Brazil Lula is persecuting Michael Shellenberger

We Exposed Censorship By Brazil’s Supreme Court, And Now President Lula Is Persecuting Me

PLUS: Brazil’s Attorney General Is Seeking To Entirely Shut Down X, Formerly Known As Twitter

Thirty years ago this year, I asked Brazil’s current president, who goes by the single name “Lula,” if he would turn his country into Cuba, complete with censorship. He said "no" and that he and the Brazilian people loved their freedom too much.

At no point since then did I ever imagine that I would be the victim of Cuba-style censorship and repression at the hands of @LulaOficial . And yet, that is precisely what is happening.

All of this is happening at the same time that Brazil’s Attorney General and Supreme Court are reportedly seeking a way to entirely shut down X, Brazil’s only free speech platform. The Brazilian government recently retaliated against X by cutting off advertising on X. X’s top attorney in Brazil resigned to protect his safety less than two weeks ago.

Yesterday, Brazil’s attorney general, Jorge Messias, urged the Supreme Court to pursue “criminal prosecution” and investigation to “identify and punish the possible culprits.” My alleged crime was publishing the “Twitter Files - Brazil.” At no point does the Attorney General suggest that either I or my coauthors Eli Vieira and David Ágape lied or presented inaccurate information in the Twitter Files - Brazil.

Rather, the Attorney General office’s six-page memo, released publicly, claims that I released “excerpts of content from confidential judicial decisions” in an “attempt to destabilize the democratic state.” This is untrue. None of the Twitter Files - Brazil contained “confidential judicial decisions.” The Twitter Files - Brazil were strictly emails between Twitter staff. There is not a single instance where we published “confidential judicial decisions.”

But even if we had, the Brazilian constitution says, “the law may only restrict the publicity of procedural acts when the defense of privacy or social interests so require" (Article 5, LX). In this case, it was imperative that we publish the Twitter Files precisely to protect the public’s right to privacy, freedom of speech, and democracy.

What’s more, the attack on me is highly selective. Brazilian news media have, for years, reported on confidential judiciary decisions and have not been subjected to such an outrageous criminal investigation as the one I am under.

Finally, there is no law against attempting to “destabilize the democratic state” through non-violent methods. The law only prohibits violent attacks on democracy. As such, the Attorney General abuses his powers and acts as a lawmaker, usurping Brazil’s Congress.

And just imagine if Brazil criminalized something as vague as “destabilizing the democratic state.” Such a law would allow President Lula to lock up nonviolent protesters, journalists, and his political rivals. Why is the Attorney General doing this? The first thing to understand is