The Brazilian left and its fetishes

Every now and then – but especially during the campaign season – one subject resurfaces: the way left-leaning parties in Brazil position themselves on authoritarian regimes they identify as “progressive,” “socialist,” or “communist.” Leaders of these parties are often obliged to take a stance on such regimes. Why, many voters ask, do these parties have such a favorable view of Cuba’s dictatorship, the Venezuelan spiral into hell, and the authoritarian rise in Nicaragua? These are, after all, the left-wing voices that so vociferously denounce the atrocities of Brazil’s military dictatorship, Israel’s abuses against Palestine, and American militarism worldwide.

This is not a new problem – nor is it exclusive to the left. However, it does affect the left in a more profound way.

A recent example of such incongruency happened with Manuela D’Ávila, a state lawmaker from Rio Grande do Sul and presidential nominee for the Communist Party of Brazil (PCdoB). During a TV program with multiple interviewers, she was pressured into explaining she sees the horrific human rights violations committed in Josef Stalin’s Soviet Union.

The candidate stumbled, evasively stating that...