Categoria: Idiomas

The worst aspect of the coup: it prevents the Brazilian Social State

Leonardo BoffDeixe um comentário

Recent events: the refusal to allow 1980 Nobel Peace Prize Laureate, Adolfo Perez Esquivel and other important politicians to visit former President Inacio Lula da Silva, a political prisoner and friend of all who wanted to see him, is the best evidence that we live under an exceptional juridical-mass media regime. The robes rule. Judge Catarina Lebbos, the right hand of Judge Sergio Moro, showed signs of cruelty and inhumanity when she refused to allow a physician to check on the health of the prisoner President. I am not sure, but I even suspect that this was a criminal act, warranting punishment.
The most serious aspect of our crisis is the strategy for breaking the social pact built under the hegemony of the progressive democratic forces contained in the 1988 Constitution. It is espoused by the wealthiest 0.05% of the Brazilian population, associated, as always, with the economic-financial consortia, even foreign ones, including the conservative monopolies of our mass media.
Thanks to the consensus the 1988 Constitution engendered among different, even antagonistic, groups, it formed the basis for the creation of a Brazilian Social State. It was a first step to addressing our worst wound, the perverse social inequality, thereby accomplishing the inclusion in the citizenry of millions of Brazilian men and women.
The leader was someone never accepted by the backward elites, who had to bow to the verdict of the voting booths; a worker who came from the impoverished North: Luis Inacio Lula da Silva. With his social policies he had ensured that all those of the lower classes could climb up one step on the social ladder.
When the old elites realized that a new hegemony could arise, one of a progressive popular character, the elites, as has always occurred in Brazilian history, according to our best historians such as Jose Honorio Rodrigues, plotted a class coup. It was about ensuring the means by which they accumulated their wealth, and their control of the state apparatus, from which they plunder their millions.
Times change, and strategies also change. It would not be a military coup, but a parliamentarian one. In his main declaration, Marcelo Odebrecht, president of one of the largest Brazilian enterprises, confessed that he had paid ten million reales to buy 140 representatives who guaranteed the impeachment of President Dilma Rousseff and usurpation of the power of the State.
A Congress, one of the most mediocre in the history of the Brazilian republic, with some members who are thieves, others who are accused of corruption or crimes, including murder, with venality, allowed itself to be bought. They accomplished a parliamentary, juridical and mass media coup, unseating legally elected President Dilma Rousseff through a questionable impeachment. The target was not really President Rousseff, but to get at former President Lula and the Labor Party, PT.
The struggle against corruption, the endemic decease of Brazilian politics that must never be excused, served as a pretext for attacking, putting on trial and literally persecuting President Lula, through the proceedings of the lawfare (hastily interpreting the law to hurt the accused). It was so effective that they managed to throw President Lula in jail, through a process that, according to most well known national and foreign jurists, was corrupt and lacked concrete evidence.
What is the main meaning of this coup? To maintain the nature of the accumulation of a rapacious group that controls and pockets a great part of our wealth. But the most disastrous consequence, well analyzed by social scientist Luiz Gonzaga de Souza Lima in a November 22, 2017 conference in Fiocruz, Rio de Janeiro, is found in the PEC 55 Constitutional Amendment. That Amendment not only tries to establish a ceiling on expenditures, it threatens the country. «The PEC», says de Souza Lima, «is the prohibition against constructing a Social State in Brazil. It Constitutionally vetoes the construction of the Social State; it is more than the freeze on expenditures».
The backward classes opted for the past, accepting that Brazil be recolonized, in line with the interests of the Capitalist empire of the United States. Not through an election, but with a coup, they dissolved the pact created by the 1988 Constitution. de Souza Lima continues: «we now have a coup against the Government elected by the Brazilian people. We are facing a historic inflection point of immense importance: to constitutionally prohibit social investments, especially in education and health».
This is a unique case in today’s world. How can an ill and ignorant people advance towards a development fit for a population of more than one hundred million people?
These elites, extremely egotistical, never had a plan for Brazil. They only thought of themselves and of their absurd wealth. Presently they have empowered a right wing that is fascist, authoritarian, violent, and racist and that rejects the people, whom they consider vulgar and contemptible. To our shame, they are partly supported by the Judicial body and by the heavy hand of the military police, capable of repressing and killing, especially the Blacks and the poor.
The struggle now is to regain a minimum democracy, and above all to re-validate the 1988 Constitution, damaged by the coup, but one which would open a space for peaceful coexistence and human development.

