Undercurrent of Dislike And Fear Runs In Brazilian Arab Diaspora As Jair Bolsonaro Contests For Second Term
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Hashim Sheikh
- . October 29, 2022
- . Update: November 11, 2022 1:16 am
There is fear in the minds of the Arab diaspora and it has become more than evident as Brazilian Arab and Muslim are keeping their fingers crossed over the extension of Jair Bolsonaro’s term.
The dictatorial President is fighting for an extension and this would mean a second term for him. In the first round of voting, he has emerged as a contender against Lulu (Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva). Bolsonaro is considered a brash leader and is a confirmed Christian nationalist as well. He was widely criticized for mishandling Brazil’s Covid-19 response.
On the flipside, Lulu is quite a loved leftist and a favored Latin American politician. But manipulation has helped Bolsonaro get through each tenure. He has been responsible for pulling the country down bit-by-bit; the deteriorating state of medical affairs is a result of his ill-informed and irresponsible actions.
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Lula enjoys overwhelming support among Black, indigenous Brazilians as well as the working class, for social policies that lifted millions out of poverty during his two terms in office. Still, he’s deplored by others after major corruption scandals tarnished his leftist Workers’ Party and sent him to jail for more than a year.
Bolsonaro instead has been using biblical references to get support as he chants slogans like ‘fight between good and evil’; not realising it is the truth and he is the real personification of evil as of now.
Fears are also growing that Bolsonaro could refuse to accept defeat in Sunday’s election, after his son claimed the president was the victim of “the greatest electoral fraud ever seen”. The assertion has drawn comparisons with the language used by former US President Donald Trump after he lost the 2020 election to Joe Biden.
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