The death of American fascist Charlie Kirk is being utilized by the Trump administration to abolish political freedoms and escalate the drive toward dictatorship in the USA. This campaign has been quickly extended throughout Brazil.
Inspired by and on the direct advice of the US government, the ruling class is utilizing the frenzy surrounding Kirk’s assassination to launch a mass persecution against democratic and leftist thought in Brazilian society.
Although initiated by the fascist allies of former president Jair Bolsonaro, who was sentenced to 27 years in prison last week for attempting a coup d’état, the campaign was embraced by the entire political and corporate establishment.
This Tuesday, the Chamber of Deputies of the Brazilian Congress held a minute of silence in honor of the assassinated American fascist. The infamous tribute was suggested by deputy Nikolas Ferreira, from Bolsonaro’s Liberal Party (PL), who is spearheading a fascistic purge in the country.
On September 12, two days after Kirk’s death, Ferreira announced on X: “The movement has begun: fire the true extremists from your company”. “We will come after you,” he wrote in another post.
In an English-language publication, the pro-Bolsonaro congressman said: “I started a movement here in Brazil calling on companies to fire employees who are celebrating, supporting, or encouraging the death of political opponents—especially those who are public servants. ...Do the same in the U.S.”
Since then, Ferreira has been personally supervising a hunt for social media comments that served as pretexts for dozens of firings and cancellations of contracts and participation in events.
Physical trainer Luís Otávio Kalil was fired from Arena RM, a sports facility in Belo Horizonte, Minas Gerais, after having a comment reported by Ferreira. “This little fascist only preached hatred, racism, prejudice, supported genocide in Gaza. One less genocidal fascist, about time,” Kalil said in reference to Kirk.
The company published an open letter declaring that, “Given the gravity of what occurred ... the professional in question was definitively dismissed,” to which Ferreira responded: “Congratulations, Arena RM. Spectacular stance.”
The São Paulo City Hall dismissed Pedro Guida, who worked in cast management at the São Paulo Municipal Theater—one of the country’s premier public cultural institutions—for calling Kirk a “neo-Nazi” in a personal post, also reported by Ferreira.
As is occurring in the United States, the witch-hunt conducted by the fascists in Brazil also reached communicators and public figures.
The most prominent case was the cancellation of historian and journalist Eduardo Bueno. Bueno is the author of a series of popular books on Brazilian history and owner of the Buenas Ideias channel, with 1.5 million followers on YouTube. He had contracts and events canceled and was effectively banned from public life after posting an ironic message about Kirk’s death on Instagram.
With characteristic sarcasm, Bueno stated that it is “terrible for an activist to be killed for ideas, except when it’s Charlie Kirk”. The video was deleted by Instagram, which the historian characterized as censorship.
After the video came under attack from the right, the Pontifical Catholic University of Rio Grande do Sul (PUCRS) announced the cancellation of the “Brazil: Capital Sin” event with Bueno, stating that his “stance does not align” with the “institutional values” of the university, among the most traditional in the country.
Bueno was subsequently removed from the Senate Editorial Council, of which he was a member. Senate president Davi Alcolumbre (União Brasil) declared on Wednesday: “I want to apologize to Brazil, because on the day and at the time this video came to my knowledge, I should have fired this guy”.
His removal occurred after the historian explained himself in a subsequent video titled “A Retraction and Its Many Buts,” in which he declared: “I did not celebrate his assassination nor praise the assassin. What I wanted to say, and say again because I believe it and repeat: the world is better without certain people. And the world, in my opinion, became better without this guy’s presence.”
A similar case occurred with senior stylist Zazá Percego, dismissed from Vogue Brasil after deputy Nikolas Ferreira pressured the magazine, claiming that its employees “celebrate the assassination of innocents simply for expressing their ideas freely, like Charlie Kirk”.
Percego, who shared an image on Instagram with the phrase “I love when fascists die in agony,” dared to stand up in her own defense. She explained that the post was part of “a sequence of stories... about the conviction of Jair Messias Bolsonaro” and “was nothing more than a metaphor for what the former president represents,” and concluded: “I do not regret my political position and I repudiate any form of violent manifestation that silences democratic debates.”
