Tenho duas pequenas figueiras no jardim da frente de casa. Uma é de figos amarelos, é mais velha, e dá entre 200 e 300 figos todos os anos. Após cada estação, eu podo a figueira de um jeito que um vizinho já achou que eu ia matá-la. Nada disso. Quanto mais podo, mais (e melhor) era flore e dá frutos, no ano seguinte. A outra figueira é ainda muito jovem e só este ano começou a dar uns figos roxos bonitinhos.
Quem, como eu, tem jardim grande, sabe que só tem boas flores, boas folhas e bons frutos se você cuidar, aguar e podar com regularidade e sem muito medo de matar a plantinha. O caso do Bonsai é ainda mais complexo e emblemático: nesse caso, ideal é não deixar a planta crescer, podar raiz, e mantê-la quase à míngua. Daí fica linda e faz jus ao nome “árvore de pote”.
Acho que os caras de Davos devem ter chegado à conclusão de que são “jardineiros” desse mundo, e que precisarão fazer algo radical, como um “Great Reset”, ou uma poda rasa, para que o mundo continue a florescer. Parecem ter tomado nas mãos a tarefa da “poda mundial”. Para isso, precisam passar essa ideia sob um tom menos ameaçador do que faria um Hitler, um Stalin, um Mao ou Pol Pot. Precisam revestir suas ações de uma verborragia benevolente.
Bill Gates já foi acusado de querer atingir esse objetivo por meio de uma “vacinação forçada” (dizem os fact-checkers que é mentira). Independentemente do que seja ou não verdade, ou esteja ou não no coração dos “esclarecidos”, ou como Thomas Sowell chamou, os “Ungidos”, o fato é que muita gente acha que 8 bilhões é gente demais e uma poda expressiva precisa ser feita.
Quem fará? Eu? Você? Algum governo esclarecido, “do bem”? Malthus achava que a população se autorregularia na marra, por meio de epidemias e guerras. O pós-segunda-guerra provou que isso pode não ser tão verdade assim. Ou pelo menos que um “ajuste malthusiano” pode acontecer de forma mais espaçada, e, por isso mesmo, muito mais radical. Malthus pode até estar certo, mas não disse que alguém faria isso de forma premeditada e racional: apenas que situações específicas forçariam as tais pestes e guerras.
Podar milhões, ou mesmo bilhões de seres humanos, gente como nós, não deverá ser algo a ser feito sem uma reação grave, de quem está sendo “podado” ou que não crê nessa poda.
Eu, se for “podado”, não pretendo ir sem uma boa briga. Podar, não vou. O tal “ama teu próximo como a ti mesmo” não deixaria. Mas vá lá: no reino vegetal, pelo menos, uma poda é essencial. No reino animal, a poda é individual, e mais doída, por levar a totalidade do ser pro brejo. Mas suponhamos que necessária. Como escolher quem vai? Quem executa a poda, e com que instrumentos? Quem decide quem fica? Quem é mais importante que fique? Os bonitos? Os inteligentes? Os ricos?
Sob qualquer aspecto, o nível de julgamento a ser exercido, só Deus (“O” Deus) poderia saber. Mas ele já disse que uma poda virá, e já nos deu até as bases para o corte. Eu não preciso me preocupar nem escolher um lado para estar. Claro que, pudesse escolher, escolheria ser podado, antes que podar.
Países cujas populações passaram a decrescer, estão morrendo. O Japão é um exemplo. Portugal teve seu pescoço demográfico salvo por uma infusão de estrangeiros maciça. Outros, europeus, e mesmo a China, estão em declínio populacional (a China, somente este ano começou a encolher). O Brasil perdeu seu bônus populacional e agora envelhece a olhos vistos. É vítima de ter perdido a juventude antes de ganhar a riqueza.
