BRAZIL PERSPECTIVE

Brasília watches Belfast from afar, but with particular interest in two actors it knows well: Keir Starmer and Elon Musk. Brazilian coverage foregrounds the British prime minister's firm condemnation, saying he 'will not tolerate' anti-immigration protests that triggered 'a wave of violence against ethnic minorities' and saw vehicles and homes set alight. 'Nothing can justify the violence and disorder we have seen, nor the actions of those who encouraged it, online or elsewhere,' the Brazilian press quotes — a line heard as a barely veiled jab at Musk, whose support for the protesters is explicitly reported. Brazil, which had its own head-on clash with Musk over regulating X, is alert to this dimension: a tech billionaire stoking unrest in a foreign country through his social network. The coverage also relays the voice of Northern Ireland's First Minister Michelle O'Neill, who denounces 'groups of masked men' driving families from their homes, and recalls the tense British context, marked days earlier by the killing of a student. For Brasília, Belfast illustrates the global mechanic it knows: local violence amplified by platforms and the billionaires who own them.