Brazil: intolerance and censorship on social networks in the Bolsonaro era

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Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro in a speech in January 2019. EVARISTO SA / AFP

In Brazil, the blog of a journalist of opinion, Reinaldo Azevedo, was hacked and censored after criticizing the "clan" of President Jair Bolsonaro, in power since the beginning of the year.

With our correspondent in Sao Paulo,

It all starts with the death of a little boy, Arthur, 7, a victim of meningitis. Arthur was the grandson of Lula, the former president who is currently serving a prison sentence. Lula then receives permission to attend the funeral of her grandson , a case provided for by law. But this has revolted right-wing activists who have unleashed on social networks.

Eduardo Bolsonaro, MP and son of President Jair Bolsonaro, then launched into a grand diatribe against Lula. "What to throw up, " replied Reinaldo Azevedo on his blog. The journalist joins then, to the pain of Lula. A few hours later, his site was invaded by hackers and his article was censored.

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But Reinaldo Azevedo is not an extremist leftist. On the contrary, he is a right-wing polemicist who has even been a fierce opponent of Lula and the leftist governments. On Twitter, he recounts, for example, that " nearly 14 years of the left in power, this has never happened. And we are currently only in the third month of the Bolsonaro government , "he says.

Hackearam o blog blog. Manutenção em curso. Em quase 14 years of PT no poder, nunca aconteceu. O evento is no 3 ° of governo Bolsonaro. Coincidence.

The case of Reinaldo Azevedo is not isolated. It comes from the rising climate of intolerance in Brazil. Many intellectuals have already been victims of a sort of "witch hunt". Some are prosecuted even though they no longer work in Brazil.

Culture of impunity

Monica de Bolle is a Brazilian economist who runs a study center at a major American university. She was the subject of violent attacks on Twitter. His crime? In favor of a left-wing candidate to block Jair Bolsonaro in the last election.

" I received threats. Some were incitement to rape. Others wanted to know where I lived, things like that ... Most people who do this live in Sao Paulo, and work in the financial market .

These victims, such as Reinaldo Azevedo and Monica de Bolle, claim that there is little recourse in the courts because of Brazil's culture of impunity.