Supporters of former Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro began flooding Sao Paulo\u2019s main boulevard for an Independence Day rally Saturday, buoyed by the government\u2019s blocking of tech billionaire Elon Musk\u2019s X platform, a ban they say is proof of their political persecution. <\/p>\n
A few thousand demonstrators, clad in the yellow-and-green colors of Brazil\u2019s flag, poured onto Av. Paulista. References to the ban on X and images of Musk abounded. <\/p>\n
\u201cThank you for defending our freedom,\u201d read one banner praising the tech entrepreneur. <\/p>\n
Saturday\u2019s march is a test of Bolsonaro\u2019s capacity to mobilize turnout ahead of the October municipal elections, even though Brazil\u2019s electoral court has barred him from running for office until 2030. It\u2019s also something of a referendum on X, whose suspension has raised eyebrows even among some of Bolsonaro\u2019s opponents all the while stoking the flames of Brazil\u2019s deep-seated political polarization. <\/p>\n
\u201cA country without liberty can\u2019t celebrate anything this day,\u201d Bolsonaro wrote on his Instagram account Sept 4., urging Brazilians to stay away from official independence day parades and instead join him in Sao Paulo. <\/p>\n
Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes ordered X\u2019s nationwide ban on Aug. 30 after months of feuding with Musk over the limits of free speech. The powerful judge has spearheaded efforts to ban far-right users from spreading misinformation on social media, and he ramped up his clampdown after die-hard Bolsonaro supporters ransacked Congress and the presidential palace on Jan. 8, 2023, in an attempt to overturn Bolsonaro\u2019s defeat in the presidential election. <\/p>\n
The ban is red meat to Bolsonaro\u2019s allies, who have accused the judiciary and President Luiz In\u00e1cio Lula da Silva\u2019s government of colluding to silence their movement. <\/p>\n
\u201cElon Musk has been a warrior for freedom of speech,\u201d staunch Bolsonaro ally and lawmaker Bia Kicis said in an interview. \u201cThe right is being oppressed, massacred, because the left doesn\u2019t want the right to exist.\u201d <\/p>\n
\u201cOur liberties are in danger, we need to make our voices heard. De Moraes is a tyrant, he should be impeached, and people on the streets is the only thing that will convince politicians to do it,\u201d added retiree Amaro Santos as he walked down the thoroughfare Saturday, <\/p>\n
Musk, a self-proclaimed \u201cfree speech absolutist,\u201d has also urged Brazilians to turn out in droves for the rally, resharing someone else\u2019s post claiming that X\u2019s ban had awakened people \u201cto the fact that freedom isn\u2019t free and needs to be fought for.\u201d He\u2019s also created an X account, named for the controversial jurist, to publish sealed court orders directing X to shut down accounts deemed unlawful. <\/p>\n
But De Moraes\u2019 decision to ban X was far from arbitrary, having been upheld by fellow Supreme Court justices. And while expression, online and elsewhere, is more easily censored under Brazil\u2019s laws than it is in the US, Musk has emerged as both a cause c\u00e9l\u00e8bre and a mouthpiece for unrestricted free speech. <\/p>\n
Since 2019, X has shut down 226 accounts of far-right activities accused of undermining Brazil\u2019s democracy, including those of lawmakers affiliated with Bolsonaro\u2019s party, according to court records. <\/p>\n
But when it refused to take action on some accounts, de Moraes warned last month that its legal representative could be arrested, prompting X to disband its local office. The US-based company refused to name a new representative \u2014 as required in order to receive court notices \u2014 and de Moraes ordered its nationwide suspension until it did so. <\/p>\n
A Supreme Court panel unanimously upheld de Moraes\u2019 decision to block X days later, undermining Musk\u2019s efforts to cast him as an authoritarian bent on censoring political speech. <\/p>\n
The more controversial component of his ruling was the levy of a whopping $9,000 daily fine for regular Brazilians using virtual private networks (VPNs) to access X. <\/p>\n
\u201cSome of these measures that have been adopted by the Supreme Court appear to be quite onerous and abusive,\u201d said Andrei Roman, CEO of Brazil-based pollster Atlas Intel. <\/p>\n
In the lead-up to Saturday\u2019s protest, some right-wing politicians defied de Moraes\u2019 ban and brazenly used a VPN to publish posts on X, calling for people to partake in the protests. <\/p>\n
The march in Sao Paulo is organized in parallel to official events to celebrate Brazil\u2019s anniversary of independence from Portugal. Commemorations have been fraught with tension in recent years, as Bolsonaro used them while in office to rally supporters and show political strength. <\/p>\n
Three years ago, he threatened to plunge the country into a constitutional crisis when he declared he would no longer abide de Moraes\u2019 rulings. He has since toned down the attacks \u2014 a reflection of his own delicate legal situation. <\/p>\n
Bolsonaro has been indicted twice since his term ended in 2022, most recently for alleged money laundering in connection with undeclared diamonds from Saudi Arabia. De Moraes is overseeing an investigation into the Jan. 8 riot, including whether Bolsonaro had a role in inciting it. <\/p>\n<\/p>\n
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