Brazil's Far-Right Candidate Jair Bolsonaro Is a Threat to the World

By Noam Chomsky, Naomi Klein and Bill McKibben, Guardian UK 26 October 18

Brazil is going through the worst crisis in its history since the civil-military coup and the establishment of the dictatorship in 1964. On 7 October, in the first round of the presidential election, far-right candidate Jair Bolsonaro obtained an impressive 46.03% of the votes cast, or one-third of the registered voters. This result triggered a first wave of hate violence: more than 70 attacks were recorded against LGBT people, against women, against any opponents of extreme rightwing candidates or against journalists.

On the evening of the first round, capoeira master Moa do Katendê, an antiracist activist and educator, was stabbed to death by a Bolsonaro supporter. Katendê had declared that he had voted for leftwing candidate Fernando Haddad. In the south of the country, a 22-year-old woman was attacked on the street. We fear that this is only a foretaste of a deadlier wave of violence.

People demonstrate against presidential candidate
Jair Bolsonaro in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, September 29, 2018.

This hatred and violence is clearly being stirred up by Bolsonaro and his party’s elected representatives. By repeating their misogynous, racist, homophobic and transphobic speeches and provocations, by displaying their firearms, by glorifying the military dictatorship, by spreading false information, they implicitly call for the brutalisation, even murder, of all those who do not resemble them: women and LGBT activists, human rights defenders and indigenous peoples, progressive activists or journalists.

If Bolsonaro is elected head of the Brazilian state, this hatred risks becoming institutionalised and this physical violence unleashed. Brazil is already, unfortunately, one of the most violent countries in the world: 61,619 homicides were committed in 2017 according to the Brazilian Public Security Forum, representing nearly 170 people killed every day, including a young black man every 23 minutes. Human and environmental rights defenders were already particularly threatened and increasingly targeted.

Furthermore, Brazilian democratic institutions have also been dangerously weakened by the political-financial scandals affecting all political parties and the controversial dismissal of President Dilma Rousseff in 2016. We fear that these institutions will not be able to enforce the democratic rule of law in the event of Bolsonaro’s victory.

As the second round approaches on 28 October, the far-right candidate enjoys the support of the most conservative and reactionary sectors of Brazilian society: the pro-weapons lobby, representatives of large landowners, many industrialists, powerful evangelical churches, part of the army and police forces. They will bear their responsibility for what awaits Brazil.

The international community, and in particular France and the European Union, must take action and support Brazilian democrats, regardless of the outcome of the presidential election. This is particularly so because Bolsonaro’s ideas represent a deadly threat to freedom, fundamental rights, achieving any Earth balance to climate change and Brazil’s young democracy.

This piece was drafted by the Paris-based Association Autres Brésils, and signed in support by:

Celso Amorim, diplomat, Brazilian; Frei Betto, author, Brazilian; José Bové, member of the European parliament (Group of the Greens/European Free Alliance), French; Chico Buarque, musician, Brazilian; Noam Chomsky, linguist, American; Ada Colau, Mayor of Barcelona; Karima Delli, member of the European parliament (Group of the Greens/European Free Alliance), French; Benoît Hamon, politician, French; Naomi Klein, journalist, Canadian; Noel Mamère, politician, French; Joana Mortágua, MP (Left Bloc), Portuguese; Bill McKibben, author, educator, environmentalist, and co-founder 350.org; Bresser Pereira, economist, Brazilian; Carol Proner, lawyer, Brazilian; Paulo Sérgio Pinheiro, diplomat, Brazilian; Chico Whitaker, co-founder of the Brazilian World Social Forum.

Bend Over And Kiss Your Ass Goodbye: IPCC Report Version

This is just a reprint of Ian's comments with which I concur.



Once more. Climate change is settled science. Climate change is past the point of no return. (If you believe that nations are even going to keep the Paris agreement targets, you’re such a fool you’ll be sold all the world’s bridges.)

