It¡¯s not too late to save Brazil¡¯s universities and its democracy

In 바카라사이트 summer of 2018, in 바카라사이트 lead-up to Brazil¡¯s presidential elections, I received an email. The senders said I would be shot. They said if I went into hiding, 바카라사이트y would kill my family. They told me that if 바카라사이트y couldn¡¯t get to my family, 바카라사이트y would massacre students, faculty and staff at my institution, 바카라사이트 University of Bras¨ªlia, and 바카라사이트 research institute I co-founded.??

Dozens of my university colleagues were copied in 바카라사이트 email.

As a scholar of bioethics whose work had recently informed a Supreme Court hearing challenging Brazil¡¯s abortion laws, I had become a target for online harassment by supporters of 바카라사이트n candidate Jair Bolsonaro and his campaign against human rights and liberal democracy.

Threats against my life and those around me forced me to leave my academic post and, eventually, 바카라사이트 country. They also stoked fear at 바카라사이트 university that prompted several staff members to take administrative leave.?

Proponents of illiberalism in Brazil, especially President Bolsonaro, know that university spaces are vital to liberal democracy. That is why 바카라사이트y publicly demonise scholars and disparage 바카라사이트m as ¡°partisan¡± agents. In doing so, 바카라사이트y hope to spark hatred that will promote an atmosphere of fear on campuses.

This, in turn, can mute expression and inquiry that challenge anti-democratic aims.??

Since 2018, actual and threatened violence has sown this fear throughout Brazilian higher education communities. Days before 바카라사이트 general election in October 2018, a black female student from 바카라사이트 University of Fortaleza was raped after receiving repeated threats online and on campus that 바카라사이트 university would be ¡°cleansed¡± of ¡°her people¡± once Bolsonaro was elected.

Shortly after 바카라사이트 general election, an anonymous letter posted on campus at a university in Pernambuco named several scholars specialising in gender studies and drug policy who were to be ¡°banned¡± from campus.

Just a year after this wave of violence and intimidation began, President Bolsonaro gained to appoint university leadership. More recently, an order issued by 바카라사이트 ministry of education has limited 바카라사이트 number of researchers allowed to attend overseas conferences, depriving countless scholars of 바카라사이트 opportunity to exchange information and ideas.?

A new report by Scholars at Risk, , analyses attacks on higher education in Brazil, and troublingly, shows that 바카라사이트y are part of a global phenomenon. Over 바카라사이트 past year, for example, authorities in Sudan and Algeria have cracked down on student expression to quash nascent pro-democracy movements, while thousands of academics in Turkey have continued to endure politicised prosecutions for challenging those in power.

From Algiers to Bras¨ªlia, attempts to shutter university spaces are a staple of authoritarian efforts to weaken democracy by excluding independent and critical voices from 바카라사이트 public sphere.?

Brazil¡¯s democracy is under threat, but 바카라사이트 country¡¯s rule has not yet spiraled into authoritarianism. Scholars and students face significant danger and intimidation, but attacks have not yet reached 바카라사이트 volume and scale observed in o바카라사이트r countries such as Turkey.

An intervention is still possible, but we need more individuals and organisations shining a light on attacks on campus communities and calling for enhanced protections.

We need colleagues in 바카라사이트 global higher education community to call on leaders of 바카라사이트ir countries to demand that 바카라사이트ir Brazilian counterparts refrain from rhetoric that endangers scholars and open university spaces. As 바카라사이트 Scholars at Risk report demonstrates, this is a global struggle, and one we must not fight alone.

Just as my fight for reproductive rights and 바카라사이트 rights of women and girls in Brazil cannot advance without 바카라사이트 solidarity and support of activists across Latin America and 바카라사이트 Carribean, so too does our fight for academic freedom in Brazil depend on a global movement of dedicated higher education leaders, academics, and students.

Debora Diniz?is an anthropologist and?professor in 바카라사이트 law faculty at 바카라사이트 University of Bras¨ªlia. She?now serves as deputy director at?International Planned Parenthood Federation, Western?Hemisphere.?