Jair Bolsonaro is the extreme-right president of Brazil. Among other things, he is extremely sexist and homophobic, has advocated strongly against women's access to abortion, and supports relaxing gun control laws.
He has done an appalling job of managing the covid pandemic, failing to implement evidence-based disease control measures and instead spreading misinformation. As a result of his poor leadership, around 21 million Brazilians (and still rising) have contracted covid, and the country is on track to hit 700 000 deaths from the virus. He is also now being sued in the International Criminal Court for genocide against Indigenous peoples of South America.
Jonathan Sri, Councillor for The Gabba wrote a public piece about this activism protest:
“I found this action by the local Brasileiros em Brisbane crew really inspiring. It reminded me that even when you're a long way from home, you can still find ways to make your voice heard.
The other night, Brisbane City Council lit up the Story Bridge with the colours of the Brazilian flag to mark Brazilian Independence Day (I presume they did this at the request of Brazil's consular representative). But Independence Day in Brazil has been co-opted by hard-right nationalists and their loose-cannon leader, Bolsonaro. So a couple of Brazilian expats hung a massive banner off the side of the bridge to help tell the other side of the story.”
I think it's great to see actions like this that challenge jingoism in all its forms. Congratulations to these activists for helping get the word out!”
The video was shared on social media and quickly picked up by Brazilian independent media and public figures - Midia Ninja, Manuela.
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Brasileiros in Brisbane with the support of Pedra.tv
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