These numbers are catastrophic, and the IPCC reports are always over-optimistic. Always.

There are quite a number of scenarios where this stuff happens faster. You’ll notice that this chart has straight line assumptions. That’s—almost certainly wrong. What will actually happen is that we’ll get some feedback loop like arctic or permafrost methane release and that will lead to parabolic increases. When it breaks, it will break hard.

At that point a lot of other problems could also blow up, the most serious of which would be the Oceans losing their ability produce oxygen. If that happens, well, we’re dead.

Even if it doesn’t, things like the thermohaline currents flipping or shutting off are possible. Europe could, in the middle of everyone else getting hot, have a mini-ice age.

People don’t realize how far north Europe is. If it didn’t have warm currents, it would be like parts of Canada that are, well, almost uninhabited, and for damn good reasons.

This will also, certainly, screw with weather systems. Imagine Indian monsoons failing for even three years in a row. Can you say hundreds of millions of deaths. Move your lips.

And it isn’t that we are decelerating, Brazil’s Jair Bolsonaro, who will likely win election, has essentially promised to chop down what remains of the Amazon jungle as fast as possible (and also, to commit genocide on the remaining indigenous tribes. No, don’t pretend, that’s what he means.)

We are so far up shit creek we are never seeing clear waters again.

Be very clear on this, and if you want to survive (deciding to not bother is a legitimate decision and if you’re old you may die before the worst of it) start doing what you can for yourself.

We are long past (a good 10 years past, at a minimum) any possibility of stopping this.

This is triage time. Are you going to survive? Your family, friends and loved ones?

http://www.ianwelsh.net/bend-over-and-kiss-your-ass-goodbye-ipcc-report-version/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+IanWelsh+%28Ian+Welsh%29

The Mafia State

Chris Hedges is a Truthdig columnist, a Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist, a New York Times best-selling author and in my opinion a very important critical voice.  He write:

Systems of governance that are seized by a tiny cabal become mafia states. The early years—Ronald Reagan and Bill Clinton in the United States—are marked by promises that the pillage will benefit everyone. The later years—George W. Bush and Barack Obama—are marked by declarations that things are getting better even though they are getting worse. The final years—Donald Trump—see the lunatic trolls, hedge fund parasites, con artists, conspiracy theorists and criminals drop all pretense and carry out an orgy of looting and corruption.

Yep, pretty accurate history of what happened.

Just for you edification I found a (so called) History Channel video that is just an over-the-top fearmongering anti-Russian screed entitled The Russian Mafia: A World History, as if the Mafia State is not already happening here in plain sight. Give it a whirl as just a guilty pleasure but there is no real value (or history) in it. 

https://www.truthdig.com/articles/the-mafia-state/

In El Salvador, Slain Archbishop Oscar Romero Seen as Saint Long Ago

More than a little late to recognized Oscar Romero and by association, "liberation theology" (Romero was slain March 24, 1980). Had this truth be recognized in the global community sooner perhaps the insuing 38 years of US invervention rolling back and crushing authentic socialist reform in latin america resulting in the resurgence of bloodthirsty military dictatorships with American aid could have been avoided.

On Sunday in the Vatican, Pope Francis will officially make Romero a saint nearly three decades after he was martyred by an assassin’s bullet to the heart. But for many Salvadoran Roman Catholic devotees who already know him as “Saint Romero of the Americas” that will only formalize something they have long known in their hearts. 

“He was a great man. He already was a saint,” said Jose David Santos, 73, in a recent interview before traveling to Rome along with 5,000 other Salvadorans to be present for the canonization. 

