Corumbá remained silent during the act of December 14
Is it not that, in an unjustifiable and inexplicable way, the workers’ bastion of the 1950s and 1960s, then bastion of opposition to the 1964 regime – responsible for the historic election of Wilson Barbosa Martins as the first democratically elected governor in 1982 -, decisive in the election of José Orcírio Miranda dos Santos, the “outsider candidate”, in 1998, remained silent in the national protest for the popular sovereignty of Sunday?
By Ahmad Schabib Hany*, on the blog The path is made by walking
Well, they tried. The tireless companion Anísio Guilherme da Fonseca (known as Professor Anísio Guató), after accepting the proposal to hold the event on Sunday, December 14, at the market, in the middle of the morning, spent more than an hour waiting for the arrival of distraught citizens to chant the repudiation of the putsch by the leadership of the Federal Chamber and the Senate of the Republic.
The tireless Professor Mônica and three of my sisters were present, as citizens aware of the historical – and practical – importance of the democratic rule of law.
A silent and legitimate demonstration, although imperceptible to the general public.
Without brochures, without a sound amplifier and without a basic strategy for a public event of such importance, the emblematic manifesto of outrage was marked by silence. And some union and party leaders are wondering why we don’t do it, even without any logistical support!
However, in a true democratic rule of law, what use are civil society organizations if they do not want to associate themselves with legitimate manifestations of citizenship? Of course, we must give some discount to the poor bureaucrats, who do not even know the history of the conquests of the oppressed classes.
Like the numerous attempts at protest during the long night that fell on Brazilian civil society between the leaden years and the rebellious hubbub of the late 1970s.
The martyrdom of Vladimir Herzog, Manoel Fiel Filho and Santo Dias, each in his own time, was decisive for this uprising of civil society, in which the courageous commitment of Dom Paulo Evaristo Arns, the National Conference of Brazilian Bishops (CNBB), the Brazilian Society for the Progress of Science (SBPC), the National Federation of Journalists (FENAJ), the Brazilian Bar Association (OAB) and the Brazilian Press Association (ABI) played an undeniable leading role.
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In the rebellious and cosmopolitan Corumbá of the mid-1970s, in the most discreet way possible, the restless people of the time organized their vigils as if we were living in the Middle Ages, such was the repression.
The beloved and late writer Adolpho Jorge da Cunha — author of a trilogy that provides a historical review of the poaia, or ipecacuanha in Corumbá and Cáceres — and owner of the Luzia Hotel, located on Rua XV de Novembro (where the Lincoln currently stands), was the most dedicated of the organizers.
On the rare occasions when Life has given me moments of frank conversation with this bulwark of resistance, it has warned us that when fascism beckons, it is time to dare, to act against it, without hesitation.
It is a shame that the bureaucrats of the unions, parties and collectives of Corumba have not met today with the protagonists of the resistance to the dictatorship of Corumbá. Because these “black moons” – to use a name created by the immortal Brizola –, in reality, only appeared after the defeat of the dictatorship, in 1985. As long as I live, I will give myself the right – even the inescapable duty – to affirm and reaffirm it.
If the act of shameful fears and plots had been made public today in Corumbá, my manifesto would have been made public before being published in writing.
Here is the full text, especially since flattering tyrants and dictators does not intimidate or frighten those who are politically and especially class conscious. But let’s look at the full manifesto below.
NO AMNESTY, NO DOSIMETRY, NO KICKNESS!
For sovereignty, for democracy, for respect for the Brazilian people!
Yes, those who attacked the rule of law, used their position to carry out a coup plot, did not recognize their electoral defeat, planned to assassinate, with cruelty, the President-elect, the Vice-President-elect and the President of the High Electoral Tribunal, illegally using the prerogatives conferred by the position of President, Minister, Commander, Advisor and Assistant to the Presidency, must serve their sentence!
