Read more about it here – in Portuguese [find out here]. In 2020, Bolsonaro used the pandemic as an excuse to give veto power to the Ministry of Education over the appointment of rectors of Federal Universities [1] [find out here]. Read more about threats to academic freedom and universities’ autonomy under Bolsonaro here [2] [3] [4]. Also read report on Academic Freedom in Brazil here [5]
Acts that employ tools of constant authoritarian reinvention. Authoritarian manifestations that coexist with the democratic regime and affect democracy as a system of choice of legitimate representatives or as institutional dynamics that protect rights and guarantee pluralism.
Acts justified by tackling the covid-19 pandemic or another emergency. Under the democratic constitutional regime, emergency acts must respect the Constitution and protect the rights to life and health. Even so, because they create exceptional restrictions related to the health crisis, they require constant control over their necessity, proportionality and temporal limitation. In the long run, they demand attention so as not to become an anti-democratic 'new normal' beyond the moment of emergency.