After Bolsonaro, Can Lula Remake Brazil?

Plus: rereading Russian classics in the shadow of the Ukraine war; a children’s story with a refreshing lack of lessons; and why football hasn’t changed. View in browser | Update your preferences Monday, January 23, 2023 In today’s newsletter, uniting a divided country, and then: • Rereading Russian classics • Why football hasn’t changed • A children’s story with a refreshing lack of lessons After Bolsonaro, Can Lula Remake Brazil? Following a prison term, a fraught election, and a near-coup, the third-time President takes charge of a fractured country. Photograph by Tommaso Protti “For generations of Brazilians, Lula is the country’s most familiar public figure,” Jon Lee Anderson writes, in a sweeping profile of Brazil’s newly elected President, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva—or Lula, as he is known. The charismatic leftist leader previously served two terms as President, from 2003 to 2010, and, during that time, helped lift millions of Brazilians out of extreme poverty and implemented conservation programs that curbed the destruction of the Amazon. But, when Anderson met with Lula shortly after his win last November, against the right-wing incumbent Jair Bolsonaro—a divisive and authoritarian figure who has been called “the Trump of the tropics”—Lula “looked not just exhausted but also unwell.” In his third term as President, Lula is facing a radically changed country. He has been tasked with saving not only the environment but democracy itself. On January 8th, a week after Lula was inaugurated, supporters of Bolsonaro stormed the capital. “Like many others, Lula likened what was happening in Brazil to the Trump phenomenon in the U.S. January 6th had established a destabilizing precedent all over the world,” Anderson writes. According to Lula, “When the most important country fails to exercise democracy, you are giving an endorsement to all the crazies in the world.” Read the story Support The New Yorker’s award-winning journalism. Subscribe today » Editor’s Pick Letter from Tbilisi Rereading Russian Classics in the Shadow of the Ukraine War How to reckon with the ideology of “Anna Karenina,” “Eugene Onegin,” and other beloved books. By Elif Batuman From the News Desk The Sporting Scene At the N.F.L. Playoffs, a Thrilling, Troubling Reminder That Football Hasn’t Changed The Bills and Bengals met again, shadowed by what happened to Damar Hamlin just a few weeks before. By Louisa Thomas Daily Comment The Spectre of Anti-Asian Violence in the Monterey Park Shooting Waiting for details to emerge, there was the familiar apprehension experienced by so many Asian Americans since attacks against them began to soar during the pandemic. By Michael Luo Tune in: On The Political Scene podcast, Clare Malone speaks with the publisher and the managing editor of the North Shore Leader, the local newspaper that first exposed George Santos’s lies. Culture Dept. Second Read A Children’s Classic with a Refreshing Lack of Lessons “Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day” refuses explicit conclusions. That’s the source of its appeal. By Peter C. Baker The Theatre “The Appointment” Skewers the Hypocrisy of the Abortion Debate This raucously pro-choice musical, by the Philadelphia-based theatre collective Lightning Rod Special, sniffs out taboos and hunts them down at the pace of a sprint. By Vinson Cunningham Cover Story Christoph Niemann, the artist behind this week’s cover, titled “Highway and Byways,” discusses serendipity on the ski slopes and in the studio. “Usually, I draw in pen and ink, because there’s no Undo command and the ink has a mind of its own,” he says. But, for this image, “I went digital, because I needed an infinite number of Command-Zs.” Fun & Games Dept. Name Drop Play Today’s Quiz Can you guess the notable person in six clues or fewer? By Matt Jackson Daily Shouts Raising Felix: On My Fortieth Birthday On my fortieth birthday, my toddler gave to me . . . a wake-up time of five-thirty! By Julia Wertz Crossword A Challenging Puzzle Soup made with tripe: six letters. By Natan Last Daily Cartoon Monday, January 23rd By David Sipress P.S. Spotify laid off six per cent of its workforce today, in the latest round of cuts at tech companies, among them Google, Microsoft, and Amazon. In November, after Elon Musk took over Twitter, “entire teams vanished,” as Kyle Chayka reported, and ultimately “about half of the staff was let go.” There were also employees who didn’t lose their jobs—but wished they had. “I actually wanted to get laid off,” one staffer told Chayka. “It would have given some kind of finality to everything.” Today’s newsletter was written by Jessie Li. Thanks for reading. Let us know your thoughts about today’s edition. Plus, browse more newsletters and invite a friend to sign up for The Daily. You’re receiving this e-mail because you signed up for The Daily from The New Yorker. Manage your preferences | View our Privacy Policy | Unsubscribe Copyright © Condé Nast 2023. One World Trade Center, New York, NY 10007. All rights reserved.