Obama is popular in Brazil, but apparently not with all Brazilians. This, too, is Obama’s fault somehow; I read it in a tweet, so it must be true. But this much comes from Forbes:
A molotov cocktail was launched in front of the US consulate in Rio de Janeiro late Friday in protest of the arrival of President Barack Obama, the O Globo newspaper in Rio reported. Military police reacted by firing rubber bullets into the gathering of 200 at around 18:30 local time. A CBN news reporter suffered a minor injury from the shots and traffic was blocked.
“They came after us with clubs and tear gas and attacked,” according to protestor Thiago Hastenheiter. “They chased us through the streets and started firing rounds of rubber bullets.”
The violence and anarchy is what lends the state license to hurt and sicken people. At its best, nonviolence exposes the state by getting arrested, say, trying to meet with the president. They hold a big rally with music and art and culture and speeches and commit amazing acts of courage. The only bombs the nonviolent throw are their ideas and their non-resistance. For example, some arrestees prefer to go limp and force the police to drag them by their heels. This is not “resisting arrest,” but rather resistance by not resisting.
And Obama visiting Brazil is not like Mubarak in his third decade of power. Sorry, it’s just not.