“He was a great example of humility,” Santos added, clad in a white shirt with Romero’s face imprinted on it. “He professed love for the poor man. He denounced injustices. He defended victims. He criticized the violence of the military and of the guerrillas.”

https://readersupportednews.org/news-section2/318-66/52831-in-el-salvador-slain-archbishop-oscar-romero-seen-as-saint-long-ago

Pussy Riot Invades USA or Embracing the Russians

Pussy Riot's new book by Nadya Tolokonnikova was promoted in her appearance this week in SF and I am sorry I missed it.  The the interview below is well worth reading.  If we remain only dis-informed by mainstream media in the United states one might perceive all Russians stereotypically as politically corrupt and culturally stultified rather than deeply divided and politically and culturally diverse as it is clear that we are here -- so as it turns out according to Nadya they are too.



The book is Read and Riot, Pussy Riot's Guide to Activism that I have got to get.  In the interview when asked about feminism in Russian, she said

It’s more complicated than the media portrays it. Russia was one of the first countries who gave women the right to vote, and Russian women have access to abortion, something the U.S is still debating. That being said, the domestic responsibilities are not shared by man, by design, and as a Russian woman you’re supposed to be polished and glamorous in order to be perceived as a normative being. If you’re not taking care of yourself, no one will take you seriously; rather, you’ll be constantly asked about your poor looks. For most urban educated Russian women, feminism isn’t an interesting issue; they just live their lives and more or less have the same rights as men, and they’re happy to look feminine and glamorous. The really young generation of women, under 20, exists in the global world and goes through the same things as young girls in America. They’re closer to androgyny.
Asked about media we are in for challenges.

Fact-checking and serious attitude to journalistic work will be really important in the future, as well as bloggers who have a strong moral compass. Fake news are a real deal — if you really care about truth, consider the ethics code of journalists. Social networks are also very important, but on social media there’s no responsibility, not the same level of trust.

An now for your viewing entertainment here is a video staring Nadya released by Pussy Riot two weeks before the election of Donald Trump.  It is tongue in cheek but  almost to close to the bone given the treatment of women during the recent Supreme Court confirmation hearing and rather graphic so viewer beware


https://www.sfchronicle.com/style/article/Pussy-Riot-artist-activist-to-discuss-new-book-in-13282953.php

Are we all in free fall?

Yes, I mean the entire planet!  Before we did the Pachamama introduction to DRAWDOWN last Saturday I did pretty much feel this way.  After -- I am instead "motivated".  The outcome of our global circumstance may seem as this cartoon implies, preordained especially from this perspective on Wiley Coyote, but in that room I met people who are very charged up and believe a better future is possible.  I look forward to working with them together with an ever increasing number of wonderful, dedicated people that know what must be done.

via GIPHY

I just love this guy more and more over the years -- Kareem Abdul-Jabbar

Kareem's headline,"Don't Just Blame Donald Trump, Blame Reality TV Too" is a bit weak but his common sense take on the rejection of reason and intellectualism is very well grounded in social science. Don't count on this turning around any time soon in a world awash with a 24/7 news cycle filtered through a siloed social media filters that help us all emotionally react to the news, feel the self righteousness or the hate that propels our gut to choose a side on every issue.

Here's how: A recent meme circulating on Facebook is a photograph of an amputee soldier in a wheelchair saluting — accompanied by the outraged message that Facebook had banned the photo as "offensive." More than 1.25 million people had viewed the photo, and there were many angry comments about patriotism, fake news, liberals, etc. 

None of it was true. 

Ten seconds on the internet would have proved that, but so many people are imprisoned by their confirmation bias that they can be led around by the "heart" by everyone from politicians to Russian trolls. Research, even for 10 seconds, is for losers who need evidence before being outraged. The cellphone is the greatest single educational tool in the history of the world, yet many don't use it to get smart, only to justify calling others dumb.

I wish this were going to get better but what's in store for our world looks down right dystopian. Just drink you Gatorade and don't ask stupid questions.

https://readersupportednews.org/opinion2/277-75/52736-dont-just-blame-donald-trump-blame-reality-tv-too

Long Paul Hawken Video

Hour long video.  Look at 10:10 where he explains the title -- "...most comprehensive plan ever proposed" but when he says no plan has ever been proposed so making the claim is easy he is hilarious and at the same time mind blowing.

