By DANIEL AFONSO DA SILVA*
Since the debate of CHOOSE YOUR WRISTBAND It was quite clear that Pablo Marçal wanted to demoralize Nunes and block Boulos more than win the election.
It was predictable: the chair-throwing, the impunity and the hypocrisy. The Pablo Marçal factor is disturbing and its effect is numbing. His physical and spiritual presence in the Brazilian political landscape is unmasking the complete moral, intellectual, cultural and emotional ineptitude of entire segments of society. The good-naturedness of self-righteous It has returned to being what it always was: a chimera. It has become evident – even to the most unwary – that there are no saints in the seraglio.
For politics, as Cicero so often taught, is the territory of brutes and Brutus. A world of betrayals, blows and impositions. A concrete and real space. Where the weak have no place. And therefore, No country for old men. Where the unsuspecting and inveterate admirers of Barbie and Chimamanda need to be careful. Especially when Hannibal, thirsty for other people's blood, is awake, hungry and on the loose. Politics as it is does not accept moralisms or moralists. It never has. Any reader of Machiavelli knows this. Any real political agent knows this too. But it took Marçal's presence to bring all this to the surface.
It wasn't that long ago that elections throughout Brazil were contested with bullets, murders, and intimidation. To ignore this is to ignore the country's political history.
Anyone who calmly revisits the political news of the last twenty, thirty or fifty years will notice an extraordinary amount of brute force – often physical – in electoral processes. The climate has never been mild. And it has always tended to get worse. So much so that when constituents complained to Dr. Ulysses Guimarães about the average quality of the political class and its propensity to brutalize interactions, he simply warned: “wait for the next election and legislature. In those, politicians will be even worse.”
Doing politics and competing for the majority of popular support in Brazil has never been a walk in the park. Ulysses Guimarães knew it, and so does any minimally lucid person. The desire for power numbs everyone: candidates, voters, and observers. Like in a Roman arena. Made into a spectacle for Greeks and Trojans. With wild beasts, giants, and lions. Down with illusions. Every man for himself. An empire of tensions. Sensitive people can't stand it. For it is a wild jungle. But without Dante, Virgil, or Beatrice to comfort them.
Getúlio Vargas, who was one of the most combative politicians in the country – perhaps the only truly homo politicicus who deserves the status of statesman – he was calm, competent and consistent and, even so, he could not bear it. He committed suicide.
Take the case of President Jânio Quadros. Say what you want to say. Whether you like him or not. But no one leaves the interior of Mato Grosso, moves to São Paulo, becomes a politician, becomes nationally known instantly, becomes a presidential candidate and is elected president of the Republic in less than twenty years without being a politician. outlier. An extraordinary political animal. A human character, in itself, extraordinary and without equal. And yet, with all these superlative achievements, he couldn't stand it either. He asked to leave, took his cap and left. It's not easy.
The very worthy president Itamar Franco, as everyone knows, a devotee of Saint Therese, assumed power in that momentum horribilis of national life that everyone knows. When the process of removal and impeachment of President Fernando Collor de Mello. Around the end of 1992. A critical, demanding, complex period. In which many military personnel salivated to rehabilitate their corporations' command over the country. It was not at all simple. President Itamar Franco had participated in the first directly elected presidential ticket since 1960.
The military had already confirmed, with the force of their boots, after the death of Tancredo de Almeida Neves, the presidency of José Sarney and, soon after, they had also decided that, for the 1989 elections, Lionel Brizola would not. In 1992, therefore, the men in uniform were more omnipresent than ever and well-placed to eventually rehabilitate the adventure of 1964. However, in contrast, the civil and popular fronts that filled the streets since the beginning of the redemocratization, advancing in the ABC Strikes, in the Diretas Já!, in the coffin of president Tancredo de Almeida Neves, in the 1989 elections and in the painted faces movement for impeachment of President Collor were still very much alive in support of democracy and, for better or worse, in support of President Itamar Franco.
