How Brazil should deal with the bolsonarista insurrection
Punish those who broke the law, but govern inclusively
Draped in Brazilian flags, they smashed offices, stole files, thumped police and injured at least five journalists. On January 8th thousands of supporters of Jair Bolsonaro stormed Brazil’s Congress, Supreme Court and presidential palace, demanding the overturning of an election result. The parallels with the attack on America’s Capitol by supporters of Donald Trump in 2021 are obvious—and far from coincidental. Mr Bolsonaro has long admired Mr Trump and copied his methods.
In Brasília as in Washington, a right-wing populist lost a fair vote but has never accepted the result. Mr Bolsonaro did not explicitly urge his supporters to storm the seat of government (if so, he may have been arrested). And he eventually denounced the violence. But he has spent months insisting that the only way he could lose the election in October last year was if the other side cheated—allegations he repeated on January 10th, seemingly wishing to whip up more trouble.
Explore more
This article appeared in the Leaders section of the print edition under the headline “How to deal with an insurrection”
Leaders January 14th 2023
From the January 14th 2023 edition
Discover stories from this section and more in the list of contents
Explore the editionMore from Leaders
Simple steps to stop people dying from heatwaves
As much of the world roasts, don’t despair
Nigel Farage’s claim that NATO provoked Russia is naive and dangerous
It is also a wilful misreading of history
AI will transform the character of warfare
Technology will make war faster and more opaque. It could also prove destabilising