Sharing the social, political and cultural reality of Afro-Brazil is the obvious way to show the relationship between Black communities in North and South America.
Another less obvious aspect of our reality is the behavior of white populations during times of critical change. The reaction of many white Brazilians after the first round of national elections reveals layers of racism and xenophobia. Black populations in the diaspora can clearly see that Brazil is not the racial paradise that it is marketed to be.
The northeast of Brazil is the region where the Black population is concentrated. The main state of Bahia is the largest Black state in the world outside of Nigeria. A dominating 80% of the population of Bahia is Black, contributing to the 54% Black population of the country. It’s no surprise that Bahia was the region that voted the highest for the progressive Worker’s Party (PT) Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva aka Lula.
Lula’s victory in the region caused a wave of racist and xenophobic comments on social media. These MAGA-adjacent trolls ironically highlighted the determination of the Black and indigenous northeastern population to bravely resist the current pro-fascist government of Jair Bolsonaro.
The northeast carried Brazil’s hope for the return of a progressive government.
The anti-Blackness was on full display Lula won in all states of the Northeast leveraging 12.9 million votes to edge out Bolsonaro.
On various social networks, the Brazilian MAGA crowd shamelessly attacked the northeast with nicknames like “Southern Cuba” and “Venezuela 3.0”.
The economy and the high costs of basic necessities are primary political issues in this election. In some posts, netizens claim that northeasterners “should starve”.
Twitter account @nordeste131 page shared a series of these attacks.
Workers are sending screenshots of WhatsApp messages from their white employers who are harassing employees who voted for Lula.
“Without the South and São Paulo, where are the most intelligent, intellectualized, beautiful, rich people, where are the best diplomas, the largest companies, and the largest Brazil’s GDP…. You are starving. SP and the South are the greatest powers. Without We. you don’t have food on the table God forbid poverty, ugliness and
Ignorance of the northeasterners and miners. Poor and ignorant states that don’t
They are useless, they only disturb Brazil. The south and sp that has to leave the northeast and mines.. You are a deadweight that we have to carry and sustain ourselves. You who make Brazil a third world country. And God forbid you ugliness, I don’t know how you
They can be so ugly….”
The democratic nature of the internet means that this bigotry is exposed and challenged in real time.
Social media account @nutridesconstruida rebutted this solid progressive political win by highlighting facts about the higher educational performance of the Northeast region. The quality of the region’s education policies, which usually surpass other regions of the country, explains the progressive win.
Read some of the translated headlines below:
“Students of the Northeast outperform on one of the most difficult college entrance exams in the country (Aeronautical Technological Institute) In the last 5 years there were 282 approvals – 44% of the total applications.”
“Aaah and also check out the city of Sobral in the Ceará. (Because the rest of the world is watching) Why is Sobral, for the fourth time in a row, the number 1 city of the Brazil in education ranking?“
“The xenophobia of the ruling middle class only demonstrates its own hypocrisy by calling themselves “patriots”, because it does not know its own people. The 9 states of the northeast are diverse and plural, but we have something in common: dominating you when it comes to education:
Only 10 students earned a grade of 1000 on the ENEM test (7 are from the Northeast.)
