HR/VP blog - Last Sunday, an anti-government mob ransacked the Presidential Palace, the Supreme Court and the Congress in Brasilia. The tactics used and the underlying dynamics have clear similarities with the assault on the US Congress in January 2021. We need to be clear about the reasons behind such attacks on democracy and work harder to defend it at home and globally.
Sunday 8 January will go down in Brazil's history as one of its darkest days. My first phone call with the new Brazilian Foreign Minister, Mauro Vieira, was not only to congratulate him, but above all to reiterate the European Union's full support and solidarity to President Lula and his government in the face of this vandalism. The images of the rampage were also particularly appalling for me, because I had the opportunity to visit in 2021 the Planalto Palace, the seat of the Brazilian Presidency, and admire its architecture and the artworks, which have now been destroyed.
However, the attack on Brazil's core institutions did not start last Sunday. They are the outcome of years of political polarisation. During the term of former President Jair Bolsonaro the foundation of a pluralist society and democratic institutions were continuously attacked. Political parties were demonized, the judiciary was harassed, the press vilified, and civil society set aside in the main debates. Social media have put such trends on steroids, aggravating the division in Brazilian society. We know that such information bubbles feed "culture wars" and identity politics.
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Source : © European Union, 2023 - EP
