美国国家公共电台 NPR--The ex-president's supporters have protested since election results were revealed

The ex-president's supporters have protested since election results were revealed

Transcript¹

NRP's Leila Fadel speaks with Oliver Stuenkel of the Vargas Foundation in Brazil about what the attacks in the Brazilian capital mean for democracy in the country.

LEILA FADEL, HOST:

Oliver Stuenkel is a professor of international relations at the Getulio Vargas Foundation in Brazil. He joins us now from Sao Paulo. Welcome.

OLIVER STUENKEL: Thank you, Leila. Good morning.

FADEL: Good morning. So as we heard from our correspondent, Bolsonaro supporters have been protesting the election results since officials announced his loss. They've been camped out for months. In your view, was this attack a surprise?

STUENKEL: Actually, not at all. In fact, for the past two years since attackers invaded the Capitol in Washington, analysts² have been saying that something similar could happen in Brazil. And at the time when January 6 happened, Bolsonaro's son actually publicly came out rooting for the invaders³ and even said that if they had organized better, they could have achieved most of their aims. Bolsonaro has also not recognized initially⁴ the legitimacy⁵ of the Biden administration, has shared a lot of views and ideas of Donald Trump⁶ about, you know, that the election was supposedly rigged.

So in a way, there are so many parallels between the two leaders that it was fairly obvious that something like, you know, a January 6 scenario⁷ could happen in Brazil. What is most surprising to me is that security forces have done almost nothing to stop the invaders, because differently from the U.S. scenario, where police was genuinely surprised because this had never happened before, there were a lot of people saying, we need to be careful. There's thousands of pro-Bolsonaro supporters asking for a military coup⁸. And they're in the capital. They've been in the capital for weeks. They may end up doing the same.

FADEL: So these attacks were directly inspired by what happened here in D.C.?

STUENKEL: Well, I would certainly think so, because this has, you know, never happened in Brazil before. And I think that when Bolsonaro, until recently, looked towards the United States, I mean, sort of the Trump post-election strategy has been quite successful because, you know, he's still the leader of the opposition⁹. He could still be the presidential candidate next year. He's still got lots of support in the Republican Party. So I think, to some extent, Bolsonaro is certainly looking towards a similar strategy. I would say it's, you know, very likely that this is largely inspired by events in Washington two years ago.

FADEL: How else may that relationship between Bolsonaro and Trump affect politics in Brazil?

STUENKEL: I think, looking forward, Brazil will face a similar issue to what we're seeing in the United States, which is that part of the electorate¹⁰ will not recognize the legitimacy of the Lula government. There's also been an increase in the amount of weapons that are actually available in Brazil. Bolsonaro has been loosening gun laws quite significantly. So there's a lot of concern about, you know, armed political violence of the type that we've seen in Brasilia. Now this could occur elsewhere in the country. So I think this has the potential to erode¹¹ democracy and deepen polarization.

FADEL: Brazil is the biggest economic power in the region. And if we could just take a view - a larger view here of the geopolitical significance, you know, what will happen in the bigger picture?

STUENKEL: Well, just like the United States inspiring, you know, political events around the world, Brazil is the largest country in Latin America. And during the past four years, several leaders across the region have emerged that certainly inspire themselves in Bolsonaro. So we've now seen sort of a anti-democratic, nationalist, right-wing candidates emerging in countries like Chile, which until then had been, you know, fairly stable and not polarized. We've seen anti-establishment figures emerging elsewhere, which utilize¹² same - similar strategies to Bolsonaro.

And I think that even though Bolsonaro is no longer president, he still has the capacity to destabilize politics in Brazil. There's certainly an interest in the international community that Brazil's democracy can go back to normal because unless it finds its equilibrium¹³ again, it, I think, will struggle much more to tackle many of the economic issues. And unless there is domestic stability, I think we can't really count on Brazil being a constructive¹⁴ member, addressing and participating actively¹⁵ in finding solutions to global problems.

