Brazil: a template for modern censorship and full-blown oppression
How the Western World is shifting towards dictatorship
In the week since ‘January 8’, the Brazilian version of ‘January 6’, a lot has happened or was brought back to our attention. Time to provide an overview.
When reading this article, I will assume you read my previous articles ‘What is happening in Brazil’ [https://arngrimr.substack.com/p/whats-happening-in-brazil] and the last part of ‘The world at a precipice, while the US is lost’ [https://arngrimr.substack.com/p/the-world-at-a-precipice-while-the], sketching the background of the situation in Brazil.
First, though, some extra background. In 2013 all the way through 2015 and 2016, Brazilians protested in increasingly massive demonstrations against the corruption in the leftist government of president Dilma and see her impeached, as well as to have Lula arrested for his involvement in the corruption.
The impeachment of Dilma was on paper about her falsifying the numbers and statistics on the economy, to hide just how big the Brazilian deficit problem was, in the run-up to her 2014 reelection bid (which she won). But apart from the worst recession in a century (per The Guardian), it was also about a massive corruption scandal, that shook the whole Brazilian establishment. What happened?
Vox published a nice 500 word summary of the scandal, in their article Dilma Rousseff's impeachment, explained in 500 words. They explain:
“Between about 2004 and 2014, the state-run energy firm Petrobras — which is Brazil's largest company and one of the largest corporations in the world — engaged in one of the most astonishing corruption schemes ever to be uncovered. We're talking upward of $5.3 billion changing hands.
Basically, construction executives secretly created a cartel to coordinate bids on Petrobras contracts and systematically overcharge the company. They then sent some of the profits they made from this to Petrobras workers as bribes, as well as to some politicians.
An unrelated police investigation uncovered the Petrobras scandal in 2013; the first public arrests were made in 2014. To say the Brazilian public was infuriated would be an understatement. Literally millions of people joined street protests.
The scandal played into Brazil's defining political issue: inequality. Ever since colonial times, Brazil has been dominated by wealthy elites who thought they could get away with anything — and usually did. Petrobras implicated leaders of Brazil's largest state-owned company, its biggest construction firms, and political leaders from across the spectrum. It exposed elite corruption on a level that, even in Brazil, was previously unimaginable.”
Dilma Rousseff was the chairwoman of the Board of Directors of Petrobras, from 2003 until 2010. Either she knew about it (there was no direct evidence of her involvement), and therefore complicit, or she had no idea, and showed gross negligence and/or incompetence. Coupled with the major recession that was hurting all Brazilians, this sealed her fate, and she was formally impeached on April 17th, 2016, and removed from her office on August 31st, 2016. Her Vice-President, Michel Temer (not untarnished, but the Supreme Court rejected by a 4-3 vote the allegations of corruption against him – that in 2014 he had solicited campaign donations for his party from Petrobras, but was later convicted of corrupt electioneering, barring him from running for office again), was sworn in to replace her.
This scandal goes very far, too far to explain in any detail in this article, but former President Lula da Silva (yes, that Lula), who was president from January 1st, 2003 until December 31st, 2010, was implicated in the scandal, through the investigations of Operation Car Wash. He was found guilty of having accepted bribes, money laundering and corruption, and was sentenced to prison by judge Sergio Moro. Then still president Dilma Rousseff tried to appoint him to a cabinet position, but wiretap recordings surfaced that suggested this was only done to shield him from the charges and save his political career, also per Vox.
A massive campaign began against Judge Moro, accusing him of political bias, attempting to prevent Lula Da Silva from running again in the 2018 elections, all the way up to the UN Human Rights Committee, which requested Brazil “not to prevent him from standing for election in the 2018 presidential elections, until his appeals before the courts have been completed in fair judicial proceedings”, as reported by Reuters. The UN Human Rights panel on August 17th, 2018 ruled that Lula should be allowed to exercise his political rights until all his appeals had run their course (as reported by The Guardian). The Superior Electoral court decided on August 31st, 2018 to bar Lula from running. In 2019, however, Lula was released from Prison over a technicality, and in 2021 the Supreme Court annulled his conviction, citing that Moro had no jurisdiction and that the conviction was politically biased. (See this website)
So even though Lula did engage in corruption during his presidency in the Petrobras scandal (granted, under the legal system this is now ‘alleged’, the proceedings to convict him were thrown out, and branded as ‘biased’.