Possible Election of a Far-Right Demagogue in Brazil

Another so called populist?

Voters in Brazil head to the polls on Sunday in an election that could reshape the political landscape of South America. Polls show the current frontrunner is the far-right Jair Bolsonaro, a former army officer who has openly praised Brazil’s military dictatorship, which lasted from 1964 to 1985.

How did this happen?  Are Brazilians just that stupid? The following puts this in historical perspective. Both Chomsky and Greenwald who met in Brazil both lay the blame squarely on the corporate/right wing control of the media there as here in the US propagandizing the public.

AMY GOODMAN: Last month, the world renowned dissident, linguist, Noam Chomsky met with Brazil’s imprisoned former president, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, his visit coming shortly after Lula officially pulled out of the presidential race. Speaking outside the prison after a visit, Noam Chomsky condemned the right-wing media in Brazil. 

NOAM CHOMSKY: — just had the great privilege of spending an hour with Lula. And one of the points that he emphasized was that during his entire tenure in office, there was just a constant flood of attacks from all the media. Constant. Thousands of attacks from every direction, which of course, confuses and undermines public opinion. So, the answer to your question is, something is needed to counter the concentrated power of right-wing media, which particularly in Latin America, just overwhelms everything. 

AMY GOODMAN: So, that is Noam Chomsky. Glenn Greenwald, couple questions about that. How is the media allowed to cover Noam Chomsky visiting Lula in prison, and also the significance of what’s happened to Lula and then who the person, the handpicked successor to Lula is? 

GLENN GREENWALD: So, I met with Noam Chomsky after that meeting in São Paulo, and we talked a lot about the dynamics brought up to this point. This brought us to this point. The dynamics that have brought us to this point. And one of the things that we focused most on during our discussion was the fact that the dynamic is so similar to what’s happening in the US, the UK, and in Western Europe where you see the spread of extremism and this rise of right-wing fanaticism. And the media outlets and the establishment factions that have laid the groundwork for its rise refuse to take any responsibility. And that’s definitely the case here in Brazil, where a very oligarchiacal media is in the hands of a small number of very rich families, and has sewn these seeds and has kind of created the climate in which Bolsonaro’s victory is possible. Even to this very minute, even though these journalists are, themselves, afraid of a Bolsonaro win and are not supporting him, they, nonetheless, continue to endorse this narrative, that is the biggest asset for Bolsonaro, which is the idea that PT, the Workers Party and Bolsonaro are just opposite sides of the same coin. You have left dictatorship or right wing dictatorship and both are equally bad. PT ran this country for 14 years, and whatever else you might want to say about whatever mistakes they made, you certainly had a very free and open press that constantly attacked it. They impeached one of their presidents and put the other one in prison.

https://truthout.org/video/glenn-greenwald-on-the-possible-election-of-a-far-right-demagogue-in-brazil/

The following collection of relevant stories is from John Bertucci posted on Facebook 10/10/18

https://theintercept.com/2018/10/08/brazils-bolsonaro-led-far-right-wins-a-victory-far-more-sweeping-and-dangerous-than-anyone-predicted-its-lessons-are-global/

https://www.truthdig.com/articles/the-cia-has-its-fingerprints-on-brazils-election/

http://www.latimes.com/business/lazarus/la-fi-lazarus-corporations-are-not-people-too-20181009-story.html

https://consortiumnews.com/2018/10/09/future-of-western-democracy-being-played-out-in-brazil/

RE: Bernie onTrump encouraging authoritarian leaders around the world.  This is of course true but let us not allow the overarching, long standing  US foreign policy of prefering dictators to democracy slip from our minds.  Dictators in the third world are the only way for empires to maintain access to cheap comodities and labor, laxed environmental and human rights rules for global capital.  This is not Donald Trumps invention as perverse as he is.
https://readersupportednews.org/news-section2/318-66/52747-focus-bernie-sanders-authoritarian-leaders-around-the-world-inspired-by-trump

Immigrants’ Health Premiums Far Exceed What Plans Pay for Their Care

Violence, crime, welfare, social services, borders, national security, employment and law  -- That immigrants benefit us far more than they cost us has been proven over and over again.  This is just one more example from a very recent study to add to the list.

