president decision or not.

It’s just like the process that happens in the USA regarding their Supreme Court nominees.

If you ask me, Lula is 100% right to pick someone of his trust for the nomination but we should also be discussing more what Zanin personally believes in so that we don’t have any future surprises. For now, we only know he was Lula’s lawyer on the car-wash so he’s likely to have a “garantista” approach to law over a “punitivista” one.

Garantista = focus on the rights of the accused being fully exhausted
Punitivista = has a more punitive-oriented leaning

Bolsonaro nominees were two conservatives on social issues but they also tend to a more garantista leaning.

Which makes it important Zanin is more with the 8 other members of the court on social issues. Most of the social advances we had in last decade - celulas-tronco; criminalization of homophobia as a type of racism; lgbt rights like gay marriage and blood donation; etc all came by the supreme court as the legislative is basically a an absent center-right “Big Center” stronghold uninterested in those discussions.

Of the 10 current supreme court ministers (there are 11 spots total), we have:
- 1 nominated by FHC (1995-2002)
- 2 nominated by Lula (2003-2010)
- 4 nominated by Dilma (2011-2016)
- 1 nominated by Michel Temer (2016-2018)
- 2 nominated by Bolsonaro (2019-2022)

So this will be the 3rd minister by Lula, replacing a minister he nominated, I think. The outgoing minister is the one Lula has best relations with so he likely wants to keep someone in there who is loyal to him for that particular spot.

Lula is also doing what Bolsonaro did regarding nominating someone in their 40s, meaning they can last 3 decades in supreme court before reaching retirement age. There wasn’t this concern pre-Bolsonaro but since Bolsonaro started stimulating a more ideological divide over having a technical approach with his 2 nominations, this was inevitable development. You cannot risk now putting someone who will be there for just a decade and then be possibly replaced by someone picked by a conservative president. This concern didn’t exist but now it does.

Lula has a 2nd and final Supreme Court nomination later in 2nd half of this year, as Rosa Weber will reach compulsory retirement age of 75. She’s one of the 4 who was appointed by Dilma.

Unless anyone dies or chooses to retires earlier or something, no other nominations will be dome during Lula’s term. But it’s important to stress Brazil only survived the last election chaos because we had a Supreme Court that acted to preserve democracy, thanks to its composition.

And Alexandre de Moraes (nominated by Temer) is actually the most active in punishing anti-democratic Bolsonaristas, becoming public enemy #1 for these people. There are online jokes and memes about “Xandão”, with hardline Bolsonaristas arguing he’s authoritarian for putting constant restrictions on their ~freedom of speech~

[Red Velvet]

https://twitter.com/eixopolitico/status/1664452868722630656
Bolsonaro goes to a football game but gets a negative reception from the crowd in São Paulo.

[Red Velvet]

https://twitter.com/rede_marco/status/1665077563654389760
Lula was talking with Pope Francis on the telephone about the defense of peace solution in Ukraine and about the fight against poverty and invited the catholic leader to visit Brazil. But before this, Lula will visit the Pope in Vatican City. June 21st.

In the next day he will immediately go to France, where he will stay for two days. He will see President Macron and will participate in a summit meeting about a new financial global pact, where will be the President of the World Bank; the UN general secretary; the president of the EU and the German Prime Minister Olaf Scholz. Between others.

Lula has already had more bilateral meetings with foreign leaders in six months than Bolsonaro had in four years. And it doesn’t look like Lula’s foreign agenda will slow down.

These are the international trips Lula has done since assuming his 3rd term in January, alongside scheduled future ones:

January 22-25: Argentina (State Visit + CELAC summit)
January 25: Uruguay (State Visit)

February 9-11: United States (State Visit)

April 13-14: China (State Visit)
April 15-16: UAE (State Visit)

April 21-25: Portugal (State Visit)
April 25-26: Spain (State Visit)

May 5-6: United Kingdom (State Visit + Charles coronation)

May 18-21: Japan (G7 summit)

June 21: Vatican City (State Visit)
June 22-23: France (State Visit + other foreign meetings I mentioned)

July 7: Argentina (Mercosur summit)

July: São Tomé and Príncipe (Portuguese Language countries community summit)

August 22-24: South Africa (BRICS summit)

September 5: United States (UN General Assembly event)

September 9-10: India (G20 summit)

November 4-6: UAE (UNFCCC summit)

And those are just the future multilateral events for the future, I am sure there will be many State visits added as the year goes by.

Not to mention these are only the trips he made outside. Lula has also received many leaderships from outside who made State visits to Brasília:

January 30: Germany (Olaf Scholz)

May 9: Netherlands (Mark Rutte)

May 29-31: South American Countries Summit (Every South American country participated, sending their top leaders to Brasília with the exception of Peru who sent their foreign relation minister me thinks. Peruvian president is prohibited to leave the country due to domestic issues).

And even before assuming, Lula was invited to foreign events just after his election victory, which he participated on too even though Bolsonaro was still the president lmao:

November 2022: Egypt (UNFCCC summit)

December 2022: Portugal (non-official State visit)