SÃO PAULO, BRAZIL – A key organizer of the 2013 street protests, which eventually led to the impeachment of former president Dilma Rousseff, the MBL (Free Brazil Movement), is being shunned by other right-wing conservative groups, and now admits it was an error to support Bolsonaro in the second round of elections.
“It was a mistake to endorse majority candidates,” says Renan Santos, MBL’s national coordinator in an interview to daily Folha de S.Paulo. “We were wrong to support João Doria (São Paulo governor). We were wrong to endorse Bolsonaro in the second round,” concludes Santos.
Nonetheless, Santos justifies the support: “But there was nothing we could do. Had the PT come to power, we would have had a civil war. The middle class and the Center-South (region) would not have accepted the results.”
The MBL, created in 2014 by some of the 2013 protests’ key organizers, is credited as being one of the forces behind the election of Jair Bolsonaro in October of 2018.
The conservative activist says, however, that the current administration has a different view of the public machine than does MBL.
“The right-wing (factions) that emerged in Brazil are divided into three groups: one is based on the idea of law and order; another is moralistic, that of the Lava Jato; and another is reformist and modernizing, that of MBL,” says Santos. According to MBL members, the current administration focuses more on moralistic ideas.
“In 2015, we filed an injunction to prohibit enthusiasts of military intervention from speaking out in our demonstrations. Today they are mainstream. So, there is something that is not working,” adds Santos.
The MBL participated in actions in support of the Bolsonaro government in May, but in June refused to join the right-wing rallies.
“The people who took to the streets (in May) were in favor of Republican guidelines,” explains conservative activist and state representative, Artur do Val, who is close to the group. “We never advocated closing Congress and STF, so we repudiate those who use demonstrations to support closing,” says do Val.
The group started to get attacked by extreme right-wing groups when they decided not to participate in a nationwide pro-government protest in June.
According to MBL members, the June rally called for, among other actions, the closing of Brazil’s Supreme Court and Congress; acts which the entity called “anti-conservative” and “anti-republican”.
“We will not defend this at all,” said federal Deputy and one of the founders of the MBL movement, Kim Kataguiri, at the time. “The problems are not in the institutions; they are in the actions of people who use the power of the institutions for personal purposes.”
Nonetheless, the MBL was severely attacked by other conservative spokespersons for declining to join the pro-Moro, pro-Bolsonaro June rally.
“All genuinely right-wing movements are quite disappointed with the MBL,” said All for the Homeland representative Elizabeth Rezende at the time to local media.
Many ultra-conservative movements charged the MBL with “moving to the center-right.”
“The MBL has been showing behavior that does not match what the right (wing) expects, and what is our essence. It (MBL) is now mixed up in the Centrão (center bloc) and has teamed up with one of Congress’ shadiest politicians, (Chamber of Deputies’ President) Rodrigo Maia,” complains Andre Petros, São Paulo state coordinator for DireitaSP.
“We created the polarization bias, and this bias is now being used against us,” says Santos of the backlash.
According to the MBL coordinator, the group’s job is to help improve the political environment. “We had several merits in making it (political scenario) more participatory, but we had demerits in making it more toxic. Today, many people want to close Congress. That’s wrong,” he says.
Despite the tension, Kataguiri says the scenario is optimistic. “Overall, the balance is positive. Bolsonaro has formed a team using technical criteria. The main problem is the political conduct because the president often enters unnecessary controversy,” he says.
Santos also admits the group exaggerated in several instances in these past five years. “Did we exaggerate at various times? Yes,” says the conservative.
The first exaggeration, notes Santos, was when the MBL protested against the Queermuseum show in Porto Alegre (Rio Grande do Sul state) in September of 2017. The exhibit featuring over 250 works of the LGBTQ community was shut down after four days due to intense criticism on social media about the “morality and indecency” of the exhibition.
According to Santos, the initial protest was not even by an MBL member, but the group was drawn into the debate and rapidly rose to be a key player. “We should not have caused the amount of ruckus we did,” he says now.
Santos also says the group went “overboard” on a video attacking TV presenter Luciano Hulk when he was being encouraged to run as a candidate for the 2018 presidential race.
With 5,500 members in over 250 cities, Santos says the MBL, which once was known for its rhetorical aggressiveness against opponents and the press, is now focusing more on local issues.
“Protests have to be used intelligently. If not, they are trivialized and become rallies. Our main accomplishment (so far) was our participation in the public debate, the creation of groups in over 200 cities,” concludes Santos.