world, don't stop watching Brasil
yesterday was the second round of the Brazilian presidential elections, and in a historic moment, ★ Lula was re-elected ★. this was the first time the first-round runner-up was elected in the second round. and it took SO F* MUCH to get here.
for the last three weeks, Brazilians all around the globe fought, protested, and called out lies and fake news, meta (aka facebook) and trump were intervening, some of our people were even killed by other citizens for their political ideology. which is interesting, because you never hear of a right-leaning person being killed by crazy, out of their minds, leftists. huh!
and for the people who lost their lives and their families, I am really sorry! I share in my heart your grief. you deserved so much better.
for now, we think we have four more years of democracy, and unfortunately we need to be very careful still. we had our own version on January 6 in 2023, and the far-right has a very special way of questioning election results.
and that's why I come here and ask, world, don't stop watching Brasil. the far-right is rising everywhere. women's rights are being questioned again; LGBTQIA+ people are begging for protection; we're all seeing the massacres happening all around the world (to name a few: Palestine, Ukraine, Sudan, Congo); the environment is under attack - the Amazon is under attack.
we have protests going on right now in France, Albania, Spain, Argentina, Italy, Poland, etc. we are exhausted, so tired. and in the middle of all this, Lula's re-election raises a bit of a bubble of hope. it's not fucking easy, but there's hope. and I'm so happy to see my country come through. it truly brings happy tears to my eyes.
this doesn't mean the left is perfect, that its government doesn't have flaws, and we'll push back against them - after all, that's what democracy is all about. and Brasil's National Congress is mostly far-right politicians right now, after these elections. which is a shame, but alas.
today, though, we celebrate. and watch. and root for our brothers, sisters and siblings out there fighting, surviving and making the difference.
just to finish, I saw someone saying, 'I’m really glad to be on the right side of history. not because we’re perfect, but because we’re not wicked.'