The main point is how Lula got convicted and Dilma impeached because of ever-increasing protests, that made it very clear that they had zero democratic or popular support, preventing their supporters to take any action to prevent that conviction or impeachment.
The Brazilian elites know that the people are not afraid to exercise their rights, and force through their will on the elites through those peaceful and massive protests.
This is what this latest spate of oppression has been geared against: a repeat of the popular uprising of the Brazilian people against the corruption and incompetence of Lula and Dilma, forcing them out. How was this done? Through an increase of power into the hands of a single Supreme Court Judge, De Moraes.
In the wake of the protests on January 8, hundreds of protesters have been arrested and kept in jail, including even children (those were released in the days following January 8, under a massive outcry). As Paul Serran reported with a forwarded video, people were massed in gyms, as preliminary prison, and there they simply sat, or prayed, or sung hymns, powerfully furthering their protest against the regime. Some reports claim that “at the Federal Police gymnasium (provisional prison) where demonstrators are being held, a child has fainted hours after the police denied him food and it is not known what condition he is in”, while others mention that all prisoners were forced to get a vaccine jab. An important detail to remember, is that the Military police took over control over certain part of the capital, which prevented the federal police from arresting people there.
On these indiscriminate mass arrests and detentions, Senator for Rio Grande do Sul & Army Reserve General Hamilton Mourão had something to say on Twitter:
And also:
Now let’s take a look on what de Moraes had to say on those prisoners. In a video, as reported by Tupi Report, Justice Alexandre de Moraes can be heard talking about the prisoners after the January 8, 2023 incident in Brasilia: "Until Sunday they were rioting and [committing] crimes, now they complain wanting the prison to be a summer camp". This is concerning on different levels. First, he assumes their guilt, without any due process or investigation. Second, he is coming out very punitive, vindictive, ignoring that women, older people and even children are among the prisoners.
The decision by Judge Moro on the conviction of Lula da Silva was overturned because of political bias, on grounds less clear than what De Moraes shows here: a clear preconceived idea of guilt.
But he did not stop there, but promised punishment for "organizers and financiers of the acts".
Tupi reported that “Allied members of the Ministry of Justice say that Flávio Dino will try to open a loophole in the Brazilian Anti-Terrorism Law and will place everyone involved in Sunday's protests (even those from outside Brasilia) in the law itself.” To give such an approach grounds for action, the Federal Supreme Court (i.e. De Moraes) is submitting a request to compel internet and phone companies to save network logs and calls. “All records from the last 95 days will be saved and sent for investigations if approved.” And to give it teeth, Tupi Report stated that the President of the Senate, Rodrigo Pacheco, and the Attorney General's Office (PGR) were looking at “the appropriation/seizure of financial and material goods from people arrested in the demonstrations, on the 8th of January in Brasilia”.
The oppressive actions don’t stop there, and Tupi reports that “the Brazilian Government is studying, in support of the Ministry of Justice (Dino) and Gilmar Mendes (STF), the prohibition of popular organizations, with the aim of preventing 'coup' demonstrations. According to Gilmar (STF), a scenario where 30 or 300 thousand people meeting over the internet is dangerous.”
Even president Lula is weighing in, and said that “Any gesture that goes against Brazilian democracy will be punished within what the law allows to punish. Everyone will have the right to defend themselves, everyone will have the right to prove their innocence, but everyone will be punished.”
"This country has room for all political positions on the right, left and center, but this country does not and will have room for fascism and terror. There is only one position for fascism and terror in history: that of combat and confrontation,” he declared.
