Bolsonarism

Jair Bolsonaro
President of Brazil (2019–2023)
Flávio Bolsonaro
Senator for Rio de Janeiro (2019–present)

Bolsonarism (Portuguese: bolsonarismo) is an ideology or the political movement tied to Jair Bolsonaro. His views, policies, and supporters are variously described as neo-fascist or far-right populism by scholars and news outlets, although Bolsonaro denied that he is a fascist, and some analysts disagree with such labelling. Bolsonarism broke out in Brazil with the rise in popularity of Bolsonaro, especially during his campaign in the presidential election in 2018, which elected him as president. The Workers' Party (PT) crisis during the Dilma Rousseff government, precipitated and accelerated by the political-economic crisis of 2014, strengthened Bolsonarist ideology and the Brazilian new right, which are part of the context of the rise of New Right populism at an international level.[page needed]

In politics, figures from Bolsonarism, such as Bolsonaro's son Eduardo Bolsonaro, have sought to attract punishments and international sanctions for Brazil in order to free Bolsonaro from being legally judged according to Brazilian laws, which has triggered a US tariff on the country. Likewise, pro-Bolsonaro deputies, with the support of parties such as União Brasil, PP, and Novo, tried to block, intimidate, destabilize, and impede the functioning of the legal entities of the legislature (Senate and Congress) as a form of blackmail for their objectives, such as making it difficult to vote on government projects that benefit workers (such as the exemption from income tax) and trying to free Jair Bolsonaro and those involved in the coup attempt and extremists from the January 8 attacks. Bolsonaro supporters have also repeatedly threatened to kill Brazilian authorities and politicians.

Policy

Jair Bolsonaro making his well-known finger gun gesture

Bolsonarism was the predominant ideology of the Bolsonaro government and, according to its critics, is associated with rhetoric defending the family, patriotism, conservatism, anti-communism, scientific denialism, carrying weapons, and aversion to the political left, as well as the cult of the figure of Bolsonaro, often called a "myth". Writer Olavo de Carvalho is often cited as having been the "guru" of the Bolsonarist ideology.

Although Bolsonaro defined his government as "free from ideological constraints", and did not recognize Bolsonarism as an ideology, his supporters – pejoratively called "Bolsominions" – diverge between those who agree with Bolsonaro and those who use the term to express their political position. Bolsonarism has been placed on the right-wing to the far-right.

Bolsonarism supports economic liberalism, neoliberalism, and militarism, while engaging in right-wing populism and authoritarianism. Scholars and commentators have described bolsonarism as ultraconservative and neo-fascist.

Bolsonaro through his political career has opposed human rights and minority rights in Brazil, and under his presidency human and minority rights were increasingly targeted by government policies.

While being against "globalism", Bolsonaro sought to work with various other neo-fascist, far-right, and authoritarian political parties, groups, and strategists to combat left-wing politics across central and south America. Efforts towards this goal included helping to set up the Madrid Forum.

Anti-Workers' Party and anti-communism

Hostility towards the Workers' Party constituted a large part of rhetoric from Bolsonaro and among his supporters. Bolsonaro combined this anti-Workers' Party rhetoric with anti-communist sentiment, using the Workers' Party membership in the São Paulo Forum as a line of attack, with him describing the São Paulo Forum as "a political group with a left-wing communist ideology, led by Lula and Fidel Castro".

Bolsonaro adopted the motto of "our flag will never be red [pt]" during his campaign for the Brazilian presidency, which had been used by his supporters since 2015. During Bolsonaro's inauguration he said to the crowd of people that Brazil had begun to "liberate itself from socialism". During his presidency he sought to dismantle organisations that he referred to as "dens of leftism", such as the public health research foundation Oswaldo Cruz Foundation. Bolsonarists would also label any criticism of Bolsonaro as coming from such "dens". Vocal supporters of Bolsonaro from his political party, such as Coronel Fernanda, have since Bolsonaro's election introduced bills seeking to criminalise support for communism in Brazil. The prominence of the slogan led Pablo López Guelli to title his documentary about the control of Brazilian media and subsequent distrust of the media, after the slogan.