FADEL: Oliver Stuenkel is a professor of international relations at the Getulio Vargas Foundation in Sao Paulo. Thank you so much.

STUENKEL: Thank you for having me.

1 transcript   

n.抄本，誊本，副本，肄业证书

参考例句：

• A transcript of the tapes was presented as evidence in court.一份录音带的文字本作为证据被呈交法庭。
• They wouldn't let me have a transcript of the interview.他们拒绝给我一份采访的文字整理稿。

2 analysts   

分析家，化验员( analyst的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• City analysts forecast huge profits this year. 伦敦金融分析家预测今年的利润非常丰厚。
• I was impressed by the high calibre of the researchers and analysts. 研究人员和分析人员的高素质给我留下了深刻印象。

3 invaders   

入侵者，侵略者，侵入物( invader的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• They prepared to repel the invaders. 他们准备赶走侵略军。
• The family has traced its ancestry to the Norman invaders. 这个家族将自己的世系追溯到诺曼征服者。

4 initially   

adv.最初，开始

参考例句：

• The ban was initially opposed by the US.这一禁令首先遭到美国的反对。
• Feathers initially developed from insect scales.羽毛最初由昆虫的翅瓣演化而来。

5 legitimacy   

n.合法，正当

参考例句：

• The newspaper was directly challenging the government's legitimacy.报纸直接质疑政府的合法性。
• Managing from the top down,we operate with full legitimacy.我们进行由上而下的管理有充分的合法性。

6 trump   

n.王牌，法宝；v.打出王牌，吹喇叭

参考例句：

• He was never able to trump up the courage to have a showdown.他始终鼓不起勇气摊牌。
• The coach saved his star player for a trump card.教练保留他的明星选手，作为他的王牌。

7 scenario   

n.剧本，脚本；概要

参考例句：

• But the birth scenario is not completely accurate.然而分娩脚本并非完全准确的。
• This is a totally different scenario.这是完全不同的剧本。

8 coup   

n.政变；突然而成功的行动

参考例句：

• The monarch was ousted by a military coup.那君主被军事政变者废黜了。
• That government was overthrown in a military coup three years ago.那个政府在3年前的军事政变中被推翻。

9 opposition   

n.反对，敌对

参考例句：

• The party leader is facing opposition in his own backyard.该党领袖在自己的党內遇到了反对。
• The police tried to break down the prisoner's opposition.警察设法制住了那个囚犯的反抗。

10 electorate   

n.全体选民；选区

参考例句：

• The government was responsible to the electorate.政府对全体选民负责。
• He has the backing of almost a quarter of the electorate.他得到了几乎1/4选民的支持。

11 erode   

v.侵蚀，腐蚀，使...减少、减弱或消失

参考例句：

• Once exposed,soil is quickly eroded by wind and rain.一旦暴露在外，土壤很快就会被风雨侵蚀。
• Competition in the financial marketplace has eroded profits.金融市场的竞争降低了利润。

12 utilize   

vt.使用，利用

参考例句：

• The cook will utilize the leftover ham bone to make soup.厨师要用吃剩的猪腿骨做汤。
• You must utilize all available resources.你必须利用一切可以得到的资源。

13 equilibrium   

n.平衡，均衡，相称，均势，平静

参考例句：

• Change in the world around us disturbs our inner equilibrium.我们周围世界的变化扰乱了我们内心的平静。
• This is best expressed in the form of an equilibrium constant.这最好用平衡常数的形式来表示。

14 constructive   

adj.建设的，建设性的

参考例句：

• We welcome constructive criticism.我们乐意接受有建设性的批评。
• He is beginning to deal with his anger in a constructive way.他开始用建设性的方法处理自己的怒气。

15 actively   

adv.积极地，勤奋地

参考例句：

• During this period all the students were actively participating.在这节课中所有的学生都积极参加。
• We are actively intervening to settle a quarrel.我们正在积极调解争执。