By BRUNO BEAKLINI*
Simple subservience: Bolsonaro's speech at the UN
Once again, unfortunately, Brazil played, in the figure of President Jair Bolsonaro, a ridiculous, colonized and subordinate role. Not content with that, he even flirted with apostasy. In this article we address the dark pronouncement of the one who governs the country, but submits himself, even psychologically, to the designs of the corrupt businessman and US president, Donald Trump.
Let's see. On Tuesday, September 22, in a speech at the General Assembly of the United Nations (in virtual format), the head of the national Executive Branch delivered a speech full of lies (see the full text at this link:(https://noticias.uol.com.br/politica/ultimas-noticias/2020/09/22/leia-a-integra-do-discurso-de-bolsonaro-na-assembleia-geral-da-onu.htm) and potentially dangerous, as far as the Middle East is concerned. We will specifically focus on this aspect, exemplifying with excerpts from the speech and comments.
“I appeal to the entire international community for religious freedom and the fight against Christophobia. I also want to reaffirm my solidarity and support for the people of Lebanon in the recent hardships they have suffered.”
The lying president, Jair Bolsonaro, mentioned the tragedy (accident and negligence, I would say) in Lebanon in his speech and he did so right after the absurd allusion that the planet would experience a wave of “christophobia”. By not referring to the land of cedars as an Arab country, the allusion is evident. The defense of the Lebanese “Christian” communities – Maronite, Orthodox, Melkite and Antiochian as being a “bulwark of the West”, obviously on the side of Israel, faithful representative of the Crusaders, but acting with its own interests. Unsurprisingly, this is more misinformation and chauvinistic propaganda.
Going back to the roots of the Arab National Movement, the role of young militants from families of creed and Christian social organization in the East is central. Unlike the competition for followers, as in westernized countries, communities are self-centered and the absence of a “classical” civil society does not easily allow for conversion. Therefore, it is not about defending belief systems, operating belonging more as identity than religiosity.
The defense of Christianity, on the other hand, is a profaning blasphemy of the heritage of the historical Jesus, and of the fundamental role that Liberation Theology and Integral Mission Theology, the Faith and Politics movement and radical ecumenism play in the popular struggles of Latin America. In the Arab World, the statement is absurd, also considering the high degree of persecution that Israel promotes against the Christian Palestinian population (more than 13% of those residing in the Occupied Territories of 1948 and 1967).
In terms of alignment, by stating that “it is necessary to fight Christophobia”, Bolsonaro automatically profiles himself with the Pentecostal right of the US Bible belt. It was not enough to refer to Donald Trump in the middle of his speech, the president of Brazil places himself as a defender of the biggest financiers of illegal settlements. Considering that the United States is in the middle of an electoral race and that the White House representative may lose the election, this is, at the very least, a recklessness on the part of Brazilian diplomacy.
The problem of the allegation of “combating Christophobia” on the planet puts the peoples' struggle on a reactionary crusade scale, an outgrowth of the neoconservative pact and between televangelists (neocon-telecon pact from the early '90s, re-editing the two conservative crusades of Nixon and Reagan), and places Brazil on the periphery of a conflict that definitely does not concern us. By quoting in the speech “Brazil is concerned and repudiates terrorism throughout the world” what is he necessarily referring to? To state terrorism and Israeli apartheid? Was he denouncing the Emirati and Saudi intelligence networks funding Salafist cells, many of them made up of prisoners who barter their sentences for assignment abroad? Evidently not.
Or is the “fighting terrorism” speech just an extension of the so-called “War on Terror” (GWOT) giving tacit authorization to the United States to promote operations across the planet? If so, then, in practice, do Bolsonaro and his direct advisors support the carrying out of attacks with unmanned aircraft, murdering hundreds of people? For anyone studying US domestic politics, the correlation is obvious. The extreme right of the Republican Party, between manipulative craziness and the Bible belt, tends to unconditionally support the US wars, including the two invasions of Iraq and Afghanistan.
In the narrative war, everything would be justified in terms of mass lies, claiming that it is about “combating Christophobia” at all levels. In practice it is a pro-US position, fueling the biblical right supporting Zionism and the annexation of the West Bank and the siege of Gaza, which results in the latest version of anti-Arab and Islamophobic positions. In this way, the proto-fascist ally of evading Pharisees repeats “globalist” conspiracies and positions himself in controversial “conspiratorial” positions, without any analytical basis.
Contrary to what he said, “Brazil is a Christian and conservative country”, our country is multi-ethnic (with more than 16 million Arab-Brazilian people), with gender diversity, with an Afro-Brazilian majority and belongs to Latin America and the Global South. It is not the first time that we have heard neocolonial stupidity from the mouth of the president and, by the looks of it, it is far from being the last.
In addition to the subservience and praise of (Islamophobic) apostasy, Jair Messias' speech caters to an internal audience – composed of evading Pharisees at the head of companies that exploit the faith of others –, as well as placing himself in an equally subordinate way to the prime minister's office Israeli, Bejamin Netanyahu and his criminal cronies of the “war of 2012 and 2014”, including the infamous general Benny Gantz. aggressive and belligerent.
It is evident that, if he were to read a text like this, Bolsonaro would understand little or nothing, even if, with petulance, he disagreed with everything. As the Itamaraty has excellent career charts, I suppose there are good souls to explain to the president that the world is more complex than the balcony of his house in the condominium. They should also make an effort to ensure that the country commits fewer international insults and vows of colonial obedience every time the president or his chancellor speaks.
*Bruno Beaklini is a libertarian socialist militant of Arab-Brazilian origin and editor of the channels of Strategy & Analysis, political analysis for the leftmost left.
Originally published on Middle East Monitor