Letter: Bolsonaro and the Brazilian Far-Right Are Putting Lives at Risk
Jeremy Corbyn, John McDonnell, Diane Abbott and figures from across the labour movement sign a letter condemning the Bolsonaro government's handling of Covid-19 – and warning he poses a threat to public safety.
Brazil’s far-right President Jair Bolsonaro has consistently dismissed coronavirus as “just a fantasy” and “media hysteria.”
He has recklessly refused to put people and health first. Brazil now has the second-highest number of cases and deaths in the world and rising.
The Pan American Health Organization has issued an alert regarding the fast-spreading of Covid-19 in the Amazon.
Opposition continues to grow to Bolsonaro’s inhumane response to the pandemic across society.
We express our solidarity with the people of Brazil in their struggle against Bolsonaro and the threat he poses to public safety. Their fight is our fight.
Signed,
Diane Abbott MP
Paula Barker MP
Apsana Begum MP
Baroness Christine Blower, Member of the House of Lords & Brazil Solidarity Initiative, Vice-Chair
Richard Burgon MP, Brazil Solidarity Initiative, Chair
Ian Byrne MP
Shami Chakrabarti, Member of the House of Lords
Jeremy Corbyn MP
Mary Foy MP
John Hendy, Member of the House of Lords
Rachel Hopkins MP
Ian Lavery MP
John McDonnell MP
Ian Mearns MP
Navendu Mishra MP
Grahame Morris MP
Kate Osborne MP
Bell Ribeiro-Addy MP
Zarah Sultana MP
Sam Tarry MP
Claudia Webbe MP, Brazil Solidarity Initiative, Vice-Chair
Mick Whitley MP
Tony Burke, Assistant General Secretary, Unite & Brazil Solidarity Initiative, Vice-Chair
Bob Archer, SERTUC International Committee
Manuel Cortes, General Secretary, TSSA
Kate Dearden, Head of Research, Policy and External Relations, Community
Steve Gillan, General Secretary, POA
Dave Green, National Officer, Fire Brigades Union
Terry Hoad, Former President, UCU
Max Hyde, Past President, National Union of Teachers
Steve Jones, National & Postal Executive, CWU
Chris Kitchen, General Secretary, NUM
Mariela Kohon, Senior International Officer, TUC
Paddy Lillis, General Secretary, USDAW
Paul Moffat, Eastern Regional Secretary, CWU
Kevan Nelson, Regional Secretary, UNISON North West
Ged Nichols, General Secretary, Accord
Horace Trubridge, General Secretary, MU
Mick Whelan, General Secretary, ASLEF
Tariq Ali, Historian & filmmaker
Victoria Brittain, Journalist & author
Colin Burgon, Labour Friends of Progressive Latin America
Ben Chacko, Editor, Morning Star
Andy de la Tour, Actor
Dr Francisco Dominguez, Head of Latin American Studies, Middlesex University
Democracy for Brazil UK
Lindsey German, Convenor, Stop the War Coalition
Professor John Gledhill FBA, FAcSS
Kate Hudson, Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament
Michael Mansfield QC
Jo Miller, Affiliated Lecturer, Centre of Development Studies, University of Cambridge
Pablo Navarrete, Alborada
Anthony Pereira, King’s College London
John Pilger, Author
Professor David Raby, Universities of Toronto & Liverpool
Rosane Carneiro Ramos, Research Associate, King’s College London / University of Exeter
Ana Rojas, PT Londres
Mark Sabine, Associate Professor, University of Nottingham
David H. Treece, Camoens Professor of Portuguese, King’s College London
Benjamin Zephaniah, Poet
Ronan Burtenshaw, Editor, Tribune