Anarchist street activists voted for Dilma out of fear of the right

Evidence

Many members of the Movimento Passe Livre were anarchists, or otherwise rejected participation in elections as a matter of principle. As a group, the MPL never takes any position on political campaigns of any kind. But for many of them, the upcoming election was terrifying. It appeared that, for the first time since 1998, the right could actually win. The possibility that Aécio could take power seemed like the end of the world to many people on the left, and a totally unacceptable outcome to the Free Fare activists. So they voted for her. Mayara didn’t feel the slightest twinge of doubt. She cast her ballot for Dilma Rousseff. Aécio lost by 3 percent in the runoff. — Vincent Bevins, If We Burn, 545

Categorization

• XREF: Connects to the book’s core theme of protest movements failing to convert mobilization into durable political alternatives, and how activists’ fear-driven lesser-evil voting perpetuates the missing revolution. — connects to: Fear of the right drove anarchist anti-electoral activists to vote nonetheless — Vincent Bevins, If We Burn: The Mass Protest Decade and…, 545

Broader Connections

• Fear of the right drove anarchist anti-electoral activists to vote nonetheless #expands (0.98) — Vincent Bevins, If We Burn, 545