Brazilians are now used to seeing their controversial president, Jair Bolsonaro, make hospital stays for bowel complications.
Since the latter was the victim of a knife attack during the presidential campaign in 2018, he has undergone multiple operations and has returned seven times for treatment, reports Le Monde. Last Sunday, the 66-year-old head of state was hospitalized again for an intestinal obstruction. Her doctor said on Wednesday it was due to “un-chewed shrimp.” Since then, shrimp have been smelling holy among a part of the population, that which does not appreciate that Jair Bolsonaro, who represents the extreme right, is in power.
The shrimp, “hero” of the left?
“The shrimp has been erected as a national hero and a symbol of anti-fascism,” explains Barbara Serrano, lecturer at the University of Paris Saclay on Twitter. Since this unusual announcement, the image of the small crustacean has been widely misused on the Internet. “Memes” and logos have appeared on various satirical accounts, taking up the codes and symbols of the anti-fascist and communist left, to associate a shrimp with it, as an emblem of the struggle against Bolsonaro and his political camp.
January 5, that is to say the day of the announcement of the cause of his intestinal obstruction, would then have become “National Day of the Antifascist Shrimp”, according to Barbara Serrano, which includes in particular the offbeat remarks of the Sensacionalista, a humorous account equivalent to Gorafi French.
On social networks, some also echo this joke that appeared on Wednesday, which says: “Si un camarao [“crevette”] caused such a mess in the president, imagine a lula [“un calamar”] “, In reference to the former president Lula, probable adversary of Jair Bolsonaro in the next presidential election, decrypts the correspondent of the World, Anne Vigna.
Some commentators also recall that a pretzel swallowed askew almost killed US President George W. Bush in 2002.