But, it should be noted that both sides, on the military side and on the civilian side, needed to have nerves of steel. And that, perhaps, is the greatest asset of President Itamar Franco. Like Tancredo, he was from Minas Gerais. And, like all good Minas Gerais residents, he acted with the integrity of the people of Minas Gerais. Today, he has become a president, a state governor and an almost forgotten politician. But an extraordinary political agent. With nerves of steel. Who only didn't fall due to his nerves of steel, aided by a tide in his favor. That is the greatness of President Itamar.
There is no room here for a detailed assessment of the Mensalão scandal. But just think: if President Lula da Silva did not have a truly consistent political armor, he would have been torn apart in broad daylight, with his body salted in public squares and vandalized in the four corners of the country. The symbolic and moral violence of all that was limitless. So much so that the always discreet President José Sarney came out publicly to remind everyone that Lula da Silva was a national asset and should not be touched.
Likewise, when entire fractions of the Brazilian political class wanted the impeachment of the first metalworker and man of the people to become president of the Republic, President Fernando Henrique Cardoso also came out publicly to emphasize that neither he nor his PSDB would stain their own hands with blood.
In the same context, if it weren't for a cadre, a good and faithful servant, of the stature of José Dirceu asking for responsibility for himself, the entirety of one of the largest mass parties on the planet would have turned to smithereens. Following the example, without the honesty of people – to name just one more – like the honorable José Genuíno, the entire adventure that began at Colégio Sion in 1980 would be nothing more than a nightmare set in a runaway ghost train with its drunk drivers.
Let's face it: these people – from President Lula da Silva to his main supporters – endured political, psychological and moral pressure that almost no one else could bear.
In the opposite direction, consider the case of President Dilma Rousseff. Like it or not, she was President of the Republic between 2011 and 2016. But, at some point along the way and for various reasons, she was abandoned to her own devices by her peers. As a consequence, after the nights of June 2013, she entered an entropy without end or limits. Which would produce the relentless and overwhelming bleeding. Which, in turn, would serve to galvanize the impeachment 2016 and bury the president's political career.
On the other hand, consider the case of President Fernando Collor de Mello. Whether you like it or not, whether you appreciate it or not, he has always been a outlier. He became president of the Republic of Brazil at the age of 40. He walked fearlessly through the valley of the shadow of death during the thousand or so days he remained in power. He was crushed by the political class, public opinion and social pressures. And, if that were not enough, he was also expelled from public life through expedients that are, at the very least, questionable.
And, unlike President Getúlio Vargas, the greatest of all, he did not give up on life. Quite the opposite. He continued to live and thrive. And it did not take long for him to return to his homeland. habitat: the political arena. Rising from the ashes. Phoenix-like things. Redefining the past. Things that people in the business do. All to rediscover the best version of oneself. Shedding illusions. And giving up dreaming like Icarus.
All this to say simple things. That everyone knows or should know: politics does not admit amateurs. As General De Gaulle said, politics is a activityThere is no point in crying or despairing.
So, yes: it was predictable: the chair-throwing, the impunity and the hypocrisy noted in the recent events of the São Paulo election.
The average competitor is nothing more than amateurs and strangers to the activity. People who would never exist in a healthy political reality. And they wouldn't exist because a normal system would never allow amateurs to go down to the arena to dance with wolves. The reasons are simple. Amateurs, with all due respect, get burned in the rain. They can't handle pressure. They appeal. They switch their feet for their hands. They hit below the waist. They put fingers in people's eyes. They pull people's hair. They tackle people from behind. They order, without much explanation, to take down social networks. They pick up the ball to take it away. They do everything they can to challenge the candidacy of a competitor. And, if they can't, they increase the violence. They resort to brute force. They throw everything they can get their hands on. In this case, it was a chair.
Simple question: where is the referee?
And the referee, in this case, should be the soundness of democracy, the rule of law and redemocratization. Where is he?
I have been arguing, and it is not new, that the movement inaugurated in the “slow, gradual and safe” opening of President Geisel in 1974 and confirmed by the election of Dr. Tancredo Neves in 1985, at some point in the XNUMXst century, faded away. Or, at the very least, lost its strength and vigor. It became flaccid and misshapen. Like a body agonizing in the ICU.