Anyone who dared to invade and destroy public property, the seat of the Three Powers of the Republic, with the greatest cynicism, in broad daylight, without shame or restraint, has neither amnesty nor dosimetry.
It is about enforcing what is included in the Brazilian legal framework. Neither more nor less. And without casuistry! Aren’t they the ones who always say that “a good criminal is a dead criminal”?! And now they turn yellow, like the cowards they are – in fact, they always have been.
They sought to “naturalize” the crimes they committed to maintain their “myth” in power. The guy spent four years talking and doing stupid things instead of working! He couldn’t get elected because he didn’t have the skills, the ability, and now he comes with “mi-mi-mi”! Well, grow up and appear!
Without going far, in Argentina, the penalty for this type of crime is life imprisonment. Or did they not know that generals of the dictatorship and high-ranking putschists are still in prison today, without the right to pardon, pardon or amnesty?
In France and Italy, the law is much more severe: anyone who commits a coup d’état or a crime against the country is sentenced to capital punishment, that is, the death penalty, as simple as that. Because the putschists who are not punished start committing the crime again, and when they commit it, they commit a real massacre, even a genocide, and destroy all the institutions of the country.
The time has come to put an end to the crooks and their minions who play with serious matters. It’s not a bomb, even less a pataquada! The National Congress saw its prerogatives saved by the popular pro-constituent movement during the New Republic.
If today everyone has freedoms, it is because we have conquered them, and we are not giving up their protection! Scammers should go to jail, regardless of their position or rank! Our generation took to the streets and tackled the organization of civil society throughout Brazil to conquer democratic freedoms and create the new Constitution.
Diretas-Já and the Constituent Assembly were lifelong achievements, which allowed the creation of the Unified Health System (SUS), the Organic Law on Social Assistance (LOAS), the Child and Adolescent Status (ECA), the Law on Guidelines and Basics of Education (LDB), among other laws. Laws that have made it possible to transform the ancient demands of the Brazilian people into effective rights and public policies, claimed and promised for decades, but not realized.
It is we, in the streets and at the cost of many battles, who also obtained the repeal, the cancellation of the authoritarian rubble – all the decrees and institutional acts of the dictatorship which suppressed rights and allowed authoritarian abuses, such as arrest without judicial decision, habeas corpus and the protection of prisoners. Yes, they advocate that prisoners be tortured and killed. On the contrary, we ensure that it is protected, as is your “myth”.
We will not allow the return, under other names, pretexts or arguments, of these laws that shame democratic institutions in Brazil and around the world. The laws must be the same for everyone: “the stick that hits Chico beats Francisco”, teaches popular wisdom.
Why this act against the pranks of Hugo Motta and his allies?
A spoiled boy from the interior of deep Brazil cannot spoil, much less endanger, governability, the democratic rule of law. As the lawyer Lenio Streck said, how could a boy without legislative experience have been elevated to the presidency of the Chamber of Deputies? Especially since he is third in the line of succession.
By imposing bomb programs without any shame or coordination with the forces that make up the National Congress, he acted more like an activist than as president of one of the houses of Parliament!
It is a parody, an insult to the nation: civil society must put a limit to the putschist rage which persists in imposing its fascist delusions on the population!
No amnesty, no dosimetry, no scoundrels!
For sovereignty, for democracy, for respect for the Brazilian people!
I repeat: whoever attacked the rule of law, used his position to lead a putschist band, did not recognize his electoral defeat, planned to assassinate, with cruelty, the elected president, the elected vice-president and the president of the High Electoral Court, illegally using the prerogatives conferred by the position of president, minister, commander, advisor and assistant to the presidency, must, yes, serve a sentence, and that is final!
*Ahmad Schabib Hany He graduated in history and taught this subject in Corumbá, Mato Grosso do Sul. Activist in movements for democracy, human rights, citizenship, public health, indigenous peoples and environmental preservation. He is currently involved in the creation of the Federal University of Pantanal, around which the UFPantanal movement gathers.
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