After the debate on the so-called identity agendas went through the last electoral cycles, the left in Brazil seeks to face the issue in an attempt to eliminate contradictions and align discourses to prevent the connection with segmented flags from becoming a scapegoat for defeats.
The dimension of identity flags in , especially among representatives of the Legislature, was cited by sectors of the PT as one of the causes of the failure in the race for Mayor of , under the argument that they scare away broader sectors of the electorate.
The assessment today is that it is necessary to reaffirm support for specific rights policies for a portion of the population, such as women, black people and the LGBTQIA+ community, but without this attention meaning an abandonment of classic leftist causes, such as class struggle and public policies. universal.
The topic has become a thorny issue for the so-called progressive camp, at a time when conservatives are advancing in dialogue with social strata that were once closer to the left or that have consolidated a profound rejection of it.
The criticism of the centrality that individual agendas have acquired is based on the argument that the extreme right — or, in the Brazilian case, ideological Bolsonarism — uses such demands.
The abortion case is emblematic, with leaders on the right distorting or exaggerating points of discussion to attack and discredit the rival side.
For the national president of PSOL, Paula Coradi, “there is no left-wing project that does not involve women, black people and indigenous people, understanding the struggles for freedom and diversity”. She says that retreating in this area so as not to feed the right could generate regression of rights.
“, these sayings should not be read in this way. The working class has gender, race and ways of existing, of loving and relating to the world. It is crossed by these markers. Not to mention that women and black people are in the majority”, states.
Paula points the finger at “the old left” when arguing that the countryside can, indeed, “combine the historical struggles for social justice and agrarian reform with the struggles of our time”. She says that the demands that are now being made have been neglected for many years.
PSOL.
Days after losing to (), Boulos.
He stated that the left “cannot abandon in any way” the defense of the rights of minority groups. “That’s one thing. Another thing is to turn this into the center of political dispute, which is what the extreme right does all over the world. We can’t fall into this trap,” he declared.
The party president classifies the association between the defeat of the supporter and the issue of identity as inappropriate.
According to Paula, the result was the result of the “unbridled use of the public machine” in favor of Nunes and the overwhelming presence of the influencer (), who strengthened the mayor by positioning him, by comparison, as “a viable and acceptable subject”.
Federal deputy Orlando Silva (PC do B-SP), who worked in Boulos’ campaign and is active in the anti-racist cause — as he used as a candidate for mayor of São Paulo in 2020 —, evaluates the choice between general and specific struggles as a “false contradiction”. .
“Universal policies must include the different segments, which have other dimensions of vulnerability in addition to the economic situation. And, in the same way, the specific fight cannot be fought by abstracting the general one. We must be clear about what is non-negotiable for us “, it says.
Orlando also has the view that stopping the identity demand “by claiming that it is electorally bad or not convenient” could lead to accusations of electoral opportunism and loss of trust. “Backing down in a contest of ideas can be fatal.”
The deputy sees criticism of so-called identitarianism as an attempt to “disqualify important work” and points out its origins in academia and the political elite. “It’s a criticism made by established people, almost always well positioned. I’ve never seen a community leader raising these questions.”
They emerged in a context in which historically excluded groups imposed their needs, “refusing to place them as minor issues, subordinate to class issues”, says , professor of political science at UnB (University of Brasília).
Another component, he says, was the exhaustion of the traditional models of the classist left, which led the spectrum to make its difference by embracing the causes of oppressed groups. This, however, did not mean challenging the neoliberal system, limiting itself to “cosmetic adjustments”.
In parallel, “the new extreme right realized that it could exploit the diffuse resentments” generated by pro-diversity speeches that sounded hegemonic, according to the researcher.
“Identitarianism is more of a symptom than a cause of the crisis on the left. It is the escape valve for a left that no longer presents a project for the anti-capitalist transformation of society”, he states.
The professor believes that, in the electoral aspect, candidates for seats in the Legislature tend to benefit more from identity agendas. Even so, voting is restricted to voters who already lean left. In the case of majority positions, the speech scares off large portions of the electorate, he says.
Miguel sees, however, a reaction emerging today to this line of action within the left itself.
“Attempts to silence criticism, based on ‘cards’, are already met with resistance. The discourse of victimization that tries to make any disagreement automatically defined as a refusal of the importance of gender or racial agendas no longer sticks”, he comments. .