The measures ordered by De Moraes are not just about censorship and silencing opposing voices, from journalists, hosts, elected politicians, and such, but includes hefty fines, confiscation of passports, up to arrests, and often without proper due process.
As a quick example of the completely arbitrary and self-serving nature of his life-ruining decisions: when De Moraes was in the United States, a few weeks ago, a Brazilian journalist confronted him outside of his hotel in protest, De Moraes had his passport revoked, leaving the journalist stateless and stranded. As the New York Times summarized last September:
”Moraes has jailed five people without a trial for posts on social media that he said attacked Brazil’s institutions. He has also ordered social networks to remove thousands of posts and videos with little room for appeal.”
Some important lessons from that article by FEE.org, is this: “First, Brazil is proving that there’s no such thing as unbiased censorship—something that should inform our assessments of proposed regulations to enforce so-called “politically neutral” social media moderation in the United States. […] Second: Censorship backfires. Many Brazilians question the election on the grounds that court-imposed censorship compromised its legitimacy.”
And it concluded: “Censorship is one person or group of people vested with government power to impose their views on others. And, whether the stated aim is “fair elections” or “the future of democracy,” censorship succeeds only in imperiling it.”
Tupi continues their report: In an unprecedented attitude and after creating a board that controls 'disinformation' on the internet, Lula's government establishes yet another measure that violates the privacy of Brazilians on the internet.
The Advocacy General of the Union (AGU), controlled by Bessias, presented this week to the Minister of the Federal Supreme Court (STF) Alexandre de Moraes a new petition, to identify and punish protesters who participated in the demonstrations registered on Sunday 8, in Brasília. The petition details that the data of those responsible for the protests must be extracted from GPS and radio triangulations of cell phones between 13:00 and 21:00 on Sunday.
“The AGU also requests that the data be presented not only by the connection providers, but also by Facebook, Instagram, Telegram, WhatsApp, Youtube, Google, Tik Tok, among other digital platforms, with the identification of the respective IPs that accessed such applications in the immediate vicinity of the locations.”
The penalties determined for people who participated in the acts on January 8 range from 14 to 25 years in prison, without the possibility of bail or effective penalty reduction. That is very harsh, and very repressive, to the point that push-back came from a very unsuspected corner:
Paul Serran highlighted this tweet by the Workers' Cause Party (the Far-Left Brazilian Trotskyist Party), in clear reference to January 8, 2023 incidents, that said that no protester should be treated as Terrorists, don't matter if you agree with the agenda of the protesters nor with the methods used by them.
Paul Serran explains that “the Party says that such classification of protesters as "Terrorists" is a mere continuation of the "US War on Terror", this time in Brazilian soil.” He added: “The world is complex. One of the most kickass reactions to the events of Yesterday in Brazil came from the usually surprising PCO, one of the most leftist parties in Brazil. They make a brave defense of the protesters. There's a bit of US bashing in the text, but we know they are refering - whether or not they know it - to deep state shenanigans.”
A lot of those measures and talking points look very familiar, and are almost a carbon copy of the aftermath of January 6, down to the use of cell phone pings to identify rioters who entered the Capitol Building.
Interestingly, there is yet another parallel we can draw between January 6 and January 8: the powers that be KNEW this was coming, yet did nothing to prevent it…
This is something that comes from a range of different sources, some elected officials, who had access to certain information, and who took legal action based on that information. Let’s take a look. (All info as reported by Tupi Report, unless otherwise marked. I confirmed what I could on the different accounts mentioned, which checked out in each of the cases. This is NOT just a ‘suspicion’, from what I can tell.)
The main claim is this: “The Brazilian National Intelligence Agency (ABIN) knew and warned the federal government about Sunday's attacks, and even so, the federal government, based on documents obtained, did not prevent or warn the government of the Federal District to prepare for it.”
Nikolas Ferreira, the Brazilian Congressman (Deputado Federal) with the highest number of votes in the last election cycle, and with about 14.5 million followers on his social media network, posted the following tweets:
And also:
In short, the Lula administration Minister of Justice Flávio Dino knew about the arrival of the demonstrators.
