Fact Check. Invasores do Capitólio eram “antifas infiltrados”?
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No passado dia 6 de janeiro, a invasão do Capitólio, nos Estados Unidos, por alegados apoiantes de Donald Trump tornou-se num dos eventos que vão marcar este início de 2021. Depois do tumulto, que resultou inclusivamente em mortes, Joe Biden acabou por ser confirmado como novo presidente norte-americano pelo Congresso, que certificou a votação do Colégio Eleitoral. O ainda presidente dos EUA pode mesmo chegar a sofrer um processo de destituição.
Essa invasão acabou por inundar as redes sociais de publicações virais, muitas delas falsas. No mesmo dia, surgiu a seguinte publicação: “Isto não são patriotas, são ‘antifas’ infiltrados. Não está fácil aquilo nos EUA, mas o plano segue, confiem”. Trata-se, no entanto, de um rumor sem sustentação, que acabou por ser desmentido por diferentes fact-checkers. Ou seja, é falso.
Para começar, é necessário dizer que o FBI (Federal Bureau of Investigation) não encontrou nenhuma evidência de que houvesse ligação entre os protagonistas do assalto Capitólio e os grupos de ‘antifas’ (abreviatura de antifascistas) ativos no país. A confirmação veio do diretor-assistente daquele organismo, Steven D’Antuono, depois de terem sido levantadas essas suspeitas pela ala republicana. “Não há nenhum indício que aponte para isso, neste momento”, referiu, citado por diferentes órgãos de comunicação social dos EUA, como a revista Forbes ou a ABC News. Por outro lado, alguns dos manifestantes estão já a ser detidos. Tanto que o organismo máximo de segurança dos EUA pediu ajuda para apanhar os suspeitos da invasão. Nesse comunicado lançado no site oficial daquela instituição, nunca é referido que o FBI esteja a procura de “antifas infiltrados”.
Não há, portanto, nenhuma evidência do que é dito pela publicação original, mesmo que esse rumor tenha sido partilhado milhares de vezes nas redes sociais, quer via Twitter quer via Facebook. Também o jornal norte-americano The New York Times se debruçou sobre este caso, chegando à conclusão de que não existem provas que comprovem os rumores que circulam na internet.
Estas informações falsas chegaram a circular noutros países, como no Brasil. Isto porque as fotografias divulgadas no post inicial, apontavam para tatuagens que ligavam os invasores ao movimento Antifa, o que não é verdade. Por exemplo, o símbolo que surge na segunda imagem pertence, de facto, a uma personagem de um videojogo (Dishonored, lançado em 2012) e não ao movimento indicado, como descobriu a agência Lupa. O fact-checker brasileiro também considerou estas informações como falsas.
Apesar de Donald Trump ter acabado por condenar o ato violento contra uma das instituições democráticas mais importantes dos EUA, a verdade é que o ainda presidente norte-americano demonstrou apoiar os manifestantes na sua conta oficial de Twitter — entretanto banida —, enquanto se recusava a aceitar uma transição pacífica de poder para Joe Biden. “Nós amamo-vos, vocês são especiais”, escreveu, tal como reportou o Observador. E, como se sabe, caso os invasores fossem antifas (activistas antifascistas, mais ligados à esquerda), não teriam o apoio nem a complacência de Trump, que se tem demonstrado contra este movimento — considerando até que deveriam ser rotulados como organização terrorista —, que não apoia a atual presidência.
