Categoria: Economia

Can present day Brazil be fixed?

Leonardo BoffDeixe um comentário

Whoever observes the political-social-economic scene, wonders, Can Brazil be fixed? A band of thieves, disguised as senators and judges, in the face of all arguments to the contrary, seek to condemn an innocent woman, President Dilma Rousseff, who is accused neither of illicit appropriation of public goods, nor of any personal corruption.

With the recent important revelations, it has become clear that the problem is not President Rousseff, it is the Lava Jato, that, apart from the selective accusations against the Labor Party, the PT, touches the majority of the leaders of the opposition. All of them, in one way or another, have benefited from gifts from Petrobras to guarantee their electoral victories. “We must stop this bleeding”, said one of the best known of the corrupt ones, “otherwise all of us will be affected. We must get rid of Dilma”.

No one risks his own fortune to finance his campaign. No one needs to do so: there exists the Box 2 mine, fed by the corrupting enterprises that create the corruption in exchange for later advantages in terms of great projects, often over priced, from which a large part of their fortunes derives.

We have reached a ridiculous point in the eyes of the world: two Presidents one a usurper, weak and with no form of leadership, the other, the legitimate one who was forced out, and made a prisoner in her own palace; two ministers of planning, one forced out, and the other, a substitute; a monstrous government, anti-popular and reactionary.

We effectively are flying blind. No one knows where this nation, the seventh largest world economy, with the world’s largest oilfields and gas deposits, and unmatched ecological wealth, the bases of the economy of the future, is headed. The way the correlation of forces is aligned, we are going nowhere, except to eventual social conflict.

The poor, the majority of Brazilians, are used to suffering and to seeking any way out. But a point comes when the suffering is unbearable. No one can take it anymore, to continue being indifferent, seeing children dying of hunger and of a total lack of medical care. And one concludes: things cannot be this way, we must revolt.

This reminds me of a Franciscan Bishop of XIII century Scotland who, rejecting the high taxes demanded by the Pope, replied: non accepto, recuso et rebello (“I do not accept, I refuse and I revolt”). And the Pope relented. Can something like that occur among us?

When in my talks, making a great effort to offer a ray of hope, I am told: «so it appears that you are a pessimist!», I respond with Saramago: «I am not a pessimist; it is the reality that is wretched». Truly, reality is wretched for everyone, except for those of the monied elites, who are used to wanton robbery, and profit from the degradation of the people. Those elites have their profane temple in Sao Paulo’s Paulista Avenue, where a large part of the Brazilian GNP is concentrated.

The great problem is that we lack leaders. Except for former President Lula, whose charisma is unquestioned, two are worthy of mention: Ciro Gomes and Roberto Requiao, to me, they are the only strong leaders with the courage to speak the truth, who think more of Brazil than of political party disputes.

This crisis has an unresolved antecedent in our history, recently unmasked by Jesse Souza. (A tolice da inteligência brasileira, 2015). We are heirs to centuries of colonialism that left on us the mark of «worthless people», always dependent on foreigners.

Still worse is the secular inheritance of slavery that made the heirs to La Casa Grande believe that they can lord over the life and death of the Blacks and the poor. For them it is not enough to send the Blacks and the poor to the periphery: they must be rejected and humiliated. The middle class imitates the upper class, letting itself be totally manipulated by them, and unknowingly to become accomplices to the horrendous social inequality.

The super-rich elites (71,440 persons who earn 600,000 dollars a month, according to the IPEA) who through the means of mass communication, that function as the grease for the machinery of their domination, became golpistas and reactionaries. Those elites never wanted real democracy, only one of a very low intensity, that they can buy and manipulate. They prefer coups and dictatorships. Since coups can no longer be achieved with bayonets, they planned something else: a coup by means of artificial manipulation among corrupt politicians, a politicized judicial branch, and with police repression. Consequently, there are three types of coups: political, juridical and of the police.

I finish with the words of Jesse Souza: «we find ourselves in a world commanded by a union of thieves in politics, justice by “justicieros” that protect them, an elite of vampires and a society condemned to material misery and spiritual poverty. It is necessary that everyone understands this coup. It is the mirror of what we have become». Should I echo Martin Heidegger? «only God can save us»; Karl Marx is perhaps more modest and accurate: «there is always a solution for every problem». That will be.

Leonardo Boff  Theologian-Philosopher Earthcharter Commission
Free translation from the Spanish by
Servicios Koinonia, http://www.servicioskoinonia.org.
Done at REFUGIO DEL RIO GRANDE, Texas, EE.UU.

Para onde vamos? Impasses da atual crise brasileira

Leonardo Boff20 Comentários

A atual crise brasileira, talvez a mais profunda de nossa história, está pondo em xeque o sentido de nossso futuro e o tipo de Brasil queremos construir.

