Left criticizes Musk, but counts on “help” from foreign NGOs

Since Elon Musk threw the spotlight last week on emails that would show attempts by the Superior Electoral Court (TSE) to force the social network Twitter (currently X) to share user data en masse and suspend accounts, the debate over regulation of freedom of expression on social networks gained new momentum, also fueling a discussion about the businessman’s actions being “foreign interference”.

This was how Senator Randolfe Rodrigues (no party – AP) referred to the actions of the owner of the social network using your account on Musk’s own social network:

“We will not accept foreign interference that comes to conspire against our democracy! Minister @alexandre’s decision [Alexandre de Moraes], to include Elon Musk in the digital militias inquiry, has our full support. Any and all measures necessary to defend democracy must be taken with the utmost urgency! (…) Perhaps this news will come as a surprise to the spoiled billionaire who serves the interests of neo-fascism, but, in Brazil, Brazilian laws still apply…”

Senator Randolfe Rodrigues’ rhetoric, however, omits that the Brazilian left, of which Randolfe is a part, is constantly benefiting from foreign aid from NGOs and foreign billionaires.

This help could be labeled as foreign interference much more easily, since in the case of this “helping hand” to the left, what often happens is not criticism on social media, but a lot of money being invested in movements that intend to interfere with legislation. , Brazilian society and culture.

Below, we highlight cases in which foundations, NGOs and foreign billionaires helped defenders of left-wing ideological agendas, interfering in the discussion and direction of national politics.

Foreign financing of the pro-abortion cause

In a Gazeta article published almost a year ago about a contradictory report by the pro-abortion NGO Instituto Anis, the organization’s interests were once again exposed. The authors of the National Abortion Survey (PNA) receive resources from foreign organizations that wish to change abortion legislation in Brazil.

Since 2006, the Anis Institute has received US$940,000 from the Ford Foundation and, since 2016, US$435,000 from the Open Society Foundation, linked to tycoon George Soros.

The PNA is presented as a legitimate source of data in the debate on abortion by the Brazilian government.

Soros’ millions of dollars in Brazilian NGOs

An exclusive survey by Gazeta do Povo revealed that around one hundred Brazilian NGOs benefited from foreign interference by the Open Society Foundation, led by George Soros, which transferred US$ 19.9 million, amounts equivalent to R$ 107.2 million at the exchange rate. period, for organizations operating in Brazil only throughout 2021.

The Climate and Society Institute was the biggest beneficiary, receiving US$1.5 million, followed by the Alana Institute and the National Student Union, all entities publicly linked to left-wing political agendas.

Other organizations included in the list of beneficiaries were INESC, GAJOP, Associação Marielle Franco and Fundação Instituto Fernando Henrique Cardoso.

Some of the causes promoted by organizations funded by Soros include the decriminalization of drugs, the promotion of the LGBT agenda and the defense of the black movement’s agenda.

Another notorious case is the Igarapé Institute, founded by Ilona Szabó, an entity that presents itself as a think tank, producing research with a bias in defense of civil disarmament, drug decriminalization and extrication policy. The Szabó Institute also has among its main financiers the Open Society Foundation, which, according to a survey by Gazeta do Povo, based on data from the foundation itself, disbursed more than US$1.5 million to sponsor its political agendas between 2016 and 2019.

Ilona almost became part of the National Council for Criminal and Penitentiary Policy in 2019, at the time recommended by the then minister of justice Sergio Moro, who disinvited her after the negative repercussions on social media.

On the Igarapé Institute’s homepage, the organization declares that its work consists of “proposing solutions for the public, climate and digital security agendas through research, new technologies, communication and influence on public policies and corporate.”

Pierre Omidyar, Intercept and the “Vaza Jato” Case

The Omidyar Network Foundation is the philanthropic foundation of businessman Pierre Omidyar, a French naturalized American, but of Iranian origin, famous for amassing his fortune when he founded Ebay.

Omidyar is a progressive billionaire active behind the scenes in American politics, being a major donor to the Democratic Party and an avid investor in journalism projects, bringing together several left-leaning publications under the umbrella of his First Look Media venture, including the Intercept, an outlet responsible for what became known as the “Vaza Jato Case”.

The case consisted of the leak of private messages exchanged between members of the Operation Lava Jato task force. The Intercept Brasil began a series of reports starting in June 2019, exposing private conversations between then-judge Sergio Moro and federal prosecutors, raising questions about the impartiality of Moro and other public agents in the process that culminated in Lula’s arrest.

The role of Intercept Brasil and its financier, Pierre Omidyar, in this iconic episode of foreign interference in the direction of national politics was fundamental in generating the national and international repercussion that would culminate in Lula’s release, his political rehabilitation and consequent current presidential term.