For 22 years, Brasil de Fato has been denouncing the injustices of monopolies and inequality. Their mere existence is violent enough, but in times of capitalist crisis, empires target land, natural resources, and the working class to maintain their growing profits.
This explains the sensation of seeing the world accelerate even as it races towards the abyss, towards a dystopian scenario. For capitalism, as long as tragedy—whether social or climatic—allows it to accumulate wealth, it doesn't matter if there is no life in the future.
Elon Musk, who dreams of escaping to Mars, practically doubled his fortune in 2024. His net worth, as a single individual, is almost the size of the Brazilian state budget for an entire year.
This scenario poses new challenges for those fighting for justice and journalism. In addition to producing accurate information with limited resources, it is necessary to find visibility in a sea of misinformation dominated by wealthy moguls.
When did we lose the perspective of creating our own information technology as a matter of sovereignty?
Today, the audience for digital journalism depends massively on big tech. Meanwhile, in the business world, the owners of the main platforms are unashamedly joining the global far right and merging, as seen in the sad scenes at Trump's inauguration, with a colonial project of annexation and extermination. The target is territories, planets, and the entire virtual environment.
Can you picture the size of the challenge? In Brazil, those of us from the popular movement have never owned TV stations, radio channels, or any other means of mass communication. The internet, which once might have represented hope for those who dream of democratizing communication, has become an environment dominated by immense monopolies.
Google concentrates 84% of global search, for example. Just consider the combined power of the owners of Google, Meta, and Amazon. The destructive potential of this far-right coalition is immeasurable yet undeniable.
We are hostage to big tech, trying to cultivate alternatives to fake news. As left-wing deputy Erika Hilton wisely told us in an interview, getting out of this labyrinth requires occupying the streets, the networks, and all the rooms we can. Hilton, the first transgender woman elected to Brazil's Congress, recently released a video debunking fake news spread by far-right digital militias. Despite breaking view records, she became a victim of death threats as a result.
We're not going to let any place become a wasteland of hatred, of course, but we need new ecosystems; we need to reforest the degraded internet, dominated by very few wealthy people. We need to value our tools, especially in the digital environment, where journalism guided by the public interest, not profit, is created and consumed.
Civil society and governments that defend democracy must recognize the necessity—and find immediate means—of investing in these entities. As the song performed by Brazilian artists' rapper Emicida and Bossa Nova singer Gilberto Gil says, "It's all overdue."
At Brasil de Fato, we are dedicated to creating spaces where the stories of resistance, struggle, and victory of the working class resonate. Our new website is right around the corner, providing greater visibility for our content in text, audio, and video. It's a place to visit and stay—a haven for journalism with a popular vision that always prioritizes the working class and their myriad unique stories.
2025 must be the year of occupying the streets and screens with popular struggle and solidarity, as well as agroecology and inspiration. Strong and diversified journalism is fundamental to building alternatives to capitalism. We are in the trenches of ideas, fighting for a possible and equitable future. Now we need you, and everyone else, in this battle. Before it's too late. The recent rise of a far-right government in the United States, dictating what is likely to happen on Earth, makes it crucial for us to unite and resist these forces worldwide.
*Rodrigo Chagas, Executive Editor of the Brasil de Fato website.
Edited by: Dayze Rocha
