By MANUEL DOMINGOS NETO*
Only the informed and mobilized people will legitimately take the reins of the State for themselves.
I live on a tight schedule, but I'll gladly pay your school fees, cadet. Your uniform, your accommodation, your food, your salary, your medical assistance, your leisure, I pay for everything. Others, in a worse situation than mine, without assured food, also pay for you. We will always assist you. We will guarantee your old age without ostentation, but full of dignity.
You're a guardian candidate. We will need you in extreme situations. Get ready to shoot down our enemies if necessary. Taking the lives of others, taking the risk of death... The profession you have chosen is incomparable. It's about donation without compromise, about sacrifice without limits, not even poets would accurately describe it.
Two thousand years ago, Plato said that no one could deny a kiss to someone who gave his life for the community. But he warned that guardians could not touch gold. If you love money, if you prefer the limelight to the castro, if vainglory attracts you, take the alley, cadet. Don't make us stupid. Does it make sense to fund people who accept prebends and sinecures? Undue advantages?
Men armed by us cannot guide our destiny. A guardian who pretends to be a politician and wants to rule everything is the most cowardly traitor to his country. Homeland, cadet, is not a piece of land nor is it a State, an entity dedicated to dominating everyone and that lives pretending to express the general will. State is an arena of permanent dispute. The political struggle defines its nature. The more authoritarian, the more distant from the homeland; the more democratic, the closer to the homeland.
The Brazilian State was founded by an autocrat obsessed with protecting his dynasty. Cynically, he asked everyone to die for the fatherland! The homeland is us, Brazilians, who pay for you, cadet. Homeland is the people united in a communion of destiny. It is a permanent social construction, a creative mix of skin colors, accents, habits and values.
Homeland is a kaleidoscope of religious beliefs. Whoever uses the name God in vain to justify his unlimited thirst for command is an unscrupulous demagogue. Anyone who doesn't like blacks is an enemy of the country. Anyone who despises women is a traitor to the homeland; those who repress sexual orientations, too; who persecutes social reformers, don't even mention it.
The State that subjects us is in the hands of the rich, who kneel before the powerful foreigner. This State has often sent ranks to massacre men, women and children in the name of the iniquitous social order. Remember, cadet, State is domination, homeland is society in communion! Only the informed and mobilized people will legitimately take the reins of the State for themselves.
Remember, without the support of society you will be a failure in advance. The warrior's strength comes from the collectivity that sustains him. Prepare for war knowing that societies fragmented by iniquities and subjected to the State dominated by a few are not guaranteed against the enemy. Defend yourself more easily who has a friendly neighborhood. Anyone who despises South American unity, cadet, operates against the Brazilian homeland.
Those with better scientists and inventors have more strength. These are the ones that allow you to see further, move faster, communicate more effectively, bomb with more power and precision, take better care of the wounded... Military personnel who deny science and attack teachers, cadets, are liars.
I would have a lot to tell you, but I will end by asking you not to follow the example of the dirty uniforms that helped put a traitor to the country in the presidential chair. Respect hierarchy and discipline. But don't forget: wrong order is not fulfilled! And any order against the democratic state is wrong.
* Manuel Domingos Neto is a retired UFC professor, former president of the Brazilian Defense Studies Association (ABED) and former vice president of CNPq.
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