The Twilight of Democracy

Living on the sea front is always noisy, but the night of November the 5th was particularly so. Car horns, excited screams, and celebratory cheers went on long into the small hours. In my fitful sleep, I thought it a good sign, and that reason had triumphed. I was mistaken. Up and down the country Bolsonaro’s cheer leaders partied at the resurgent victory of the far right in the United States.  They saw it as a sign of great things to come in the 2026 Brasilian elections when they will have another chance to consolidate their truly scary vision of the future in which neo-liberal authoritarianism, 1930s style fascism and fundamentalist evangelical Christianity fuse into a manifesto for the good citizen. It is a script that used to belong to the wild fringes of dystopian literature, but which is now embedded in mainstream conservative politics. The Brasilian author Bernardo Kucinski’s satirical short novel, A Nova Ordem, (2019), A New Order, offers an absurd and surreal portrait of what a Brasil might be like in the grips of such a regime. Published on the eve of Bolsonaro’s election, at the centre of the narrative is the medical psychiatrist Ariovaldo who merges psychoanalysis with the interrogation techniques of the Spanish Inquisition and Third Reich in order to steal memories and dreams and extract confessions. In the footnotes of each page there are lists of new laws and prohibitions, that read like a summary of all the reactionary repressive policy decisions taken by authoritarian governments around the world over the last hundred years. Here is a taste. Creationism replaces the teaching of sociology, philosophy, literature and history. Educational bursaries for the poor are dismantled. Taliban like restrictions on clothing and music become law. Opponents of the regime, collectively referred to as ‘Utopians’ are hunted like animals. Trade Unions, Cooperatives and labour protection laws are abolished along with all forms of social security. Brasil’s oil reserves and mineral resources are auctioned off. Brasil exits from all climate-change accords and conservation organisations are abolished. Article 4 liberates the use of all forms of agro-toxins without regard for the presence of mutant genes or carcinogens. The requirement to protect forest reserves is repealed, and Article 9 orders the complete deforestation of the Amazon and its incorporation into the ‘New Programme of the Accelerated Expansion of Agricultural Frontiers’. And on it goes. Welcome to the future.