A democratic front could make impeachment possible.

In the search for alternatives to saving Brazil, currently handed over to the Bolsonaro government and all its obscurantism, its authoritarian escalation, its attack on the democratic rule of law, its increasingly biased militarization, its tactical alliance with the militias, etc., resistance is necessary, of course. And for that, it is necessary to unite forces, not only from the so-called progressive field, the left and so on, but also from the center and center-right. In short, as former minister José Dirceu says, a democratic front must be formed.

José Dirceu, one of the most important political figures in recent Brazilian history, points in the direction of what is already being felt, what is perceptible to all democrats, that is, it is time to build a broad front in defense of democracy, therefore, against the authoritarianism and neo-fascism of the government. He is right when he argues that the left needs not only to create conditions to unite forces, but also to work with liberals, for example, who are democrats and no longer accept any return to dictatorship.

The editorials of the newspaper O Globo, that is, the position of the large business group controlled by the Marinho family, the most powerful in the national media, have shown that there is a growing repulsion, even on the part of liberal economic elites, towards the circus of horrors that characterizes the Bolsonaro government. From this, it is clear that there are sectors of these elites who have realized, very belatedly, the great threat to freedom, diversity, and plurality in this country. And it is with these elitist sectors that the progressive camp must align itself, as urgently as possible.

Impeachment is a process of construction.

Ideally, this broad democratic front, advocated by the former PT minister, who is in Teresina (PI) for a series of engagements – lectures, interviews, meetings and the launch of the book “Zé Dirceu - Memoirs - Volume I” – should work towards creating the conditions for Bolsonaro's impeachment. However, as José Dirceu observes, this construction can only be made viable by the composition of all democratic forces, that is, all left-wing, center and center-right parties and other segments of organized civil society.

The political conditions must be laid on the table, since there is ample evidence of the commission of several crimes of responsibility by President Jair Bolsonaro. Practically every day, he commits a new crime of responsibility, whether by breaking the decorum of the office of head of state, attacking the press, inciting and supporting anti-democratic demonstrations, whose sinister objectives, among many others, revolve around the closure of the National Congress and the Supreme Federal Court.

Since Bolsonaro and his economic advisor, Paulo Guedes, no longer possess the dubious advantage of economic policy, which has turned into a socioeconomic disaster, there is no longer any reason for them to remain in Brasília (DF). Ultimately, the Presidential Palace and the Ministry of Economy are not – and never were – the place for them, whose profiles and personalities are – and always have been – completely incompatible with their respective positions.

*Originally published on Thinking about Piauí