Na internet, surgiu também a hipótese de Jake Angeli, o homem que chegou às notícias por estar vestido como um viking, pertencer ao Black Lives Matter. A Reuters verificou esta informação e esclareceu que, na verdade, Angeli pertence ao QAnon, teoria da conspiração de extrema direita. Aliás, é um confesso apoiante de Trump, tendo já estado presente em comícios do ainda presidente. O seu apoio, algo eufórico, foi filmado via Twitter:
Jake Angeli, 32, sporting horns and body paint, yells his thanks to President @realDonaldTrump and Q. The latter is presumably a reference to QAnon, a controversial far-right group. @azcentral pic.twitter.com/RJ990L0xA2 — BrieAnna J. Frank ???? (@brieannafrank) May 5, 2020
Conclusão
Durante esta semana, várias publicações transmitiram a ideia de que a invasão do Capitólio foi feita por antifas infiltrados, esse rumor não foi comprovado. Aliás, o próprio FBI já veio desmentir essa suspeita, estando agora à procura de capturar os manifestantes. Depois, o presidente dos EUA, Donald Trump, ainda que tenha condenado a invasão e pedido para que os manifestantes voltassem a casa, não deixou de declarar o seu apoio via Twitter (sendo que a conta foi, entretanto, banido). Seria estranho, no mínimo, que o governante republicano estivesse a apoiar antifas, um movimento que é contra a sua presidência. Estas informações difundidas nas redes sociais foram, entretanto, verificadas por diferentes fact-checkers internacionais, que as consideraram como falsas e infundadas.
Assim, de acordo com o sistema de classificação do Observador, este conteúdo é:
India Launches ‘Neighborly Vaccine Diplomacy’
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NEW DELHI - In an unusual diplomatic initiative, India has donated millions of doses of the British-developed AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine being produced in the country to neighboring South Asian nations.
The “vaccine diplomacy” aims to raise New Delhi’s global profile and push back against China, which has been expanding its influence in South Asia, analysts say.
“It’s about image and soft power. India wants to be recognized as a global leader,” Sreeram Chaulia, dean at the Jindal School of International Affairs, said.
As the world’s largest vaccine producer, India is set to be at the forefront of supplying affordable shots against COVID-19 to low- and middle-income countries. An Indian company, the Serum Institute of India, has joined with AstraZeneca to make the vaccine.
Shipments of the vaccine landed in recent days in Bhutan, Nepal, Bangladesh, Maldives, Myanmar, Mauritius and Seychelles, just days after India launched its own nationwide inoculation program.
A plane is seen as Myanmar receives the first batch of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) vaccines from India at Yangon Airport in Yangon, Myanmar, Jan. 22, 2021. (Embassy of India in Myanmar/Handout via Reuters)
The vaccine will be sent to Sri Lanka and Afghanistan after it gets approval in those countries.
However, India’s rival Pakistan, which has approved the AstraZeneca vaccine, is conspicuously absent from the list of recipients.
“As far as Pakistan [is concerned], I am not aware of any request for India-made vaccines,” Indian External Affairs Ministry spokesperson Anurag Srivastava said in response to a query at a regular press briefing.
The low-cost and easily storable AstraZeneca vaccine is in huge demand in developing countries struggling to vaccinate their populations.
FILE - An employee in personal protective equipment (PPE) removes vials of AstraZeneca’s COVISHIELD, coronavirus disease (COVID-19) vaccine from a visual inspection machine inside a lab at Serum Institute of India, in Pune, India, Nov. 30, 2020.
New Delhi has given its diplomatic initiative its own hashtag, “VaccineMaitri#” or “Vaccine friendship.” The goodwill gesture comes amid growing criticism of “vaccine inequality” or unequal access to vaccines between rich and developing countries and has won praise from India’s smaller neighbors.
“Friendly nations help each other. India has helped us today with vaccine; just like they forwarded their helping hand in our Liberation War,” said Zahid Maleque, Bangladesh’s health minister.
“A friend in need is a friend indeed,” he said.
As the pandemic puts the spotlight on India as a “vaccine powerhouse,” Prime Minister Narendra Modi has emphasized that it will prioritize South Asian countries in access to vaccine supplies.
“We will continue to give due importance to our Neighborhood First policy while collectively fighting the pandemic,” he said in a recent tweet.
Students wearing face masks to prevent the spread of the coronavirus as they pray upon their arrival at their school, in Karachi, Pakistan, Jan. 18, 2021.
China, too, has given its locally developed vaccines to countries such as Indonesia and Turkey, and promised it to many others across Africa, Asia and South America.
