Five hundred academics, Nobel prize winners, human rights activists and celebrities have released an international statement against the rise of fascism in Brazil.
Among the initial signatories are: Argentine Nobel Peace prize winner Adolfo Pérez Esquivel, African-American rights activist Angela Davis, US Senator Bernie Sanders, US actor Danny Glover, Chilean socialist academic Marta Harnecker, US academic Noam Chomsky, British-Pakistani writer Tariq Ali and economist Thomas Piketty.
A number of former heads of state have also signed on including: Cristina Fernández de Kirchner (Argentina), Eduardo Duhalde (Argentina), Dimitrius Christofias (Cyprus), Ernesto Samper (Colombia), Felipe González (Spain), Fernando Lugo (Paraguay), François Hollande (France), José Pepe Mujica (Uruguay), Vicente Fox (Mexico).
You can sign on to the statement and see the full list of initial signatories at Change.com.
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We, women and men, united in our commitment to democracy and human rights, express our unequivocabolsonarol rejection of far-right candidate Jair Bolsonaro, a contender in the second round of Brazil’s presidential elections on October 28.
The positions that this candidate has defended throughout his public life and during the current electoral campaign are based on xenophobic, racist, misogynistic and homophobic values.
This far-right candidate openly defends the violent methods deployed by military dictatorships, including torture and assassinations.
Positions such as these are a threat to any free, tolerant and just society.
In the second round of the election, the people of Brazil will be making a choice of paramount importance, between liberty and pluralism and retrograde authoritarianism, with a lasting impact, not only for Brazil but also for Latin America, the Caribbean and the rest of the world.
We call on Brazilians to reflect on the gravity of this pivotal moment in history.
There can be no neutrality in the choice between democracy and fascism!