In this sense and unlike many, I believe that impeachment The events of 2016 and the arrest of President Lula da Silva in 2018 were too serious to forget or not remember. They were heinous crimes against the country. In which the country was violated. Losing face, descending into hell and losing its honor. 2016 and 2018, between June 2013 and January 8, 2023. Years of torment. Times of lack of love. Whose trauma was gigantic. Like the misfortune in the allegory Absalom versus Tamar. A disgrace of no magnitude. A tragedy. That nothing and no one can contain or appease.[I]
Put very bluntly, the impeachment The 2016 presidential election and the arrest of President Lula da Silva in 2018 destroyed all the pacts for redemocratization and mortally wounded Brazilian democracy. The pacts were sensitive, but profound and honest. Hand-sewn. Braided by the thread of two or three generations of true lovers of Brazil who faded away without being able to pass the baton to successors who were even remotely worthy.
So the new generations – including older people who entered politics later – have devastated the legacy of the transition to democracy, vandalized its honor and destroyed the foundations of Brazil's national interest.
As a result, the level of everything has dropped. The idiots, as Nelson Rodrigues said, have lost their modesty. And, if that were not enough, they have given up their anonymity and started demanding a place in the sun. So the restricted access path to politics has become an ocean where anyone, even without a life jacket or buoyancy aid, can enter.
The first major demonstration of this horror movie scenario occurred in the 2016 municipal elections. When the election in the city of São Paulo set a sinister tone. For, truly, who could have imagined that João Dória would win the race in the first round, imposing an unprecedented political and historical humiliation on the PT, President Lula da Silva and the always kind Fernando Haddad?
But João Dória – later, João Trabalhador – was not an isolated case.
Anyone with patience should go back to the composition of city halls and city councils throughout Brazil in that election. Back then, in 2016, the snakes were already quite big. They were no longer sleeping in eggs. They were grown snakes. The genie – or the donkey – had already left the bottle. The milk had been spilled. There was nothing left to do but to make efforts to rebuild the pacts for redemocratization.
But no: the bet was doubled and President Lula da Silva was arrested in 2018. That was not only horrific. It was the final straw for the return to democracy, legal security, and the political system.
It may not seem like it, and few people allow themselves to see it, but Lula da Silva's redemption with his third term did not redeem the Brazilian political system. The breakdown continues to be total. Otherwise, how can we understand the rise and fall of Silvio Almeida?[ii]
It should be noted that without the widespread raid of the political system and the deep pacts for redemocratization, people of the quality of Captain Jair Messias Bolsonaro would never climb the ramp of the Planalto as President of the Republic and people of the quality of Boulos, Datena, Marçal, Marina, Nunes, Tabata and the like would never present themselves as candidates for mayor of the most important city in the country.[iii]
Politics, as has been said, is a land of brutes. And, as such, it does not tolerate amateurs. Amateurs are not created there.
But, incredible as it may seem, since at least June 2013, nameless amateurs have begun to grow, prosper and multiply in politics. The average quality of the elements that accepted the request for impeachment in 2016 was an eloquent and frightening demonstration of all this. What came after made everything even more horrific. And, in this sense and contrary to all appearances, the presence of Pablo Marçal in the political scene of 2024 could be one of the most positive factors of all the electoral contests of the last ten or fifteen years.
The reason is very simple: Pablo Marçal embodies the last spasms of redemocratization. After him, there will be no way out: Brazilian democracy will either improve or weaken once and for all. What we see in the dispute for São Paulo is the piling up of pressure. Marçal increases the pressure and withstands the reaction. But his opponents do not. And the chair attack on Sunday, September 15, was just the most recent, evident and eloquent example of this.
It is unnecessary to repeat that, in a healthy political system, José Luiz Datena would never be a candidate for any elected political office. The gods have prevented him from doing so on numerous previous occasions. But now, for some reason, his guides have abandoned him and he has entered the race.
And worse: he entered wearing high heels and full of himself, but clearly dehydrated in conviction. So much so that in his first major appearance, in the inaugural debate of the CHOOSE YOUR WRISTBAND, he was simply publicly sterilized. Everyone knows and everyone saw it. The man shrank, became insignificant, disappeared. Like black magic. Really serious stuff.
