Brazil: Conservatives Prepare Pro-Free Speech Marches on Marxist May Day Holiday

Conservatives in Brazil have announced a large rally for free speech and individual liberty in Sao Paulo scheduled for May 1, a holiday typically celebrated by Marxists known as “International Workers’ Day.”

Online advertisements calling for supporters of conservative President Jair Bolsonaro to attend the rally indicate that it will also serve as a protest against the Supreme Federal Tribunal (STF), the nation’s highest court, after it arrested and sentenced a congressman to over eight years in prison for calling for STF reform in a video on YouTube. Congressman Daniel Silveira had already served 11 months in prison for his political commentary.

Bolsonaro overturned Silveira’s conviction last week — which also featured a fine, a ban on using social media, and a ban on running for office and holding his congressional seat — but the STF now has the power to review the constitutionality of the pardon, potentially resulting in the restoration of prison time. Leftist lawmakers also announced their intent to write bills limiting Bolsonaro’s pardoning powers to prevent a similar incident from happening in the future.

“International Workers’ Day” is a celebration of communism around the world. The world’s most repressive left-wing regimes — China, Cuba, and Russia, among others — typically organize parades featuring thousands of people to celebrate their authoritarian leaders and the dictators preceding them. In the free world, radical leftists typically organize violent mob scenes to protest the wealth and prosperity of their capitalist governments.

Conservatives in Brazil, a nation not unfamiliar with leftist mob violence, appear to be attempting to establish a culture of peaceful protest against leftist authoritarianism on May 1. This year, Bolsonaro supporters in Congress and the public generally are calling for allies to flood the streets of Sao Paulo. Carla Zambelli, a Congresswoman representing Sao Paulo and one of Silveira’s closest allies in Congress, published a poster advertising the event with the slogan, “For our Freedom!” and photos of Bolsonaro and Silveira on it.

Dia 01 de maio às 14h, na AVENIDA PAULISTA.

Pela liberdade, pelo Brasil! 💪🇷 #Dia01deMaioEuVou pic.twitter.com/Qj2D45plVS

— Carla Zambelli (@CarlaZambelli38) April 26, 2022

Zambelli was among the small number of lawmakers who visited Silveira in solidarity in March when he barricaded himself in his office to prevent police from placing an ankle monitor on him upon the orders of STF Minister Alexandre de Moraes. Silveira observed that, in his office, he had legislative immunity, which made placing him in an ankle monitor potentially illegal. Silveira ultimately left his office after de Moraes ordered thousands of Brazilian reais in fines on Silveira daily, a punishment the lawmaker said would unfairly hurt his family.

“Bolsonaro supporters’ goal is to revive criticism of the Supreme [STF] that prompted protests on September 7 last year and to undermine the possibility of the court reversing the pardon granted to Daniel Silveira,” the newspaper O Hoje, based in Goiania, reported on Sunday of the upcoming event. The outlet noted that flyers for the protest have begun circulating widely on Whatsapp and Telegram, popular social media apps in Latin America, but it is not yet clear if Bolsonaro or any senior members of his administration are participating in the event.

Veja, another Brazilian publication, observed that leftist groups had apparently requested a permit for an event less than two miles from the pro-free speech rally on May 1. The organizers all appear to be labor unions and groups supporting socialist former President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, currently the top presidential contender against the incumbent Bolsonaro. The presidential election is scheduled to take place late this year.

“Furthermore: Lula himself is expected to be there, which should further polarize the event,” Veja predicted.

The organizing of major left-wing events is a contrast to a year ago. Conservatives largely coopted May Day in 2021 as a result of the far-left adhering to calls for social distancing and major cities, run by leftist leaders, pressuring citizens not to engage in large gatherings. Far-left unions organized “virtual” May Day celebrations online while Bolsonaro supporters appeared in the thousands in at least eight major cities nationwide, largely protesting calls for lockdowns, limits on civil rights in urban areas in response to the Chinese coronavirus pandemic, and generally protesting communism. At least one event featured a mass prayer for the victims of the Chinese coronavirus pandemic.

Unlike the American Supreme Court, the Brazilian STF has extensive powers beyond being a court of last resort, prompting conservative protests. Its 11 justices, formally known as “ministers,” can order violent police raids on individual citizens and issue criminal convictions and sentences prior to any other trial or appeal. Dominated by appointees placed on the bench by left-wing presidents, the STF has widely abused its powers to persecute Bolsonaro supporters and suspected conservatives. In one particularly notorious incident in 2020, the STF ordered police raids on 29 people — most of them journalists, comedians, and Youtubers — suspected of or openly supporting Bolsonaro on vague charges of “fake news,” which is not yet a crime in Brazil.

STF ministers insisted near-unanimously last week in sentencing Silveira to prison for, among other things, calling for them to be deposed and replaced by better judges, that Brazilians do not have a constitutional right to free speech.

“This Court and the world in general agree that freedom of expression is not an absolute right and must be balanced with other values and constitutional rights,” STF Minister Luís Roberto Barroso said in remarks on the case, “including democracy, the functioning of institutions, and the people’s honor.”

De Moraes, the most censorious of the STF ministers, said Brazilians are only legally allowed to enjoy “freedom of expression with responsibility.”

The court will soon decide if the presidential pardon not only takes away Silveira’s prison sentence, but allows him to return to his Congressional seat and run for reelection. De Moraes has already indicated he does not believe Silveira should regain the seat he won in a free and fair election.