Brazil on Fire The Real News Network

The Amazon is a place that both Brazil’s former military regime and President Jair Bolsonaro have eyed with dreams of development, looking to take advantage of bountiful resources.
It’s a place where Bolsonaro’s deconstruction of state institutions is wreaking havoc. Where illegal and armed actors are pushing into formerly protected areas and plundering the land to make a quick profit. Where Indigenous people are constantly under threat, whether staring down the barrel of a gun, fires, or COVID, and their territories and their way of life are under attack — the invaders slowly eating away at the forests that have given them life for generations.

And where Bolsonaro has been empowering those behind the devastation.

There is no other place in Brazil that better symbolizes the destruction that Bolsonaro has wrought on the country.

The Amazon is under attack. The fires are just the most visible sign.

This is Brazil on Fire, a podcast about Brazil’s descent toward fascism under President Jair Bolsonaro. Over these six episodes we look at Bolsonaro’s far-right government that has set the country ablaze, and how the United States helped him do it. We’ll visit the birthplace of Brazilian Nazism, evangelical churches, and Indigenous villages in the Amazon.

Hosted by Latin America-based journalist Michael Fox.

This podcast is produced in partnership between The Real News Network and NACLA.

Edited by Heather Gies.

Sound design by Gustavo Türck.

Theme music by Monte Perdido.

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Read the transcript of this podcast: https://therealnews.com/brazil-on-fire-episode-5-ghosts-of-the-past

Brazil’s military dictatorship was a dark time in the country’s history. Hundreds were killed. Thousands jailed and tortured. And it is an era that President Jair Bolsonaro remembers with nostalgia—It's where he got his start, and a thing he has long championed as being worthy of returning to.

As president, Bolsonaro has called for the closure of Congress and the Supreme Court, marched with supporters to demand military intervention, and appointed more military officials to his government than any leader since the end of the dictatorship.

In this episode, we will dive head-first into Brazil’s military regime, which ran the country from 1964 through to 1985. We’ll look at the country’s failure to reckon with the past, and Bolsonaro’s steps to push Brazil back in that direction.

This is Brazil on Fire, a podcast about Brazil’s descent toward fascism under President Jair Bolsonaro. Over these six episodes we look at Bolsonaro’s far-right government that has set the country ablaze, and how the United States helped him do it. We’ll visit the birthplace of Brazilian Nazism, evangelical churches, and Indigenous villages in the Amazon.

Hosted by Latin America-based journalist Michael Fox.

This podcast is produced in partnership between The Real News Network and NACLA.

Edited by Heather Gies.

Sound design by Gustavo Türck.

Theme music by Monte Perdido.

Follow Brazil on Fire at The Real News Network: https://therealnews.com/brazil-on-fire-pod

Help The Real News Network continue producing stories like Brazil on Fire by following us and making a small donation:
Donate to TRNN: https://www.therealnews.com/donate-pod-brazil-on-fire
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Brazil has a long and complicated history with fascism, going back to the early 20th century. Far-right and white supremacist groups have been emboldened by President Jair Bolsonaro—with some members of his own cabinet openly sporting Nazi tattoos. They’ve unleashed online attacks, pushed fake news and misinformation in favor of Bolsonaro, and they’ve threatened Brazil’s Supreme Court and its justices. But the country’s top court is pushing back.

In this episode, we look at Brazil’s troubled past of reactionary fascist forces, and how Bolsonaro’s rise unleashed them anew.

This is Brazil on Fire, a podcast about Brazil’s descent toward fascism under President Jair Bolsonaro. Over these six episodes we look at Bolsonaro’s far-right government that has set the country ablaze, and how the United States helped him do it. We’ll visit the birthplace of Brazilian Nazism, evangelical churches, and Indigenous villages in the Amazon.

Hosted by Latin America-based journalist Michael Fox.

This podcast is produced in partnership between The Real News Network and NACLA.

Sound design by Gustavo Türck: @coletivocatarse
Theme music by Monte Perdido: https://open.spotify.com/artist/0nexDyQCZI89JH8zsYu5wa?si=jo6-l1wiSrGmDkxyCA_cow

Portions of today’s episode were previously aired in a series on nationalism and religion produced by Michael Fox for PRI’s The World. You can find that, and more, at https://theworld.org/categories/sacred-nation

Follow Brazil on Fire at The Real News Network: https://therealnews.com/brazil-on-fire-pod

Help The Real News Network continue producing stories like Brazil on Fire by following us and making a small donation:
Donate to TRNN: https://www.therealnews.com/donate-pod-brazil-on-fire
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Read the transcript of this podcast: https://therealnews.com/brazil-on-fire-episode-3-god-above-everyone

Jair Bolsonaro could not have won the presidency without the support of one very important group: Evangelical Christians. There is, perhaps, no other group that Bolsonaro has so vocally courted, or that has been so loyal to the president—And they remain key for Bolsonaro’s hopes of recapturing the presidency this year.

