The Brazilian carnival becomes a dart against Bolsonaro in an election year

Until April 30, the fun and transgressions of the carnival will be discussed, but also its political side. In an electoral year, in which Bolsonaro is risking his re-election against Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, every word and gesture that comes out of the sambodromes, the massive space dedicated to the collective ritual, will have an added meaning. Magazine Istoe predicted a torrent of social criticism. For the UOL portal, the protests against the former Army captain “will gain strength” both in Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo. Nine of the 12 schools that compete in the “wonderful city” for the main prize have chosen themes related to intolerance, racism and the defense of nature.

“Carnival 2022 promises a platform against Bolsonaro,” said the São Paulo newspaper Folha. One of the “loudest cries of opposition to public power“will be heard this Saturday when the Faithful Hawks at the Anhembi sambodrome. “Black lives matter to us / The cry of women will not be silenced,” they will sing before 30,000 people. The show is called “Basta” and includes the figure of a head of state that days ago, his interpreter, Neandro Ferreira, came to define as “a very gay Bolsonaro”. The Gavilanes had to correct Ferreira, an outstanding coiffeur who resides in London and is responsible for the hair of björkamong other celebrities. The character that the hairdresser will embody, the samba school specified, “could be any ruler in the country’s history.” Ferreira also retraced his steps. He said that, strictly speaking, he had only talked about “a fascist“No one seemed to take the clarifications too seriously, not even the extreme right, to the point that Senator Flavio Bolsonaro recalled that “all gays also received” social aid from the State in times of pandemic. “We have a president who does not discriminate anyone,” added his son.

We have a government that is AGAINST:

– Or abortion;
– A release of drugs;
– A gender ideology.

Or that for us it is non-negotiable, for the quadrilha it is banal! pic.twitter.com/yfhee5RNGH

— Flavio Bolsonaro (@FlavioBolsonaro) April 20, 2022

Before his arrival in the government, at the beginning of 2019, Bolsonaro went so far as to assure that he would rather have a dead son than one that was homosexual. In it caricoca sambadromewith capacity for 70,000 spectators who will only be able to access the installation with their health passport, the school of bangay sambathe first one defined as LGBT. “The fact that the president is a homophobic and racist person makes it more difficult,” said Sandra Andréa dos Santos, founder of the collective.

In March 2019, during the first year of his administration, Bolsonaro expressed his annoyance with lateral aspects of the carnival and uploaded images taken anonymously to his Twitter account that showed some people in obscene actions: “Many street troupes have become what they see.” the popular singers Daniela Mercury and Caetano Veloso they answered with the song Carnival is prohibited in which both make irony about the conservative values ​​of the authorities: “Open the door of this closet, there is no censorship.” The 2020 parties, the last ones before the pandemic, raised the tone of the mockery against the government.

The realization of carnival in autumn provokes a certain strangeness in Brazilians. The decision to suspend it last February did not prevent some “clandestine” troupes from also taking to the streets. Beyond its sociocultural importance, the carnival is a great economic event. The last edition, in 2020, allowed Rio de Janeiro to enter its coffers 777 euros. As for São Paulo, the industrial heart of Brazil, it raised 535 million euros.