At the height of election season in Brazil, Newslaundry’s Manisha Pande travelled from a Bolsonaro rally in São Paulo to a left-wing bar in Rio de Janeiro to ask whether a country this divided can still talk to itself. Manisha was in Brazil following an invitation to attend the 10th piauí Journalism Festival in São Paulo.
At a September 7 rally in São Paulo, supporters were wary of cameras. Manu, a local journalist and Manisha’s guide, recalled a man at a Bolsonaro rally calling her a ‘Marxist’ and shouting at people to stop answering her questions. Maria, a retired domestic worker, wants Brazil to “move forward”, likes Donald Trump, and sees no threat to religion. Manu’s father votes for Bolsonaro, but her mother doesn’t.
