This is part of the online edition of this Saturday’s issue (30) of Jamil Chad’s newsletter. The full newsletter is sent to subscribers only. Click here to receive the newsletter and access all content.
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Dear Attorney Aras,
In one of his sharpest ironies against power, George Bernard Shaw attributes the existence of a government to tyranny. But he added mischievously: “Nothing is so cruel as impunity.”
Over the last three and a half years, I have asked myself: Is there a system in which, theoretically, all institutions continue to exist and at the same time have been emptied of their functions? Is there a drugged rule of law? Is there room for a justice front in a democracy?
You play one of the most important roles in our republic. Who am I to explain something here. However, it is worth noting that when faced with an era where the obvious is lost, its position functions as a kind of pendulum. The guarantor of the functioning of institutions. Element of balance. The Office of the Attorney General proactively provokes the action of the Forces and thwarts inaction and negligence.
Of course, when there is an anomaly and it does not work, what history tells us is that the functions of the Executive and other Powers have been distorted. Basically, jumping the pendulum certainly contributes to the establishment of a dysfunctional system.
I’m not old enough to remember the details of lead years in Brazil. But you certainly know that under the military regime your position is strictly controlled. In fact, if you were attorney general in those years, you should have surrendered to the Executive. Luckily this is no longer the case.
There was also much doubt at the time that the attorney general was nothing more than a mechanism subjugated by groups in power. Just remember the case of corruption in cassava. The man took loans from public banks to grow plants. But he invented a claim and pocketed the money.
When a prosecutor in Recife decided to investigate, the then attorney general was quick to take the case away from him. After a while, it was discovered that the reason was simple: the involvement of a military ally in the cassava plan.
With no sign of institutional protection, the prosecutor who dared to investigate died at the door of a bakery. Today I ask myself, how many people in the Federal Public Service are feeling helpless right now?
Dear Aras,
The truth is, there is a recurring question in society: Where is the Attorney General? Among the dozens of signs and suspicions, for what reason has the current President not been investigated?
I’m not asking the question as an accusation. After all, we cannot commit the crime of using legal institutions for political purposes. But I still question whether it would cost us dearly to abandon the role altogether in the face of so many complaints.
By burying the complaints collected by the Covid CPI after the deaths of nearly 700,000 Brazilians, by not taking action in Jair Bolsonaro’s attacks on democracy, by silencing the policy of disinformation, and asking the investigation against the president to be shelved. With data leaked at the STF, from the Federal Police’s privacy investigation into the hacker attack on the TSE, ignoring Bolsonaro’s overt attacks on the electoral system, and ignoring secret budgets, many of us are wondering: where is the constitutional law? Mission to protect the democracy you have?
The emotion that reigns in Brazil today is an air of impunity, a painful word. Impunity as a violation of the State’s obligation to protect its citizens. Impunity as a cause and consequence of other human rights violations. Impunity, in short, is the violation itself.
There is consensus that the state’s fight against impunity serves as a bulwark to prevent new crimes. Therefore, his negligence is not just a failure. But a deliberate strategy to curb criminal behavior in a society. Fighting impunity is not simply an action to ensure that there is a responsible party to a crime. But to send a message of trust to the community about their institutions.
Survivors who face impunity prolong their trauma. Under the cloak of impunity, mourning is always lacking, and victory belongs to the narrative of the oppressor.
Herd impunity is reinforced in doses that, in a way, threaten the health of the population.
You have recently minimized Bolsonaro’s speeches on various topics and classified them as part of freedom of speech, including when referring to proliferation. In an interview with Reuters, you said, “The president’s speech is political rhetoric, we don’t have much to do.” But I wandered the countryside and discovered that speaking with blood, which borders the land, heart and soul of Brazilians, has real implications.
Is it freedom of speech to deliberately lie and misinform on life and death matters? Is spreading hate freedom of speech?
You also said that democracy has the virtue of “constant self-correction”. “The change of power that happens periodically, people trying to right their mistakes is the best of self-corrections, which is the great benefit of democracy,” he said.
But Mr. Aras, we know that our political history has passed through decisive days. The next few weeks will determine who we are, who will eventually become our oppressors and accomplices.
And I ask you: Where will you be if the lights of democracy go out?
There will be no argument that we are surprised. Nor were fire signals given in front of supposedly operating institutions.
Or weren’t they?
Democratic greetings,
Jamil Chad
source: Noticias
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