This claim was repeated by Ibaneis Rocha (MDB), governor of the Federal District (DF). During a statement to the Federal Police on Jan 13, he claimed “that the Minister of Justice and Public Security, Flávio Dino, knew that groups of demonstrators would go to the federal capital on Sunday, January 8”.
“On January 7, I received a WhatsApp message from the minister, reporting concern about the arrival of several buses with demonstrators,” said Ibaneis. “Eventual intelligence reports were restricted to the secretary of security, and the governor only got what really mattered for his decisions.”
Ibaneis stressed that all messages were forwarded to Dino. “At 3:39 pm, watching the beginning of a riot near the National Congress on TV, he ordered the acting security secretary to 'put everything out on the street' and then said: 'Take these bums out of Congress and arrest as many as possible.'”
In an article published by the newspaper Estadão, a crucial point was revealed during the investigations of the incidents of January 8. The newspaper claimed in a column by Mariana Carneiro that Gonçalves Dias, the minister of the Institutional Security Cabinet (GSI), which is subordinated to the federal government, had decreed the suspension of troop reinforcement hours before the invasion actually took place, clarifying that Gonçalves Dias in that position is responsible for looking after the federal buildings. Tupi pointed out that “if the GSI becomes a central target of accountability, being a body linked to the federal government, the responsibility also falls directly on Lula (PT).”
Senator Marcos do Val filed a complaint against the Minister of Justice, De Moraes, and against President Lula (PT) for knowing about of a possible attack 3 days before the attack actually took place.
And his filed claims:
Should I remind anyone of the reports of the DC Mayor refusing reinforcements from the National Guard in the days leading up to January 6? Of the refusal of Pelosi to call in more officers to secure the building, knowing beforehand of the protests that had been planned, some possible violent, as warned by the FBI? Or the fact that many Capitol Police Officers had no idea about what was about to happen that day, not having been briefed or warned by their superiors? Only AFTER the riots and break-in had started, were additional forces called in.
So what is the aftermath?
Randolfe Rodrigues, Senator from the state of Amapá and a journalist, called on the Supreme Court (STF) to open an inquiry against Bolsonaro and Torres for an “attempted coup”, which the Brazilian Court will likely grant.
After having called out Justice Minister Flávio Dino on his foreknowledge and subsequent inaction, Congresman Nikolas Ferreira (PL-MG) had his social networks blocked.
Belo Horizonte 3rd Public Treasury Court judge Wauner Batista Machado had authorized in a judicial decision that protesters could remain at Avenida Raja Gabaglia, where the headquarters of the 4th Military Region of the Brazilian Army are located, in line with the Brazilian right to protest.
“It is of a solar clarity that the manifestation of thought is free, in a public place, collectively, without restrictions and prior censorship, respecting the established prohibitions, under the responsibility of individuals for excess, it is untouchable”, Machado wrote in his decision.
Within a few hours, Supreme Federal Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes overturned that decision, ordered the removal of the camp, after which the National Justice Council (CNJ) dismissed the judge and even blocked all his social media accounts.
Former Minister of Justice and Public Security, Anderson Gustavo Torres, was arrested, based on allegations that he sabotaged security operations leading up to the protesters breaking into the federal buildings on January 6, as Axios confirmed in their own report. He had been fired shortly after the riots by Ibaneis Rocha, even after Torres denied any involvement in those riots. He was on vacation in Florida when the riots happened, but returned to Brazil to defend himself. On his return, he was promptly arrested on the orders of De Moraes.
Interestingly, de Moraes said Torres failed to act to prevent the riot and that his "omission was amply proven by the predictability of the conduct of criminal groups and the lack of security that enabled the invasion of public buildings." If that reasoning is correct, and the claims by Congressman Nikolas Ferreira, Governor Ibaneis Rocha, the newspaper Estadão, and Senator Marcos do Val are correct, than Lula Minister of Justice Flávio Dino is similarly guilty of the same ‘omission’.
