Hundreds of thousands of people have taken to the streets since the end of May
and throughout June and July 2021
to protest against the government of Jair Bolsonaro.
His mass extermination project that has already cost more than half a million lives
was supposed to "save the economy" by dumping people into work,
schools, and crowded transportation to infect themselves with Covid-19.
Meanwhile,
indigenous people throughout the territory occupied by the Brazilian state
have risen up in Brasília to oppose the Bill
that opens up their lands to be exploited.
The protests have flooded most state capitals and hundreds of other cities.
Some were more militant, with barricades, graffiti, and attacks on the property.
Gradually, anger and revolt over all the preventable deaths,
misery, and deepening violence are taking over.
Meanwhile, social movements and parties of the institutional left
propagate the dangerous idea that only in the 2022 elections
can we get rid of Bolsonaro and his government.
Others, meanwhile, await for the results of the inquiry
that investigates the government's failure to purchase COVID vaccines
and its promotion of contagion policies and ineffective treatments.
But no, we cannot wait for "the institutions to work in our favor."
Donald Trump, for example, got away unscathed from two Impeachment proceedings
by having a majority of votes in the US parliament.
Even after committing explicit and well-documented crimes.
During the election crime investigations in 2019
and Trump's first Impeachment process in 2020,
many people left the streets to wait for the authorities to solve the problem.
It was only after the murder of George Floyd
that the streets became the main stage of popular action again.
Prominent figures in the Democratic party
accused the insurgent movements in George Floyd's riots
of creating the perfect "enemy within" image
for Trump to present his re-election
as a solution to the political chaos and health crisis
- which he himself created.
But much of the population identified
with the combative protests against police violence and racism,
and Trump's popularity plummeted as a result.
Without the popular uprising demoralizing the government,
many would still support a second term of Donald Trump -
even after his catastrophic handling of the pandemic
and the invasion of the Capitol by his supporters.
In almost identical fashion, Jair Bolsonaro is already contesting the 2022 election,
and has long been equipping the state's institutions
with military personnel in high positions
and buying the support of the military police with prestige, impunity, and credit.
Besides arming citizens aligned with his patriarchal and authoritarian ideology.
Rallies and motorcycle parades try to show support
threatening any opposition.
In this scenario, waiting for elections
or for institutions to work to remove the president
is risking another 500,000 pandemic deaths
and more violence in the streets in 2022.
We need to stop fascism now.
To resist his project, it will be necessary to demobilize his bases in the streets
and further destroy his image.
It is necessary to isolate him,
expose and divide his supporters in order to weaken him.
And not just wait for the next elections.
When social movements from Brazil claim to be inspired by the radicalism
of the recent struggles in Colombia, the United States, and Chile,
even if it is to win isolated victories,
we must remember that this requires respecting and promoting
the diversity of tactics in the streets and in each organization.
We shouldn't criminalize or try to dispute legitimacy
by reproducing what dictates the bourgeois law.
Not all people on the streets are part of a formal organization
and nor do they need to be in order to join the protests.
Not every form of action is planned and organized by social movements.
Nevertheless, they are still a legitimate expression of revolt.
Instead of questioning the "organization" or the "legitimacy"
behind the actions of people or groups
willing to attack property and defend themselves from police in the streets,
we should ask ourselves how to support and provide tools
for this revolt to become an even more threatening force
against this murderous social order.
Actions like the one taken by members of the MTST in São Paulo on June 19th,
physically attacking and criminalizing an autonomous group
that included indigenous people,
or like members of Brasil's Communist Party (PCB) on July 24th,
attacking transexuals and homeless people,
only show an authoritarian and centralizing side of the left
that accepts rebellion only if they can control it
and benefit from it at the ballot box.
When a part of the urban social movements
draws attention for dismantling and attacking
those who erect barricades and organize self-defense,
isolating them to facilitate repression,
the indigenous struggle shows that militant direct action
and solidarity between different people and movements,
are an important part of the struggle against a genocidal government and state.
Fighting and dismantling fascism involves disrupting their gatherings,
preventing their marches and rallies
from taking to the streets to recruit more members,
dismantling their communication strategies
and the diffusion of their ideologies and lies.
Historically, fascist movements like Integralismo were stopped by direct action,
often violent,
as in the episode that became known as the Battle of Praça da Sé in 1934.
Recently, anti-fascists, collectives and football team supporters,
succeeded in confronting demonstrations
by blocking Bolsonarist rallies in Porto Alegre, Belo Horizonte, and São Paulo
in 2020.
As for the dangers of militant actions in the streets,
we recall that on May 29
Recife police needed no reason whatsoever to attack a peaceful protest
and blind two people who were not even participating in the protest.
If an organized block was there
to form a front line and protect protesters with shields
and the ability to fight back and ward off the riot police.
As the front lines in Chile and Hong Kong successfully do.
The presence of families, elderly or people with reduced mobility
would not be a justification to promote pacifism
and get gratuitously beaten by the police.
The protests of June and July in cities and in indigenous lands
show that thousands of people are willing to take to the streets
and impose consequences on the rich.
After all, in the face of more than 500,000 deaths by the state,
do crowds in peaceful marches demonstrate our strength or our weakness?