Carnival in April due to a pandemic that dribbled and humiliated us: who are we, the ones, who are at the top of the food chain, in the face of a virus that we don’t even see? More than six million deaths and a fear that locked us in our caves, this for those who had the conditions for such seclusion. Did we learn anything from this experience?
It seems not, because as soon as the pandemic ends, we enter a war that shows another of our weaknesses: precisely the complex capacity that made us evolve, communication, is humiliated and cannot resolve our differences in dialogue. An unmistakable setback, yet another proof of the circularity of time, the repetition of history in the tenebrous human decisions.
This April, Carnival month in Brazil, the highest court of Justice condemns a deputy who conspired against an institution and is, the next day, disallowed by a decision of the President of the Republic: I am in charge here, it is the message. Even if, for that, one has to use instruments —in this case, grace — designed to be used in totally different situations.
The constituent deputies would never imagine such a use and must be brooding. It’s not about legality: it may be legal, but it’s immoral. And reality, stubborn, reminds us again that any social evolution is not guaranteed and can suffer setbacks. The participation and organization of society is the best way to guarantee achievements.
What if Carnival falls in April? What if there is a fight between our main institutions?
A country cannot resist this permanent mode of instability for long. In order to move forward, predictability, respect for institutions, trust is necessary, while what we have been experiencing in Brazil is the permanent game of intrigue. It is clear that the economy does not and will not advance with this type of behavior. As a result, we are doomed to maintain low growth rates, high unemployment rates and their social consequences: young people with no prospects, adults without prospects, the elderly without prospects, poverty and inequality increasing and a large part of society frightened, locked in their cocoons. for fear of violence.
It is insanity to keep the majority of the population of a remarkable country like Brazil from sharing its installed wealth. If the humanitarian side were not enough, the companies themselves would gain a lot from this.
There is an urgent need for a country project that transcends immediate interests. There is already knowledge available to establish health, education, housing, science and technology policies, among other structuring themes of a nation, that advance for a generation. We can no longer be subject to adventurers who take advantage of moments of institutional hesitation to install themselves in power. Our institutions cannot be hijacked by short-term personal and private interests.
In this sense, Bolsonaro’s eagerness to remain in power and want to assert his authority, without the slightest shame, is making evident the need for improvements in Brazilian democracy. There is a deep state that still harbors institutional traps that need to be dismantled if we are to move forward consistently as a nation.
In Congress, there are challenges of autonomy and independence: reducing the influence of the Executive in the election of the Speaker of the Chamber, which makes the Legislative hostage to the Executive, a distortion of democracy, as it de-characterizes the independence between the powers. On the other hand, it is no longer possible to live with secret amendments in Congress, which signal a lack of transparency that, in other contexts, cannot be demanded of society. Another issue is the reduction of the power of the president of the Chamber, who alone decides the voting agenda, holding important issues according to his interests, and not those of the majority of the country. The democratization of the Chamber of Deputies, precisely the home of democracy, is a challenge.
In the STF, the process of appointing ministers must be improved to avoid the appointment of patrons of the president, whoever he may be, who jeopardize impartiality in the defense of the Constitution. Requests for visas without a defined deadline is another topic that conveys a message of using legal tools in the defense of non-transparent interests.
In the PGR, both the election process and the exaggerated concentration of power in the attorney general do not contribute to the democratic balance.
In the Executive, the recent use of the institute of grace by the President of the Republic in the defense of a friend shows the need to re-discuss certain rules that the constituents thought would be used in a republican way by the presidents, but which in the face of reality should be revised. Furthermore, the combination of their influence in the election of the Speaker of the Chamber and the appointment of the Attorney General of the Republic reduces counterweights mechanisms, weakening democracy.
Carnival in April was a reality check. It shows us how the unimaginable can happen and that, in politics, we have to prevent ourselves, improving democracy and permanently strengthening institutions.
Not even Chico Buarque believed in Carnival in April. As he did not believe in the possibility of winning the love of his beloved, in the final lines of the song “What if….” which he composed with Francis Hime. There remains, therefore, one hope: if Carnival fell in April, who knows, maybe the impossible love that accompanies us can become reality.
Art keeps saving us and reminding us that what seemed impossible can happen, even while things are upside down.