It is baffling to me to see how de Moraes is acting with even more open bias, preconceived assumption of guilt, than had judge Moro in the case against Lula, which was overthrown precisely on grounds of bias! It is so overt, the double standard, that it is impossible to miss. Even worse, those reporting on this double standard, are blocked from access to social Media, or worse, by De Moraes himself! He is positioning himself not just as judge, jury and executioner, but as accuser/victim, judge, jury and executioner!
As an aside, Brazil observer and activist Matt Tyrmand said, speaking to Steve Bannon: “They are going full Gulag. This is the worst Communist takeover ever.”
Tupi further reports that Lula's political allies and advisors to STF ministers are studying ways to block the Rumble platform in Brazil, with the joint support of Anatel (Brazilian Telephony Agency).
As could be predicted, de Moraes (STF) accepted the request of the Prosecutor General of Brazil and included Bolsonaro in the investigation of anti-democratic acts. Grounds for this request was the conduct of the former president. Which means his claims of fraud in the presidential elections.
The Attorney General's Office (PGR) created the "Strategic Group to Combat Anti-Democratic Acts" to investigate companies, protesters and elected politicians, reports Tupi: “Under the name “Strategic Group to Combat Anti-democratic Acts”, the commission will work to identify authorities with privileged jurisdiction that have “participated, cooperated or encouraged anti-democratic acts”.
The leader of the PSOL (socialist party), Sâmia Bonfim, asked to block former president Jair Bolsonaro's social network accounts, under the pretext of 'fascism' and 'no amnesty'.
A lot of reports mention a list of channels to be blocked on Telegram in Brazil, a censoring to be approved by the Superior Electoral Court. This is happening when world leaders, NGO’s, media, and other elites are demanding that Bolsonaro and his people are judged harshly, in order to ‘defend democracy’. They are running with the narrative of a ‘violent coup’, directed against the pillars of democracy itself.
Another reminded is needed, here. Biden, the CIA and the State Department, and even military channels, exercised pressure on Brazil in the months and year leading up the presidential elections, setting the stage for the narrative that helped them in the US: elections are safe, and those who dare question the results, are against democracy itself!
GatewayPundit reported on this, and stated
”For Team Biden, the diplomatic spadework began even earlier. In July 2021, just months after entering office, Biden’s CIA director, William Burns, traveled to Brazil to meet with senior Brazilian officials, and during the meeting, his delegation warned them that Bolsonaro should stop casting doubt on his country’s electoral process.It was the opening gambit in a quiet campaign by Washington to preempt any moves by Bolsonaro to undermine Brazil’s democracy, current and former officials said.
A month after Burns’s visit, U.S. National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan visited Brazil to reinforce the same warning: Don’t undermine the elections. This June, Biden’s team signaled that the U.S. president had relayed the same message again during his meeting with Bolsonaro at the high-level Summit of the Americas meeting in Los Angeles. A month after that, it was U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin’s turn, pushing the chief of the Brazilian armed forces to commit to upholding safe and transparent democratic elections.”
And
”The Brazilian news outlet Estadao reported on the matter last month, suggesting that U.S. pressure may have played a hand in persuading Brazil’s armed forces not to back any unfounded claims by Bolsonaro of fraud in the first round. The Brazilian military disputed the report. “I think it had an effect on the military,” [Pedro] Abramovay said. “I think it’s really hard for the Brazilian military to imagine support for any anti-democratic adventure without U.S. support.””
Another very interesting tidbit, is the news reported by Andrew Korybko (worth a closer read on it’s own), on his substack. He chronicles how on January 8, the Washington Post published a rather detailed article, “Come to the ‘war cry party’: How social media helped drive mayhem in Brazil”, setting the stage for the repression that was to follow.
Andrew wrote: “Published just ten hours after Bolsonaro’s supporters stormed the capital’s three most politically important government buildings (the piece was released at 10:30pm EST after PBS reported that the incident kicked off around 12:30pm EST), it’s highly suspicious that it was so detailed. It’s difficult to believe that author Elizabeth Dwoskin came up with her strongly implied censorship angle, compiled her sources, interviewed several experts, wrote her piece, and completed the editorial process in that time.”
