The biggest crises of President Jair Bolsonaro’s administration have been of his own making, meaning that for 16 months, he has governed largely unopposed. But that could be about to change. Anti-fascist protests were seen in major Brazilian cities this weekend — at the same time as moderate politicians start to form broad coalitions against the government. Will these opposition efforts amount to anything?
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On this episode:
- Claudio Couto is a political scientist, head of Fundação Getulio Vargas’ Master’s program in Public Policy and Administration. He also writes as a columnist for The Brazilian Report. Claudio has conducted research on how Brazilian democracy works – and has written numerous papers on Brazil’s 1988 Constitution.
- Celso de Rocha Barros is a political scientist with a Ph.D. in sociology from Oxford University. He writes a column for newspaper Folha de S. Paulo, published every Monday morning.
Background reading:
- Tensions grow in Brazil with protests in Brasília, São Paulo, Rio de Janeiro, and Curitiba.
- Former Bolsonaro allies turn ‘anti-fascist’ as government opposition grows, writes Benjamin Fogel.
- A far-right group with links to neo-Nazism plans “to Ukraine” Brazil, reporter Renato Alves explains.
- Jair Bolsonaro is renouncing his campaign promises in order to form a coalition. The strategy has paid off so far, but history shows that his newly-celebrated alliances might have an expiration date.
- The far-right says the Constitution’s “Article 142” would give Bolsonaro powers to call a military intervention. Except it doesn’t, as Brenno Grillo explains.
Explaining Brazil is made by:
- Gustavo Ribeiro, editor in chief of The Brazilian Report. He has extensive experience covering Brazilian politics. His work has been featured across Brazilian and French media outlets, including Veja, Época, Folha de S.Paulo, Médiapart, and Radio France Internationale.
- Euan Marshall, editing. Euan is a journalist and translator who has lived in São Paulo, Brazil since 2011. Specializing in Brazilian soccer, politics and the connection between the two, his work has been published in The Telegraph, Al Jazeera, The Independent, among others.
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