Rio de JaMurder
Book Report: I am working through a second draft of “The Black Pill.” I finally launched into a rewrite of my Brazil chapter.
This was the weakest section in my manuscript, a failed attempt to weave three threads together. One was about Bolsonaro and the Latin American version of authoritarianism. The second is an investigation into the recent assassination of a gay, black city councilwoman in Rio. She dared to question the links between politicians and the corrupt and right-wing “militias” that act as private security forces in Brazil. Right-wingers hated her. She was murdered by one of Bolsonaro’s neighbors.
What has given me the most trouble in my draft is a third element, my extensive reporting for many different magazines on the favelas, or slums, of Rio. At first I was unsure how to use this material, which is from 15 and even 25 years ago, and covers everything from the culture of drug gangs to favela tourism.
But I’ve finally realized that this is precisely the strength of this older material, from across a dozen different favelas and reaching back to the 1990s. It gives perspective. It shows how nasty Rio was, when the drug gangs went unchallenged, and the state failed. It helps explain why politicians, wealthy businessmen, and many ordinary Brazilians support, fund, or join these private forces. They have become parasitical vigilantes, assassins and drug dealers, preying on the people they claim to protect.
In case its not obvious, my point here is that authoritarianism in the USA is often inspired by, linked to, or previewed in other countries. The militias of Rio show what will happen if American militias are “deputized” to run parts of our society. (Currently a talking point among ultra-rightists.) One dark path for the USA is to become more like Brazil—less democratic, less equal, more corrupt, more violent, more delusional, more impoverished and irrelevant.
The authoritarians have discovered how to hack democracy, to empower themselves by disempowering others. Trumpism is Bolsonarismo. Orban of Hungary is Erdogan of Turkey. Even when they hate each other, they are communicating by example, enabling each other.
Now I that I understand what my favela narratives are for, my Brazil chapter gets easier.
You write about scary, scary stuff - happening now and to come. But that photo of you - yikes. Young boys toting guns everywhere you go as a journalist (and tourist, probably). You are brave, Patrick. Very brave. Thank you for doing the work that you do, and bringing it to us, in the comfort of our gun-free homes.