Celso Furtado com frequência afirmava que nunca conseguimos realizar nossa auto-construção, porque forças poderosas internas e externas ou articuladas entre si sempre o tinham e têm impedido.

Efetivamente, aqui se formou um bloco coeso, fortemente solidificado, constituído por um capitalismo que nunca foi civilizado (manteve a sua voracidade manchesteriana das origens), finaneiro e rentista, associado ao empresariado conservador e anti-social e ao latifúndio voraz que não teme avançar sobre as terras do donos originários de nosso país, os indígenas e de acrescimo as dos quilombolas. Estes sempre frustraram qualquer reforma política e agrária, de sorte que hoje 83% da população vive nas cidades (bem dizendo, nas periferias miseráveis), pois esta sentia-se deslocada e expulsa do campo. Estas elites altamente endinheiradas se associaram a poucas famílias que controlam os meios de comunicação ou são donos delas.

Esse bloco histórico será difícil de ser desmontado, uma vez que o tempo das revoluções já passou. As poucas mudanças de orientação popular e social introduzidas pelos governos do PT estão sendo bombarbeadas com os canhões mais poderosos. Os herdeiros da Casa Grande e o grupo do privilégio estão voltando e impondo seu projeto de Brasil.

Para sermos sucintos e irmos logo ao ponto central, trata-se do enfrentamento de duas visões de Brasil.

A primeira: ou nos submetemos à lógica imperial, que nos quer sócios incorporados e subalternos, numa espécie de intencionada recolonização, obrigando-nos a ser apenas fornecedores dos produtos in natura (commodities, grãos, minério, água virtual etc.) que eles pouco possuem e dos quais precisam urgentemente.

A segunda: ou continuamos teimosamente com a vontade de reinventar o Brasil, com um projeto sobre bases novas, sustentado por nossa rica cultura, nossas riquezas naturais (extremamente importantes após a constatação dos limites da Terra e do aquecimento crescente), capaz de aportar elementos importantes para o devenir futuro da humanidade globalizada.

Esta segunda alternativa realizaria o sonho maior dos que pensaram um Brasil verdadeiramente independente, desde Joaquim Nabuco, Florestán Fernandes, Caio Prado Jr e Darcy Ribeiro até Luiz Gonzaga de Souza Lima num livro que até agora não mereceu a devida apreciação e atenção (“A refundação do Brasil: rumo à sociedade biocentrada”, RiMA, São Carlos, SP 2011) e da maioria dos movimentos sociais de cunho libertário.

Estes sempre projetaram uma nação autônoma e soberana mas aberta ao mundo inteiro.
A primeira alternativa que agora volta triunfante sob o presidente interino Mchel Temer e seu ministro das relações exteriores José Serra, prevê um Brasil que se rende resignadamente ao mais forte, bem dentro da lógica hegeliana do senhor e do servo. Em troca recebe imensas vantagens, beneficiando especialmente os endinheirados (Jessé Souza) e os seus controlados.

Estes nunca se interessaram pelas grandes maiorias de negros e de pobres que eles desprezam, considerando-os peso morto de nossa história. Nunca apoiaram seus movimentos. E quando podem, os rebaixam, difamam suas práticas e com o apoio de fortes setores do parlamentodo  por eles controlado, os criminalizam.

Eles contam com o apoio dos USA, como o nosso maior analista de política internacional Moniz Bandeira, em sucessivas entrevistas, tem chamado atenção, pois não aceitam a emergência de um potência independente  nos trópicos.

Donde nos poderá vir uma saída? De cima não poderá vir nada de verdadeiramente transformador. Estou convencido de que ela só poderá vir de baixo, dos movimentos sociais articulados, de outros movimentos interessados em mudanças estruturais, de setores de partidos vinculados à causa popular. O dia em que as comunidades favelizadas se conscientizarem e projetarem um outro destino para si e para o Brasil, haverá a grande transformaçao, palavra que hoje substitui a de revolução. As cidades estremecerão.

Ai sim poderão os poderosos serem alijado de seus tronos, como dizem as Escrituras, o povo ganhará centralidade e o Brasil terá sua merecida independência.

Leonardo Boff é articulista do Jornal do Brasil e escritor.

Sinceramente, ¿el Brasil actual tiene arreglo?

Leonardo Boff3 Comentários

Quien observa la escena político-social-económica se pregunta: ¿Tiene arreglo Brasil?). Una banda de ladrones, travestidos de senadores-jueces intenta, contra todos los argumentos en contra, condenar a una mujer inocente, la presidenta Dilma Rousseff, a la cual no se acusa de ninguna apropiación de bienes públicos ni de corrupción personal.