The day before, the situation was quite different. The photograph of the electoral battle showed Ricardo Nunes and Guilherme Boulos tied for the lead, and he, José Luiz Datena, was right behind, in third place. Not bad. That third place, if well worked, could have become first place. But when Datena entered the studio, his score began to plummet. Like a torrent of rain. A storm. And when he opened his mouth, that's when everything really fell apart. He became unrecognizable. He withered so much that he was on the verge of political death. It was incredible. Spectacular. And what came next only made the situation worse.
He – as stubborn as he may be – should have resigned there, at the start. But no. He preferred, stillborn, to continue. And he took the worst path: allying himself with Boulos, Nunes and Tabata to bleed Marçal dry. It all went wrong and led to a chair. If not, see.
Since the debate of CHOOSE YOUR WRISTBAND It is quite clear that Pablo Marçal wants to demoralize Nunes and block Boulos more than win the election. The end of the election depends on the opening of the ballot boxes. But the brutalization of the relationship with Nunes and Boulos is well planned. So much so that both Boulos and Nunes have shown many signs of fatigue and despair. Clearly signaling the precision of Pablo Marçal's harpoon. Which has not yet mortally wounded them. But it has made them bleed.
And it was in this context that Datena showed solidarity with Nunes and Boulos, forming a triangular alliance of gentlemen to accuse Marçal. The first example of this maneuver was quite clear in the absence of the three in the FAAP debate. The purpose was to discredit Pablo Marçal. But, as we saw, it was not effective. Quite the opposite.
And, because that was the case, in the following debates, the three of them, Boulos, Datena and Nunes, returned to the arena determined to continue acting as a group to frame Marçal. But, once again, it didn't work. Or rather, it was worse: Marçal understood the move of the three of them and began to live the archetype of David. David versus Goliath. Marçal versus "the system". Marçal/David versus "everyone". A perfect image for those who have a hobby of being successful.
In the meantime, Nunes and Boulos (and Tabata) realized the trap. And they began to retreat. Datena, for his part, didn't understand anything and kept advancing. Candidly. Like Quixote. In front of the furnace. Towards the gallows. Without any armor or weapons. Until he completely lost his mind.
How desperate! The chair was thrown. But the worst was yet to come. Not from Datena, who was clearly forgetful due to the process. But from entire sections of the self-righteousness who came to applaud and praise Datena's gesture. Not because of the spirit bread and circus typical of every electoral race. But because – like Datena, Nunes and Boulos – they do not understand or support the Marçal factor and, now, want to eliminate him at any cost.
Otherwise, close your eyes, take a deep breath and meditate.
Now imagine a citizen who is incandescent. Angry, very angry. Out of his mind. His face is transfigured by hatred. Filled with an implacable impulse. Salivating with desires for revenge. Staring at another citizen like an animal probing its prey. Waiting for the best opportunity. When it arrives, he grabs the first object within reach – in this case, a chair. He crosses all the red lines of decency, coherence and human dignity. He violates all the decorum of the public space. And, more directly, of an electoral arena.
He goes to meet the other citizen with a clear interest in lying in wait. He hits him with a chair out of spite. The only reason he doesn't hit him directly – and, who knows, fatally – is because the victim had good reflexes. He moved out of the way. He protected himself. Until the "stop it" came into play. Separating the brawlers. Ending the game for one and calling the medical department for another. All under the watchful eye of witnesses. Dozens on-site visit. Millions in the distance. Not counting other millions/billions that will come ad infinitum this show. Which was not fiction. Nor between actors. Because it is worth remembering: the chair was not a banquet chair.
So, please take another deep breath. Come back to yourself. Open your eyes. And please help us understand what justifies someone who is considered a citizen and a Brazilian citizen and a candidate for the honorable position of mayor of the city of São Paulo, committing such an ignominy and continuing to walk around calmly as if nothing had happened and, worse, being praised and hailed as a hero?
Not even the most imaginative minds of all time could have conceived of such a situation. It is simply unbelievable.
