Prominent Brazilians Launch A Movement To Fight For Democracy And Avoid Bolsonaro’s ‘Dictatorship’

Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro to address the coronavirus pandemic lightly, even as Brazil’s rising number of COVID-19 cases and the death toll makes the second hardest-hit countries after the U.S.

Seeing that Bolsonaro is far from changing his stance on the issue, prominent figures in the nation have published a high-profile manifesto in an attempt to protect Brazilian democracy from Bolsonaro’s authoritarian decisions which have only escalated.

Every day, over a thousand coronavirus deaths are being confirmed in Brazil, which is now the epicenter of the pandemic.

On May 30, the Movimento Estamos Juntos (We’re In This Together Movement) was launched Brazil became the second after the U.S. as per the number of coronavirus cases and overtook France as the fourth-highest with its official death toll. The manifesto urges Brazilians to mobilize and defend their right to “life, freedom and democracy.” To date, more than 100,000 signatories have joined it -- from former center-right president Fernando Henrique Cardoso to renowned Brazilian actors like Fernanda Montenegro and Taís Araújo.

“The choice is between democracy and barbarity … It is our country’s future that’s at stake,” tweeted Marcelo Freixo, a leftwing congressman. He is supporting the movement along with crucial individuals from various sectors of Brazil -- academia, culture, and politics.

“Bolsonaro sometimes comes across as a caricature, something comical. But he’s dangerous – he and the followers of this fanatical far-right sect are dangerous,” said Flávio Dino, leftist who is supporting the movement. He stressed that if millions of Bolsonaro opponents don’t unite to overthrow him in the next elections, then Brazil’s democracy will be at stake.

The new movement, as explained by Dino, is inspired by Diretas Já. It was a monumental pro-democracy campaign that began in the 1980s to fight against the two decades of military rule.

“Just as there was this broad coalition to defeat the dictatorship we believe we must now build a broad coalition to avoid a new dictatorship,” Dino said.

Lobão, a rightwing rockstar, has also signed the manifesto as he knows that this “genocidal fiasco” caused by Bolsonaro, his “mockery” of the coronavirus crisis, and “utter negligence towards public health to continue” cannot be allowed to go on.