7/9 “Stay at home” exposes the right’s disappointment with the military

Opposition lawmakers and right-wing social media users are using the “stay at home” slogan to call on people to boycott Thursday’s September 7, Independence Day celebrations in protest against the current government and military. .

This will be the first September 7 of Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva’s (PT) third term as president. The motto “stay at home” ironically refers to the phrase used during the Covid-19 pandemic by defenders of the theory of social isolation as a way of containing the disease.

The boycott’s main targets are President Lula and the Armed Forces. Military personnel have been called “watermelons”, in allusion to their green uniform and inclination towards leftism, symbolized by the color red – just like the fruit, the military would be, according to the analogy, green on the outside and red on the inside.

In the social networks of the Navy, the Air Force and, mainly, the Army, each new post receives comments alluding to the boycott movement of September 7th, with messages of indignation against the military. The main reason for dissatisfaction is the treatment given by the military to the 8/1 demonstrators.

Right-wing users on social networks have shared images encouraging “stay at home” and memes mocking the military. Right-wing parliamentarians also demonstrated on the networks to reinforce the campaign.

“The next September 7 will be our ‘stay at home'”, said Senator Magno Malta (PL-ES). “It will be a 7th of September of the Armed Forces, which today salute criminals, together with the MST, together with the CUT, saluting criminals, ex-convicts… And it will be our ‘stay at home’. And let’s go see what a beautiful September 7th! I even heard that the Armed Forces are very upset with us. Mom, help me. I’m sleepless because of this”, he joked.

Deputy Paulo Bilynskyj (PL-SP) stated that this will be “a September 7 of mourning”. “For many, many years, I watched my father parade on the 7th of September as a colonel in the Army. I paraded on the 7th of September as a student at the military school. this September 7, we will stay at home. It is a date of mourning, of sadness, a date to show the absence of the Brazilian people. A people who do not agree with corruption, with the spending of public money, with waste, with mamata. A people who don’t want a thief in power. This September 7th, stay at home”, he commented.

For deputy Bia Kicis (PL-DF), “we have nothing to celebrate politically”. “On the 7th of September, I will not go to the streets. And I think that if any Brazilian still wants to go to the streets and who is not a supporter of misgovernment, he should go in black, so that they don’t use his image on the street”, he said.

Treatment given by the military to the 8/1 protesters is the main reason for the disappointment

The main reason for the disappointment with the Armed Forces was the way the Army acted during the arrest of 8/1 demonstrators.

In the view of many, the military colluded with the arrest of those who were camped near the General Headquarters in Brasilia. The arrests carried out violate several fundamental principles of international human rights conventions.

Because of recent attitudes, the Armed Forces are also accused of subservience to the extreme left. During the visit of Venezuelan dictator Nicolás Maduro to Brazil, images of soldiers saluting the Venezuelan went viral as symbolic of their subjection to the established power.

Many posts about the “stay at home” on the 7th of September are accompanied by a video of the testimony of the former head of the Planalto Military Command, General Gustavo Henrique Dutra de Menezes, at the CPI on Anti-democratic Acts of the Legislative Chamber of the Federal District, in that he reproduces a conversation he had with Lula.

“‘President, good evening, this is General Dutra, military commander of the Planalto’. He [Lula] he said: ‘General, they are criminals, they all have to be arrested’. I said: ‘President, nobody has any doubts about that, we are all outraged, they will be arrested'”, Dutra reported.

Senator Jorge Seif Junior (PL-SC) posted this video accompanied by the following comment: “So, are you really going to honor September 7? Are you going to allow your son to be bought for 0.5 points on average to go to the parade? The same ones who betrayed their people on 1/8… The same ones who salute Lula and Maduro? Certainly not. Stay at home! Together with your family”.

Flávio Bolsonaro creates campaign for blood donation on the 6th to rival the parades on the 7th

Amidst the mobilization for the boycott of the parades, some Internet users are also joining a campaign started by Senator Flávio Bolsonaro (PL-RJ), who published a video asking that, on the eve of Independence Day, September 6th, people attend blood centers for a mass blood donation.

The idea is that adherence to the blood donation campaign is so high that it ends up highlighting, the next day, the low adherence to the parades on the 7th. The former president’s son bets that this year’s parades will be a failure of public.

“There are reports that the Lula government is even forcing schools to send students to the parade in Brasilia for fear of public failure, since the PT has historically always had an aversion to the green and yellow colors of our Brazilian flag, which they threw in the trash can, and which Bolsonaro rescued, praising the patriotism of the Brazilian people,” he said.

The senator called on the population to “break the blood donation record” and “show everyone that our union will prevent the destruction of Brazil”. “Let’s donate blood. Look for the blood center closest to your home, make an appointment, wear your green and yellow shirt and perform this act of generosity with those in need”, he said.

To attack his predecessor, Jair Bolsonaro, Lula said this Tuesday (5) that he wants a “September 7 for all”, and that, in recent decades, the military “has taken over” the date. “What we are wanting to do now, with the participation of the Army, Navy and Air Force, is a 7th of September for everyone. That is, the 7th of September belongs to the military, the teacher, the doctor, the dentist, the lawyer, from the hot dog vendor, it’s from the small and medium individual entrepreneur”, he commented.