About Bruna Brelaz

John Wells, Painting, 1956
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By RODRIGO DE CARVALHO*

Comment on the opinion piece by Luis Felipe Miguel

Professor Luis Felipe Miguel, always attentive to events in Brazil and an astute analyst of the media, makes some mistakes in his article “Bruna Belaz”, published on the website the earth is round, on October 25 of this year, 2021. I will seek to dialogue about the center of a divergence, sometimes healthy, sometimes not so much, which is the tactic of confronting the Bolsonaro government.

The first observation is the name of the said UNE president, the law student Bruna Brelaz, already submitted for correction in the title of this article. I imagine that Professor Miguel is very careful in referring to his students, he would not make such a mistake in the classroom, as he did in his article.

The student Bruna Brelaz does not “walk along the fence”, a phrase from Brizola taken over by the author, nor is she opportunistic, as he refers to in an inopportune and inelegant way. Teacher suggestion: use fewer adjectives, they may seem effective, but most of the time they overdo the textual interpretation.

The issue is the divergence on tactics to defeat Bolsonaro and that would not be deserving of insults, but of wide debate.

In the Brazilian left, and it is not exclusive to the confrontation of this government, there is a difference of positions. The PT, a party with great strength and influence, made its choice: to face Bolsonaro at the polls in 2022, a little later I will justify this position and its consequences and this is part of the explanation why the demonstrations for the request for impeachment of the President of the Republic are not advancing. . Another party, the PSOL, prefers an alliance only in the field of the left, this is how they constituted themselves, differentiating themselves in the left itself. The PDT has “one eye on the fish and the other on the cat”, makes a critical effort towards Bolsonaro and Lula, its motivation is to displace the first and face the second in the Second Electoral Round. Other parties follow the institutional line of confrontation with the government. The PCdoB, the party to which Brelaz is affiliated, raises the need for a broad front, with all the characters, political and social agents who defend democracy, in harmony and unity for one goal: to prevent Bolsonaro from continuing with his catastrophic policy, sinking even further. more Brazil.

They are different views, the left front is not a broad front, and the broad front is not for the 2022 elections, but for the 2021 political situation. of society in defense of democracy. And before you ask, I can answer, the left front also defends democracy, I have no doubts about that. However, what is the most effective model to defeat Bolsonaro? I already said, the left alone does not accumulate enough forces, neither in the streets nor in the National Congress, for this confrontation.

The construction of the broad front is difficult, complex, and requires diligence from the parties involved. This, among other reasons, is the explanation why we will not have (at least for now) the conditions to guide the impeachment or any other way to interrupt the government.

The broad front is a historical necessity, we already had it in some important periods, such as the defeat of Nazi-fascism in 1945 (I mean in Brazil); the redemocratization phase with Amnesty, multipartyism, Diretas Já; the Federal Constitution of 1988 and the impeachment of Collor. These movements were only possible due to a common unity, not in all agendas, but in the fundamental and conjunctural ones that followed their periods. Therefore, a broad front already existed and had important successes.

The strikes of 1978, 1979 and 1980, spontaneous movements, in the words of Ricardo Antunes, were important for the defeat of the Military Dictatorship, but not enough. A combination of factors allowed us to turn this tragic page in our History.

I say this, because the reading that many have about the current situation, may be incurring a serious error when considering that Lula, the favorite, will be able to defeat, by himself, this ultraconservative and neoliberal wave.

It is well known that the PT intends to contest the 2022 elections against Bolsonaro in a political polarization capable of bringing them back to power. For this reason, in a subtle way, the PT leadership has withdrawn its foot from the mobilizations for impeachment. If Lula runs against another candidacy other than Bolsonaro, there may be the so-called electoral unpredictability and the risk of losing the election is greater.

Those who bet on a left-wing front with Lula as a candidate should not be fooled, the PT will seek to expand its alliances throughout Brazil to reach its objective and if it does not, it will be further away from electoral victory.

Justice be done, Bolsonaro has all the crimes wide open to suffer the impeachment process and it is not just the PT tactic that prevents this movement. The center of Bolsonarist resistance is in Parliament, agreements made for the parliamentary support of the president.

Student Bruna Brelaz, by expanding her range of articulation and specific allies to face the greater evil (Bolsonaro) was vilely attacked by sectarian segments, considered “guardians of the left”, these yes, opportunists.

Professor Miguel, you don't seem to have seen anything much in the attacks that the girl suffered, you even say in "heated debate, with possible excesses", nothing more wrong, because I can tell you, they were attacks of the lowest level, with all the questions raised by the president of the UNE. Everything you can imagine, threat of physical violence, sexist and misogynistic, sexual, psychological, racist and xenophobic abuse. I ask that you do not underestimate the attacks on the student, do not naturalize hatred, it exists and there is a digital machine that also works illegally and immorally on the internet, sponsored by shady sectors that supposedly operate in “our field”.

Defeating Bolsonaro is the first task of anyone committed to democracy and it will not be done by isolated actions of specific groups in society, nor will it be done by an isolated charismatic leader.

PS Professor Luis Felipe Miguel (sorry if I didn't put an accent on the i of Luis, because that was how it was in the signature of your article), you are not my enemy and I am sure that the student Bruna Brelaz is not your enemy either. The confrontation is on the other side. Furthermore, professor, I will launch a book about the Lula governments and the dispute for hegemony in society. At the appropriate time, I would like to forward a copy to you. Fraternal hug!

*Rodrigo Carvalho is a doctor in political sciences from PUC-SP and author of The Collor era: from election to impeachment (Anita Garibaldi).

 

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