It was the fourth radical political attack in the country in two years. Since December 2022, Bolsonarists have vandalized the day of Lula’s diploma, tried to blow up a truck at the capital’s airport and carried out the coup invasion on January 8th. For Brazilian standards, this is no small feat.
The details of Wednesday’s attack (13) suggest that he was an unbalanced man, drenched in violent conspiracism, a doctrine of radicalization and the purest anti-political fanaticism. A serious disturbance may have been the trigger for the execution of the plan, but conspiracism, radicalization and fanaticism are there.
The extremist march is based on the idea that it is necessary to overthrow an institutional plot. It stopped being part of the underworld of national life a long time ago to become a current fed in the light of day, courtesy of digital platforms that value incendiary content, politicians installed at the center of power and military personnel who gave shelter to these daydreams.
Not all Brazilians bathed in this broth reach the point of violent radicalization. Millions reinforce their adherence to a harsh philosophy of institutional disbelief, thousands go to the barracks to cast the dice for an armed revolution and hundreds try to bring about a rupture with their own hands. A “lone wolf” can do greater or lesser damage.
Incorporated into the mainstream, this culture offers comfort to those who believe in an existential threat, representation to those who are thirsty for radical solutions and power to those who take advantage of its flags. Punishing those who encourage and commit crimes with the support of this ideology is the only way to establish limits.
The naturalness with which important people approached the campaign now seems like a collective delusion. The country will have to treat radicals as radicals, depending on their actions, from the guy who planned to blow up an airport to the crowd that tried to break out a military intervention, to the president who spent an entire term executing a coup d’état plan.
LINK PRESENT: Did you like this text? Subscribers can access seven free accesses from any link per day. Just click the blue F below.
