Brazil and the World Cup
Will Brazil Show Us How to Overcome Divisive Politics?
This essay was co-written by Bob Melville and Will Arrington. Bob is the founder of Civic Way, a nonprofit dedicated to good government, and a management consultant with over 45 years of experience. Will is an advisor to Civic Way with a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Will, a former Peace Corps volunteer, works in Washington DC.
Everything I know about morality …, I owe … to football (soccer).
— Albert Camus
Can the Beautiful Game reunite Brazil after a bruising election?
The World Cup is underway. Brazil’s national team is favored to win its record sixth trophy (the hexa). But something is off. The famous yellow and green jersey with the canarinho (little canary), long a symbol of national pride and unity to millions of Brazilians, won’t be donned by many Brazilians.
Why?
This year, Brazil endured a nasty election contest between the incumbent (and loser), Jair Bolsonaro, and the challenger (and former President), Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (Lula). During the campaign, the incumbent’s supporters appropriated the canarinho jersey as campaign attire. For many Bolsonaro opponents, this was an abominable act, even rendering the jersey unwearable.
Sócrates, the captain of Brazil’s 1982 World Cup team, once said that soccer was about beauty and joy. In mere weeks, many Brazilians lost what had inspired them for decades. Instead of a symbol of national unity and joy worn by the likes of Pele and Rivaldo, the jersey became a politically-charged emblem of Brazil’s radical right.
Today, Brazil stands at a crossroads. The Bolsonaro reign has ended (at least for now), and the second Lula era has begun. Will Brazilians come together? Will they wear the green and yellow? Will they support the efforts of the new president to solve Brazil’s problems?
The first weeks have not been auspicious. Brazil remains highly polarized. Bolsonaro okayed a presidential transition but did not concede the election. Many of his supporters have refused to accept the outcome. Some have blocked highways. Other have begged the military to intervene. Civil unrest, fueled by conspiracy theories and misinformation, persists in many regions.
Lula’s mandate—if he has one at all—may be momentary. His margin of victory was historically narrow. His reputation remains tainted (the Supreme Court overturned his bribery conviction but did not exonerate him). In any event, Lula will have to overcome his own past and tenacious opposition.
Bolsonaro lost the presidential election, but his Liberal Party (PL) performed well in the legislative elections, winning more seats than any other party[i]. Together, the PL and other right-wing parties hold a majority in both chambers of the National Congress. Riding the Big Lie and inflammatory, misogynistic and homophobic rhetoric, Bolsonaro could pose a formidable barrier to Lula’s proposed policies.
The political rivalry between Lula and Bolsonaro won’t solve Brazil’s daunting national challenges. A shaky economy. Lasting Covid-19 fallout. Crippling inflation. A swollen federal budget[ii]. Shocking deforestation (over 90 percent of which is done illegally) and environmental damage. Deadly rains in the State of Rio de Janeiro and landslides in Recife. Fires. A threatened indigenous population. Housing. Crime.
Still, there are significant opportunities for Lula to exploit.
Brazil, the largest nation in Latin America, possesses vast resources. It has impressive recoverable ultra-deep oil reserves. Already a heavy user of renewable energy, it is well positioned to do even more. Several major corporations with interest in going green, most notably Boeing, have major facilities in Brazil.
Brazil’s electronic voting system has sharply reduced election fraud and reporting times. The military’s independent review of the 2020 elections yielded no evidence of fraud. Despite 119 million votes, Brazil’s 2022 election results were revealed on election night. And Bolsonaro, despite his damaging rhetoric, left the core political infrastructure relatively intact. For example, the Superior Electoral Tribunal (TSE) was empowered to disavow or temper incendiary online postings during the election.
What can Lula do? By shifting government incentives from non-renewable to renewable energy use, Lula could reposition Brazil as a green economic powerhouse, and employ the unemployed. By alleviating Brazil’s economic woes, he could broaden his political support among voters. By leveraging the Workers’ Party’s increased strength in Congress, he could forge coalitions with centrist parties, such as the Brazilian Democratic Movement and Social Democratic Party.
Lula cannot undo everything done under Bolsonaro. However, he could reinstitute the fines that deterred deforestation before Bolsonaro, and fund replanting initiatives. He could restore the funding of environmental agencies. He could increase investments in conservation programs. He could rebuild the government’s relations with its indigenous population.
Lula is facing many challenges, but they are surmountable. He has the political skill to navigate these challenges. But, will Lula alone be enough to lead Brazil to a more unified and prosperous future?
We may discover the answer very soon, during the World Cup.
If Brazil wins its first cup since 2002, will Brazilians celebrate the way they did then? Will they overlook their differences? Will they put their love of country—their patriotism—first? Will they reclaim their jersey, and their green and yellow colors?
Lula said he would wear the canarinho jersey with pride, “The green and yellow does not belong to a candidate [or] a party. The green and yellow are the colors of 213 million people who love this country.” Maybe Brazilians will put the election behind them and wear the green and yellow jersey because it stands for the nation, not just one party or candidate.
This is Brazil’s moment. It can show the US and world how to conquer manipulative and toxic politics. How to put a nation before individual politicians. How to find common cause in a beautiful game.
All Brazilians should wear the yellow and green jersey. If their national team wins the World Cup, they should celebrate as one people. Perhaps then they start solving the problems that ail the nation.