However, South Asian countries such as Nepal, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka had asked India for supplies of the AstraZeneca vaccine, developed in Britain.
“India would like to make a point that in this area, unlike in some others where China usually overshadows India in terms of military and economic might, in this field, in pharmaceuticals, in affordable health care, India has actually a comparative edge and advantage over China,” Chaulia said.
“That will be a subtle message going around that you can depend on us, that we did not create the problem but we will be part of the solution,” he said.
New Delhi has also started commercial shipments of vaccines — the first consignments have landed in Brazil and Morocco and are also set to go to South Africa and Saudi Arabia.
Brazil’s Health Minister Eduardo Pazuello, other Brazilian officials and India’s ambassador attend a ceremony where 2 million doses of AstraZeneca/Oxford vaccines from India are being transported to Rio de Janeiro at Sao Paulo Airport, Jan. 22, 2021.
“Keeping in view the domestic requirements of the phased rollout, India will continue to supply vaccines to partner countries in the coming weeks and months in a phased manner,” Srivastava said.
Modi has said that India will play a frontline role in providing vaccines — both AstraZeneca’s and another one developed by an Indian company that also has been approved for emergency use.
“Today India, with not one but two made in India vaccines, is ready to protect humanity,” Modi told a virtual convention of nonresident Indians earlier this month.
“Being pharmacy of the world, India has supplied essential medicines to the needy across the globe in the past and is doing it today as well,” he said.
In recent months, Indian companies have been ramping up production to meet the unprecedented demand for COVID-19 vaccines. The Serum Institute of India has already stockpiled 80 million doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine and is churning out 50 million doses a month. Some of those vaccines will also be provided to the World Health Organization-backed COVAX initiative to give vaccines to poor countries.
While inoculation programs are underway in rich countries, developing countries are struggling to secure supplies and begin vaccinating their people. WHO Director General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus recently said that the world is “on the brink of a moral catastrophic failure” for its unequal sharing of COVID-19 vaccinations and warned that a “me-first approach” in distributing vaccines “will only prolong the pandemic.”
The Brazilian woman kept as a slave for 38 years
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Madalena Gordiano was just eight years old when she knocked on Maria das Graças Milagres Rigueira’s door to beg for food in Minas Gerais, a state in southeastern Brazil. She was invited in and Maria, a white teacher, promised to adopt her. Gordiano’s mother, who had eight other children, one of whom was Madalena’s twin, agreed.
But Gordiano was never adopted or allowed to go to school. For the next 38 years, she cooked, washed, scrubbed bathrooms, dusted and tidied for Maria das Graças Milagres Rigueira’s family. A victim of racial exploitation, she became a 21st-century slave for a wealthy family in an apartment building in Patos de Minas, a town of 100,000 inhabitants. She was never paid nor allowed time off, according to prosecutors investigating the case. When Gordiano was rescued on November 27, she was 46 and had great difficulty in expressing herself.
“I went to ask for bread because I was hungry, but she told me she wouldn’t give me any if I didn’t come and live with her,” Gordiano told Fantástico, the Brazilian TV show that broke the story ahead of Christmas, while a news site called UOL revealed other alarming details of the story.
What Gordiano went through is an extreme example of the legacy of more than 300 years of slavery in Brazil. As one of the slave trade’s main destinations, it was the last American country to free the labor force forcibly brought from Africa; the so-called Golden Law forbade slavery in all its forms in 1888. Almost 133 years later, domestic work is still traditionally done by Black women.
I went to ask for bread because I was hungry, but she told me she wouldn’t give me any if I didn’t come and live with her Madalena Gordiano
The ostensibly respectable Milagres Rigueira family not only took advantage of Gordiano’s services, they also turned her into a source of income, arranging her marriage to an elderly relative when Gordiano was still in her twenties. The relative was 78 and had a military pension – one of the best pensions in Brazil – of more than 8,000 reais a month (€1,300). Gordiano, who never actually lived with the Second World War veteran, inherited this pension upon his death, but she saw hardly any of the money – it went almost entirely into the family’s coffers. According to UOL, the family used the pension to cover the costs of one daughter’s medical degree.