Such collusion, tipping off a reported in a friendly news outlet to write a supporting piece, is not too much of a stretch, and serves the added bonus to breathe new life into the accusations here in the US against Trump, as the ‘instigator’ of the ‘coup of January 6’. Now they can point at the Brazilian ‘Coup of January 8’, and at the rhetoric that was so clearly inspired by Trump, leading to yet another case of ‘anti-democratic violence’, even as the case of the January 6 committee in Congress never got anywhere, and even as Congress, under new management, is poised to set in a counter against that media narrative. Far fetched? No. The BBC published an article, titled
“Brazil Congress storming: How riot was stoked by Trump's election-denying allies”.
A question to raise, with all this US interference and pressuring in Brazil: Lula does not seem to be a natural ally of Biden, or the United States’ international policy, at all, nor aligns with traditinal American politics on the ideological front. So why support Lula to this extent? Is the extremist left wing of the DNC really that powerful, or is something else at play? A push by China, through their bought-and-paid-for puppets in the US elites, to further erode US influence, and propagate their own, through the communist leaning South American groups that are celebrating this Lula win? It is important enough to look closer into this.
Not to miss this opportunity, that same Pedro Abramovay, the Director of Soros’ Open Society Foundations for Latin America also condemned the "attempted Far-Right Coup" and declares his support for Luís Inácio Lula da Silva. He told EL PAÍS during a telephone interview that he considers the assault on Brazil’s capital to be “an attempted coup: a violent attempt to overthrow a democratically elected government.”
In that interview to El País, Abramovay sees parallels between the mob in Brasília and the January 6 Capitol attack. He also doesn’t find it to be a coincidence that Bolsonaro happens to be in Florida at this time, after refusing to attend Lula’s inauguration. “Brazil needs to make it clear that there is a difference between the right to peaceful protest and this violent attempt to undermine democracy,” he said. It is clear that there are huge parallels between what happened on and after January 6 in Washington DC, and what happened on and after January 8 in Brasilia, but not in the way Abromavay meant.
Meanwhile, in the US, Speaker of the House McCarthy announces he wants to release ALL footage from January 6.
Even now, and without this full release of footage, there is a steady drip of new video footage that becomes known, that fully undermines the official narrative of the elites, that this was a violent riot, aimed at a violent overthrow of the United States democratically elected government. This crumbling of the narrative is exactly what will happen in Brazil as well. And actually is already happening!
In a major blow against that narrative, independent journalist Glenn Greenwald posted a very damning live video, on the incredible overreach of De Moraes.
His foray into condemning that overreach started simple enough, as reported by Paul Serran.
Keep in mind that Glenn Greenwald is not a supporter of Bolsonaro, not by any stretch of the imagination (on the contrary, he was involved in the proceedings against Lula I laid out before, when, among other things/topics he spoke out against, people leaked documents to him that appeared to show bias by Judge Moro, and he has been vocal in his attacks on Bolsonaro).
That characterization of his stance towards Bolsonaro is relevant, because it highlights the very principled stance he is taking here, in defense of free speech and due process, even if the violations he is aiming at, where intended to stop Bolsonaro.
In a live videocast on Rumble, he exposed an order by De Moraes demanding 6 big tech companies (Facebook, Rumble, Telegram, Twitter, Tik Tok and Youtube) ban several accounts, to provide all registration information (address, full name, contact info, etc.), to preserve all posts and comments, and demanding this to be kept secret, without any explanation of the violations committed by each individual to justify such action. A daily fine of about $20.000 was imposed in case of non-compliance. Among the people slated to have their access to social media revoked, are election congressmen and senators, as well as journalists and neutral podcast hosts (Greenwald compared Monark to Joe Rogan). Notice also that people such as Nikolas Ferreira are directly being targeted for silencing, after Ferreira got too close to asking damning questionings regarding the involvement of Justice Minister Flávio Dino, and by extension of the whole Lula administration, in allowing the violence on January 8 to take place to create a reason for a heavy-handed crackdown.
