Bolsonaro has been convicted.
And many people are celebrating,
which is understandable.
Bolsonaro was an authoritarian president
who encouraged persecution and violence
against social movements,
gender and sexuality dissidents,
who pushed for indigenous genocide,
promoted misogyny
and police violence
against black and poor people,
the ravaging of natural environments
and did not hesitate to prioritize the profits of the elite
over our lives
during the COVID-19 pandemic
while mocking
the worst health crisis in the history of this territory.
However, his conviction reinforces the prison logic
and the legitimacy of the so-called “Democratic Rule of Law”,
leading many people who seek social justice
to support the institutions
of a state that is the source of the injustices
that have afflicted this territory for 500 years.
The Brazilian state is a colonialist tool
created by the Portuguese nobility
to exploit the inhabitants
and plunder the wealth of these lands
for the benefit of the elite.
And the political powers
exist to manage this state;
while the judiciary, with its courts, police and prisons,
serves to maintain this brutal order,
punishing anyone who dares to challenge
or rise up against it.
Whether under the social democratic PT government
or under a neo-fascist far-right regime,
the colonial and extractivist nature
of the Brazilian state remains.
Not even Lula,
admired by so many people,
contradicts this logic.
On the contrary, he reinforces and boosts it,
trampling over the self-determination of indigenous peoples
to build railroads on their lands
and opening up the Amazon even more
for the extraction of oil and other minerals
coveted by international capital.
All legitimized by the fragile veneer of so-called democracy.
As long as there is a state,
as long as there is capitalism,
we will be living under the threat of fascists seizing power.
History has shown us many times
that the centralizing power structures of the state
can and will be taken over again
at any time by authoritarians,
despots,
fascists
and genocidals maniacs.
So, even though it's nice to see Bolsonaro getting screwed,
supporting and strengthening these institutions
for punishing fascists and coup plotters
will backfire on us.
Because there is no doubt that they will be used
to persecute, even more violently,
marginalized populations
and radical social movements
that seek an end to this oppressive and unjust order
and to build a free, just and egalitarian world.
We don't want the strengthening of institutions
that have always been used against the most vulnerable people
and against popular struggles.
We don't want the sovereignty of a state
that has been killing and opressing us
and devastating these lands for 500 years.
We want its abolition,
so that we can finally seek total liberation,
through the self-determination of peoples and territories,
solidarity and internationalism.