Abstract, The New Far-Right in Brazil and the Construction of a Right-Wing Order

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The New Far-Right in Brazil and the Construction of a Right-Wing Order

by Ariel Alejandro Goldstein

Michel Temer’s government produced a new right-wing order in Brazil that might be called an “armored democracy.” The main characteristics of this order are the construction of a “leftist” enemy to justify repression of activists and social movements, preserving a loyal base and manipulating the anger if no economic achievements are made; a political partisan role for the judicial powers with strong interference of lobbying and military consultants; a weak democracy without political participation; the establishment of a market-friendly order against the platform voted for by the majority of Brazilians in the 2014 election; right-wing advances in public discourse that have reframed the political culture and discussion; and the accession of a far-right contender to the presidency for the first time since re-democratization began in 1985. Brazil seems to be repeating its history because it has not reflected on and judged its past. The most important threat to democracy is not only this new president but the country’s own elitist, corrupt, and restricted democratic system.

Introduction, Media, Politics, and Democratization in Latin America

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Media, Politics, and Democratization in Latin America
by  Javier Campo, Tomás Crowder-Taraborrelli


This issue has a predecessor from decades ago: Culture in the Age of Mass Media (Burton and Franco, 1978). Forty years may have gone by, but some problems and major concepts remain: resistance, ideological manipulation (though today we use the term “hegemonic cultural influence”), mass communication, and new media technologies. Latin America was then ruled by some of history’s bloodiest military dictatorships, while today the return of right-wing governments after a decade of popular governments is disconcerting. The hopeful ending of Burton and Franco’s introduction (“This repression has been unable to destroy the people’s culture, which continues to find avenues to express resistance” [1978: 10]) has led to a fruitful harvest in recent years, quickly provoking a backlash (often violent). Today we are witnessing a substantial investment in the militarization of police forces and electronic surveillance systems—in particular, the social networks used by young cyber-activists who have grown up with the Internet and, as Linda Herrera (2014: 2–3) points out regarding the riots in Egypt (the “Twitter revolution”), are accustomed to defending their political agendas online.

Introduction, The Resilience of Memory, Truth, and Justice Processes: Culture, Politics, and Social Mobilizations

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The Resilience of Memory, Truth, and Justice Processes: Culture, Politics, and Social Mobilizations
edited by Roberta Villalón                                                                 


A second wave of memory, truth, and justice mobilizations has been spreading in Latin America since the turn of the century (Villalón, 2015). The push to address unresolved human rights violations perpetrated in the 1970s and 1980s has resulted in the (re)opening of trials of perpetrators and a more complex understanding of past and present violence and inequalities. The resilient collective efforts that have fed these processes have also gained depth. Richer collective memories and the achievement of (at least partially) successful outcomes have provided movements a clear sense that not all their efforts have been in vain. Justice, reconciliation, and social equality may not be at all possible, but they are utopic ideals worth pursuing (Villalón, 2016).
This third issue on the politics of collective memory expands on the contents of the first two (March 2015 and September 2016). Theoretically, it contributes to the body of literature in the field by uncovering the politics of framing memory and is developed in terms of a critical epistemology from the bottom up. The research is intended to challenge systems and practices of inequality and contribute to community efforts to generate social change for justice. The contributors dismantle inequalities of knowledge and power by critically pointing to controversies, inconsistencies, and complexities of memory, truth, and justice processes. Their studies allow for a more nuanced comprehension of past violence, breaking up simplistic interpretations that pair victims and victimizers, left and right, pre- and postconflict, truth and injustice to explore the grey areas in between and reveal the misleading effects of dichotomous rationalizations.

Abstract, "Sanitaristas, Petistas, and the Post-Neoliberal Public Health State in Porto Alegre" by Christopher L. Gibson

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Sanitaristas, Petistas, and the Post-Neoliberal Public Health State in Porto Alegre 
by Christopher L. Gibson

Scholars of the post-neoliberal state in Latin America commonly trace universal social policies to ruling left parties and deepened democracy. Yet, such accounts often overlook how subnational politics in highly decentralized democracies like Brazil’s can mediate this relationship. Examining such politics in the Brazilian município of Porto Alegre since 1988 suggests that structural constraints and competing programmatic agendas of Partido dos Trabalhadores (Workers’ Party—PT) governments complicated expansion of the public health sector. The município’s surprisingly modest delivery of such services is traceable to enduring deemphasis on critical dimensions of state building in this sector by several PT administrations and the integration of civil society actors into multiple participatory governance institutions with little power over this process. Even in such contexts, far-reaching participatory democratic institutions are no panacea for fulfilling the universal social policy ambitions of local post-neoliberal states that depend heavily upon high-level political appointees for their effectiveness.