Jeferson Miola: Musk’s attack is a whistle for the Brazilian and international fascist pack

By Jeferson Miola

One detail stands out in Elon Musk’s unusual April 6 attack on Alexandre de Moraes: the owner of “X”/formertwitter took advantage of a post by the STF minister made on the platform on January 11th, that is, almost three months ago.

And why is that? Simply because that was the Moraes’ last publication in the “X”. A publication, by the way, neutral, congratulating former STF colleague Ricardo Lewandowski on his appointment to the position of Minister of Justice in the Lula government.

Musk’s provocation has nothing to do with the content of Moraes’ post; is just a whistle for the Brazilian and international fascist pack: – “Why do you demand so much censorship in Brazil?”, he wrote:

In the absence, therefore, of any momentary fact that could give rise to some protagonism for him, Musk then decided to use Moraes’ latest publication to launch the hybrid warfare operation.

Musk would do this anyway, even if Moraes had published something about the culinary culture of the interior of São Paulo. What matters is that Moraes personifies, for the extreme right, the central target in the fight against democracy in Brazil; the attack on him serves as a trigger for the mobilization of the extremist horde to destabilize the country and weaken the Lula government.

The engagement of extremist networks in Brazil and abroad occurred quickly. They frantically replicated the tweet of Musk and renewed the repertoire of attacks on the STF, on institutions, as well as complaints about the supposed “dictatorship of the system” in Brazil.

The synchronicity of the articulation of far-right leaders in the USA, Europe and Latin America in “defending freedom” of expression and demonstration was also notable, which, in fascist vocabulary, is synonymous with criminal freedom to attack democracy and the rule of law.

The Bolsonaro profile @CissaBaileywho describes himself as a political commentator, states that Musk always allows access to Starlink “in war zones, and we are in a [guerra híbrida]”, remembering that Musk “holds the largest US military contracts”.

Symptomatically, in a live This Sunday, 7/4, Bolsonaro celebrated that “Brazilian democracy has gained strong defenders abroad”.

“Democracy in the country is at serious risk, especially our freedom of expression, with censorship, prisons and other absurdities. It is necessary to fight for the return of democratic normality”, said Bolsonaro, adding that “the “X” is showing the insides of power [no Brasil] after Musk bought it.”

The relationship between uniformed leaders and Bolsonarism with Elon Musk has bad precedents. On May 20, 2022, the fascist-military government with Bolsonaro awarded the owner of the “X” the Order of Defense Merit medal, which “aims to reward civil and military personalities, Brazilian or foreign, who provide relevant services to Armed forces”.

At the ceremony, Bolsonaro highlighted that Musk’s presence in Brazil has “immaterial” value [sic]; “We could call it the ‘myth of freedom’”.

Bolsonaro also stated that the purchase of Twitter by Elon Musk meant “a breath of hope for us here. The whole world passes by people who want to steal this freedom from us. And freedom is the seed for the future.”

The act called by Bolsonarism for April 21st in Rio gained powerful fuel, and the fascist uproar against the Rule of Law gained strong momentum in the country. With the attack on the STF and national sovereignty, Musk whistled for a new offensive by the fascist pack.