 It's been a year since the coup attempt in Brazil by supporters of former President Jair Bolsonaro, what have been the consequences of that attempt to subvert democracy. France has its youngest prime minister in Gabriel Attal. What is President Emmanuel Macron trying to do ahead of the European parliamentary elections? This is a really debrief. These are your stories for the day. And before we go any further, if you're watching this on YouTube, please hit that subscribe button. A year ago, supporters of former Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro attempted a coup by storming key institutions in the capital, Brasilia. The coup attempt was a clear result of Bolsonaro and key figures in his camp consistently casting doubt on the electoral process which had led to the victory of President Lula. The January 8 coup attempt posed vital questions to Brazil's democracy and institutions and its impact continues to this day. We go to Zoe Alexander to understand what happened on that day, who was responsible and what consequences have they faced. Zoe, thank you so much for joining us. So maybe could you first take our viewers through the incidents of January 8, 2022, what really happened, who were the sectors involved at that point of time, and what has been the investigation so far, what have been the conclusions of these probes? Well, yes. Monday, January 8 marked one year since the attempted coup that took place in Brasilia a week after Luís Inácio Lula da Silva had been sworn into office as president. This coup was driven by far-right forces in Brazil who believed that the military should intervene and overturn the elections and declare Jared Bolsonaro as the winner. This narrative that the elections had been fraudulent and that the electronic voting system was fraudulent had been a narrative that Jared Bolsonaro and his supporters had been building for years. It didn't come just the days leading up to January 8. It's something that they had been really manufacturing for several years and which intensified, of course, in the 2022 campaign, which Jared Bolsonaro, of course, ended up losing. But all of his platform and his speeches would always talk about how the voting system needed to be reformed. And so, again, on January 8, a mob of over 2,000 people invades Brasilia, having come by bus. Hundreds had also been camped out outside the military base, and they essentially stormed the palace of the three powers where the Congress, Supreme Court, and the presidential palace is located. They stormed these buildings, breaching the security line, and start destroying essentially everything in their site. This means files, archives, works of art. We ran a piece last year by Ting Chaka, a tricontinental researcher who discussed all of the different elements, the artistic elements that had been destroyed by this mob, many pieces of art, works of art that were cultural patrimony of Brazil. They essentially destroyed basically everything in site, urinating, committing despicable acts of vandalism in an attempt, again, to bring this message that the elections have been fraudulent, that Lula is criminal, and that the military, again, has to intervene. This created a shockwave in Brazilian society. The images that were broadcast, of course, across Brazil, but internationally, very reminiscent, of course, of January 6, the capital storming, which happened in the United States, but really, again, created a very strong response within Brazil and across the region. We had all of the regional leaders in Latin America and the Caribbean condemning this act of violence and this attempt to Brazilian democracy. Again, the elections which had taken place, which had already been certified, which had already been observed and all these other elements, and really trying to kind of enact their will through violent means. And so, the response from Brazilian society and from Brazilian political leaders was also very strong. We saw that many, many different political leaders, the governors of the majority of the states in Brazil had a unified response, standing with Lula condemning the attack on democracy. They held a press conference, for example, in front of some of the destroyed buildings. But the episode left a lot of questions and made many people extremely skeptical of how exactly did this happen and how did it get that far. There's many, many different elements which over the course of the last year, many different researchers and people have been investigating as much in terms of the financing of these actions, who paid for the buses. It was found out that many big business sectors, such as agribusiness, such as the Royal Caucus, participated in financing these, the traditional sectors of power which are in the parliament as well of the far right. A lot of involvement, of course, in the Bolsonaro family and the Bolsonaro groupings that were activated during the elections. Many highlighted as well that what happened on January 8th, again, had been building. So we saw in September, the massive rallies that happened in several Brazilian cities called for a Bolsonaro during the electoral period to demand once again the military intervention, once Lula wins the elections. These same Bolsonaro supporters formed these different highway blockades and camps outside the military bases, not only in Brasilia, but in cities across Brazil. And so for many people, they say, well, it was, this is the natural conclusion. This is what they were threatening to do. They were constantly calling for an intervention. And so really how were security forces so unprepared. And there there's been a lot of investigation and a lot of debate about what happened there. Part of it is due to the fact that the military was actively impeding the police to respond to the situation. The military wouldn't let the police, for example, go and