Bold And Busted

A lot of western leftists look at Brazil (and other places) and see it as some abstract fun ideological laboratory, relevant solely through the prism of the issues they prioritize from a distance (US imperialism, Israel, the viability socialism in Latin America, etc. etc.). In reality, tens of millions of poor people, black people, working-class Brazilians, etc. voted for Bolsonaro again (just as their American counterparts voted for Trump). If you talk to random apolitical people, what they worry about is not what the David Adlers worry about when jetting into Brazil, but rather what plagues their daily lives: extreme levels of street violence, drug gangs, economic misery, lack of good education and health care for their kids, etc. You can lecture them all they want that Lula is better for them but they've been hearing that forever. Lula and his party have been in the presidency in Brazil for 20 of the last 26 years. Younger people don't know and don't care about the inspiring mythology and iconography of Lula. They just don't think the government cares about their lives and so blame those in power: same story throughout the democratic world. It's not ultimately all that complicated.