By GABRIELA FARIA & FABIO JARDIM*
Considerations on the choice by the Minister of Culture of the president of the institution
Since 2017, the internal regulations of the Casa de Rui Barbosa Foundation (FCRB) provide, in its article 3, that the “Minister of State for Culture will consult in advance the functional body of the FCRB to choose the President of the Foundation with a view to submitting it to the Presidency of the Republic". Evidently, during the government of Jair Bolsonaro, this article was not only disregarded, but the Ministry of Culture (MinC) itself was dismantled, indicating the indifference of that administration with the cultural issues of the country. This disregard was confirmed with the choice of Letícia Dorneles as president of the institution, a decision based purely on the negotiation of positions between political allies of a group that totally ignored the functioning and importance of Casa Rui.
According to a document sent to the then Ministry of Citizenship, on the occasion of that nomination, civil servants registered their concern that Letícia Dorneles did not even have the indicated training to assume the aforementioned post, since the president of the House is also dean of the master's degree linked to her, which would indicate , ideally, a doctorate, a characteristic common to all past presidents. Osmar Terra, then minister, ignored the arguments of the functional body and maintained the decision. Not coincidentally, the last years of the institution's management were disastrous, marked by inexperience, the loss of important projects and mainly by the ostensive persecution of the servers.
After years of harassment, lack of respect and the implementation of a functional climate that left several civil servants sick and completely demotivated, the election of Luís Inácio Lula da Silva and the recreation of the MinC gave the civil servants of the Casa de Rui Barbosa Foundation hope that the democratic tools available in the institutions would be widely respected. The election was followed by a discussion at the Casa de Rui Barbosa Foundation on reorganizing the consultation procedure for his presidency.
Conceição Evaristo and José Almino de Alencar were willing to participate, offering their names and their academic reach not only for an election, but for a sincere debate on the directions that the institution should take, in a scenario of reconstruction of internal democracy. Almino won with about 80% of the votes. Unfortunately, immediately after the result disclosure meeting, the MinC informed that the name for the presidency of Casa Rui had been defined and it was Alexandre Santini, which generated deep disappointment and frustration among the employees of the Casa de Rui Barbosa Foundation.
These feelings don't revolve around simply having a respected consultation, though that would be reason enough. The dry indication, without any note on the reasons that guided the choice seems, once again, to place Casa Rui as a body capable of meeting the political needs of a Ministry that needs to comply with political agreements. The importance, for a functional body so mistreated by the past management, of having as its representative a name that came from the inside out, not so vertically, was ignored.
In addition to the numerous published works (poetry, chronicles, etc.), translation of literature and theater works, authorship of music in partnership with Caetano Veloso, PhD in sociology, experience in the Department of Economic and Social Affairs of the United Nations Organization and a without a number of activities capable of qualifying him, José Almino Alencar has other attributes that make him the best alternative to occupy the position of president of the Casa de Rui Barbosa Foundation, which the MinC should take advantage of.
In addition to being a server and researcher, José Almino Alencar was president of the Casa de Rui Barbosa Foundation twice, director of the institution's Research Center, is a volunteer professor of the same master's degree and mainly: during the management of Letícia Dorneles, he defended the FCRB arduously, suffering various persecutions and responding to the most absurd investigative processes. Almino could have spared himself and asked for retirement to preserve his name and health, but he chose to stay alongside the active employees of the board, facing a vile presidency with the most absolute courage.
This process brought him closer to colleagues from the most diverse positions and from all generations of civil servants, opening up a place of exchange that only his sensitivity and generosity would allow. José Almino Alencar represents the possibility for the MinC to act in a completely opposite way to what the Bolsonaro government produced by ignoring the regimental prerogative of appointing the functional body in 2019, as well as the chance to raise the president of the Casa de Rui Barbosa Foundation to a servant who , in addition to his ability to lead the institution and experience in the position, was persecuted, but offered resistance to the ongoing dismantling and today has the support of more than 80% of his fellow servants, according to the appointment procedure carried out earlier this year .
The inauguration of José Almino would be, symbolically, the inauguration of all those who were persecuted by the past management, which still continues to widely offend servers in their social networks. Almino is not just José, Almino is Ana, Maria, João, Miguel and all of us.
*Gabriela Faria is an employee of the Casa de Rui Barbosa Foundation.
*Fabio Jardim is an employee of the Casa de Rui Barbosa Foundation.
The A Terra é Redonda website exists thanks to our readers and supporters.
Help us keep this idea going.
Click here and find how