This is HUGELY concerning. As Glenn Greenwald pointed out, here is a single Supreme Court Justice, demanding that international tech/social media companies comply with censorship, without ANY explanation of why, under threat of fines, and the demand of secrecy. Who appointed De Moraes as judge of what is and isn’t fake info for THE WHOLE WORLD? And, very damning, while completely ignoring any and all due process rights. As Monark pointed out in his interview with Greenwald, he was never made aware of what rules, laws or statutes he had violated, causing his accounts to be taken down. Which means he has no way of defending himself, that there is no due process whatsoever… Again, keep in mind the rationale to reverse the corruption conviction of Lula. The double standard is incredible, and I can only hope that this will come back to bite the current Brazilian elites, in a proper reversal in name of justice and liberty.
(Protestors with sign “Out with Alexandre De Moraes, Dictator! Out with Lula!” and “federal intervention now”)
Many are starting to notice the dictatorial behavior of De Moraes, for example Clayton Morris on a scathing Tik Tok video:
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Worse even, is this smackdown by retired STF minister Marco Aurélio, who now admits that he was wrong to praise De Moraes. According to Tupi Report, Marco Aurélio said “He really hasn't been contributing to social peace”, during an interview with Rádio Bandeirantes. “I won't go into further considerations, and I've known him for many years.”
In the interview, the retired minister commented on the demonstrations that culminated in vandalism in Brasília. The magistrate said that it is necessary to investigate and attribute responsibility to the criminals, but said he did not agree with the removal of the governor of the Federal District, Ibaneis Rocha (MDB) (https://revistaoeste.com/politica/moraes-afasta-ibaneis-rocha-governador-do-distrito-federal/), nor with the arrest of participants in the camp (https://revistaoeste.com/politica/pf-prende-mais-de-mil-manifestantes/) in front of the Army Headquarters.
“If I were on the bench, I would not endorse this act of strength. We won't live better days in Brazil with acts of force, which we didn't even have at the time of the exception regime. We are going to march with temperance”, emphasized Marco Aurélio.
The report by Greenwald, announced on Twitter, captured the attention of Elon Musk:
(It is worth to remember that Musk earlier last week fired the entire Twitter staff in Brazil because of their left-wing bias during the presidential elections, as reported by the Rio Times. Musk does take action on such reports, as is clear when looking at a Tweet from early December:
“If those tweets are accurate”, he wrote. And a month later, fired all his Brazil staff for undue biased interference in an election!).
This is very concerning, not just because of the importance of Brazil, nor just because of the many similarities with January 6, but because governments all over the world will copy what works, in order to prop up their own power and survival.
In Europe, for example, governments are not only banning Russian media from being circulated (they banned RT and Sputnik, after the start of the ‘Special Military Operation’ by Putin), but forced all other media, social media and tech companies to abide by that. Rumble, refusing to de-platform anyone, took the principled stance to leave France, which had forced it to comply with that ban.
But European countries/the EU are not just targeting Russian Media outlets, but also individual journalists, which they harass by freezing their bank accounts, threaten with arrest, and try to block their access to social media. Their crime? They dare to give a different view on what is happening in Ukraine. As such, they ‘must’ be Russian assets, and must be removed from civil society. The trend is very alarming, and shows a complete democratic deficit in the EU. That the official media of a nation you are at war with are banned during that war, is one thing. Still, “Axis Sally”, “Lord Haw-Haw” and “Tokyo Rose” were allowed to spread their attempts at demoralizing news, in the midst of actual engagements. Troops and civilians alike listened to their shows, using the music for entertainment, or tried to glean whatever information they could about life in the occupied territories, or the fate of those crews that did not come back from bombing raids. The difference in the treatment of those listening in to ‘enemy propaganda channels’ between the Axis and the Allied is stark, and tells you all you need to know. When opposing voices are silenced, you get into very dangerous territory.
