By FRANCISCO CARLOS TEIXEIRA DA SILVA*
Every security apparatus of the State, that is, of the Republic and democracy, has failed. And it failed because it insists on not recognizing the fascist danger
I'm going to say something very serious and I'm going to do it coldly and with information from various sources and different trends that I've researched: there is an ongoing coup d'état against President Lula's government.
The absence of international and national political analysis, with the insistence of the ruling political core on making a government as if we were in 2002 is a huge mistake.
Let's go: in the international field, the United States realized, since the Obama Administration, that the loss of competitiveness and economic volume is indisputable. Unable to act internally to change the situation, having quenched their internal struggles via the imposition of the dollar as a global tribute paid to maintain social tensions and profit margins, they began to act to destroy any competitors.
This is not a “New Cold War” or anything like that. It's not social and ideological systems at play, it's the pure story of the rise and fall of great empires. Thus, the “New” Russia and People's China were pointed out as the most dangerous enemies. With notable differences: Russia is a world power that has reached its “ceiling” of growth and expansion, fights for status quo and the conservation of its pluri-ethnic and pluri-cultural State. People's China, however, does not yet have a growth ceiling and the RBI Project, the “new Silk Road”, has confused and exasperated the North American elite.
China extended not only to its “geopolitical surroundings” but also to the traditional continents of hegemony of the North Atlantic powers, such as Africa and Latin America. In this regard, countries like Venezuela, Bolivia, Peru and Nicaragua (where Chinese companies are planning a new bio-oceanic canal that would strategically threaten the relevance of the Panama Canal).
Thus, the most valuable piece on the chessboard was to maintain Brazil's attachment to the United States, guaranteeing American and British interests in the country. For this, American intelligence operated in the overthrow of the PT Government and in the two subsequent dependent governments. The return of Lula da Silva to power, reintroducing the Brazilian role in foreign policy, is contrary, irritates and moves the American forces to delegitimize the Lula da Silva government.
American commitments to democracy go as far as their national interests are not denied or threatened, as evidenced by the long history of excellent US relations from Chile under Pinochet to the current murderous Saud family. Internally, the political core of the Lula government failed to adopt a policy of democratic “normality”, even after four attempts at a coup d'état: on September 7, 2021, on October 30, 2022, on December 12, 2022 and on January 8, 2023.
Some notable names in the government, with responsibilities in the area of security, such as the GSI, Abin and the Ministry of Defense, produced an unreal diagnosis of the emptying of Bolsonarism. Speaking of “appeasement” and “gradualism”, they allowed the presence of a good number of “root” Bolsonaristas, of the fascist type, military and civilian, to remain in power and still allow it, as in Incra, PF, PRF, etc.
All military commands were changed, except for the East, as well as the departments, involving 72 soldiers. Another 200 in service on the Planalto were exonerated. Jair Bolsonaro had appointed 6.758 military personnel to civilian positions in the Administration. Just make the account. Dozens and dozens of positions remain open in search of an identity and popular character for the media, even when they are not politically active and representative.
Others await the definitions of the União Brasil, PP and even the PL. Governance needs with a minority, but not advisable when a coup has already been suffered, the anti-democratic spirit of a good part of the State apparatus is known - forces with a monopoly on violence, parts of the Public Service, the Judiciary and a strong party opposition that bets on the coup, either via impeachment or via the establishment of an authoritarian Republic.
In the last week, with Lula abroad, figures from the Army High Command, including its commander, announced the indispensable role of the Armed Forces due to a very likely, and close, external attack. The examples of Ukraine and Taiwan are cited with incredible consistency. Thus, the internally questioned military tutelage would be justified by the intention of attack by powers outside the hemisphere using allied countries in our continent.
Without military tutelage, Brazil would be lost. General voices in the media echo the “risk of defense” in the phase of an “irresponsible” foreign policy by Lula. In the same way, the peaceful “acceptance” by the Military Forces that their members be taken to civil courts does not hide the grinding of teeth in the barracks. In the week that generals are deposed and colonels are indicted, the tension in the military intelligence apparatus rises.
Two great phenomena occur at the same time: on the one hand, an epidemic of attacks and threats to schools, students and teachers; on the other hand, a campaign of skepticism and pessimism about the performance of the economy, taking advantage of the government's poor communication – except for Lula, who always captivates his voters – and of a split between political management and economic management, as in the case from Chinese import platforms.
At the same time, racial crimes and the explosion of racial and social hatred “come out of the closet”. All this “mumbling”, very similar to the “Great Fear” on the eve of the French Revolution, directly affects the public that supports the Lula government.
Finally, the market and its dependents continually develop the defense of interest rates suicide bombers, even absurd in the context of economic downturn and unemployment, with the economy being sabotaged from within the offices of the Republic.
The revelation of the GSI videos, edited or not, are part of this campaign against the Lula government, generating discomfort, lack of confidence and unnecessary doubts. Every security apparatus of the State, that is, of the Republic and democracy, has failed. And it failed because it insists on not recognizing the fascist danger.
This one managed to unify the extremist right wing, seek breath in the old racist, patriarchal, misogynistic and phallocratic background of the country's history. Democracy to be strong needs democratic men, intransigent with fascism. Today in Brazil we have no alternatives: it's win or win! The alternative to the Lula government is fascist horror. Long live democracy!
*Francisco Carlos Teixeira da Silva and pvisiting professor of the Graduate Program in History at the Federal University of Juiz de Fora (UFJF). Author, among other books, of The Concert of Nations: Conservatives, Reactionaries, and Fascists (1833-1945) (Autography).
Originally published on the portal Diary of the Center of the World.
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