Sâmia Bomfim: Seeds of 'Not Him' could guarantee Bolsonaro's defeat on October 2nd.

World Opera - Federal congresswoman Sâmia Bomfim, one of the leaders of the "Not Him" ​​movement, which attempted to prevent Jair Bolsonaro's victory in 2018, states that this movement led to the expansion of women's legislative representation across the country and could guarantee the president's defeat in the October 2nd election. 

“Four years later, the 'Not Him' movement continues to have a feminine and feminist consciousness,” assessed the candidate for re-election from the Socialism and Liberty Party (PSOL), in an interview with journalist Haroldo Ceravolo Sereza, on the program SUB40 this Thursday (22/09).

She disagrees with the thesis that the movement contributed to Bolsonaro's victory over the Workers' Party candidate Fernando Haddad, by favoring the far-right candidate's focus on moral issues and further distancing the left from a significant portion of society: "I think it's very unfair for anyone to believe that the 2018 result was the fault of 'Ele Não' (Not Him) or feminist women. It has to do with many other factors, with collective errors on the part of the left, but not with the aspect of gender or the feminist struggle."

Bomfim argues that the weight of the economic crisis and Bolsonaro's policies falls more heavily on women, especially Black, working-class, and marginalized women. 

“These aspects, along with Bolsonaro’s sexism, misogyny, and incitement to hatred and violence, are still latent in society, and this time the pendulum is swinging in our direction,” she considers, citing as factors of aversion for the majority of women the way Bolsonaro treats female journalists, his own daughter, and his wife, who is trying to attract female voters during the campaign.

"The image that Michelle Bolsonaro is trying to project in this election, the ideal of a princess and homemaker, no longer resonates with many segments of women. It doesn't resonate with them, it doesn't fit in," she states.

A member of the PSOL party since 2011, Bomfim, now 33, participated intensely in the June 2013 protests, since the motivation was to prevent an increase in public transportation fares. Nine years later, she believes that the mobilizations ultimately culminated in the impeachment of President Dilma Rousseff: “I agree that when it became more widespread, due to police repression, the movement was captured by…” Globe"By right-wing parties, by corporate money. And a few hundred young people outraged by the fare increase aren't going to have the authority to lead or direct such an unaffordable process." 

According to the candidate, 2013 was an initial symptom of what would happen in Brazil in the following years, but, again, it should not be used as a scapegoat to explain the downfall that threw the country into Bolsonaro's lap. 

Congress

Two years later, in the wake of the "Ele Não" (Not Him) movement, Bomfim was elected federal deputy with 249 votes, a result that also surprised her, but this time supported by greater planning and less amateurism and chance. "It's more difficult to be someone among the 513 deputies, even more so having a trajectory like mine, which is not one of patronage or consolidated political experience," she assesses her parliamentary work. 

The pandemic during his term was another major difficulty: “The warmth of the Chamber, which is the in-person work, was lost. There would be half a dozen parliamentarians, and it's still like that today, in a semi-remote model. This empties the political discussion,” he laments.

In 2022, the website Congress in Focus Bomfim is considered the federal deputy who most opposes the Bolsonaro government. Popular among young people for her combativeness, she also faces reactionary opposition: "They hate me, insult me, and vilify me. Young Bolsonaro supporters and young people linked to the New Party and similar groups join together in a front, with the liberal ideology that you can't speak ill of billionaires." 

Initially in favor of PSOL launching its own presidential candidacy, Bomfim considers it "absolutely correct" for the party to join the movement to elect Lula in the first round, for reasons of survival. She argues that the party should remain independent and without positions in the next government, but "not to hinder Lula's government," for whom she foresees difficult days after his likely victory on the 2nd.

"Bolsonaro supporters will be elected, unfortunately. They will be even more enraged by the defeat, and the Centrão [center-right bloc], very manipulative and flush with money from the secret budget." Given this, the role of PSOL [Socialism and Liberty Party] must be dignified, responsible, and without contributing to instability, he concludes.

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