The victimized journalist also reported having suffered a series of attacks and violent threats after the episode: “I suffered hundreds of racist attacks, threats of sexual violence, had my data and my family’s leaked and needed to seek temporary security shelter.”
The unleashing of this type of terror against workers, intellectuals and the general population is the fundamental objective of the fascist campaign promoted by Trump and his Brazilian collaborators.
The campaign initiated by Ferreira was effusively celebrated in neo-Nazi circles on the internet, reported Folha de São Paulo. “One of the most active anonymous users published a photo of Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet with the caption ‘where is the extreme right in this shit?’, inciting followers to openly come out as extremists,” wrote the newspaper.
The despicable political figure of Nikolas Ferreira has notable similarities to Kirk himself. The description on the 29-year-old deputy’s Wikipedia page speaks for itself:
Graduated in law from PUC-Minas and identified with the conservative right, he acquired national notoriety thanks to the controversies in which he was involved, including defending denialist ideas, resistance to measures against the COVID-19 pandemic, transphobic and discriminatory speeches, in addition to spreading fake news, such as the disinformation video that weakened Pix oversight and favored organized crime operations, according to investigations. He also supported and encouraged coup attempts and attacks on the headquarters of the Three Powers in 2023, positions for which he is frequently pointed out as a member of the Brazilian extreme right.
It is also notable that Kirk and Bolsonaro established direct relations. The first public event in which the former Brazilian president participated after the January 8, 2023 coup attempt was organized by Kirk’s Turning Point USA in Florida, where Bolsonaro remained for three months after leaving power. He was also interviewed on The Charlie Kirk Show.
The political terror campaign launched in Brazil on the pretext of Kirk’s death is an integral part of a counteroffensive by fascist forces following Bolsonaro’s coup conspiracy conviction and that of the military chiefs.
The Brazilian Congress was engaged throughout this week—between its manifestations of horror over supposed “hate speech” against Kirk—in approving the “Amnesty” and “Shield” bills demanded by the extreme right. The first aims to reverse convictions and investigations against January 8 coup participants; the second, to prohibit the establishment of criminal proceedings against parliamentarians and party leaders.
The fascist opposition also named this week Eduardo Bolsonaro, the former president’s son, as minority leader in the Chamber of Deputies. He moved permanently to the United States at the beginning of the year, where he coordinates his political activities directly with Trump administration representatives.
In a recent interview, Eduardo Bolsonaro defended American imperialist intervention against Brazil, including through military invasion, hailing the “Trump government’s willingness to defend freedom agendas”.
The defense of “freedom of expression,” supposedly attacked in Bolsonaro’s trial for attempting a coup d’état, was the justification adopted by the Trump government for imposing an escalating series of attacks against Brazil.
Bueno, the historian targeted for his accurate characterization of Kirk, drew attention to this monstrous hypocrisy: “But where is the freedom of expression so defended by the extreme right? I am being censored! I hope the US invades Brazil soon to defend me!”
The coordination between the fascist offensive in Brazil and the Trump government is also blatant in the campaign around Kirk.
US Deputy Secretary of State Christopher Landau directly participated in the persecution of Brazilians on the internet. A Brazilian neurosurgeon, who mocked Kirk’s death, was fired in Recife after Landau publicly reported his comment, demanded retractions from Brazilian medical societies and announced that he “personally ordered” the revocation of his American visa, “in case he had one”.
The same Landau is at the forefront of the most inflammatory declarations against Brazilian institutions. In his latest attack, this Tuesday, he declared on X: “The United States continues to expect Brazil to control its out-of-control Supreme Court Judge Moraes, before he completely destroys the relationship that our great countries have enjoyed for more than two centuries. Instead of any attempt to resolve the crisis, Brazil is allowing this sanctioned human rights violator to intensify his abuse of the judicial process to pursue a brazenly political agenda”.