How Brazil should deal with the bolsonarista insurrection
Punish those who broke the law, but govern inclusively
Draped in Brazilian flags, they smashed offices, stole files, thumped police and injured at least five journalists. On January 8th thousands of supporters of Jair Bolsonaro stormed Brazil’s Congress, Supreme Court and presidential palace, demanding the overturning of an election result. The parallels with the attack on America’s Capitol by supporters of Donald Trump in 2021 are obvious—and far from coincidental. Mr Bolsonaro has long admired Mr Trump and copied his methods.
Explore more
This article appeared in the Leaders section of the print edition under the headline “How to deal with an insurrection”
Leaders January 14th 2023
More from Leaders
Mario Draghi’s best ideas are those Europe finds least comfortable
The danger is that it picks the easy ones
The Labour government’s worrying lack of ambition in Europe
Sir Keir Starmer is trapped by the mindset of the post-Brexit years
A make-or-break moment for Mexico
In America’s biggest trading partner the rule of law and democracy are under attack
The real problem with China’s economy
The country risks making some of the mistakes the Soviet Union did
What to do about America’s killer cars
The country’s roads are nearly twice as dangerous as the rich-world average. It doesn’t have to be that way
How to deal with the hard-right threat in Germany
As extremists win more votes across Europe, forming moderate and effective governments is getting harder