To kill hunger or to kill one's neighbor.

By Gilvandro Filho, from Journalists for Democracy - First impressions are lasting impressions. In the cases of the current government and previous governments, this phrase is crystal clear. Or, to use the current topic, it's a sure thing. The two Lula administrations (2003-2011), for example, and the recently initiated Bolsonaro government reflect this reality very well. And they seem to mirror a certainty rather than simply express an impression.

Lula's initial impression was that the main beneficiaries would be those who are hungry. One of his first government measures, in 2003, was to sign the decree creating Zero Hunger, one of the most successful programs ever seen on the planet for directly combating poverty and meeting the basic food needs of the people. Two years earlier, the program had been promised by the then-candidate from the Workers' Party. It targeted the majority segment of his electorate. It was only the beginning of what was to come in terms of social actions and programs. Brazil was beginning to change.

Under Bolsonaro's government, the initial impression is that there has been a settling of accounts between the new administration (if I may call it that...) and a significant segment of those who supported it. Just 15 days into his presidency, the new president instituted, by decree, the easing of gun ownership and use laws in the country. This measure was the main campaign promise of the PSL candidate, representing rural landowners, evangelicals, and those who favor both bullets and football. It was "just the first step," as Bolsonaro himself stated. Only God knows what will come next. He assures us that Brazil has begun to change.

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The Zero Hunger program, it's worth reminding those who have forgotten, became a global benchmark. The simple recipe: guarantee those in need the possibility of having three meals a day: breakfast, lunch, and dinner. This "privilege" helped remove the country from the Hunger Map, where it had a permanent place. Alongside numerous other actions aimed at the most vulnerable, the government began to tackle poverty and change a perverse pattern that had plagued us for centuries.

Through the program, Brazil fulfilled the first goal of the UN Millennium Development Goals, which was to halve extreme poverty between 1990 and 2015. That is, ten years ahead of schedule. Family farming income grew by 33%, while the national average was 13%. At the program's launch, Lula defined the goal of Zero Hunger as "a fully viable and promising Brazil, where democracy extends to the socio-economic sphere, justice is everyone's goal, and solidarity is the general rule of coexistence" (*).

Three years later, in his inaugural address in January 2003, Lula said: "We will create the conditions so that all people in our country can eat decently three times a day, every day, without needing donations from anyone. Brazil can no longer continue to live with so much inequality. We need to overcome hunger, poverty, and social exclusion. Our war is not to kill anyone – it is to save lives."

Throughout the election campaign, in which he participated little physically – officially, due to the attack he suffered, which only allowed him to speak from home and on Twitter, in addition to strategic appearances here and there – Jair Bolsonaro repeatedly reaffirmed his intention to arm "good citizens." Rearmament was his main rallying cry. Imitating the gesture of firing a revolver or machine gun with his hands was equivalent to the "V" for victory sign or a thumbs-up indicating positivity for Bolsonaro supporters.

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In one of his two inaugural speeches (there would also be another, given by First Lady Michelle Bolsonaro), Jair Bolsonaro said: "The good citizen deserves to have the means to defend himself, respecting the 2005 referendum, when he opted, at the polls, for the right to legitimate self-defense" (it wasn't quite like that...). He continued, committing himself to "liberating the country from socialism, from the inversion of values, from the gigantism of the state and from political correctness." And he finished with the standard phrase of the right: "Our flag will never be red." While acknowledging the color of the blood that could be spilled to "defend" it.

Lula fulfilled his promise. By providing food to the poorest, he did not disappoint his electorate. On the contrary, he brought Brazil to a level of equality, inclusion, and social justice that even his critics cannot find arguments to contest.

In his first days in office, Bolsonaro is fulfilling his promises. By assembling a legion of brave men, he is not disappointing his electorate. On the contrary, he is encouraging the masses by opening a dark and unpredictable window for what will happen on street corners, in bars, and in homes across Brazil.

The similarities end there.

Everyone gives what they have.

(*from ZERO HUNGER - The Brazilian Experience - Organizers: José Graziano da Silva, Mauro Eduardo Del Grossi, Caio Galvão de França - NEAD - Ministry of Agrarian Development - 2010)

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