Political laws faced a threat to freedom of speech during Brazillian presidential election
Over the next six months, Brazil will face an unprecedented political dispute in a country ideologically polarized by a far-right president, Jair Bolsonaro, and his main opposition, the former president Lula da Silva (center-left).
This race will put a light on many similar situations faced by other democracies around the globe. Such as the difference between freedom of speech and political propaganda.
The right to express your ideas, or freedom of speech, is guaranteed by the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (1948) in article number 19. The letter states that “everyone has the right to freedom of opinion and expression,” (UN, 1948). The Brazilian constitution also ensures the right to citizens express their ideas and opinions in article 5. (1988)
Despite these guarantees, Brazillian artists were adverted by the superior electoral court to not express their political opinions during the last March, Lollapalooza festival, in Sao Paulo, Brazil (Phillips, 2022)
The main argument used by president Bolsonaro’s lawyers in a lawsuit against artists and the festival was that these artists were promoting a political campaign in favor of president Lula (Bolsonaro’s main opposition) before is it legally authorized by the court.
On the other hand, on the very same weekend, president Jair Bolsonaro, at a public event in Brasilia, the nation’s capital, said that he was ready for the presidential race, in clear political propaganda.
According to Brazilian electoral law (Art 36) until August 16th, politicians and public figures are forbidden to ask for votes for any candidate. And politicians are forbidden to attend public conventions with the aim to request votes.
This example underlies how state entities can obstruct the freedom of speech simply by using as an excuse a law to balance political competition. Kleis Nielsen (2021) cites the risk of governments addressing problems such as disinformation as a risk of restricting free speech.
In a democracy, artists were supposed to be allowed to express their opinions in favor or against any cause. It’s common to see musicians and actors in public defending causes. Unfortunately, according to the Brazilian electoral court, this is currently illegal in Brazil if the manifestation concerns the president on duty and any of his possible competitors.
October Brazillian election will be a laboratory to observe, free speech, the use of false news to manipulate the electoral competition, and how a polarized democracy balances the right to express ideas, the rules of the election, and the nasty game of manipulating facts to create this alternate reality that many polarized radicals rely on.
References
Brasil. (2019). CONSTITUIÇÃO DA REPÚBLICA FEDERATIVA DO BRASIL DE 1988. Planalto.gov.br. http://www.planalto.gov.br/ccivil_03/constituicao/constituicao.htm
Klein, R. (19 C.E., February 21). How to respond to disinformation while protecting free speech. Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism. https://reutersinstitute.politics.ox.ac.uk/news/how-respond-disinformation-while-protecting-free-speech
Phillips, T. (2022, March 27). Stars in Brazil voice fury as judge orders festival to ban “political demonstrations.” The Guardian. https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/mar/27/stars-in-brazil-voice-fury-as-judge-orders-festival-to-ban-political-demonstrations
United Nations. (1948, December 10). Universal Declaration of Human Rights. United Nations. https://www.un.org/en/about-us/universal-declaration-of-human-rights