Leonardo Boff Eco-Theologian-Philosopher Earthcharter Commission

The Brazilian crisis and the dark dimension

Leonardo BoffDeixe um comentário

The over-all Brazilian crisis, that affects every sector, can be understood in different ways. The sociological, political and historic interpretations have prevailed up to now. I will try to present an interpretation derived from the C. G. Jung categories of his illuminating analytical psychology.
I have already advanced the hypothesis that the present situation is not a tragedy, no matter how perverse the consequences of establishing a ceiling on expenditures (PEC 55), that is more than a freeze are for the majority of the poor and the future of the country; it signifies the impossibility of creating a Social State and, with that, disposes of the common good, that includes everyone.
A tragedy, as the Greek tragedies show, always ends bad. I do not believe this is the case of Brazil. I believe we are in the middle of an unprecedented crisis of the foundations of our society. The crisis refines, purifies, and allows a qualitative leap towards a higher level of our historic evolution. We will be better and with a more integrated identity when we emerge this crisis.
Everyone, including those who revel in their history, among others, recognize two dimensions: the dimension of darkness, and that of light. Others speak of the demens (demented) and the sapiens (wise) or of positive and negative forces, of the order of the day and the order of the night, or of the thanatos (death) and the eros (life), or of the repressed and the enlightened. These dimensions always come together and coexists in each other.
The current crisis has revealed the darkness, and all that our society has repressed for centuries. As Jung would observe «to recognize the darkness is indispensable for any type of self realization and, because of that, it is generally met with powerful resistance» (Aion &14). The darkness is an archetype (guiding image of the collective unconscious) of our scars and wounds and of the repugnant facts we try to hide because they fill us with shame and guilt. It is «the dark side of the vital force» that touches persons and entire nations, the psychologist from Zurich observes (&19).
Thus, the scars and wounds that constitute our repressed and shameful acts, such as the genocide of the indigenous peoples throughout our history and to the present; the colonization that made Brazil less than a nation, but a great international enterprise of exportation that, to tell the truth, also continues to the present. We could never create our own autonomous project because we always accepted being dependent or because we were restrained. When such a project began to be formulated, as in the recent progressive governments, it was soon attacked, slandered and forestalled by yet another coup by the moneyed classes, descendants of La Casa Grande, a coup always hidden and disguised such as the coups of 1964 and 2016.
Slavery is our main shame, because for centuries we bought and sold millions of human beings brought forcefully from Africa, and treated as “things.” Once liberated, those human beings received no compensation, land or tools for work, or housing; they live in the favelas of our cities. Blacks and mestizos constitute the majority of our people. As Jesse Souza very well showed, the contempt and hatred directed against the slaves has been transferred to their descendants of today.
According to Darcy Ribeiro and Jose Honorio Rodrigues, the people in general, have given us the best of our culture, language and arts, but as Capistrano de Abreu well underlined it, the people were «castrated and castrated again, bled and bled again», considered useless and ignorant and therefore marginalized to the point that they would never get out.
In A Portrait of Brazil: an essay on Brazilian sadness, (Retrato de Brasil: ensayo sobre la tristeza brasilera,1928), in an exaggerated form but partly true, Paulo Prado writes about this dark aspect of our history, and concludes: «We live sad in a radiant land», Interpreters of Brazil, (Interpretes de Brasil, vol.2 p.85). This reminds me of Celso Furtado’s question that he carried to his grave without an answer: «Why are there so many poor people in such a very rich country?» We now know why: because we were always dominated by elites that never had a plan for a Brazil for everyone, only a Brazil for themselves and their wealth. How can it be possible that 6 multi-millionaires have more wealth than 100 million Brazileans?
The current crisis has caused our darkness to explode. We discovered that we are racists, prejudiced, that we are living a social injustice that cries to God, and that we have not yet been able to re-establish a different Brazil on other bases, principles and values. Hence the irruption of rage and violence. It does not come from the majority of the Brazilian poor. It is spread by the dominant elites, supported by the means of mass communication that form the Brazilian imagination with their soap operas and disinformation. To Jung «the totality that we want is not perfection, but a complete human being» (Ab-reação, análise dos sonhos e transferência & 452) that does not repress the darkness, but integrates it into a dimension that is greater than light. That is what we wish for, as a way out of the present crisis: do not repress the darkness, but include it, consciously, in our everyday life, overcoming antagonisms and exclusions, to live together in the same Brazil that Darcy Ribeiro used to say was «the most beautiful and smiling province of the Earth».

