Anti-politics has given rise to the far right.

The far right is here to stay. It was a marginal, almost folkloric phenomenon in Brazil. Now it occupies a significant space in Brazilian politics and society.

When the fundamental political forces were formed in Europe, their reflection in Brazil, on the far right, was the leadership of Plínio Salgado. Even in the harassment of Getúlio Vargas during his rise to power, alongside the so-called "communist uprising," there was an attempt at a political eruption by Integralism, which was also defeated.

At various times, charismatic far-right leaders emerged – of which Jânio Quadros himself was an attempt – who momentarily catalyzed discontent and then disappeared. During the redemocratization process, parties like the PMDB, PFL, PT, and PSDB gave relative consistency to a political system that emerged from the anti-politics of the military dictatorship.

The electoral disputes between the PSDB and the PT were central to the political battles within the institutional spectrum established by the new Brazilian Constitution. The most profound limitation of redemocratization in Brazil lay in the fact that it was limited to the reestablishment of the liberal political system, without further democratizing anything in the most unequal country on the most unequal continent.

The PT governments made unprecedented progress in the fight against social and regional inequalities in the country. For the first time, there was a process of social ascension for the poorest segments of the population and the most marginalized regions of the country. Hence the PT's ability, once elected to the presidency of Brazil, to be democratically re-elected, opposing its anti-neoliberal model to the neoliberal one, which the PSDB insisted on defending, supported by other right-wing forces.

This movement experienced its first major turning point during the mobilizations of 2013. Struggles that began with student mobilizations against rising transportation fares quickly took on a different connotation, due to the decisive role of the media, which encouraged and highlighted the demands against the policy.

This movement had slogans that favored this transformation, such as "The giant has awakened"—as if nothing had happened in the country in the previous 10 years—or "Against all that is there"—a way of opposing the PT governments. The right wing realized that there was another way to fight against the PT governments, and began to consider abandoning the electoral contest, in which it had accumulated defeats.

After Dilma's re-election, the right wing, in a more decisive manner, sought a shortcut to overthrow the PT, tired of electoral setbacks. The wave of anti-politics, of anti-party sentiment, was resumed, channeled against the PT governments and against Dilma's government specifically.

They took advantage of the measures taken at the beginning of Dilma's second term, in addition to attempts to question the vote count and other actions by the PSDB party – which had lost the election once before – to further destabilize Dilma's government, resuming the movements and slogans of 2013.

They also relied on the lack of a democratic political awareness among the people, which would have led them, even if they disagreed with the beginning of Dilma's second term, to mobilize in defense of her, because she had been democratically re-elected for a second term. Questioning her mandate was questioning democracy, the system that had allowed, through majority vote, the PT governments.

Combining media-driven accusations – against corruption, against politics, against Dilma's alleged incompetence in managing the economic crisis, coupled with the MDB's shift towards a coup-mongering stance and the use of controversial agendas that created ungovernability – with middle-class mobilizations in various parts of the country, magnified by the media, the climate for a coup was created, disguised as impeachment, without any legal basis.

The result was a political dynamic that led to the election of a politician – until then marginal – from the extreme right, who had more support than the PSDB party, which had been driven out of the Paulista Avenue demonstrations. The aggressive climate of hatred towards opponents, evident in those demonstrations, found its most open expression in the chosen candidate. His praise for the coup, for torture, his homage to the greatest torturer by voting, on national television, for the coup against Dilma Rousseff, consolidated the climate of hatred, of hostility towards democracy, the judiciary, the media, political opponents and, particularly, the PT (Workers' Party).

The process that led from the coup against Dilma to the election of Bolsonaro, passing through the imprisonment and disqualification of Lula – the favorite to win in the first round – from being a candidate, and the gigantic irregularities in the far-right presidential campaign, tolerated by the Judiciary, culminated in a far-right government in Brazil.

Lula always pointed out how criticism of politics always led to something worse than politics itself – to dictatorial, fascist, Nazi alternatives. That's what happened in Brazil.

The traditional parties – MDB, PSDB – have plummeted, leading the political system to a profound crisis of representation, replaced by far-right, opportunistic politicians who project themselves through the internet, using every drone and fake news imaginable. 

The Workers' Party (PT) survived, even after being systematically attacked for over 10 years by all media outlets with false accusations, because it represented the democratic alternative, because Lula's leadership affirmed that there were alternatives for Brazil. Because it remained in the people's memory as a much better time for everyone.

The struggle now is for the reestablishment of democracy, for the recovery of a different way of doing politics, for the prestige of the PT (Workers' Party) and Lula as forces that renew a political landscape so degraded by the far right and traditional media. It's an enormous task, but one on which the future of Brazil for the entire first half of the 21st century depends.