RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – “I’m a liberal and I didn’t know it.” This is the conclusion that groups defining themselves as liberals in Brazil want their speakers to reach when the subject is politics.
The new wave of liberalism in the country, comprising groups such as the Livre (“Free”) Party, Movimento Brasil Livre (“Free Brazil Movement”) and Students for Liberty Brazil (“SFLB”), emerges together with the erosion of the left-wing and seeks to make room in the Brazilian right-wing, with its main strategy different from Jair Bolsonaro’s government.
The underlying reason is to distance themselves from any association with right-wing radicalism, which is how these groups perceive conservative thinking on social customs. This agenda is taken up by the government, its allies and supporters who are now investing in the foundation of the Aliança pelo Brasil (“Alliance for Brazil”) party, defending God and guns, in order to implant Bolsonarism in the country.
The exception lies in the economic area because, in general, liberal groups agree with agendas such as social welfare and tax reforms.
“There are people who are pro-market, in favor of a State that interferes less in people’s lives, in favor of gay marriage and the decriminalization of drugs and who did not know that this had a name. Advocating complete freedom is possible,” said Paulo Gontijo, the president of the Free party.
André Freo, the executive director of Students for Liberty Brazil, is on the same line. “Many people link liberalism exclusively to the economy, but we go further. We advocate economic freedom with individual freedom”.
An example of how these liberals have been trying to make a stand beyond economic issues occurred in the municipality of Juara, in Mato Grosso. With the support of the Free Party, which is campaigning against compulsory military service, Emerqui Aguiar, 20, was discharged in October after claiming conscious objections.
The measure is provided for in the Constitution and attributes “alternative service” to enlisted men who allege political or religious belief or who are philosophically opposed to military service. According to Aguiar, in his case, a letter from the Free party – including the alternative service – was required and the release from service came five months after it had been processed.
“No one in the committee knew about this constitutional right,” he said.
On the other hand, the MBL and the Students for Liberty Brazil have recently engaged in debates with the presence of liberals, conservatives and even people from the left-wing. In its 5th National Assembly, the MBL, which has leaders such as Federal Deputy Kim Kataguiri (DEM-SP) and São Paulo city councilor Fernando Holiday (DEM), harshly criticized Jair Bolsonaro’s government and spoke of the importance of debate to strengthen liberal thinking.
The group also includes conservatives and campaigned against Bolsonaro’s opponent in the second round of last year’s presidential election, Fernando Haddad, to “prevent the Workers Party (PT) from coming back”.
Students for Liberty Brazil promoted LibertyCon, which discussed issues such as the current deadlocks of liberalism in panels. Despite not taking a position on government, the group does not identify with conservative agendas linked to social customs.
Gontijo, president of the Free Party, sees the current moment as a challenge: “The differences in the liberal movement and in the center-right are becoming clearer. The left-wing was always divided, but at the time of the election, it saw what the best option was. This is one of the challenges of the different liberal movements today,” he said.
Personalism
For political scientist Kleber Carrilho, from the University of São Paulo (USP), the division of the liberal right-wing today is similar to what happened to the left in the PT governments of Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva and Dilma Rousseff. He said he sees the current scenario as a consequence of the division and personalism in national politics – the right-wing associated with Bolsonaro and the left-wing with Lula.
“Today in Brazil it is much easier to understand what Bolsonarism and Lulism are than concepts such as conservatism, liberalism or socialism, which are lost in this patchwork of people rather than ideas,” said Carrilho.
Criticism
Liberal movements rely on the influence of representatives in the legislature to mark their positions. In almost a year, the Free Party, which was part of the PSL until the arrival of Jair Bolsonaro to the party in the beginning of last year, expanded its “bench” in Congress from three elected last year (Senator Rodrigo Cunha, and deputies Marcelo Calero, and Tiago Mitraud) to seven deputies. Now, deputies Daniel Coelho, Franco Cartafina, Gilson Marques and Pedro Cunha Lima are also members of the Free Party.
According to deputy Daniel Coelho, extremism is making liberals and social democrats unite around a project that he perceives as being that of classical liberalim. “It’s rethinking the role of the state recognizing inequalities,” Coelho said. “On the one hand, a left-wing that has an ‘economic symmetry’ and, on the other, a right-wing on a conservative agenda. This has united the social democrats and the liberals,” said the deputy.
For Kim Kataguiri, one of the three MBL federal deputies elected in 2018 (besides Jerônimo Goergen and Paulo Eduardo Martins), to mark a position is to promote dialogue within the right-wing.
“We try to differentiate ourselves by promoting a democratic dialogue within the right-wing, at a time when the Planalto Palace is trying to suffocate all the leaderships and have a certain hegemony within this ideological field.”
Questioned by the report, the Planalto did not wish to comment on the subject.
Debate
Despite the divisions, the moment is regarded as appropriate by representatives of these groups for the debate on what it means to be liberal in the country today. “Liberalism is being discussed and this is great. And people are paying attention. There is no such thing as a conservative-liberal,” said economist Elena Landau, who is a member of the Free party and also took part in LibertyCon.
“Liberals can’t think they’re right and that they don’t need to debate. There’s no point in writing in caps lock on social media and only replying to those who agree with us. We are going to advance iour individual freedom agendas through debate,” said André Freo, executive director of the Students for Liberty Brazil.
Source: O Estado de S. Paulo.