Então a poda é necessária? Nunca foi, nunca será, e, pior, nunca seria algo moral. Seria sempre algo demoníaco, como aliás, tudo o que está acontecendo diante de nossos olhos é: o mundo jaz no maligno, diz a Bíblia, e em nenhum momento da história isso foi tão real como agora. Nunca o “diabo” foi tão presente na história – diabo significa “dois lados”, “duas facções”. O mundo nunca esteve mais polarizado, e as partes nunca se ouviram e tentaram se entender tão pouco quando hoje em dia.
O pior é que estou seguro de que ambos os lados do espectro ideológico parecem querer fazer o bem. Mas enxergam o outro lado sempre como sendo “do mal”. Somos incapazes de ventilar ideias e fluir palavras com a única intenção de melhorar o entendimento sobre um assunto, e sobre o outro.
Parece que um grupo de “demônios” fica direcionando um conflito sem fim, entre essas partes radicalizadas e isoladas uma da outra, colhendo os frutos que podem nos levar a tentar “podar” a outra parte. Malthus do Capeta parece que pode levar à poda.
What we have seen in Brasília this last Sunday was a shameful exhibition of poor exercise of citizenship. Even worse that the Capitol Hill invasion, Brasília`s invasion of the government facilities was the result of acts of undeniable banditry. Point.
That said, it is quite easy to “be solidary” to Brazil and to “express regret on the terrorist acts” that happened in Brazil`s capital, without examining the situation that led to this tension. Some points must be made clear so that you are not fooled by the mainstream media and its immediate goals.
First of all, bear in mind that each and every other rally or manifestation held by the so-called “right” in Brazil, since 2019 and before, was considered totally peaceful and clean (people insisted in gathering their own trash after them, as to avoid negative comments from the left). Not one bus station was vandalized and no one hurt. You could have your cell phones with you all the time without fear of being robbed.
Last Sunday`s riots are being considered by many as having “infiltrators”, which they call “faded shirts” (due to a red shirt under the mandatory Brazil`s soccer team year jersey wore by almost all participants). They claim, and some pictures show it beyond doubt, that radicals infiltrated the manifestations with the purpose of creating the chaos we have seen, and justify the further actions taken by Pres Lula and the Brazilian Supreme Court. It is difficult to control herd behaviors, once the started. Mainly in a mass of humanity of thousands upon thousands.
Mounting Tension Started in 2019
What we see in Brazil now is the result of tensions that started with the election of President Bolsonaro. Upon his inauguration in January of that year, a huge wave of bad news started mounting against him, with and without cause – mostly without. The man was titled as tyrant, genocide, fascist and a whole lot of other unsavory epithets without cause. His defect is twofold: a)he is loudmouth and most of the time uncouth. He speaks his mind and cares nothing for its repercussions. Along the last four years it has become clear that it is all bravado and no bad intentions. A deadly characteristic in a politician; b)he decreased the public funds destined to mainstream media by 90, 95% (not sure). That certainly hurt, in a segment of the market already hit hard by the decrease in income of traditional media.
At the time of President Bolsonaro`s election, the now president Lula was under arrest, at the facilities of the Federal Police, convicted in 2 lawsuits under the Car Wash Operation, confirmed by 3 levels of justice (entry level, circuit court and Justice Supreme Court – STJ – the 2nd highest level of the Brazilian 4 level judiciary system). His crimes are well documented and he served over 500 days of a sentence of close to 12 years in jail.
Brazilian Supreme Court (BRSC)
Add to this the unequivocal actions of Brazilian Supreme Court (BRSC) that have added tremendous, and unnecessary tension to an already divided country. BRSC has created something called (by one of its retired justices, Marco Aurélio Melo) the “End-of-the-World Inquiry” (Inquérito do Fim do Mundo): a non-existing piece of public prosecution started within the BRSC itself, without the provocation of the Public Attorneys. It is also a “secret” inquiry to which no lawyer has had access to. Under this forged mantle of legality, BRSC has performed the most heinous acts of illegalities such as censorship (including against free speech of (of all citizens) elected house representatives, journalists, businessmen and bloggers. Anyone with an opinion that in any aspect “hurt” the beliefs of the justices of BRSC were silenced. In this enquiry, the justices, mainly its leading judge, Alexandre de Moraes, is the offended party and the judge. He commands a process started by other Justice, with a heavy hand no publicity on his acts.
