The Centrist and the Fascist A tale of gambling, compromise, and surrender.

By Matthew Barad, October 30, 2018

On Sunday night, Brazil elected a fascist. This is a man who has joked about rape, called for indigenous peoples to be killed, promoted the deforestation of the Amazon, and demanded that leftists be purged.

55% of Brazilians voted for him.

Balsonaro’s election has reignited fears about the global rise of fascism. I myself have written several pieces about Trump’s fascist tendencies and likely agenda. And though there is plenty of room to consider the causes behind fascism’s recent rise, and why right wing populism continues to gain traction, we need to understand that fascism doesn’t take power suddenly and without warning — rather, it is allowed to fester, and is even spurred on by those who have the power to stop it.

Former President Lula

In Brazil, Balsonaro’s rise was made possible by a decades-long centrist war against the left. MBD (the largest centrist party in Brazil) allied itself with the nationalist right in order to indict the leaders of PT (democratic socialist party) on charges of corruption. Former PT President Luiz Lula, a metal worker who dedicated his life to the fight for justice, is sitting in prison after being convicted of corruption. Whether innocent or guilty, Lula remains the most popular politician in Brazil, and was clearly targeted by the center and right in order to weaken Brazil’s left.

In joining ranks with the nationalists and against Lula’s party, the MBD was making a simple bet. They believed that, by using the courts to take the PT out of power, they could secure themselves a position to implement a decidedly neoliberal agenda. They were wrong. In forcing the left out of power, and in preventing Lula from running for office, the MBD opened the doors to fascism.

Disgruntled by the inaction of their government and disheartened by gross political injustice, the people of Brazil had to choose between a malignant status quo or a drastic, terrifying change. MBD, like so many others, gambled everything on the assumption that fascism could never win. And as I said, they were terribly mistaken.