Leonardo Boff Eco-Theologian-Philosopher Earthcharter Commission

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

The Brazilian crisis and the dark dimension

Leonardo Boff1 comentário

The over-all Brazilian crisis, that affects every sector, can be understood in different ways. The sociological, political and historic interpretations have prevailed up to now. I will try to present an interpretation derived from the C. G. Jung categories of his illuminating analytical psychology.
I have already advanced the hypothesis that the present situation is not a tragedy, no matter how perverse the consequences of establishing a ceiling on expenditures (PEC 55), that is more than a freeze are for the majority of the poor and the future of the country; it signifies the impossibility of creating a Social State and, with that, disposes of the common good, that includes everyone.
A tragedy, as the Greek tragedies show, always ends bad. I do not believe this is the case of Brazil. I believe we are in the middle of an unprecedented crisis of the foundations of our society. The crisis refines, purifies, and allows a qualitative leap towards a higher level of our historic evolution. We will be better and with a more integrated identity when we emerge this crisis.

Everyone, including those who revel in their history, among others, recognize two dimensions: the dimension of darkness, and that of light. Others speak of the demens (demented) and the sapiens (wise) or of positive and negative forces, of the order of the day and the order of the night, or of the thanatos (death) and the eros (life), or of the repressed and the enlightened. These dimensions always come together and coexists in each other.

The current crisis has revealed the darkness, and all that our society has repressed for centuries. As Jung would observe «to recognize the darkness is indispensable for any type of self realization and, because of that, it is generally met with powerful resistance» (Aion &14). The darkness is an archetype (guiding image of the collective unconscious) of our scars and wounds and of the repugnant facts we try to hide because they fill us with shame and guilt. It is «the dark side of the vital force» that touches persons and entire nations, the psychologist from Zurich observes (&19).
Thus, the scars and wounds that constitute our repressed and shameful acts, such as the genocide of the indigenous peoples throughout our history and to the present; the colonization that made Brazil less than a nation, but a great international enterprise of exportation that, to tell the truth, also continues to the present. We could never create our own autonomous project because we always accepted being dependent or because we were restrained. When such a project began to be formulated, as in the recent progressive governments, it was soon attacked, slandered and forestalled by yet another coup by the moneyed classes, descendants of La Casa Grande, a coup always hidden and disguised such as the coups of 1964 and 2016.

Slavery is our main shame, because for centuries we bought and sold millions of human beings brought forcefully from Africa, and treated as “things.” Once liberated, those human beings received no compensation, land or tools for work, or housing; they live in the favelas of our cities. Blacks and mestizos constitute the majority of our people. As Jesse Souza very well showed, the contempt and hatred directed against the slaves has been transferred to their descendants of today.
According to Darcy Ribeiro and Jose Honorio Rodrigues, the people in general, have given us the best of our culture, language and arts, but as Capistrano de Abreu well underlined it, the people were «castrated and castrated again, bled and bled again», considered useless and ignorant and therefore marginalized to the point that they would never get out.

In A Portrait of Brazil: an essay on Brazilian sadness, (Retrato de Brasil: ensayo sobre la tristeza brasilera,1928), in an exaggerated form but partly true, Paulo Prado writes about this dark aspect of our history, and concludes: «We live sad in a radiant land», Interpreters of Brazil, (Interpretes de Brasil, vol.2 p.85). This reminds me of Celso Furtado’s question that he carried to his grave without an answer: «Why are there so many poor people in such a very rich country?» We now know why: because we were always dominated by elites that never had a plan for a Brazil for everyone, only a Brazil for themselves and their wealth. How can it be possible that 6 multi-millionaires have more wealth than 100 million Brazileans?

The current crisis has caused our darkness to explode. We discovered that we are racists, prejudiced, that we are living a social injustice that cries to God, and that we have not yet been able to re-establish a different Brazil on other bases, principles and values. Hence the irruption of rage and violence. It does not come from the majority of the Brazilian poor. It is spread by the dominant elites, supported by the means of mass communication that form the Brazilian imagination with their soap operas and disinformation. To Jung «the totality that we want is not perfection, but a complete human being» (Ab-reação, análise dos sonhos e transferência & 452) that does not repress the darkness, but integrates it into a dimension that is greater than light. That is what we wish for, as a way out of the present crisis: do not repress the darkness, but include it, consciously, in our everyday life, overcoming antagonisms and exclusions, to live together in the same Brazil that Darcy Ribeiro used to say was «the most beautiful and smiling province of the Earth».