Christian conservatism

Bolsonarism presents feminist, LGBTQ, and anti-racist movements responsible for the supposed "moral chaos" of Brazilian society. Faced with this, Bolsonarism argues that the traditional family and Christian values must be defended. This rhetoric is also linked to growth of evangelical prosperity theology, which associates economic success with individual merit, and is used to legitimize the movement's neoliberal policies. Several major evangelical churches publicly endorsed Bolsonaro in the lead-up to the 2018 presidential election, with him gaining 21.7 % of the vote among evangelical Christians, compared to 9.7 % for Fernando Haddad of the Workers' Party.

Attacks

Crowds of Bolsonaro supporters attack, vandalize, and destroy numerous works and pieces at the Planalto Palace during the 8 January Brasília attacks

Some of Bolsonaro's supporters, in his name or based on his right-wing ideas, have carried out several riots and have been involved in political violence. These included the 8 January Brasília attacks against the election of the left-wing candidate for the presidency, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, which occurred after widespread misinformation of election fraud, and sought to instigate a coup d'état.

See also

Similar ideologies

References

  1. 1 2 de Souza 2020, p. 1; Gonçalves & Caldeira Neto 2022, From the Bolsonaro government to the attack on the Porta dos Fundos headquarters; Gomes 2020, p. 2: "It is not just about specific periods, such as: the genocide of the indigenous people, during the invasion of Brazilian lands in 1500; or more than 300 years of official slavery; the Vargas Dictatorship in Estado Novo; the "Years of Lead" (1964-1984); or the extremist authoritarian personality – of a fascist type – of Jair Bolsonaro, his government and insurgent Bolsonarism28; which dispute our territory and threaten us every day."; Plattner 2021, pp. 66–67
  2. 1 2
    • Boito 2023:[page needed] "All of this appears to point to what many observers have said: that there is a solid core of Bolsonarism, which I am characterizing as neofascist, around which a broader periphery gravitates from various outer reaches of the right and far-right."
    • Medeiros & Araújo Júnior 2024:[page needed] "Bolsonarism is defined as a neo-fascist movement whose main social base is the upper middle class."
    • Sauer 2022:[page needed] "For contemporary analyses of the 2022 electoral processes, this political debate is not so crucial, but it is fundamental to win the elections (RODRIGUES, 2022) and create conditions to overcome the so-called 'bolsonarismo' (REIS, 2021), a neo-fascist ideology and an authoritarian populism, that goes deeper than the current administration (SUZUKI, 2022)."
    • Robinson 2019:[page needed] "Trumpism in the United States, Bolsonarism in Brazil, and to varying degrees other far-right movements around the world, represent the extension of capitalist globalization by other means, namely by an expanding global police state and a neo-fascist mobilization."
    • Andrada 2022, p. 1: "Por fim, propõe a existência de uma vertente específica da "nova" direita, à qual está ligada o bolsonarismo, e defendemos a adequação do termo "neofascista" para esse fenômeno político contemporâneo." ["Finally, it proposes that there is a specific aspect of the 'new' right to which 'bolsonarism' is linked, and it defends the adequacy of the term 'neo-fascist' as a means of referring to the contemporary expression of such political phenomenon."]
