FROM THE WITCH’S DESK

This text was originally written in Portuguese and translated into English as I was (am) extremely distressed to write directly in English. I hope you can understand. 

I write with my liver, with bile, with a rage that consumes me entirely. I made use of Audre Lorde’s Uses of Anger to finish this text. How can outright barbarism even be considered an alternative to a minimally democratic government? This may be the hardest newsletter I have ever had to write.

And that is why I put off writing this piece for as long as possible. So long that even now, as I finish it, Brazil’s presidential runoff is already underway amid  legal chaos over closing and reopening polling stations — which normally close at 5 p.m. sharp — following reports of people being prevented from voting through restrictions on transportation in several regions of Brazil. Voter suppression is not a new tactic of the far right: Trump has used it, and continues to use it, very effectively to give his gang’s blatant attempts to overturn democracy a democratic veneer. Meanwhile, Kassio Nunes, one of the justices Bolsonaro appointed during his presidency, is currently presiding over Brazil’s electoral court, the TSE, and has been shamelessly issuing rulings in favor of Flávio Bolsonaro’s campaign and censoring content related to Lula.

For weeks, I have been trying to write about Brazil’s political situation. At first, I thought I would cover the countless corruption scandals surrounding presidential candidate Flávio Bolsonaro, Jair Bolsonaro’s son. Jair cannot run because he is in prison for attempting a coup after the last election. Then I thought I would focus on interference by U.S. Big Tech companies, which have demonstrably censored left-wing and pro-Lula content while boosting far-right content in Flávio’s favor. That Big Tech is increasingly interfering in politics, blatantly siding with the far right — and not just during elections — is nothing new. But the brazenness of U.S. neocolonialism has intensified under Trump. The United States no longer even disguises its coup-mongering, neocolonial intentions toward the rest of the world, and examples abound, with Venezuela being merely the latest and most obvious.

Over these past weeks, however, other people have put that information together (check this long, but very thorough video if you’re interested in getting to know more). I also wrote a long Bluesky thread a few weeks ago before the first round of the election explaining the Banco Master scandal and the sordid relationships between Supreme Court justices and the billionaire class that rules Brazil — and the world. But overwhelmed by the avalanche of information and the absurd speed of events, which barely allows us to process what is happening before we are expected to take a position, I found myself consumed by anxiety, anguish, insomnia, and compulsive eating. These have always been part of my life, but now they rise like a tsunami in the face of the possibility that an utterly corrupt, inhumane, cruel, and unmistakably fascist man — someone who manages to be even worse than his father — could become this country’s president.

I find it staggering that we have reached 2026 and this man can still win so many votes with no political program beyond the promise to destroy everything, with openly violent speeches spewing hatred against marginalized groups, simply because he is “anti-Workers’ Party” and carries the surname of a family with direct ties to paramilitary militias.

Some people know that I am a socialist and, as such, I do not believe in liberal democracies — also often called bourgeois democracies. It is precisely this model that leaves the door open for fascism to rise. The politics of false equivalence, of “both sides” — where one side defends democracy, however limited it may be in its current form, while the other defends the complete extermination of entire sections of the population — makes it seem as though we must respect all political positions equally in the name of “democratic debate.” But Karl Popper’s old “paradox of tolerance” has always warned us that accepting fascist rhetoric in the name of democracy leads us to lose democracy itself. Because fascists are not interested in preserving democracy. They want a totalitarian, dictatorial, anti-democratic state. Tolerating the far right and fascism therefore means laying the groundwork for democracy’s own destruction.

But the capitalist class is not “rational” enough to recognize that, by defending or downplaying neofascism in the name of democracy, it is laying the groundwork for its own destruction. Profit at any cost becomes the religion to follow, and any attempt to curb it through laws and regulations becomes a much greater threat than fascism. That is why, even if fascism is not the billionaire class’s Plan A or B, it serves their interests when the alternative means losing profits and their monopoly on economic power — especially when it is allied with U.S. imperialism.

That is why, regardless of the outcome of today’s election in Brazil, it is imperative that we organize a mass movement and a revolutionary party capable of overthrowing this system. Yes, whenever someone says this kind of thing, it comes across as some sort of utopian talk, because it is easier to imagine the end of the world than the end of capitalism. But nearly 200 years ago, Marx and Engels warned that from the conflict between one class and another — the ruling capitalist class versus the working class — there are only two possible outcomes: revolutionary transformation of society or the shared ruin of the opposing classes, because they cannot coexist.

We are 99% of the world. Perhaps it is time to make that number count.

- Hailey Kaas

KEEP THE WITCH WORKING

(And housed!)

If you made it this far — yay! Thanks for reading my newsletter! ❤ — this is the section where I share my boost + help spell.

My mom has been undergoing cancer treatment for a year now. She recently finished radiotherapy and is still recovering from its side effects. I set up a Ko-fi page to crowdfund for her, and you can read more information and updates there.

If you could be so kind as to boost my Ko-fi or newsletter on your socials, I would be forever grateful! And if you are feeling extra generous, please consider donating any amount. Every $5 or $10 helps a lot because of the currency conversion. <3

See you in our next wicked notes,
Hailey Kaas