This is part of the online edition of this Saturday (6) issue of Jamil Chad’s newsletter. In the full newsletter, for subscribers only, the columnist describes the international community’s concern over the report that Jair Bolsonaro’s government will have to submit to the UN on human rights policy. Click here to receive the newsletter and access all content.
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Dear President Marcelo Rebelo Sousa,
Although I don’t agree with all of his political stance, I have always admired his candid stance. But this should never be a cause of conflict in a democracy. And it is precisely because of the fragility of our democracy that I am writing this letter to you.
You and other heads of state from the Portuguese-speaking community were invited by President Jair Bolsonaro to the September 7 commemorations.
However, as you already know, your existence will be heavily manipulated. Our independence will not be celebrated. But the hijacking of history by the far right to justify another sad chapter in our history.
The Brazilian flag will be everywhere, proudly displayed, and sneaked away while a part of us is distracted. But the truth is, President, we are surrendering our sovereignty. Those in power in Brazil today hailed other flags, accepted trade deals that hurt all sectors of the national economy, threatened to shatter the rule of law, and bowed to the principles of far-right movements around the world.
If it is true that poems are born of betrayal, I can only imagine that we will experience a golden age in Brazilian literature in the years to come. After all, how can we characterize the current government, if not an act of mass treason, using the tools of democracy to smash it?
Two hundred years after Portugal, Brazil also sees its dominance eroded by organized crime, which has taken over the farthest corners of the country and turned them into parallel states to the applause of accomplices disguised as authorities. The militia state is both gaining ground and declaring its independence.
A date like 2022 should be an opportunity for us all to conduct a study of conscience, a search for mutual recognition of failures and successes. And most of all, let’s have the courage to draw paths to bring “new worlds to the world” as you say.
In that case, the path would be to bring independence to the millions of Brazilians who continue to be held captive by hunger, raped by misery, flogged by the absence of a state, and dazzled by the frustration of not being able to find it in the “cold line of the world”. horizon” “Truth’s rightful kisses”.
When speaking of the sea, António Ramos Rosa spoke of “the homeland of perpetual metamorphoses”. But this is a definition that can be used for Brazilianness. And in these enduring revolutions, we live today at a turning point. The choice is not difficult. But it takes the courage that its sailors have taught us over the centuries to face the mythological demons plotted on lyrical maps.
And you are invited to be a part of this moment, as in a Latin American magical realism story.
I’ve heard that FAB will bring to Brazil the heart of Dom Pedro, preserved in your land, which did not burn in the fires that devastated our collection of the past and our dream of the future. If I can ask you something here between us, enjoy it and play a good joke with the Brazilian government. I know that another of his traits is good humor. So, in a top secret package, “send some rosemary scent again”.
Some of us will understand. It would be cute.
Our common history is intertwined with blood and art. I thank him forever for exporting the word saudade to us, for his poetry, for the taste of the sea, for the generous table. Thank you a little less for teaching us what bureaucracy is.
But this is not the time to be so ungrateful. “Don’t forget who loved you and was found lost in your thick forest.”
Dear President,
It is your sovereign decision whether to step on Brazilian soil at this time. An absence would be as present as a voyage in the sea of destiny that unites us. A responsible existence would be as epic as turning a new page in this fateful search for a safe haven for democracy.
I humbly ask you for much wisdom and commitment to our independence. This time I am not talking about independence from the colonialists. But from our own demons. Mythological and real.
Democratic greetings,
Jamil Chad
source: Noticias
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