RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – The first Brazilian edition of the CPAC (Conservative Political Action Conference), the main American conservative event, included the anticipated repertoire of media criticism, denunciations of an alleged Marxist cultural dominance and calls for right-wing unity.
A more significant step in the long term was the establishment of Federal Deputy Eduardo Bolsonaro, 35 years old, as his father‘s political successor.
In the role of master of ceremonies at the event held on Friday and Saturday, October 11th and 12th in a hotel in São Paulo, Eduardo Bolsonaro was the main person behind the importance of the conference, which has been held since 1973 in the USA. He was greeted in unison as ‘Mitinho’ (“Young Legend”) by the audience on Saturday night.
In two days of meetings, the deputy rotated examples of pure Bolsonarism, attacking his father’s enemies and promoting conservative views, in times when he was able to exert an unexpected charismatic side.
He eschewed political correctness, such as when he asked for patience from the audience because a guest called to the stage, US Senator Mike Lee, was late.
“No one is going to set the building on fire, right? There will be no woman showing hairy armpits, defecating and vomiting on the floor and saying it’s art. And no one will say that those who don’t like it are fascist and racist”. The audience loved it.
Eduardo Bolsonaro, appointed (but still unconfirmed) as Brazil’s ambassador to the USA, excelled alone, perhaps in the clan’s deliberate strategy. None of his brothers was at the event, and the presence of President Bolsonaro, which had been confirmed, was canceled. The president preferred to watch the soccer game between Palmeiras and Botafogo.
The long line that was formed at each break to take selfies with the deputy was evidence that it is the #3 son who has more chances of being chosen as the heir to the president’s estate in 2026. Or 2022, if Bolsonaro, for some reason, can not run.
The conference had approximately 1,200 participants, according to the organization’s estimate. Party groups with public resources from official funds earmarked for PSL cost about R$800,000 (US$200,000).
Politicians, teachers, writers, activists and digital influencers crossed the stage, unable to conceal the excitement of having made it to the main stage of the public debate after years of being on the fringes.
In most of the speeches, conservatives there were encouraged to spread the right-wing gospel in their cities and neighborhoods.
“Good afternoon to the Bolsonaro robots present here!”, said ironically Filipe Martins, international advisor to the Presidency and one of the main digital activists of the right-wing in line with the government, in greeting the audience.
“We need a permanent mobilization strategy,” convened Martins. “As Olavo [de Carvalho] says, don’t stop, don’t rush, don’t regress”.
There were some gloomy moments, like the speech of the Catholic YouTuber, Bernardo Kuster, who vowed to be hard on anyone who tarnishes his faith. “We have reasons to hate some things. I hate murderers, I despise criminals. Often hatred has a pacifying force,” he said.
Sean Fieler, a conservative American businessman, received a loud round of applause by displaying the flags of the Soviet Union, Cuba, and the gay movement in sequence, equating them as forms of totalitarianism.
“It’s the most dangerous movement in the US today,” he said, despite the numerous oaths of Eduardo Bolsonaro and other organizers during the event that conservatives have nothing against gays.
State Deputy Ana Campagnolo gave a speech against the feminist movement, which, according to her, has members who support pornography, pedophilia, and incest. She called divorce a tragedy and concluded by saying that “it’s competitiveness that ends marriage. God put women on Earth to help our husbands, and husbands to protect us”.
Four government Ministers attended: Ernesto Araújo of Foreign Relations, Onyx Lorenzoni of the Presidential Staff, Damares Alves of Human Rights and Abraham Weintraub of Education. Damares and Onyx were particularly emotional, saying they had waited for this moment for years.
Weintraub closed the conference with an elucidation of the current threats to conservatism in Brazil and in the world and detailing the existence of an alleged conspiracy that would involve even billionaire communist entrepreneurs. In an analogy of dubious taste, he said that former President Fernando opened the way for former President Lula, just as a virus opened the way for death by AIDS.
The second Brazilian edition of CPAC, in 2020, is guaranteed. The agreement was signed on stage by Eduardo Bolsonaro and Matt Schlapp, president of the American Conservative Union, owner of the brand. For a new moment of delirium in the audience, Eduardo mimicked his father using a Compactor pen, in retaliation to the French Bic.
Source: Folhapress