How were they silenced? The then president of PTB was put to jail and remained there form months, without a formal accusation. One house representative was arrested, because of his (admittedly strong and wrong) opinions on the BRSC itself. One blogger was arrested, and when in jail had an “accident” and became paraplegic. One news outlet, O Antagonista, was censored. The whole Brazilian population was informed they could not call Lula a “thief” (one very popular motto of the rallies against him was “Lula, thief, your place is in jail”). The cases go on and on and I would need a War and Peace style romance just to tell a few words on each of them.
But perhaps the most insidious and nefarious aspects of the BRSC actions were the three decisions (monocratic, which is allowed by BRSC itself) taken by Justice Facchin and BRSC`s 2nd judgment chamber.
The first decision was taken by the BRSC as a whole miraculously (and unconstitutionally) changing the precept of “final sentence”. As we said, Lula was duly convicted after 3 instances and some 12 judges considered him guilty. Therefore he was sentenced to be arrested, and served over 500 days in jail. Once this principle was changed (from a condemnation at the second level to another principle, that you are duly sentenced only upon BRSC says so), Lula was free from jail, although still guilty. Out of jail, and with all his political clout, he started moving the pieces to change his guilty status – and obviously, one of unable to be elected to public office.
It is important to inform that in Brazil a sentence is passed by a Circuit Court, as in most of the civilized nations. The 3rd level is just to correct infra-constitutional aspects of the case and, in some cases, correct the size of the sentence. The 4th level is the BRSC itself, that should only act to correct aggressions to the constitutional text. It is clear BRSC has changed that role entirely.
The second one “revoked” the condemnations of Lula on the ground of “wrong ZIP Code”. Some explaining is needed due to the sheer stupidity of it – Justice Facchin considered, after 5 years of Car Wash operation`s procedures and inquiries, that all was very well, and condemnations were correctly applied by the 3 lower instances of justice. Just that the lawsuit should have been done in Brasília, and not in Curitiba, as was confirmed several times by Circuit Court and STJ (the 2nd highest instance) and by BRSC itself. All of a sudden, Lula had his cases dismissed. Not because he was innocent, but because the ZIPO Code of the lawsuit was wrong. This rendered to Lula the epithet of “Discondemned”, instead of “Innocent” by part of the population.
The third one was the
The Elections
Once the candidacy of Lula was duly made legal by BRSC, the elections procedures started. Brazil has a separate “elections court” (the Tribunal Superior Eleitoral, or Electoral Superior Court – TSE). It is one of those things that exist almost exclusively in Brazil. Regardless of the TSE`s importance or role, fact is that it is presided by one of the Justices of BRSC, and is therefore, an extension of it.
The polemic of the ballot machines
Since the 90`s, Brazil has basically the same balloting machines (Diebold) with few updates. Pres. Bolsonaro started personally questioning the balloting machines as unreliable. This is something we cannot ascertain, but fact is that the Constitution foresees a secondary method of recounting the votes, which was never implemented. He (and his electors) started pushing for this secondary method of counting, as a printing machine in which the voter check the ballot visually, not touching it, and the machine deposits it in an acrylic repository, for later recounting, if necessary.
This was vigorously opposed by BRSC as unnecessary and some time later started sanctioning anyone challenging the validity of the system and its impermeability to hackers. Well, that was faced and a ruse, once 6 months earlier a hacker was discovered inside the TSE`s system, in which he/she had been meddling for 6 whole months, unnoticed. Too much for safety.