arrest people. They made them wait, I think half a day or an entire day to even be able to go into the camp where many people were staying. The response of the government of the federal district where Brazil is located, not dispatching enough people and actively kind of trying to inhibit the response to these protests. So there was direct involvement by people with positions of power, by different authorities. And these have all been being contended with over the last year and different, of course, there were also thousands that were arrested, that were processed and tried. People charged with the subversion of democracy and the democratic rule of law and of disturbing the peace. And so there have been a number of different legal processes to actually get to the bottom of who is responsible and what role did they play in facilitating these riots and this attempted coup. Bolsonaro himself, of course, is also facing consequences. He is someone who, again, not only motivated and agitated and really took a central role in organizing people to take part in the series of protests leading up to this, but also in the act itself. He has been declared ineligible on multiple reasons. One of them, of course, has to do with the protest that he organized or the rally that he organized in September, which was seen as a violation of electoral law. He also had held a meeting with ambassadors from different countries to put forward this allegation that the electoral system is fraudulent and that any elections that would take place with this system would be fraudulent. And this is, again, it's laying the basis for what is later to be this attempted coup. So one year out from this day, from January 8th, people are still, I think, reeling in the sense of contending with the growth of far-right sentiments in the country, the growth of a figure like Bolsonaro, but also, I think, looking towards the response of the Lula government in terms of punishing those responsible in terms of investigating and getting to the bottom of who financed, who coordinated and trying to, and the fact that his administration has really tried to send the message that any subversion of the democratic system in Brazil will be met with strongly. And I think that this has been something that's central. There's been a demand from social movements saying no amnesty for those who commit coups. So it sparked a debate which continues till today and that the impacts are still felt. Right. And also, how social movements commemorated this first anniversary, so to speak, I mean, a very important moment for these movements to highlight the importance of democracy to push back against what happened last year. So across the country, in cities across the country, we saw mass mobilizations in defense of democracy take place, you know, movements, trade unions, left parties that continue to see the importance of defending democracy, of saying no amnesty for those who commit coups, calling for deeper investigations into, for example, the role that the military played. However, understanding that the current Lula government has many constraints on it, because Lula is part of a broad coalition. He's trying to have a friendly and a favorable relationship with the military. But of course, it's very difficult given how much the military has colluded with the far right, with Jared Bolsonaro. We know that under the government of Jared Bolsonaro, there's a record number of military personnel that actually held positions in his government. This means that they, of course, really liked him and were acting in favor of him, not the entire military establishment, but large sectors of the military definitely considered that Bolsonaro was a favorable force when he was president. And so people were out on the streets again in Sao Paulo and Brasilia, in different cities to continue this struggle in defense of democracy. I think people recognize the fact that when Lula won the elections, he didn't win in a landslide. Despite everything that Bolsonaro did, despite the fact that he completely mismanaged the COVID-19 pandemic, despite the fact that hundreds and thousands of people died in Brazil because of his mismanagement, because he blocked the arrival of vaccines in the country, because so many different things that he did while president impacting, for example, the deep inequality making poverty worse, increasing the number of homeless people just due to the slashing of the social and economic programs in the country. Even then, Lula still just barely won those elections, very, very close elections that were decided in the second round. So people understand that Lula did win, but that the work is not over and that defending democracy is a constant process and that it involves people understanding what it means to have someone like Bolsonaro in office, defending the programs of a progressive government like Lula, and continuing to demand further democratization of society, engagement of people, understanding that this political alienation and social alienation in the country and really across the world is at an all-time high. And so how do movement contend with this? How does this defense of democracy, of institutions really cut and fight back against this moment in history where people are feeling more and more isolated, more alienated by these systems? So a very, very interesting anniversary, also a moment for people to remember the achievements of Lula's government until now. His primary goal as president was to really address the pressing concern of hunger in the country. We know that under Jack Bolsonaro and because the policies of Michel Temer, Brazil returned to the UN hunger map. This was seen as a massive defeat, especially because Lula was responsible for taking Brazil off the hunger map. So this has been one of his primary concerns addressing inequality, addressing