Con las recientes delaciones premiadas, ha quedado claro que el problema no es la presidenta, es el Lava Jato que, además de las acusaciones selectivas contra el PT, está llegando a la mayoría de los líderes de la oposición. Todos, de una u otra forma, se beneficiaron de las propinas de Petrobrás para garantizar su victoria electoral. “Tenemos que detener esta sangría” dijo uno de los conocidos corruptos; “de lo contrario seremos todos afectados; hay que sacar a Dilma”.

Nadie arriesga ninguno de sus bienes para financiar su campaña. No lo necesita: existe la mina de la caja 2 abastecida por las empresas corruptoras que crean corruptos a cambio de ventajas posteriores en términos de grandes proyectos, generalmente sobrefacturados, donde adquieren gran parte de sus fortunas.

Hemos llegado a un punto ridículo a los ojos del mundo: dos presidentes, uno usurpador, débil y sin ningún liderazgo, y otro legítimo pero retirado y hecho prisionero en su palacio; dos ministros de planificación, uno retirado y otro sustituto; un gobierno monstruoso, antipopular y reaccionario.

Estamos efectivamente en un vuelo ciego. Nadie sabe hacia dónde va esta nación, la séptima economía mundial, con yacimientos de petróleo y gas de los mayores del mundo y con una riqueza ecológica sin paragón, base de la economía futura. Tal como se delinea la correlación de fuerzas, no vamos a ninguna parte sino a un eventual conflicto social.

El pobre, la mayoría de la población, se ha acostumbrado a sufrir y a encontrar salidas como puede. Pero llega a un punto en el que el sufrimiento se vuelve insoportable. Nadie aguanta, indiferente, viendo a un hijo morir de hambre y de absoluta falta de asistencia médica. Y dice: así no puede ser; tenemos que rebelarnos.

Esto me hace recordar a un obispo franciscano del siglo XIII en Escocia que, rechazando los altos impuestos cobrados por el Papa, respondió: “non accepto, recuso et rebello” (“no acepto, me niego y me rebelo”). Y el Papa retrocedió. ¿No podría ocurrir algo semejante entre nosotros?

Cuando en mis charlas, haciendo un esfuerzo inmenso para ofrecer un rayo de esperanza, me dicen: «¡es que tu eres pesimista!», respondo con Saramago: «no soy pesimista; es la realidad que es pésima». Efectivamente, la realidad está siendo pésima para todos, menos para aquellas élites adineradas, acostumbradas a la rapiña, que ganan con la desgracia de todo un pueblo. Ellas tienen su templo de profanación en la Avenida Paulista de São Paulo, donde se concentra gran parte del PIB brasilero.

Lo grave es que estamos faltos de líderes. Exceptuando al ex-presidente Lula, cuyo carisma es indiscutible, apuntan dos: Ciro Gomes y Roberto Requião, para mí los únicos líderes fuertes que tienen el valor de decir la verdad y piensan en Brasil más que en las disputas partidarias.

Esta crisis tiene un telón de fondo nunca resuelto en nuestra historia, desenmascarado recientemente por Jessé Souza. (A tolice da inteligência brasileira, 2015). Somos herederos de siglos de colonialismo que nos dejó la marca de «gente sin importancia», dependiendo siempre de los de afuera.

Todavía peor es la herencia secular de la esclavitud que hizo que los herederos de la Casa Grande se sientan señores de la vida y de la muerte de los negros y los pobres. No basta lanzarlos a las periferias; hay que despreciarlos y humillarlos. La clase media imita a los de arriba, se deja manipular totalmente por ellos e inocentemente y se hace cómplice de la horrorosa desigualdad social.

Esas élites de super-ricos (71.440 personas ganan 600 mil dólares al mes dice el IPEA) se hicieron con los medios de comunicación de masas, golpistas y reaccionarios, que funcionan como aceite para su maquinaria de dominación. Esas élites nunca quisieron la democracia, solamente aquella de bajísima intensidad, que pueden comprar y manipular; prefieren los golpes y la dictadura. Como hoy ya no es posible hacerlo mediante las bayonetas, planearon otro expediente: el golpe viene a través de una artificiosa articulación entre políticos corruptos, el poder judicial politizado y la represión policial. Tres tipos de golpe, por tanto: político, jurídico y policial.

Termino con las palabras pertinentes de Jessé Souza: «nos encontramos en un mundo comandado por un sindicato de ladrones en la política, una justicia de “justicieros” que los protege, una elite de vampiros y una sociedad condenada a la miseria material y a la pobreza espiritual. Este golpe precisa ser comprendido por todos. Es el espejo de aquello en lo que nos convertimos». ¿Diré como Martin Heidegger: «sólo un Dios podrá salvarnos»? Marx tal vez sea más modesto y verdadero: «para cada problema hay siempre una solución». La habrá.