President Donald Trump has repeatedly condemned US immigration policy, arguing that many immigrants pose a threat to the nation and drain US resources. But a study released Monday about health insurance challenges the president’s portrayal. 

The study in the journal Health Affairs found that immigrants covered by private health insurance and their employers contributed nearly $25 billion more in premiums in 2014 than was spent on their care. Those in the country without legal status contributed nearly $8 billion toward the surplus. 

In contrast, US-born enrollees spent nearly $25 billion more than they paid for in premiums.

https://truthout.org/articles/immigrants-health-premiums-far-exceed-what-plans-pay-for-their-care/

ABSTRACT from study

As US policy makers tackle immigration reform, knowing whether immigrants are a burden on the nation’s health care system can inform the debate. Previous studies have indicated that immigrants contribute more to Medicare than they receive in benefits but have not examined whether the roughly 50 percent of immigrants with private coverage provide a similar subsidy or even drain health care resources. Using nationally representative data, we found that immigrants accounted for 12.6 percent of premiums paid to private insurers in 2014, but only 9.1 percent of insurer expenditures. Immigrants’ annual premiums exceeded their care expenditures by $1,123 per enrollee (for a total of $24.7 billion), which offsets a deficit of $163 per US-born enrollee. Their net subsidy persisted even after ten years of US residence. In 2008–14, the surplus premiums of immigrants totaled $174.4 billion. These findings suggest that policies curtailing immigration could reduce the numbers of “actuarially desirable” people with private insurance, thereby weakening the risk pool.

Iowa Dairy Farmers, Trump, Rep Nunes & Immigration Policy Lunacy Exposed

"DEVIN NUNES’S FAMILY FARM IS HIDING A POLITICALLY EXPLOSIVE SECRET"

        Esquire Magazine By Ryan Lizza Sep 30, 2018

This wonderful investigative story is mostly about Dairy farmers in Iowa but it pivots around not only rock bottom slave labor practises but the idiocy of  Trump's immigration policies that will put them all out of business because of Dairy's absolute dependence on undocumented immigrants.  ICE and Trump's immigration agenda are in fact existential threats so inconsistent with their support for Trump himself, (79%) as to boggle the mind.

In a nutshell it shows the breathtaking hypocrisy of the Trump administration and mendacity of California's Rep. Devin Nunes's championing of Trumps agenda even as he paints himself as an  authentic no BS family farmer -- mind boggling deception.



I will not take time to report further here but encourage a thorough reading of the original article below.  Politically it is obvious that these farmers are on the bottom of a giant agricultural pyramid with all power above them.  (The undocumented of course are not even on the pyramid but that is another story.) The farmers' bewildering support for Trump aside, they are nonetheless logical strategic partners in political change precisely because they are on the bottom.  Their livelihoods, their families, their town, their legacy of hard work all hang precariously on a political whim with nothing to catch them.  After reading you will empathize with their plight.

I told you, it really wasn't about Rep Nunes and the usual spectacle in DC -- it's about people.

https://www.esquire.com/news-politics/a23471864/devin-nunes-family-farm-iowa-california/

Neera Tanden And Bill Kristol Unite To Say That Populism Undermines Democracy

Good reading on populism


https://medium.com/@caityjohnstone/neera-tanden-and-bill-kristol-unite-to-say-that-populism-undermines-democracy-89225d591855

Here’s what I found out when I spent the day with Israel’s most controversial journalist, Gideon Levy