hunger, addressing homelessness, and many other elements of the socioeconomic condition of the Brazilian people that severely deteriorated under the successive far-right governments. So important anniversary, a lot of symbolic weight to it, but also real political weight and real an important moment for Brazilian society. Thank you so much Zoe for that update. France is a new prime minister, 34-year-old Gabriel Atal. The new head of government has very little experience and his appointment seems like a desperate measure by President Emmanuel Macron to shore up support ahead of the European parliamentary elections. Faced with deep popular resentment and an increase in support for challengers on the left and right, Macron's space for maneuvering seems increasingly limited. What is he trying to do? We go to Anish for the details. Anish, thank you so much for joining us. So a new prime minister for France, someone who would be kind to say is very limited experience for the position, a very young prime minister of course. What really is Emmanuel Macron trying with this move which is quite unprecedented maybe? Well, obviously it is coming as a desperate attempt to actually shore up whatever little support that he muster in the upcoming European Parliament elections. And it clearly shows because opinion polls have shown that Macron has really lost support, especially after his presidential re-election last year, sorry, in 2022. And that has really eroded a big part of his legitimacy. And it was very much evident with the parliament elections that also was held simultaneously along with the presidential election, where he lost, where his party, his alliance lost the majority. And that in itself has created a situation where the president is essentially running a government that doesn't have a majority in the parliament. And that is very basically an attempt to show that there is a new face to his government, to his party perhaps. But there is a limitation because it's pretty much the old wine new bottle situation that we're seeing here. And we do not see much difference from him and Macron. And in many ways, Macron is not somebody who is somebody who's inspiring confidence among the voters either. The reason, one of the reasons why the National Rally Le Pen's party is becoming so huge and gaining that much majority is because of the kind of the complete lack of confidence that Macron has created and generated within the public. Right. Anish Krut, also maybe take us in some more detail to some of these aspects about, especially his lack of popularity, what is causing it in the sense of, how has he sort of, why has he failed to take the French public along with him, especially when the right wing's agenda seems so divisive? What is the reason for Macross failure? Well, one of the primary reasons would be how he has been an apologetic neoliberal in many ways. He has pretty much done one of the most damages to a lot and attempted to do most damage to the French welfare state system and many ways like attacks on pension, attacks on workers' rights. And that has really, really affected how his government is perceived. Despite, and they have obviously always tried to cater to the more right-wing set, like a talent himself or somebody who is, who's only, you know, named to fame is basically the fact that he banned hijab in schools. And that is the only thing that he's known for in his, you know, barely 20 months in the, as a minister. And that clearly shows what kind of government you're looking at. Macron is definitely one of those who do not, who is actually dealing with a failing economy. The cost of living crisis is huge. And that has really, really affected the, you know, the working classes in France. Disparities have grown bigger. Like it is one of the worst cases of income inequality we are seeing right now in West Europe. And that in itself has created situations where the government had to deal with multiple, essentially uprising of working class people. And whether or not they aligned with the left or the right, there was very clearly a demographic that participated in these massive, you know, uprising and protest movements that went on for months. And there was nothing more than, you know, violence and crackdowns that the French government needed out to them rather than compromises or at least, you know, hearing out their demands. So in all of these cases, definitely there has been a situation where the French politics has become more and more polarized. No longer there is any confidence in this apolitical brand of politics that Macron is always known for. And that is the reason why he came to power in many ways. That has gone, the brand is no longer viable. Pretty much nobody sees anything of worth in it. And that is clearly showing is the fact that both the left and the right are growing and emerging as you know, viable contenders for power at this point, despite, you know, the differences that we might see in the left, even with the opinion polls right now for the European parliament elections, you can actually see if the left combined has more confidence in the French public and among French voters than Macron's party. And that clearly shows how, you know, polarized and more ideologically polarized, the French society is becoming increasingly along class lines in many ways as well. And that is reflecting in, you know, the fact that party like Macron's will not have much to offer because they do not, they try to appease everybody and pretty much nobody in the process as well. Right. Thank you so much for that. And that's all we have in this episode of Daily Debrief. We'll be back with a fresh episode tomorrow. In the meanwhile, do visit our website. People's Dispatch.org. Follow us on all the social media platforms. And if you're watching this on YouTube, please hit the subscribe button.