Some of Brazil’s most celebrated musicians, writers and public intellectuals have said Latin America’s largest democracy could take an authoritarian turn if rightwing populist Jair Bolsonaro emerges victorious from next month’s presidential election.

With less than a fortnight until the 7 October vote, Bolsonaro, a pro-torture former army captain who recently called for his political opponents to be shot, leads polls with about 28% of the vote. Bolsonaro’s supporters, many of whom hail from Brazil’s middle and upper classes, see him as an iron-fisted antidote to the corruption and violence they believe is the result of 13 years of leftist Workers’ party rule.

But in an online manifesto that reflects mounting anxiety over a possible Bolsonaro presidency, 150 prominent artists and thinkers denounced him as “a clear threat to our fundamental civilisational heritage”. Signatories include Caetano Veloso, Chico Buarque and Gilberto Gil, a trio of politically engaged composers who all spent time in European exile during Brazil’s 1964-1985 dictatorship.(theguardian)…[+]