Dom Phillips Warned of Bolsonaro’s Fascism — Now His Son Leads Runoff — SkimNews
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- Dom Phillips warned in 2018 that Jair Bolsonaro and his supporters showed clear signs of fascism, expressing dread over his potential election and its consequences for democracy and the Amazon.
- Dom Phillips was killed in 2022 alongside Brazilian indigenous expert Bruno Pereira while researching a book on saving the Amazon, a death that underscored his prediction of rising danger under Bolsonaro-aligned policies.
- Jair Bolsonaro’s administration oversaw a 59.5% increase in Amazon deforestation compared to the prior four years, with 45,000 sq km of rainforest lost from 2019 to 2022, contrary to government claims of environmental protection.
- Flávio Bolsonaro, son of Jair Bolsonaro, is now a frontrunner in Brazil’s presidential runoff and has pledged to free his father and appoint him to government if elected, reigniting fears of authoritarian reversal.
- Dom Phillips documented the spread of misinformation under Bolsonaro, including false claims that environmental groups caused Amazon fires and that the government was protecting the rainforest despite overwhelming evidence to the contrary.
- Dom Phillips was publicly attacked by Jair Bolsonaro at a press conference after asking about deforestation, with the president retorting, 'the Amazon is Brazil’s, not yours,' a moment widely shared to discredit foreign scrutiny.
Why it matters: A journalist who warned of democratic erosion and ecological collapse under Bolsonaro was later murdered, and now a member of that same political family leads in polls—meaning policies that enabled violence, deforestation, and disinformation could return with institutional power, reversing recent environmental gains under Lula.
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