Leonardo Boff Eco-Theologian-Philosophe and of thr Earthcharter Commission

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

 

Encounter with Lula in prison: spirituality and politics

Leonardo BoffDeixe um comentário

As of May 7th, former President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva had spent 30 days in prison. For the first time, he was allowed to receive visits from his friends. I had the honor of being the first to visit him, due to our friendship of more than 30 years, and that we share the same Causa: Liberating the impoverished, and reinforcing life’s spiritual dimension. I fulfilled the evangelical precept: “I was in jail and you visited me”.

I found him as we knew him before he was imprisoned: the same face, hair, beard… only somewhat more slender. Those who hoped to see him angry or depressed must be disappointed. He is filled with energy and hope. His cell is large, very clean, with built-in-cupboards, and a bathroom and shower in an enclosed space. The first impression is good, even though he lives in isolation because, other than his lawyers and children, he can only talk with the guard, who is of Ukrainian origin, gentle and attentive, who has become his admirer. He brings Lula his food tray, more warm or cool, and coffee whenever he requests it. Lula does not accept the food his children bring him, because he wants to eat as the other prisoners do, without any privileges. He has his time to take in the sun. But lately, when he does that, drones appear overhead. As a precaution Lula leaves, because the purpose of those drones is unknown: to take photos of him, or perhaps something more sinister..

Among our discussions of politics, the most important was our conversation on spirituality… Lula is a religious man, but of the popular religiosity, for which God is existential evidence. I found him reading one of my books, The Lord is my Shepherd, (from editorial Voces) a commentary on the famous Psalm 23, the most read of the Psalms, which is also read by other religions. He felt fortified and confirmed, because the Bible is generally critical of pastor/politicians, and praises those who care for the poor, the orphans and the widows. Lula feels that he belongs in that line, with his social policies that benefited so many millions. He does not accept criticism as being a “populist.” Lula says: “I belong to the people, I come from the people and direct my policies, as much as I can, towards the people”.

At the head of his bed there is a crucifix. He uses the time of solitary confinement to reflect, meditate, to review so many things in his life, and to deepen the fundamental convictions that give meaning to his political actions, all that his mother, Lindu (whom he considers his protector and inspiring angel), often repeated to him: always be honest, and struggle and struggle more. Lula sees in that the meaning of his personal and political life: a struggle that everyone may have a dignified life, and not just a few at the expense of the others. “The greatness of a politician is measured by the greatness of his Causa”, he emphatically told me. And the Causa must be to make a life for everyone, starting with those who have the least. For that reason, Lula does not accept definitive defeat. Nor does he want to fall on his face. He does not want to fail, but to remain always faithful to his basic purpose, and to make of politics a great tool for organizing a life of justice and peace for all, especially for those who live in the hell of hunger and misery.

This dream has an undeniable ethical and spiritual greatness. It is in the light of these convictions that Lula maintains his tranquility, because he says and reiterates that he lives for that interior truth, one that possesses its own strength, that one day will become evident. “I only hoped”, he commented, “for it to happen after my death, but it is already happening, even now, while I am alive”. He becomes profoundly indignant at the lies spread about him, based on which they have mounted the triplex procedure. He wonders: “How can these persons consciously lie and sleep in peace?” He challenges Judge Sergio Moro: “show me a single shred of evidence that I own the triplex of Guaruja; If you show me one, I will renounce my candidacy to the Presidency”.

He asked me to pass a message on to the press and the people in the encampment: “I am a candidate. I want to carry on with rescuing the poor, and to create social policies in their favor, State policies, and that the costs –that are investments– are in the budgets of the Union. I will radicalize these policies for the poor, with the poor, and to dignify our country”.

Meditation has made him understand that prison has a meaning that transcends him, me, and the political disputes. It must be the same price that Gandhi and Mandela paid, with prison and persecution, to reach what they accomplished. “This I believe, and hope”, he told me, “that this is what I am going through now”.

I who came to encourage him, left encouraged. I hope that others are also encouraged. and shout “Free Lula!”, against a Justice that does not manifest justice.

Leonardo Boff Eco-Theologian-Philosopher anda of theEarthcharter Commission

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