Bolsonaro encourages coup-mongering protests. Maia, Alcolumbre, Toffoli: get moving!

By Aquiles Lins, for the Journalists for Democracy

Jair Bolsonaro called for this Saturday7, in a statement, he called on his neo-fascist horde to take to the streets in the demonstration on the 15th, which demands the closure of the National Congress and the Supreme Federal Court. 

During a stopover in Boa Vista (RR), from where he continued to the US to seek the blessing of his boss Donald Trump, Bolsonaro lied when he stated that the event would be a spontaneous street movement. "If a politician is afraid of street movements, he's not fit to be a politician. So participate. It's not a movement against Congress, against the legislature, against the Judiciary. It's a pro-Brazil movement," Bolsonaro declared.

Despite the captain's attempts to downplay the coup-plotting nature of the demonstrations, anyone in their right mind in Brazil knows that Bolsonaro has a dictatorship plan for the country. And they also know that this demonstration was not spontaneous, but conceived and encouraged by General Augusto Heleno, head of the Institutional Security Office.

Unaware he was being recorded, Heleno expressed his true thoughts about Congress and referred to the power struggle within the legislature over control of the federal budget as "blackmail." "We can't accept these guys blackmailing us all the time. Fuck them," Heleno said in the presence of Economy Minister Paulo Guedes and Luiz Eduardo Ramos, of the Government Secretariat. 

Jair Bolsonaro's statement also reveals his willingness to confront Congress and the Supreme Court through cornering them and coup-mongering pressure. 

After having given a flimsy and lying excuse Regarding the video of the demonstration that he shared via WhatsApp, claiming it was from a 2015 protest, but which, curiously, included images of the alleged stabbing he suffered in 2018, Jair Bolsonaro seems to observe a certain leniency from institutions towards his authoritarian outbursts and no longer feels constrained in attacking democracy. 

Here's a brief aside. It's clear that every Brazilian citizen, both male and female, is permitted to freely and peacefully express their political convictions, as shown in Article 5 of the Federal Constitution. However, the Constitution does not authorize anyone to take to the streets to demand the end of democracy, or to call for the closure of the National Congress and the Supreme Federal Court. 

When Bolsonaro shared the coup-mongering video via WhatsApp, the Speaker of the House, Rodrigo Maia, posted a mild statement on Twitter, saying that "creating institutional tension does not help the country evolve" and that "above all and everyone is respect for democratic institutions." Yesterday he saw the Bolsonaro digital militia. request his arrestThe hashtag #EuQueroMaiaNaCadeia (I want Maia in jail) reached the top of Twitter's trending topics. Releasing mild statements in jail won't help Maia; they won't solve anything, just as they aren't solving anything now. 

The president of the Senate, Davi Alcolumbre, didn't even do that; he remained silent about the episode and only spoke out days later, in a boastful tone after meeting with Bolsonaro, stating that the episode was over and that he hoped not to be surprised by any new attacks on Congress. The president of the Supreme Court, Dias Toffoli, reacted to the video by saying that 'Brazil cannot live with a climate of permanent dispute.' That's all. The Attorney General of the Republic, Augusto Aras, pretended that Bolsonaro's aggression against democracy wasn't his problem. 

The situation is now different, more serious. Jair Bolsonaro didn't just share a coup-mongering video with a few people; he personally called for the demonstration, which will likely feature hundreds of signs and statements calling for the disqualification of Congress. 

The presidents of the Chamber of Deputies and the Senate, the president of the Supreme Federal Court, the Attorney General—these individuals have an obligation to demonstrate commitment to what remains of democracy in this country. The defense of the ultraliberal agenda embraced by all cannot outweigh the permissiveness towards these aggressions by Jair Bolsonaro. 

History does not forgive those who remain silent. But neither does the present. There is no shortage of impeachable offenses bearing Bolsonaro's fingerprints, justifying his immediate removal from office. But it seems the leaders of the institutions lack the courage to do what needs to be done. 

Ironically, four years ago, these same institutions had no qualms about initiating an impeachment process without any crime of responsibility against a woman, President Dilma Rousseff.