President-elect Jair Bolsonaro is often referred to as the “Trump of the Tropics,” a comparison Mr. Bolsonaro fuels himself, emulating the Trumpian style of politics. However, if we’re comparing Brazil’s next president to other populists around the world, we would be best served looking to the Philippines and President Rodrigo Duterte, with his macho law and order discourse and shoot-to-kill war on drugs policy.
Both have a penchant for making offensive and “unpresidential” remarks. One suggested soldiers should shoot female communist rebels in the vagina. The other told a congresswoman she was not worth raping and pledged to “machine gun” his opponents. Both were perceived as political outsiders despite having held public office for nearly three decades.
Messrs. Bolsonaro and Duterte are products of what Filipino political analyst and policy advisor Richard Heydarian calls “emerging market populism.” Different from right-wing populism in the United States and France, built largely on anti-immigration sentiment among the so-called “losers of globalization” from the middle class, Brazil and the Philippines are quite different, with populism taking root in other ways and propagating in institutional environments with limited checks and balances.
Just over one month ahead of Mr. Bolsonaro’s inauguration, Brazilians may look to learn a thing or two from the Philippines’ experience under Mr. Duterte, as both represent stark shifts in their countries political course.
“I think the most long-lasting effects of Duterte are on us Filipinos, culturally and on a psychological level,” says Liana Barcia, who left her home country one year ago to study in Germany. She recently visited her family in Manila. “Back home, people have become more paranoid. They definitely think they can be shot in broad daylight by anyone,” she says. There are fears Brazil could be headed down the same path.
Why do people support a “shoot-to-kill” policy?
EJK. This is an acronym most Filipinos have become familiar with, appearing on Tagalog-speaking national media with some regularity, despite standing for an English term. Extrajudicial killings, the number of which have surged in the Philippines due to Mr. Duterte’s war on drugs. The national police force has recorded 23,518 homicide cases since he took office in June 2016—an average of 33 people killed each day.
Despite this campaign of violence, Mr. Duterte remains almost as popular as when he was inaugurated. He enjoyed an approval rating of 65 percent in June 2018, in contrast...
Search