    • Doval, Gisela Pereyra; Lucca, Juan Bautista; Iglesias, Esteban (24 May 2024). El Brasil de Bolsonaro: En español [Bolsonaro's Brazil: In Spanish] (in Spanish). Melos. ISBN 978-987-8267-97-5. Para caracterizar el Gobierno de Bolsonaro — y el movimiento que lo respalda — de neofascista, Boito (2019, 2020a, 2020b, 2021) expone el concepto de fascismo que retoma. [To characterise Bolsonaro's government — and the movement that supports it — as neo-fascist, Boito (2019, 2020a, 2020b, 2021) explains the concept of fascism that he takes up.]
    • Jardim, Alex Fabiano Correia; Oliveira, Adhemar Santos de; Costa, Paulo Henrique Dias; Andrade, Warley Kelber Gusmão de; Almeida, Michelle Martins de; Amorim, Jailson Pereira de; Menezes, Sabrina Lasevitch; Silva, Laise Franciele Souza (10 May 2022). Deleuze e Guattari – Pensar em veredas que se bifurcam: política, educação e clínica (in German). Editora CRV. ISBN 978-65-251-2297-7. O essencial a atentar com a hipótese do bolsonarismo como máquina de guerra ncofascista é que agora há uma máquina de guerra que toma um Estado, como no fascismo histórico, mas que antes de realizar a linha de morte na forma das grandes guerras, a máquina neofascista se utiliza das forgas concretas e 'baixas' da violéncia pós-fascista.
    • Almeida, Diogo H. A. (10 March 2021). Por que Bolsonaro é uma anomalia civilizacional? [Why is Bolsonaro a civilizational anomaly?] (in Brazilian Portuguese). Autografia. ISBN 978-65-5943-397-1. Podemos recorrer ao pensamento esclarecido de muitos autores, professores, cientistas políticos e pensadores para constatarmos claramente que Bolsonaro e seu movimento de defesa, o bolsonarismo, sáo de caráter fascista, ou neofascista, ou, no mínimo, um populismo de direita.
    • Filgueiras, Luiz; Druck, Graça (6 November 2020). O Brasil nas trevas (2013-2020): Do golpe neoliberal ao fascismo (in Brazilian Portuguese). Boitempo Editorial. ISBN 978-65-5717-030-4. No caso do Brasil, o "bolsonarismo" é um "movimento neofascista" efetivamente constituído, política e ideologicamente mobilizador, tendo raízes em certos segmentos e fracóes de classe da sociedade brasileira — embora aparente ser inorgánico, em virtude da inexisténcia, ainda, de um Partido político que unifique, organize, discipline e represente os seus vários grupos e tendencias.
    • Arcary, Valerio (14 July 2022). Ninguém disse que seria fácil (in Brazilian Portuguese). Boitempo Editorial. ISBN 978-65-5717-168-4. E o bolsonarismo é uma corriente neofascista.
  3. ↑ Bevins, Vincent (1 August 2024). "Trumps of the Tropics: Brazil's Far Right Plots Its Return". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Archived from the original on 2 August 2024. Retrieved 26 March 2025.
  4. ↑ Phillips, Tom (30 October 2018). "Jair Bolsonaro denies he is a fascist and paints himself as a Brazilian Churchill". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Archived from the original on 5 January 2026. Retrieved 26 March 2025.
  5. ↑ Boito 2021, p. 169.
  6. ↑ Galinari, Tiago Nogueira (29 August 2019). "A "Guinada à direita" e a nova política externa brasileira" [The "Shift to the Right" and the New Brazilian Foreign Policy]. Caderno de Geografia (in Portuguese). 29 (2): 190–211. doi:10.5752/P.2318-2962.2019v29n2p190-211 (inactive 1 July 2025). ISSN 2318-2962. Archived from the original on 19 February 2024. Retrieved 16 November 2024.{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: DOI inactive as of July 2025 (link)
  7. ↑ Adriano de Freixo; Rosana Pinheiro-Machado, eds. (2019). Brasil em transe : Bolsonarismo, nova direita e desdemocratização [Brazil in a trance: Bolsonarism, the new right, and de-democratization] (in Portuguese). Rio de Janeiro: Oficina Raquel. ISBN 978-85-9500-036-0. OCLC 1112610937.
  8. ↑
  9. ↑ Bonin, Robson (6 August 2025). "Ação bolsonarista para interditar o Congresso é ilegal, avalia Alcolumbre | Radar". Veja (in Brazilian Portuguese). Archived from the original on 6 August 2025. Retrieved 10 August 2025.