At one point, in the tradition of past slave owners, Gordiano was given as a gift to Maria das Graças Milagres Rigueira’s son, veterinary professor Dalton Milagres Rigueira. During the slavery era, it was common to donate slaves to children as a wedding gift or to include them in a will along with other assets. In fact, slaves were often the most valuable part of the estate.
Historian Claudielle Pavão considers the case of Gordiano to be “an extreme incidence of structural racism forged by a system of slavery that exposes in a very instructive way what it is to be white in Brazil. Many people will say that taking in a girl to do household chores in exchange for food and a place to sleep is much better than leaving her on the street,” adds Pavão. “It is a social pact that is so commonplace that people do not find it offensive.”
Investigative journalism has revealed that Gordiano’s twin sister, Filomena, also lived as a domestic worker with another branch of the same family, but received a salary. She left her employers 10 years ago.
After the abolition of slavery, the Brazilian state attracted European labor by granting land and promising other benefits with the explicit purpose of making Brazilian society whiter. Meanwhile, according to Pavão, the slaves who had been set free had no recourse to public aid and were left to fend for themselves. The deep-seated inequality that persists in Brazil in 2021 is a direct consequence of slavery and its aftermath.
Black and mixed-race Brazilians are far poorer than their white compatriots; while they make up 56% of the population, they account for 75% of those murdered, 64% of the unemployed, 60% of prisoners, but just 15% of judges and 1% of award-winning actors, according to data from fact-checking agency Lupa. Their families earn half as much money as their white counterparts and they have a shorter life expectancy.
Gordiano’s case has caused a stir in Brazil, as did the death of a Black supermarket customer a month earlier who was beaten by two white guards outside the shop’s doors.
More than 55,000 Brazilians working in slave-like conditions have been rescued in the last 25 years
The enslaved Gordiano was located by the authorities in the home that the professor of veterinary medicine Dalton Milagres Rigueira shared with his wife Valdirene Lopes in Patos de Minas. Gordiano had been kept in a small room with no window. She had no cell phone or television. Her only possessions were three T-shirts. Her only relief – going to Mass in a Catholic Church where apparently nobody suspected what she was going through. Her rescue was due to a complaint filed by a neighbor living in the same building with whom she was forbidden to speak but who knew of her situation from the papers she pushed under their door, asking for money to buy soap and other toiletries. Authorities suspected there was something suspect about Gordiano’s widow’s pension years earlier, but the matter was shelved due to lack of evidence.
When questioned, Professor Dalton Milagres Rigueira, blamed his mother, Maria das Graças, for keeping Gordiano in slave-like conditions. He then argued that she was like family, explaining that he had not encouraged her to study because he did not think it would be to her benefit, according to Fantástico. The professor has been suspended from his post at the university where he teaches. Meanwhile, the family’s lawyer considers the disclosure of the prosecutor’s case to be “premature and irresponsible” as there has been no conviction as yet and urges “cautious reflection.”
More than 55,000 Brazilians working in slave-like conditions have been rescued in the last 25 years, including 14 domestic workers last year.
Domestic workers, who are mostly Black women, are an integral part of Brazilian society. Recognition of their labor rights in 2013 was a celebrated milestone for millions but it provoked the indignation of a number of their employers. One of the first slaves known to denounce mistreatment was Esperança Garcia, who wrote in September 1770 to the governor of the Brazilian state Piauí. Having been taught illegally by the Jesuits to read and write, Garcia complained of physical abuse and begged to be allowed to join her husband and baptize her daughter. She is believed to have succeeded.
Gordiano’s captivity ended thanks to an anonymous neighbor, allowing her to enjoy Christmas in a women’s shelter while waiting to be reunited – coronavirus restrictions permitting – with some of the siblings she begged for something to eat with 38 years ago.
English version by Heather Galloway.