#NotHim: Brazilian women target presidential candidate


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SÃO PAULO – Brazilian women may not have mobilized for one of the candidates in the next presidential election, but a growing number of people turned to social media to clarify who they would not vote for: far-right favorite Jair Bolsonaro.

A social media campaign called # EleNão – or #NotHim – is the most recent example of how women in Brazil are mobilizing against a politician who has publicly called women ignorant, too ugly for rape or not deserving the same salary as men. In a speech, Bolsonaro, a father of four sons and a daughter, described having a daughter as a "moment of weakness".

"Not him because he's a macho, not him because he's homophobic, not him because he's racist, not him because he's a return to our democracy," said Daniela Mercury, a popular Brazilian singer . She urged Brazilians to participate in protests nationwide by repudiating Bolsonaro on Saturday.

Hundreds of thousands of people registered on Facebook for the Women Against Bolsonaro marches, and 2.9 million joined the Facebook group "Women United Against Bolsonaro", which became private after being hacked several times.

Ms Mercury called a colleague, Anitta, the biggest international pop star in Brazil, who was criticized for refusing to publicly denounce Bolsonaro. "I would like to challenge my friend Anitta to support the # EleNão movement," she said. "Let's go Anitta?"

After spending days insisting on the right to a secret ballot and refusing to talk about specific candidates, Anitta finally opted for social media. his own repudiation on Sunday. Some 3.5 million people saw it in the first 24 hours.

"I want to clarify once and for all that I do not support the candidate Bolsonaro," she said in a video of unusual gravity, insisting that her fight against homophobia and racism speak for themselves.

"Yes, I support the use of the EleNão hashtag," she added, inviting three other female singers to join the movement.

Public pressure on Anitta has highlighted the polarization of these elections, the most divided and most conflictual since the return of democracy in Brazil in the 80s, and the role that women can play.

Mr. Bolsonaro, former captain of the army and representative since 1991, has long been a marginal figure of the Congress, best known for his inflammatory comments. In addition to denigrating women, he also offended blacks and suggested that he would prefer that a son die rather than become gay.

But a massive investigation into corruption, which engulfed all major political parties in the country and many traditional leaders, has nevertheless propelled Bolsonaro to the forefront in this year's race.

His many supporters consider him a outspoken speaker who is not afraid to do – and say – what is needed. He made the fight against political corruption and rampant criminality the cornerstones of his campaign, promising to clear the swamp, give more freedom to the police to kill criminals and facilitate the possession of weapons by civilians. .

Mr. Bolsonaro was already leading the polls when his candidacy had an unexpected shock this month: he was stabbed in the abdomen at a campaign rally and rushed to the hospital with serious injuries.

According to the latest Datafolha survey, Bolsonaro has the support of 28% of respondents – in Brazil, voting is mandatory. His rivals are all under 20%.

However, Bolsonaro does not seem to have the 50% needed to win on October 7th and avoid a second round. And if there is a flow, standing among the voters could be decisive. According to a poll by Ibope, half of respondents said that they would not vote for Mr. Bolsonaro in any case, against 33% of men.

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