Here are a few examples of such journalists that are being silenced:
Or this German journalist, Alina Lipp.
Her response to this hit piece?
“I’m covering war crimes on the ground, while your correspondent sits in his office. This is the reason less and less people are reading your newspaper. Do proper journalism!”
As reported by IndiaToday, German authorities threatened criminal proceedings against her, froze her bank accounts, and even those of her family, and the court case against her could lead to 3 years of jail if convicted. But she would not be allowed to present her own case, as that would hamper the process, somehow.
People in the EU know better, and respond openly against the attempts by the EU to censor media and journalists:
The European Federation of Journalists published an article, aptly titled “Fighting disinformation with censorship is a mistake.”
The main Dutch Journalists’ Union (the Nederlandse Vereniging van Journaliste; NVJ) also filed a lawsuit against the EU ban on Russia state backed media, as a violation of European citizens’ own rights to freedom of information. They did not mince words:
"If you're talking about sanctions, then the idea is to punish Russia. But in fact you're punishing the European people, by not treating them like adults and not giving them the possibility to access information."
They continued: "We all feel that disinformation is a serious problem of our times. Censorship is an easy answer, but it's not the right answer."
This censorship easily crosses to actual threats of violence, as the story of Adrian Boquet showed. But also look at the Ukrainian site Mirotvorets, which has a ‘hit list’ of people they deem ‘detrimental to the Ukrainian security’, and this includes many journalists who do not toe the official line. It included Elon Musk as well, at some point.
But this is not just limited to the war in Ukraine. Any major reason is used to limit journalists and their ‘spreading of disinformation’, obviously to protect the citizens of their respective countries. As BalkanInsight published in their section “Reporting Democracy”, ‘Media Freedom Deteriorated in Europe Amid Pandemic, Report Warns’.
The subtitled summarized it well: “From Hungary to Turkey, media freedom suffered in Central and South East Europe during the pandemic with increasing government censorship and attacks on journalists, says a new report by Reporters Without Borders.”
Looking at that report by Reporters without borders, we see the following gem: “2021 World Press Freedom Index: Journalism, the vaccine against disinformation, blocked in more than 130 countries”.
In it, they state: “The Index data reflect a dramatic deterioration in people's access to information and an increase in obstacles to news coverage. The coronavirus pandemic has been used as grounds to block journalists’ access to information sources and reporting in the field. Will this access be restored when the pandemic is over? The data shows that journalists are finding it increasingly hard to investigate and report sensitive stories, especially in Asia, the Middle East and Europe.”
The same is true in the US, where voices against the pandemic response or the vaccines have been silenced, slandered and censored. The recent Twitter File releases have proven that this indeed was the case.
What is happening in Brazil is the most egregious overreach in government censorship. It will have repercussions all over the world, if left unchallenged.
The complete lack of due process that is shown, the very high degree of censorship, the limitations on various freedoms of people that are considered a ‘threat’, is beyond any level of acceptability.
We need to stand up, and pressure our own government to strongly condemn this gross overreach, in name of freedom and liberty.
Not just for us, in the United States, but for people all over the world. Journalism, by accredited journalists or by citizen journalists, is indeed the best vaccine against misinformation. No government has the right to determine, at their sole discretion, what is and what is not ‘fake news’. Let the information be disseminated, checked, and countered/confirmed. Peer reviewed, if you will.
(Yet even the scientific world is no longer applying that same path to come to truth, but allowed political or monetary gain influence their studies. So how can we expect politics and journalism to abide by those simple guidelines?)
Still, this is very dangerous, and I felt the need to sound the alarm. Spread this article, and make people aware that very important boundaries are being crossed.
No to censorship.
No to judges or politicians determining what I can or cannot read.
No to media outlets trying to shape my view on things for me.
No to those who treat us as children.
Any attempt to ‘defend truth’ by silencing others, is only propagating some other lie, and is attempting to stifle our own critical thinking.
Don’t let them.