The flag at the tip of the spear is different, but the image is the same: A crowd of people, unhappy with election results, is in a standoff with police outside a Capitol building. It takes only a handful of people lashing out for the anger to spread into a mob, which then roars forward en masse to topple the barricades before storming into its country's workplaces of democracy.
The world was stunned, watching this unfold in the United States on Jan. 6, 2021. Slightly more than two years to the day later, Brazil experienced a similar upheaval, spurred by a similar right-wing persona spreading election lies and a sense of aggrievement.
The United States prides itself as an exporter of democracy, and for decades has been holding up its system of liberalism and rule of law as a standard for the rest of the world. After this weekend's events in Brazil, and the parallels and connections to Trumpism, we must now wrestle with being an exporter of right-wing extremism.
This is a preview of Nayyera Haq's latest article. Read their full column here. |
