A bill pushed by Senator Magno Malta seeks to include as “terrorism” not just social movements, but any protest or mobilization against the government.
By PSTU Brazil
Along the lines held by elected President Jair Bolsonaro, his ally in the Senate, Magno Malta (PR-ES) wants to adopt a bill that classifies as “terrorism” all social movements and any action against the government in office. Malta, a defeated candidate to the Senate, but allied and candidate for the future administration, pushes a bill that broadens the definition of terrorism in Law 13.260, known as the anti-terrorism law, pushed and sanctioned by Dilma in 2016.
The current project was written by Senator Lasier Martins (PSD-RS) and defines as terrorism “to burn down, depredate, plunder, destroy or explode means of transportation or any public or private good”. Crimes already included in the Penal Code. However, the definition of “terrorism” from the Lasier and Magno Malta bill goes on to include actions “to coerce the government” “to do or stop doing something, due to political, ideological or social motivation”.
Bolsonaro has been publicly standing for criminalization of social movements like the MST (workers without housing movement; T.N.) or MTST (workers without land movement; T.N.). “I am going to clean up the house, we will clean up those who do not respect the law, like the people from the MST”, he stated on TV. The bill Malta wishes to adopt in the Senate, however, not only focuses the Anti-Terror bill on social movements, but on any demonstration or action against the interests of the government in office.
This way, not only the movements of struggle for land will be able to be defined as “terrorists”, but even a strike or demonstration against the government. Any worker, student, homeless person, land-less person, quilombola, or any other person who dares to speak against the government may be defined as “terrorist”. The sentence may vary from 12 to 30 years of prison.
Despite Magno Malta attempted to vote the bill last Wednesday 31st, the Senate postponed the voting of the bill because the opposition requested a public audience on the matter. However, the bill remains in the agenda of the Commission, just as Bolsonaro and his allies’ intention of criminalizing the right to protest.
The responsibility of the Dilma administration
The Dilma administration pushed and adopted the anti-terror law due to the pressure of the G 20 (a group that gathers the 20 greatest economies in the world), specifically the Financial Action Group (FIAG) and the International Olympic Committee (IOC), to guarantee the “safety” of the games in Rio de Janeiro. Among its defenders, there were the Minister of Finance of the time, Joaquim Levy, and Dilma’s Minister of Justice, also her defender in the impeachment process, José Eduardo Cardozo.
The pressure of the social movements and the public opinion forced the government to place a safeguard in the law, removing labor and social movements from the definition of terrorism. However, this formality is little effective because in the end, Justice determines what fits or not into this law. Furthermore, this opens path to the criminalization of social movements, of protests and of the freedom of organization and demonstrations, as we are seeing now.
The Anti-Terror Bill: A Bill in the Senate seeks to criminalize Demonstrations against the Government