Hypocrisy has its limits. Which, of course, does not emanate from Datena. But from the whole of a sick, lobotomized and curiously datenized society.
Otherwise, let's see. It's been a while since anyone has talked about this. And it's not talked about because, in truth, the “Datena effect” – read: datenization – is no longer something peculiar.
On the path opened by Luiz Carlos Alborghetti, followed by Ratinho, nuanced by Gil Gomes and supported by the late Marcelo Rezende, José Luiz Datena gave excellence to the everyday harshness of what Nelson Rodrigues called “life as it is.” And, for this reason, he became popular with the people. Or, as they say, the “common people.”
Anyone who goes back in time will notice that, since the beginning of this century, the reach of his programs, his voice and his appearances suddenly became something simply extraordinary. Achieving unparalleled audiences. Something impressive.
In contrast, the self-righteous People with an identitarian inclination considered all of this horrible. So much so that for them, Datena was a monster. A bug, a fool. A nefarious element that, through his programs, alienated people and hijacked the “critical sense” of the “Brazilian family”.
Well, note well, it is precisely these people self-righteous which now joins the segments that applaud Datena's aggression against Marçal.
How can we understand it? Would Christmas change or did I change it? But, going back to the chair, everything remains very curious. Datena, by doing what he did, became himself a product of his own datenization, and was then swallowed by his own shadow.
You see, the tone of Datena's performance on television was always his explosion of feelings and his catharsis of emotions. There is no doubt: Datena was sincere. He was the typical "I really mean it". "I say what I think". "I am authentic". Which generated for him, Datena, multitudes of true admirers. People like him. Who identified/identify with this style. A bit of a brute. Without holding back his words. A bit of a vigilante. Come what may.
For all these reasons, Datena was undoubtedly one of the most important journalists of his generation. An “authentic” journalist. Who communicated from the heart.
For television, excellent. For politics, a tragedy.
Politics does not accept people like that. Jorge Cajuru – a friend of Datena who also made the transition to politics – can attest to that.
Politics is, indeed, a wild jungle, which requires of its passers-by, homo politicicus, mastery. Otherwise, one cannot survive. It is therefore imperative, in the political arena, to be rational. Preferably an ice monster. Devoid of emotions. A doctor in pretense and a hero in dissimulation. Because as an ancient Greek sage who loved politics once said: especially in the political arena, “those who do not know how to pretend do not know how to live”. Datena seems to have entered politics naive in all this.
And worse, by virtue of historically treating everyone as a bandit, a bum and a scoundrel, he entered the electoral race for São Paulo applying this treatment and this language to his opponents. In other words, he tried to date the dispute. But he was unsuccessful. And, perhaps, therein lies his fury against Pablo Marçal who, in turn, Marçalized everything.
The Marçal factor gave the dispute a different tone. A tone that Datena could not accept or bear and did what he did. Something that is unforgivable in politics. Well, it is not written, but everyone knows: whoever allows themselves to descend into the political arena must withstand the pressure, period. Whoever cannot bear it, asks to leave. Datena could not bear it, did not leave and did what he did.
But, as we have seen, the most serious thing was not what he did. But the widespread endorsement of what he did. How can this endorsement be justified? There are many reasons.
On a political level, the agony of redemocratization is evident. But on a societal level, there is no escaping it: the main culprit continues to be everyone's disregard for education.
Yes: education matters, and quality education matters even more. No one who is even remotely serious – in politics or outside it – has any doubts about this.
Hannah Arendt – who will be physically absent from us for 50 years next year – left us with extraordinary teachings on a myriad of subjects. Notably, politics. But, essentially, the importance of education.
Based on the ancient Polybius, she stated that “educating” is “making you see that you are entirely worthy of your ancestors.” And, by this, she meant that education is, above all, transmission and, therefore, there is no transmission – and, therefore, no education – without tradition.
In this sense, the educator/teacher must always appear, in Hannah Arendt's ideas, as a sincere mediator between the old and the new, between the past and the future. When this does not happen, the crisis becomes general.