Traducción de MJ Gavito Milano

The atomic bomb on Hiroshima and the Olympic games in Rio

Leonardo BoffDeixe um comentário

At the exact moment when the Olympic Games will begin in Rio de Janeiro, at 8:00 p.m. on August 6, 2016, 71 years after August 6, 1945, in Hiroshima, Japan, at the same time, that corresponds to 8:15 a.m., the dreadful launching of the atomic bomb on that city will be remembered. The bomb caused 242.437 victims, counting those who died instantly, and those who died later, as a consequence of nuclear radiation.

In the text of surrender of August, 14th, Emperor Hirohito recognized that «it was about a weapon that could cause the total extinction of human civilization». Days later, when sharing with the people the reasons for the surrender, he declared that the main reason was that the atomic bomb «could bring about the death of all the Japanese people». In his ancestral wisdom, Emperor Hirohito was right.

Humanity trembled. According to cosmologist Carl Sagan, suddenly humanity realized that we had created for ourselves the beginning of our self destruction. Jean-Paul Sartre said the same: «humans will appropriate the instruments of their own extermination». Terrified, the great British historian, Arnold Toynbee, who ultimately penned 12 volumes on the history of civilizations, wrote in his memoir, (Experiences 1969): «I lived to see the end of human history become an anti-historic possibility, capable of actually occurring, not as an act of God, but of man». The great French naturalist Theodore Monod emphatically said: «we are capable of senseless and deranged conduct; from now on, we can be afraid of everything, actually everything, even the annihilation of the whole human race» (And if the human adventure would fail? 2000).

In fact, the horror came to nothing, because nuclear weapons continued to be developed, ever more potent, capable of eradicating life from the planet and putting an end to the human species.

Presently 9 countries have nuclear weapons, totalling 17.000, more or less. And we know that complete security does not exist. The disasters of Three Mile Island in the U.S., Chernobyl in Ukraine, and Fukushima, in Japan, provide convincing proof.

A few days ago, the Northamerican President, Barak Obama, visited Hiroshima for the first time. Lamenting only the fact, he said: «death fell from the sky and the world changed… our moral awakening began». But President Obama did not have the courage to ask for forgiveness from the Japanese people for the apocalyptic scenes that transpired there.

A world-wide discussion now exists as how to evaluate this act of war. Many pragmatically claim that it was the only way to force Japan to surrender, and avoid thousands of victims on both sides. Others consider the use of this deadly weapon, in the official Japanese version, as «an illegal hostile act under the norms of international law». Others go even farther and affirm that it was a «war crime» and even «State terrorism».

Now we are moved to say that it was a criminal act against life, that cannot be justified in any form, because thinking in ecological terms, the bomb killed much more than people: all the forms of vegetation, animal and organic life and the total destruction of cultural goods as well. Wars are usually made of armies against armies, war planes against war planes, battle ships against battle ships. Not here. It was about a totaler Krieg (total war) in the Nazi style of killing anything that moves, poisoning waters, contaminating the wind and decimating the physical–chemical bases that sustain life. Conscious of this barbarity, Albert Einstein refused to participate in the atomic bomb project and, together with Bertrand Russell, he vehemently condemned it.

Besides other deadly threats to the life-and-Earth-systems, the nuclear threat continues to be the most terrifying, a true Damocles sword sits atop humanity’s head. Who could contain the irrationality of North Korea, in unleashing a devastating nuclear attack?

There is a deeply human proposal that comes to us from Sao Paulo, Brazil, from the Association of Hiroshima and Nagasaki Survivors (called, hibakusha–It is believed that there are some 118 in Brazil), led by Chico Whitaker, a militant opponent of nuclear energy, that on August 6, at the moment of the opening of the Olympic Games, there be a minute of silence, to remember the victims of Hiroshima. Not only that, but that our thoughts also turn against violence against women, refugees, Blacks and the poor, who are systematically decimated (in Brazil alone, in 2015, 60 thousand Black youth were lost), the indigenous, the quilombolas, the landless, the homeless, in fact, all the victims of the voracity of our system of accumulation.

On this topic, the Mayor of Hiroshima has already sent a letter to the Olympic Organizing Committee. Let’s hope that the Committee promotes that silent cry against all war, and for peace amog all the peoples of the world.

Leonardo Boff  is ecotheologian and writter

Free translation from the Spanish sent by
Melina Alfaro, alfaro_melina@yahoo.com.ar.
Done at REFUGIO DEL RIO GRANDE, Texas, EE.UU.