  10. ↑ Pina, Rute (7 August 2025). "'Bolsonarismo perdeu protagonismo no debate e quer criar tumulto para monopolizar atenções'" ['Bolsonarism has lost prominence in the debate and wants to create turmoil to monopolize attention']. BBC News Brasil (in Brazilian Portuguese). Archived from the original on 6 January 2026. Retrieved 10 August 2025.
  11. ↑
  12. 1 2 Ribeiro 2020, p. 470: ""Mito" significa embaralhar infantilmente realidade e imaginação. Estar fora da história mas, ao mesmo tempo, deter poderes para nela intervir. Perder a noção de humanidade ao clamar por um super-homem apto a solucionar tudo aquilo visto como "problema". O mito é um clamor delirante em nome da eliminação do outro e se porventura a tragédia da morte despontar no horizonte da vida e o tempo histórico reclamar seus direitos, a direita sempre poderá encontrar tanto a desculpa de que não imaginava que as coisas aconteceriam de tal forma quanto a de que a esquerda teria feito muito pior. Em síntese, o mito é o álibi impecável do autoritarismo." [""Myth" means childishly mixing reality and imagination. Being outside of history but, at the same time, having the powers to intervene in it. Losing the notion of humanity when calling for a superman capable of solving everything seen as a "problem". The myth is a delusional cry in the name of the elimination of the other and if perhaps the tragedy of death emerges on the horizon of life and historical time reclaims its rights, the right will always be able to find the excuse that it did not imagine that things would happen in such a way as to how the left would have done much worse. In short, the myth is the impeccable alibi of authoritarianism."]
  13. ↑ Graieb, Carlos (29 January 2021). "Prepare-se para falar de armas" [Prepare to talk about weapons]. ISTOÉ Independente (in Brazilian Portuguese). Archived from the original on 4 July 2025. Retrieved 16 November 2024.
  14. ↑ Gonçalves & Caldeira Neto 2022, From the Bolsonaro government to the attack on the Porta dos Fundos headquarters; Bernardino-Costa 2023, p. 99; Peci 2021, p. 27
  15. ↑
  16. ↑ Brancoli 2024, pp. 73–76.
  17. ↑ "Cinco pontos que marcaram os discursos de posse de Bolsonaro" [Five key points that marked Bolsonaro's inauguration speeches]. BBC News Brasil (in Brazilian Portuguese). 1 January 2019. Archived from the original on 26 November 2025. Retrieved 16 November 2024.
  18. ↑ "Silas Malafaia: "Não sou bolsominion"" [Silas Malafaia: "I am not a Bolsonaro supporter"]. Veja (in Brazilian Portuguese). Archived from the original on 26 July 2025. Retrieved 16 November 2024.
  19. ↑ Magenta, Matheus (11 August 2022). "O que é ser bolsonarista?" [What does it mean to be a Bolsonaro supporter?]. BBC News Brasil (in Brazilian Portuguese). Archived from the original on 14 February 2026. Retrieved 16 November 2024.
  20. ↑
  21. ↑ Phillips D. 2018; Barón 2014; Singer et al. 2021; Plattner 2021, pp. 66–67
  22. ↑ "Jair Bolsonaro and the perversion of liberalism". The Economist. 27 October 2018.{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  23. ↑ Lapper, Richard (13 December 2021). "Bolsonarismo's shifting alliances: Brazilian politics in an election year". trendsresearch.org. Archived from the original on 4 November 2025.
  24. ↑ Araújo & Carvalho 2021:[page needed] "Based on the critical analysis of scholars on the Brazilian reality, we approach bolsonarism as an expression of authoritarianism in Brazil of the Present, constituted from the convergence of political-cultural reactionism, militarism and ultraliberalism."
