Pro-Democracy Manifesto

Brazil's young and fragile democracy is under threat.

If the 2018 presidential elections marked the rise to power of the extreme right, the 2022 elections will definitely represent a clash between the authoritarianism of Brazilian neo-fascism vs. democratic values.

Under the far-right government of Jair Bolsonaro, the persecution of journalists critical of the government, social activists and political opponents has grown alarmingly. Recently, the indigenist and activist Bruno Pereira and the British journalist Dom Phillips were brutally murdered in the Amazon region. Environmental causes, such as the defence of the Amazon Forest and the Pantanal, are seen by the government not only as opposition to its ideas, but as ideological antagonism. The Brazilian fauna and flora are under threat and the environmental impact goes beyond national borders; it will be felt all over the world.

Sport and public policies for sport were also neglected under the Bolsonaro government.

Under the neo-fascist logic of the Brazilian far-right, the parallel power of paramilitary militias also grew, especially in the state of Rio de Janeiro. As well as the number of licensed and imported weapons, thanks to a relaxation of the guns laws in the country.

Bolsonaro does not hide his nostalgia for the Brazilian military dictatorship (1964-1985) and its crimes against humanity and human rights violations. Bolsonaro has as an idol one of the most bloodthirsty torturers of this obscure period of Brazilian politics, Brilhante Ustra. His contempt for democracy and republican values ​​– such as the separation of Powers – are public and notorious. On several occasions, Bolsonaro despised and threatened the Federal Supreme Court, the supreme court of the Judiciary in Brazil. And as elections approach and polls indicate that he is unlikely to be re-elected, Bolsonaro has repeatedly exposed his predisposition not to accept the free expression of the Brazilian people at the polls. The far-right tactic involves questioning the legitimacy of the Powers of the Republic and the country's democratic procedures, as a way of calling into question the electoral results and, thus, justifying a coup d'état, with the support of a wing of the Armed Forces.

Considering all this, we, delegates and keynote speakers at the Second International Conference of the PSA Sport & Politics Group - “Sport, Power and Politics: Challenges in a changing global structure”, at the University of Aveiro, sign this manifesto in defence of democracy in Brazil and launch an alert about the inclined coups threats of the current government in not recognizing or questioning the results of the elections and the political choice of Brazilian citizens.

Aveiro, June 17 2022