Government assembles league of right-wing enemies against “hate speech”

The Ministry of Human Rights and Citizenship (MDHC) of the government of Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (PT) announced this Wednesday (22) the creation of a working group with the alleged objective of combating “hate speech and extremism”. The team will be led by former federal deputy Manuela d’Ávila (PCdoB-RS) and will have the participation of youtuber Felipe Neto.

The group will be able to carry out studies and propose public policies on human rights “to combat hate speech and extremism”, according to the ordinance that created it. It will be composed of five MDHC representatives and 24 people representing civil society. In addition to Neto and Manuela, several of those assigned to the task are figures who have become famous for their radical discourse against ideas associated with the right in recent years. Silvio Almeida, Minister of Human Rights and Citizenship, said this Wednesday that the group is “composed of professionals and scholars from several who are dedicated to thinking about the formation of a culture of peace”.

Anthropologist Débora Diniz, who is among the names, is one of the main pro-abortion activists in the country and founder of the abortionist NGO Anis. Recently, she launched attacks on Twitter against Cardinal Odilo Scherer and Catholicism, implying that Catholics should stay away from public debate in the discussion of the lives of unborn babies. “Abortion is about care and prevention. A religion that preaches forgiveness should distance itself from punishment that kills and sickens women. Catholic Church may have its own particular beliefs. The only thing you can’t pretend is to transform them into a rule of good living for all, ”she said in response to a tweet from the cardinal.

Feminist activist Lola Aronovich, who is also part of the list, is a radical feminist and, in 2020, made a post on her blog with the title “Facada mal dada do Ca*****”, in reference to the attack in which the former president Jair Bolsonaro (PL) was a victim in 2018. Lola has already questioned the veracity of the attack several times. Summoned to the working group to combat extremism, she recently classified senators Rogério Marinho (PL) and Eduardo Girão (Novo) as representatives of the extreme right.

Sociologist Michel Gherman, another member of the new working group, stated via Twitter, in 2021, that it was necessary to stop treating supporters of the Bolsonaro government as “bolsonaristas” and start calling them only “nazis” or “fascists”. . In a recent lecture at the Federal University of Santa Catarina (UFSC), he stated that Brazil is facing an “epidemic of Nazism”.

Another name on the list is that of sociologist Esther Solano, who in an article for the magazine capital letter made an explicit defense of the strategy of enticing evangelicals with a disguised speech to manage to turn votes in the 2022 elections. Please, let’s think before speaking publicly about believers and evangelical churches. Let’s learn the communicational subtleties of what to say, how to say it, who to say it with, the smart lexicon to use, the lexicon that isn’t. After the elections, from the comfort of our recovered place in Brasilia, we speak as you wish, but not before, please, we have to win these elections and our victory is not guaranteed”, she said.

Group on hate speech may join “Ministério da Verdade” in an attempt to control networks

The working group, which will start operating on March 1st, should produce a report 180 days after the start of its activities to be forwarded to Minister Silvio Almeida for evaluation. In its first meeting, the group will establish the calendar of meetings, its mode of functioning and a work plan.

In the announcement of the group’s launch, Almeida signaled his intention to curb certain types of speeches on social networks. He stated that hate speech “is becoming naturalized in the public environment, especially in so-called social networks, where certain groups feel absolutely free to distill hatred and reinforce prejudices”. “These speeches that preach hate, fascist speeches, inspired by historical experiences of destruction, such as Nazism, are not within what we call democracy and freedom of expression. They have to be strongly fought against, they cannot get to people’s hearts, ”he noted.

The functioning of the new working group is similar to that of councils that combine the participation of members of civil society with representatives of the Executive bodies, and that were crucial in the rigging of the State promoted by PT administrations in the past. Although not a council, the group has the same kind of collegiate functioning and consultative power.

The creation of a body to combat “hate speech” is yet another initiative of the Lula government that appeals to the nature of censorship and that has gained strength on the left in recent years, especially in matters related to the control of freedom of expression on networks. Within the Attorney General’s Office (AGU), the National Attorney’s Office for the Defense of Democracy was created; In the Secretariat of Social Communication (Secom) of the Presidency of the Republic, the Department for the Promotion of Freedom of Expression was established. These bodies have been dubbed the “Ministry of Truth”.