Threats to Democracy
From Brazil, Germany and the USA
This month the extreme right wing of the Brazilian political firmament invaded and took over their Congress, Presidential Palace, and Supreme Court; they looted and trashed the places and asked the Army to take over – stage a military coup. They were assisted in part by local law enforcement in Brasilia, the Capitol City. The head of the local police, Anderson Torres, was apparently complicit, and he fled to Florida shortly before the attack. This was planned, discussed on social media, and financed for weeks in advance; Bolsonaro supporters were bused in from all over Brazil. But the local and federal authorities were ill-prepared for what was glaringly imminent. Over 1,000 have now been arrested.
Brazil’s ex-President Jair Bolsonaro had refused to accept his political defeat, claimed it was electoral fraud and the voting machines were tampered with. Just before his term expired, he hopped on a jet to Orlando, Florida where he has taken refuge ever since. He was and is a strong and fervent ally of Trump and pursued many of the same policies, such as Covid denialism. Steve Bannon and other Trumpistas counseled Bolsonaro on his election rejection strategy.
The Brazilian Supreme Court promptly ordered investigations, arrests and suspensions of local officials who supported or enabled the attacks, including an investigation of Bolsonaro himself. https://www.reuters.com/world/americas/lula-government-prepares-more-anti-democratic-protests-brazil-2023-01-11/
In Germany, a far-right group known as the Patriotic Union, was stockpiling weapons, developing a shadow government, and preparing for an armed putsch to take over Germany’s government, the Bundestag. The federal police got wind of their planning before it actualized, was extremely concerned about the stockpiling of weapons, the skill levels and military and police training of many members, and they arrested many of the leaders. https://www.nytimes.com/2022/12/07/world/europe/germany-coup-arrests.html The participants included a Prince, members of Parliament for the AfD (Alternative for Deutschland, a far right party, gaining power and influence in Germany), a judge, police officers, and high ranking military officers. The German Government used over 5,000 law enforcement officers to round up the plotters. The group wanted to re-establish the German Empire and put an end to the liberal democracy that Germany has become. They were inspired by the takeover of the US Capitol on January 6 by the Trumpistas. Their ideological backgrounds included QAnon and anti-vax conspiracy theories, as well as long standing antisemitism and a wish to return to the glory days of the German Empire before WW l. These are not yet mainstream views in Germany, but surprisingly they now resonate with about 20% of Germans who should know the dangers and harbingers of fascism far better. https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-63916809
Trump and the rise of the violent far right in the US reached a certain crescendo on January 6. It is clear in retrospect that these movements were around but underground for a long time, and they found impetus in the reaction to the election of Barack Obama and a welcoming home in the farthest right reaches of the Republican Party. We do not have the same history as Nazi Germany seeking to conquer Europe and exterminate the Jews, but our Civil War was fought over the very same inhumanity and cruelty toward our fellow human beings, and we continued those policies and practices but under a different guise for another 100 years. The racism of the far right is alive and well in this country; we saw it in the confederate flags and Nazi symbols during the insurrection and its predecessor events, such as “Unite the Right” in Charlottesville; it is not reconciled to our diverse democracy, and it found a kindred spirit in Trump and some of his allies. Law enforcement was very prompt in rounding up and trying the foot soldiers of this rebellion; we have been far less prompt in trying Trump and the ring leaders. Our 250 years of democratic freedoms and long history of peaceful transfers of power contrast with the history of coups in Brazil and the putsch’s that ended the Weimar democratic republic. We are not immune; we have been complacent; some are complicit, and we are setting very bad precedents and exemplars for other freedom loving nations and peoples.