We enter 2026 in the midst of a political-institutional crisis that there is no indication will be resolved this year. We will have quasi-general elections in a polarized framework which makes us hostage to an outdated past and a future which is not yet defined. The famous phrase of the Italian Marxist philosopher Antonio Gramsci — “The old world is dying. The new takes time to be born. In this chiaroscuro, monsters arise” — can refer to the Trumpist world, but, if we take current Brazil, we can use it as a reference to the situation of uncertainty that another famous phrase describes, without a determined author, placing us in the “world after everything and before nothing”.
It would be a period of transition, bringing with it the uncertainties of a world that will be different from today, without knowing exactly what will happen. There is a silent clash between conservative forces at all levels of power, without this conservatism reflecting a political position, because conservatives are on the right and left of the political spectrum, united by personal or collective interests which, not coincidentally, frequently intersect to maintain the status quo.
We have recently been close to effective change several times, but setbacks always favor maintaining the previous situation. This was the case at Mensalão, at Petrolão, in Operation Lava-Jato, and everything returned to the way it was before, “with Supremo, with everything”. We now have the case of Banco Master, which encapsulates the eternal struggle of the system – which, as Captain Nascimento said, “is screwed” – to remain intact. The novelty could come from the revolt that this corporate behavior of the powers ends up provoking among the common citizen, today reflected in opinion polls, but not yet in electoral polls.
The offer of proposals continues to be contained between the traditional right and left, without any alternative emerging to justify the change in expectations in the face of an uncertain future. The clash between the defective present and the future, which never arrives, to compensate for current disadvantages with structural changes, creates this liquid reality that the sociologist and philosopher Zygmunt Bauman tells us about. An ephemeral and inconstant relationship, in which social or institutional relations depend on interpretations and where appearances have more weight than bare reality.
The expression “world from everything and before nothing” presupposes that the old “everything” will give way to a transitional “nothing” and lead to a new state. Moments of crisis that countries and institutions go through can be transformative, but the past reaction will always be present to preserve the values that support them and the advantages already obtained. The country has already gone through truly memorable moments that guarantee progress, such as the end of the military dictatorship, the return of direct presidential elections, the Real Plan, social programs, the fight against corruption with Operation Lava-Jato; but, in most cases, there have also been notable setbacks.
From maintaining democracy in the transition to the New Republic under the Sarney government to responding to the attempted coup under the Bolsonaro government, which culminated in the January 2023 insurrection, these are glorious moments in our recent democratic system. Defending white-collar criminals is the way to demoralize the institutional forces that reacted to the coup attempt, such as the Federal Court, the National Congress and the majority part of the armed forces.
It is necessary to define safe paths, and not to deviate from them, nor to widen them, because those who are at fault this time are “on our side”. In the case of Banco Master, some even claimed that the contract for the millionaire office of the wife of Alexandre de Moraes did not exist. The prosecution had to declare that it did not see any illegality “a priori” in the contract for it to come to life. However, it is not a question of illegality, but of morality, a basis of credibility that the Supreme Court must recover at all costs, to continue to have the power to defend democracy.
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