In this episode, we visit those spreading the gospel for Bolsonaro and look at how Bolsonaro and his allies are pushing a religious war of good versus evil, with dangerous repercussions.

This is Brazil on Fire, a podcast about Brazil’s descent toward fascism under President Jair Bolsonaro. Over these six episodes we look at Bolsonaro’s far-right government that has set the country ablaze, and how the United States helped him do it. We’ll visit the birthplace of Brazilian Nazism, evangelical churches, and Indigenous villages in the Amazon.

Hosted by Latin America-based journalist Michael Fox.

This podcast is produced in partnership between The Real News Network and NACLA.

Sound design by Gustavo Türck: @coletivocatarse
Theme music by Monte Perdido: https://open.spotify.com/artist/0nexDyQCZI89JH8zsYu5wa?si=jo6-l1wiSrGmDkxyCA_cow

Portions of today’s episode were previously aired in a series on nationalism and religion produced by Michael Fox for PRI’s The World. You can find that, and more, at https://theworld.org/categories/sacred-nation

Follow Brazil on Fire at The Real News Network: https://therealnews.com/brazil-on-fire-pod

Help The Real News Network continue producing stories like Brazil on Fire by following us and making a small donation:
Donate to TRNN: https://www.therealnews.com/donate-pod-brazil-on-fire
Sign up for our newsletter: https://www.therealnews.com/signup-brazil-on-fire
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Subscribe to updates from NACLA: https://nacla.org/subscribe

The election of president Jair Bolsonaro was never a foregone conclusion. For most of that electoral season, someone else was ahead in the polls. But that opponent was jailed on supposed corruption charges by a biased judge, six months out from the election, and blocked from running.

In this episode, we look at the fight to free former President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva from prison, the corruption investigation that jailed him, the role of the United States, and what it all means ahead of the 2022 election, as Lula again leads in the polls.

This is Brazil on Fire, a podcast about Brazil’s descent toward fascism under President Jair Bolsonaro. Over these six episodes we look at Bolsonaro’s far-right government that has set the country ablaze, and how the United States helped him do it. We’ll visit the birthplace of Brazilian Nazism, evangelical churches, and Indigenous villages in the Amazon.

Hosted by Latin America-based journalist Michael Fox.

This podcast is produced in partnership between The Real News Network and NACLA.

Sound design by Gustavo Türck: @coletivocatarse

Theme music by Monte Perdido:
https://open.spotify.com/artist/0nexDyQCZI89JH8zsYu5wa?si=jo6-l1wiSrGmDkxyCA_cow

Follow Brazil on Fire at The Real News Network: https://therealnews.com/brazil-on-fire-pod

Help The Real News Network continue producing stories like Brazil on Fire by following us and making a small donation:
Donate to TRNN: https://www.therealnews.com/donate-pod-brazil-on-fire
Sign up for our newsletter: https://www.therealnews.com/signup-brazil-on-fire
Like us on Facebook: https://facebook.com/therealnews
Follow us on Twitter: https://twitter.com/therealnews

Subscribe to updates from NACLA: https://nacla.org/subscribe

As candidate Jair Bolsonaro neared the presidency in 2018, violence rippled across Brazil, mostly perpetrated by Bolsonaro supporters. Hundreds of threats and attacks, including several killings, were reported in the weeks and months leading up to the election. Bolsonaro's hateful rhetoric and fake news machine spurred on the violence, painting the election as a battle for the soul of the country. Targeting right wing fears over 'family values' and 'security,' Bolsonaro tapped into a growing culture war aimed not at winning a democratic debate, but eliminating opponents.

This episode looks at Bolsonaro’s most ardent supporters, and how a culture war born from the United States inspired a wave of political violence that forced people to flee Brazil in fear for their lives.

This is Brazil on Fire, a podcast about Brazil’s descent toward fascism under President Jair Bolsonaro. Over these six episodes we look at Bolsonaro’s far-right government that has set the country ablaze, and how the United States helped him do it. We’ll visit the birthplace of Brazilian Nazism, evangelical churches, and Indigenous villages in the Amazon.

Hosted by Latin America-based journalist Michael Fox.

This podcast is produced in partnership between The Real News Network and NACLA.

Sound design by Gustavo Türck: @coletivocatarse

Theme music by Monte Perdido: https://open.spotify.com/artist/0nexDyQCZI89JH8zsYu5wa?si=jo6-l1wiSrGmDkxyCA_cow

Follow Brazil on Fire at The Real News Network: https://therealnews.com/brazil-on-fire-pod

Help The Real News Network continue producing stories like Brazil on Fire by following us and making a small donation:
Donate to TRNN: https://www.therealnews.com/donate-pod-brazil-on-fire
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Like us on Facebook: https://facebook.com/therealnews
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Subscribe to updates from NACLA: https://nacla.org/subscribe