  25. ↑ Silva Júnior & Fargoni 2020, p. 2: "It can therefore be said that Bolsonarism is a facet of Brazilian authoritarianism or an authentic right-wing populism that articulates with neoliberalism, because its characteristics are witnessed in Brazil's social daily life, producing a daily pedagogy of right-wing populism."
  26. ↑ Bernardino-Costa 2023, p. 107: "Social networks would provide the necessary fuel for Bolsonarism, a phenomenon that expresses an ultraconservative moral and neoliberal economic worldview"
  27. ↑ Gonçalves & Caldeira Neto 2022.
  28. ↑ Brancoli 2024, pp. 42–44; Power & Rodrigues-Silveira 2019, pp. 264–265; Martins & Pereira 2019, pp. 508, 512
  29. ↑
  30. ↑ Machado 2020, p. 25; Terto Neto 2020, p. 49; Buarque de Hollanda et al. 2024, p. 42
  31. ↑
  32. ↑
  33. ↑ Sá Guimarães et al. 2023, p. 273.
  34. ↑ Brancoli 2024, pp. 70–78.
  35. ↑ Brancoli 2024, pp. 55–59, 70–78.
  36. ↑ Brancoli 2024, pp. 56–58.
  37. ↑ Solano 2021, pp. 271–272.
  38. ↑ Peci 2021, p. 27.
  39. ↑ Solano 2021, pp. 277–278.
  40. ↑ Braun, Julia (29 September 2022). "'Resgatar o orgulho de ser brasileiro': o movimento para ressignificar o verde e amarelo antes da eleição e da Copa" ['Reclaiming the pride of being Brazilian': the movement to redefine the green and yellow colors before the election and the World Cup]. BBC News Brasil (in Brazilian Portuguese). Archived from the original on 5 February 2023.
  41. ↑ Marques, Hugo; Caldas, Leonardo (7 September 2022). "Brasília tem revista contra explosivos e gritos pró-Bolsonaro e contra STF" [Brasilia has a magazine that combats explosives and chants in favor of Bolsonaro and against the Supreme Court]. Veja (in Brazilian Portuguese). Archived from the original on 20 July 2024.
  42. ↑ Benites, Afonso; Gortázar, Naiara Galarraga; Coletta, Ricardo Della (2 January 2019). "Bolsonaro: "O Brasil começa a se libertar do socialismo, e do politicamente correto"" [Bolsonaro: "Brazil is beginning to free itself from socialism and political correctness."]. El País Brasil (in Brazilian Portuguese). Archived from the original on 13 February 2026. Retrieved 26 April 2026.
  43. ↑ "A obsessão bolsonarista com o 'antro esquerdista' da Fiocruz" [Bolsonaro's obsession with the 'leftist den' of Fiocruz]. Veja (in Brazilian Portuguese). 26 May 2021. Archived from the original on 21 June 2024.
  44. ↑ Pinheiro-Machado, Rosana (16 October 2018). "Os ricos, os pobres e os precariados: os 3 tipos de eleitores de Bolsonaro" [The rich, the poor, and the precariat: the 3 types of Bolsonaro voters]. Intercept Brasil (in Brazilian Portuguese). Archived from the original on 20 January 2026. Retrieved 26 April 2026.
  45. ↑ Marzullo, Luísa (27 February 2023). "Bolsonarista propõe PL para criminalizar venda de produtos em alusão ao comunismo" [Bolsonaro supporter proposes bill to criminalize the sale of products alluding to communism]. O Globo (in Brazilian Portuguese). Archived from the original on 10 May 2023.
  46. ↑ A nossa bandeira jamais será vermelha - Festival do Rio (in Brazilian Portuguese). Retrieved 7 September 2026 – via www.festivaldorio.com.br.
  47. 1 2 Solano 2021, p. 217.
  48. ↑ Solano 2021, pp. 210–212.
  49. ↑ Peci 2021, p. 29.
  50. ↑
  51. ↑
  52. ↑ Nicas, Jack; Spigariol, André (8 January 2023). "Bolsonaro Supporters Lay Siege to Brazil's Capital". The New York Times. Archived from the original on 9 January 2023. Retrieved 9 January 2023.
  53. ↑ Bowman, Emma (8 January 2023). "Security forces regain control after Bolsonaro supporters storm Brazil's Congress". NPR. Archived from the original on 9 January 2023. Retrieved 9 January 2023.
  54. ↑ Mori, Letícia (9 January 2023). "Por que invasões em Brasília são consideradas atos terroristas pelo STF". BBC News Brasil (in Brazilian Portuguese).

Works cited

Further reading