Yes there is a lot to be cynical about

Gideon Levy is a bit of a philosopher king although, sitting in his postage stamp garden in a suburb of Tel Aviv, straw hat shading mischievous dark eyes, there’s a touch of a Graham Greene character about Haaretz’s most provocative and infamous writer. Brave, subversive, sorrowful – in a harsh, uncompromising way – he’s the kind of journalist you either worship or loathe. Philosopher kings of the Plato kind are necessary for our moral health, perhaps, but not good for our blood pressure. So Levy’s life has been threatened by his fellow Israelis for telling the truth; and that’s the best journalism award one can get.

https://www.independent.co.uk/voices/gideon-levy-robert-fisk-haaretz-israel-palestine-gaza-a8557691.html

Tim Berners-Lee tells us his radical new plan to upend the World Wide Web

Not being technical at this level it is hard to know what this may offer us. Comments anyone?

Last week, Tim Berners-Lee, inventor of the World Wide Web, asked me to come and see a project he has been working on almost as long as the web itself. It’s a crisp autumn day in Boston, where Berners-Lee works out of an office above a boxing gym. After politely offering me a cup of coffee, he leads us into a sparse conference room. At one end of a long table is a battered laptop covered with stickers. Here, on this computer, he is working on a plan to radically alter how all of us live and work on the web. 

“The intent is world domination,” Berners-Lee says with a wry smile. The British-born scientist is known for his dry sense of humor. But in this case, he is not joking.
This week, Berners-Lee will launch Inrupt, a startup that he has been building, in stealth mode, for the past nine months. Backed by Glasswing Ventures, its mission is to turbocharge a broader movement afoot, among developers around the world, to decentralize the web and take back power from the forces that have profited from centralizing it. In other words, it’s game on for Facebook, Google, Amazon. For years now, Berners-Lee and other internet activists have been dreaming of a digital utopia where individuals control their own data and the internet remains free and open. But for Berners-Lee, the time for dreaming is over. 

“We have to do it now,” he says, displaying an intensity and urgency that is uncharacteristic for this soft-spoken academic. “It’s a historical moment.” Ever since revelations emerged that Facebook had allowed people’s data to be misused by political operatives, Berners-Lee has felt an imperative to get this digital idyll into the real world.

https://www.fastcompany.com/90243936/exclusive-tim-berners-lee-tells-us-his-radical-new-plan-to-upend-the-world-wide-web

Comments are off but here's some from a tech professionals.  It doesn't look like a silver bullet!
*********************************************
*shrug*

There’s a lot I could say. I imagine this proposal having equally bad downsides to the current “open” internet where users have little data privacy concerns. Those downsides likely only become realized far in the future. On the flip side, there are a ton of people at Google and Apple and Firefox trying to make the current internet better.

I read the fastco article and it had more depth. Sounds like the closest analogy is how Apple has built out the iOS ecosystem, which is extremely locked down and privacy conscious. I’d argue it also places a high barrier to entry in terms of cost and economic class (iphones are expensive, good apps are rarely free, free apps are abusive like slot machines).

*********************************************
This is a lot like a system that John and I have been talking about, inspired in part by some talks I heard from Jaron Lanier.


But yeah, I see this as being quite similar to the app permissions on your phone. Various apps will try to gain access to your data and people will largely grant that access so they have fully functioning apps, so in the end I don't think it will stop the big data collectors. And I don't see anything baked in that will make news or feeds from social media any more real and verifiable, or how data is used once it's handed over. For that to happen the existing social networks will need to be replaced by new networks that have complete transparency on how the feeds are generated. Or the old networks will need to be forced into transparency.


This is a good system, kinda like email encryption is a good system. I think it relies on actual humans to care about their privacy and to take steps to protect themselves. Give the tools to the people and the smart ones will use them smartly. Everybody else will still get their data eaten and their feeds curated by others with their own agendas.


Never the less, it certainly looks like a platform that could be used for the creation of some interesting apps, I have a few in mind that this could help with. The tag system I once described to you in particular.

*********************************************