Brazil Under Bolsonaro, Afredo Saad-Filho & Jeffery R. Webber, 14.03.2019 by Goldsmiths UOL

PERC hosted a conversation with Alfredo Saad-Filho and Jeffery R. Webber on Saad-Filho’s new book, Brazil: Neoliberalism vs. Democracy, and the rise of Bolsonaro in Brazil. Jair Bolsonaro’s recent ascension to the Brazilian presidency is the latest addition to a rising wave of far-right governments. A parliamentary coup in 2016 ousted the democratically-elected Dilma Rousseff of the Workers Party and set the stage for the 2018 elections after the brief rule of unelected Michel Temer. During last year’s electoral campaign, we witnessed the imprisonment of Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (“Lula”) under dubious corruption charges just as he was leading the 2018 polls as the Workers Party’s presidential candidate, helping to ensure Bolsonaro’s victory. What explains the Bolsonaro phenomenon? What were the key characteristics and contradictions of the 14-year Workers Party rule that preceded Bolsonaro? The discussion addresses these questions in the longer historical context of the relationship between democracy and neoliberalism in modern Brazil.