In these terms, Hannah Arendt noted, the political agony/crisis is nothing more than the agony/crisis of Education. The crisis of Education is a crisis of transmission. And the crisis of transmission is a profound crisis in the recognition of the authority of the weight of the past and the weight of tradition. There is no life without the past, nor society without tradition.
Moving the cursor from all this to the Brazilian reality, it seems that this is exactly what it is about: the agony/crisis of our politics resulting from the agony/crisis of our education. Just as Brazilian democracy continues to agonize in the ICU, Brazilian education is simply in the next room, breathing through instruments and experiencing final martyrdom. The negative implications of all this, as everyone knows, are huge.
No one knows where it all started. Darcy Ribeiro and many others say it was during the military regime. Who knows, maybe around 1968, with AI-5. But the curious thing is that after the military regime, not much was done to change the situation. There was an increase in numbers at the expense of quality. The number of people with education increased dramatically after 1985. Illiteracy rates fell to almost zero. The percentage of people with higher education – including master's and doctorate degrees – increased significantly. But the number of functional illiterates also increased. And today, in the face of the Fourth Industrial Revolution, the number of digital illiterates is only increasing.
In terms of education, Brazilian society has made great strides. But the overall balance is still very poor. This has considerable negative effects on politics. This has led to technically educated people like Boulos and Marçal, for example, finding “communists” and “fascists” on every street corner 30 years after the end of the Soviet Union and 80 years after Hitler.
But if that were not enough, important portions of this Brazilian educational indigence also justify the endorsement of Datena's ignominious act against Marçal, simply because it was against Marçal.
But who is Marçal? Marçal, whether we like it or not, is a guy anchored in traditions. In his case, Christian traditions. And, therefore, he is someone naturally conservative. Who claims the weight of some past and the weight of some tradition. Exactly what good-naturedness well-thinking identity, in principle, condemns.
Understand well, President Jair Bolsonaro lost the elections in 2022 winning “only” 45% of the popular preference and maintains, to this day, this “only” 45% of the popular preference intact because he, like Marçal, claims the weight of some past and the weight of some tradition common to entire sections of Brazilian society.
Marçal is not Jair Bolsonaro. But, like it or not, he is part of the same cultural universe. Which, at the end of the day, is much more complex and consistent than the fragmentations proposed by identitarians.
It's curious. But it's also tragic.
A self-righteousness The Brazilian people, without analyzing the phenomenon in depth, continue to want to label Marçal – and also Jair Bolsonaro – as “far right” but fail to realize that everything is much more complex, profound and lethal. And, worse, they also fail to realize that without a recomposition of the pacts for redemocratization, all this pandemonium is here to stay. Regardless of the result of the São Paulo election.
And, with all due respect, if you want to eliminate any of this, you're going to need a lot more than a chair.
*Daniel Afonso da Silva Professor of History at the Federal University of Grande Dourados. author of Far beyond Blue Eyes and other writings on contemporary international relations (APGIQ). [https://amzn.to/3ZJcVdk]
Notes
[I] See, in particular, “Bolsonaro’s reason is a clear reaction to the malaise intensified by the sluggishness of the 21st century”. Special interview with Daniel Afonso da Silva. Available at: https://www.ihu.unisinos.br/categorias/159-entrevistas/625711-razao-bolsonarista-e-uma-clara-reacao-ao-mal-estar-intensificado-pela-pasmaceira-do-seculo-xxi-entrevista-especial-com-daniel-afonso-da-silva
[ii] About the subject, empty, “The sad end of Silvio Almeida”. the earth is round, 8/9/2024. Available in: https://dpp.cce.myftpupload.com/o-triste-fim-de-silvio-almeida/
[iii] See, especially, “The Marçal Factor”. GGN – The Newspaper of all Brazils, 26/8/2024. Available at: https://jornalggn.com.br/politica/o-efeito-marcal-por-daniel-afonso-da-silva/ and “The Marçal Effect”. GGN – The Newspaper of all Brazils, 4/9/2024. Available at: https://jornalggn.com.br/politica/o-efeito-marcal-por-daniel-afonso-da-silva/ .
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