Motivated by DiCaprio or BTS fans, Brazilian youth are committed before the presidential election


The registrations of young Brazilians on the electoral lists in Brazil are reaching records, driven in particular by the mobilization of local and international personalities.

Next October, Brazilians will elect their new president. Four years ago, the far-right candidate Jair Bolsonaro was chosen in a context of insecurity and corruption scandals. While a large part of the political class had been discredited, many citizens had preferred to abstain, risking a light fine despite the compulsory voting in the country. To prevent this situation from happening again, many Brazilian and international personalities have done everything in recent weeks to mobilize young people, a key element in the election which should pit the outgoing president against former President Lula, of the Workers’ Party of left.

In Brazil, voting is compulsory from the age of 18, but teenagers can, if they wish, participate from the age of 16. They are the ones who have recently been targeted by numerous campaigns inviting them to register on the electoral lists, in particular after the declarations of the Superior Electoral Tribunal indicating that, if nothing changed, the next elections would be those with the lowest participation of 16 and 17 years since 1990, when this count began.

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Among the stars to have taken part in this mobilization is Leonardo DiCaprio, a great defender of the planet, firmly opposed to the policy of Jair Bolsonaro, in particular about the Amazonian forest, which is increasingly fragile. On Twitter, the American actor posted numerous tweets, in English and Portuguese, calling on young people to register on the electoral lists. “Brazil is home to the Amazon and other ecosystems critical to climate change. What happens there matters to all of us and the youth vote is key to change for a healthy planet,” he wrote. Deforestation in the Amazon broke a new record last April with more than 1000 km2 deforested, almost double compared to last year.

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Leonardo DiCaprio also spoke with singer and model Anitta, who is also very engaged. After the Met Gala, which took place Monday evening in New York, she said on Twitter that she spoke “for hours” with him “about the importance for young people to take their voter card”. “We are in the home stretch. Did you know he knows more about the importance of our Amazon rainforest than the President of Brazil?

“Anitta’s commitment to democracy is inspirational. Talking to talented artists committed to helping save the planet gives me hope for a better future,” replied the Hollywood star. This exchange did not please President Bolsonaro at all, often compared to Donald Trump, who also took to Twitter to react: “I’m glad you spoke to a Hollywood actor, Anitta, it’s the every teenage girl’s dream. I talk to thousands of Brazilians every day. They are not famous, but they are the compass of our decisions, because no one defends and knows more about Brazil than its own people”. He concluded his series of tweets by directly attacking Leonardo DiCaprio: “I hope that Anitta took the opportunity to advise Leo to abandon his jets and his yacht. Its vehicles release more CO2 into the atmosphere in a day than dozens of Brazilian families in a month. Before you begin to teach the lesson, you must lead by example. Goodbye”.

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The actor of “Titanic” is undoubtedly not the only star to be in the sights of the president regularly accused of racism, sexism and strongly criticized for his management of the Covid-19. Another actor, Mark Ruffalo, has indeed also joined this online mobilization, which seems to have borne fruit. The Brazilian media “O Globo” reported record figures on Thursday, calculated between January and April 2022 and announced by Luiz Edson Fachin, president of the Superior Electoral Tribunal in charge of counting registrations on the electoral lists. The country won 2,042,817 new voters in the 16-18 age bracket, a 47.2% increase from 2018. The total number, according to the TSE, is expected to be released in July. “The efforts exceeded all records. Electoral justice will spare nothing to organize clean and transparent elections”, rejoiced the lawyer formerly support of the former president Dilma Rousseff. “It was so nice to have played a very small role in mobilizing for Brazilian youth, which is creating a healthier, more vibrant and diverse democracy. We are together”, reacted Mark Ruffalo.

BTS fans mobilized

The stars are not the only ones to have given voice to this cause. Many media have also reported on the important role played by fans of the very popular and powerful South Korean music group BTS. A gathering of ARMY (the name of the fans of the seven artists), aged 17 to 45, according to UOL media Noticias, created the association a few years ago.Army Help The Planet », committed to social issues. In view of the election, activists launched the “Take the Army Title” campaign and, in particular, distributed to spectators of a cinema retransmission of a live BTS concert, more than 4,500 small cards modeled on the cards. elections. A 30-year-old lawyer, Mariana Faciroli, quoted by UOL Noticias, is part of this fanclub. According to her, “BTS fans are young and very active on social media”. She adds: “We do not intend to show either support or repulsion to any candidate or elected official, in particular because we want to be able to face anyone when we do not agree with the socio-environmental policy”. Among the actions carried out to interest young people, “Army Help The Planet” notably produced tutorials and published clear explanations on how to register on the lists.

The Brazilian and Brazilian ARMYs went even further by projecting on the buildings of the 6 major Brazilian cities calls for the vote, citing in particular comments made by the members of BTS themselves or the lyrics of their songs: “Make your voice heard », «Tomorrow is coming but we are too young to give up already», «The media and adults say that we have no power, why do you accept that». “We are working on our campaign trying to align the dissemination of information with the politics of the moment. We use snippets of BTS lyrics to try to reach our audience in the format they know. We have noticed a greater adherence in recent months,” explains Mariana Facioli, this time to Jota.info. In 2020, fans of BTS – who is also committed to various causes and has given several speeches at the UN – had already shown their political activism during presidential campaigns, notably by sabotaging a meeting of Donald Trump in the States. States, reserving hundreds of places without the intention of going there.

Other various organizations and associations across the country have carried out their own actions in recent months, including Girl Up, an association made up of adolescent girls, who are very involved in issues that directly concern them. “The greatest power is to speak to young people in a way that institutions cannot. This poor communication comes from the fact that we talk about young people without them being at the negotiating table, ”explains Helena Branco, program manager, after spending four years there as a volunteer, to Jota.info.

Lula, who made the front page of “Time” this week, presents himself as a direct opponent of Jair Bolsonaro, counting in particular on the votes of young people and women. The man who was convicted of corruption and then released from prison for a formal defect, says in this interview that his opponent has forgotten “the poor” but also “stimulated racism”, which is “already a chronic problem in Brazil”. The election will take place on October 2.





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