Where is the opposition?

By Ricardo Melo, for the Journalists for Democracy - It's a shame to see the insignificant role of the self-proclaimed opposition at the moment. It's all just talk, mostly reacting to what's happening in the Presidential Palace. Haddad discovered Twitter – a little late, admittedly – ​​and is posting nonsense to compete for the top spot in trending topics. Someone needs to tell him that the election has already happened.

Gleisi Hoffman, whose combativeness is undeniable, falls into the same trap. Now she's exchanging insults with Ciro Gomes. Why? Ciro is a despicable political figure. Let's be serious: the guy helped Bolsonaro get elected when he ran away after the first round.

Ciro preferred Europe to the fight being waged here in Brazil. Upon returning, he refused to support Haddad. Recently, he requested one hundred days to evaluate the Bolsonaro government. Weren't the thirty years of public life of the lieutenant turned captain enough to draw a diagnosis of the character? Ciro is an opportunist, he likes this fantasy, and only fools, or the old friends from the dozen or so parties he's been a part of, still give him credit.

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Meanwhile, the clique installed in the Planalto Palace, built on blatant fraud—from Lula's imprisonment to electronic manipulation—is advancing its plans to destroy Brazil. The dismantling of pensions, the destruction of the few remaining labor rights, and the continued violation of national sovereignty are proceeding at full speed.

In the dead of night, Embraer was handed over to Boeing, which, in turn, has proven to be below Brazilian technological excellence with the failure of its new 737 model, a flying hearse. There was even an attempt to create a new power with a "Lava Jato" foundation, a scandal that even the discredited Brazilian justice system couldn't accept.

This entire ruinous situation can only be reversed in one way: through popular mobilization. It's ridiculous to think that battles of 240 characters can change a scenario where the adversaries are clearly better equipped.

Bolsonaro is what he is. A delusional, unbalanced, far-right, prejudiced puppet of big capital. His and his family's connections to paramilitary militias are blatantly obvious. It doesn't take a hundred days to realize this.

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He's the dregs of the dregs. He's the one left to do the dirty work of enslaving Brazil to the liking of vulture capital, the mainstream media, and their accomplices. He surrounded himself with military personnel, even in "live" broadcasts, to threaten his opponents and the people, saying that things would be bad with him, but worse without him.

Anyone who truly intends to be in opposition must take this environment as their starting point. There is nothing to negotiate with those who encourage the rape of "beautiful women," the killing of at least 30, the destruction of freedom in schools and universities, and the burning of the rights of the working people.

The alternative is the mobilization of the people. Instead of using their fingers to counter the outrageous pronouncements of a deranged individual and his cronies, political and union leaders should be in factories, businesses, banks, shops, and neighborhoods organizing the people against the destruction of their achievements. There is talk of a large demonstration against the pension reform. When? How? By what means?

If the self-appointed leaders of the opposition think that "combative" pronouncements against figures the people barely know—Olavo de Carvalho, Menendez, Ernesto Araújo, Damares so-and-so, General X or Y, and so on—are enough, the path to defeat is already laid out in advance. The people want to see those who call themselves their representatives get their hands dirty, literally. And not hear angry speeches or read documents that become meaningless the moment they are heard or read.

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