On the left, Raí shows his support for Lula during the Ballon d’Or presentation on October 17. Right Neymar during an online broadcast on October 22. RR.SS.
The photo of the poster hanging in the middle of a street adorned with dozens of green and yellow Brazilian flags became famous this week: “It’s not politics, it’s the cup.” The residents of the city of Belo Horizonte followed a deep-rooted tradition but didn’t want to be passed off as ardent supporters of President Jair Bolsonaro, who has appropriated symbols such as the flag and football team jersey. In a climate of extreme polarization, right-wing extremist President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva and leftist Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva will be contesting the presidency of the footballing country on Sunday shortly before the World Cup in Qatar. Politics has also resulted in the most popular sport being torn apart, with players and past glories in opposing corners. Two of Paris Saint-Germain’s idols, Neymar and Raí, were the most notorious.
Bolsonaro has scored a goal that will debut against Serbia on November 24 with the vocal support of Neymar, who has been named Seleçao leader. Brazil’s 10 has urged that they vote for the extreme right and even went a step further when, during a live broadcast with the President a week ago, he vowed to match his goals in Qatar with a nod to the number to celebrate the retired captain in the electronic ballot boxes. “He supported me in the most difficult moment,” the footballer said of the president, who came to his defense when he was accused of raping a woman in 2019 and was dismissed due to lack of evidence. The Brazilian star, who is very present on social media and in which he posted another supportive video this Saturday, can help young voters who, according to polls, mostly choose Lula, the favorite in the elections.
Without being so explicit, Thiago Silva and Dani Alves have also alluded to a version of the motto “God, Country and Family” that Bolsonaro often uses, nostalgic for the Brazilian dictatorship. They are joined by former footballers such as Rivaldo, Julio Baptista and Robinho – who was sentenced to nine years in prison in Italy in 2013 for raping a woman while playing for Milan.
The Canarinha shirt and Brazilian flag became something of a conservative emblem during the protests against President Dilma Rousseff, Lula’s successor and partner in the Workers’ Party (PT) that led to her impeachment in 2016. Bolsonaro’s power is calling on his supporters to go to e-elections in his shirt, ubiquitous at his rallies. The most progressive Brazilians have stopped feeling comfortable with the garment or even with the simple combination of green and yellow colors, although Lula has suggested “saving” the symbols of national pride “hijacked” by Bolsonarianism.
A billboard amidst Brazilian flags on a street in Belo Horizonte, on October 16, 2022. DOUGLAS MAGNO (AFP)
The Brazilian Football Confederation (CBF) hopes the team’s politicization will recede after the elections, but Neymar’s notoriety complicates that plan. Another Brazilian star, Richarlison, has lamented people taking these symbols into the political arena. “By doing so we lose the identity of the shirt and the flag,” said the Tottenham attacker, without going so far as to openly choose Lula.
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The former president of the left was supported by some players, technicians and former footballers, among others Juninho Pernambucano and former Brazil and Real Madrid coach Vanderlei Luxemburg, who called Bolsonaro a “sociopath”. Also others with great symbolic weight like Walter Casagrande, a speaker of the Corinthian democracy along with the late Socrates who was not only an athlete but also a doctor and political activist. This well-known movement emerged in the Corinthians of São Paulo and positioned itself in the turmoil of the military dictatorship (1964-1985) for democracy. This team won a championship in those years with a jersey that evoked democracy, among many other gestures. Lula himself, who also campaigned for direct elections, is a fan of Corinthians and flags alluding to the Corinthians are always present at his rallies alongside emblems of unions, black and feminist movements “Corinthian Democracy.
“Politics this is nothing new in Brazilian football,” stresses British journalist Andrew Downey, Socrates’ biographer. “The most important thing about Corinthian democracy was that the public listened to players like Socrates because he was a charismatic leader, the captain of the 1982 team, and he spoke about politics, human rights and the need to vote. He believed in the good of all and fought for the poorest.”
The most determined supporter of Lula’s campaign was precisely Sócrates’ younger brother, Raí, who was also a PSG idol himself and won the World Cup with Brazil in 1994. This month during the Ballon d’Or ceremony in Paris , Raí was in attendance for the award Socrates Prize to reward the social activism off the field of a footballer “won by Bayern Munich’s Sadio Mané from Senegalese”. On stage, Raí hand-drawn the letter L, a popular symbol among Lula’s followers. “Socrates stands for fair values, democracy to achieve a better world and football represents the world we dream of,” his brother said at the ceremony. “I know what Socrates would think,” he concluded in the second round this Sunday. Lula herself thanked for the gesture. When they won a league in the 1980s, Corinthians perpetuated a motto that still holds true in the polarized Brazil of 2022: “Win or lose, but always in democracy.”
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