We personally don`t think the Balloting Machines are necessarily rigged. Nevertheless, the position of the BRSC, denying the debate, made it a “gimme” to many of the thinking heads in Brazil, that something was off. How can something, in a democracy, not be subject to open debate? That put fire in the discussion even more.
The Censorship of Media Outlets and “Demonetizing”
The critics of the balloting machines in the social media were silenced by BRSC (through the “End-of-the-World Inquiry”). BRSC determined to the social media companies to block the social media of journalists, bloggers and critics of the system. Therefore, the amount of fuss over the system was reduced, under the unchecking eyes of the mainstream media. Nothing was too bad, in terms of individual freedom, that mainstream media should be afraid of, it seems.
Media Outlet O Antagonista (The Antagonist) was silenced, and denied publication of certain articles and reports that went against Lula and his supporters. That much is clear, I think (although BRSC can view this opinion as democracy threatening and cancel our social media).
Other bloggers, such as “Te Atualizei” (I Update you) and Osvaldo Eustáquio (the guy that went to jail and suffered an accident while there) were not only excluded from social media, but “demonetized” – yes, they had their banking funds frozen and all of a sudden became in need of other people`s support and charity.
Most recently two traditional journalist and writers of renown, Rodrigo Constantino and Guilherme Fiúza were banished from Social Media and “demonetized”. We are not talking of backwater bloggers here, but best-selling authors with a huge following.
The Answering Rights
During the elections, Lula received 90% of his answering rights from TSE, and ended up grabbing most of Bolsonaro`s TV time. The reason for that was the use of terms like “Thief” to qualify Lula and other specific situations deemed “unfair” by TSE and BRSC. This was badly received by Bolsonaro`s supported, but also by most of the undecided voters.
Automatic Vote Counting
The system in Brazil enables that a couple of individuals in a room in Brasilia “count” the votes without the scrutiny of the parties. This, added to the impossibility of recounting the votes made for a huge wave of protests, which culminated in last Sunday`s horrors.
The Armed Forces Denied Requests
The technology branch of the Armed Forces of Brazil was invited by TSE to participate in the elections checking. Even before the elections, and afterwards, the AFs requested the Original Code of the system, to analyze it. This request was denied to them, without further explanation.
Of course in the imagination of the populace, this added wood to the already growing fire.
Where are we Now?
After the lamentable depredations of last Sunday, Pres. Lula decreed “federal intervention” in the Federal District. After that, and almost immediately, Justice Alexandre de Moraes, maybe the larger perpetrator against the constitution of them all, in the opinion of several jurisconsults, decreed that the governor of the Federal District, Ibnaneis Alves, to be suspended from his office.
Right after that, Lula (through his Justice Minister, Flavio Dino) named an interventor, which is a Communist Party of Brazil (PCdoB) member, as is the Justice Minister, a man with no expression and no knowledge of security affairs, to that office.
Again, almost simultaneously, a clear message was passed to all other governors – suppress any manifestations or run the risk to loose your position. The message was well understood and as of today, 10 of January, 2023, all (or almost all) governors of Brazil are in Brasilia to pay homage to Pres Lula and the BRSC, despite their terrible misdeeds.
Some fear Brazil is no longer a democracy. Many have started to hedge their assets against the economical stupidities that they believe will come.
Ontem consolidou-se a estratégia de tomada do poder, sob os olhos horrorizados do mundo, que não tem ideia do que está acontecendo aqui: uma manifestação maciça em Brasília. Nada de mais – antes disso houve dezenas, centenas, sem UM ÚNICO incidente, e nem lixo na rua. Ontem, diferentemente, houve um cenário de pavor, indesejado por qualquer democrata. A novidade foram os chamados “Desbotados” – gente com camisa da seleção e, por debaixo uma camisa vermelha, que dá um tom misto, de vermelho desbotado à vestimenta. Foram encontrados às pencas, mas não aparecerão jamais.
De fato é… uma coisa é “ganhar” eleições (palavra correta – ganharam mesmo, de presente, tanto do Bolzo quanto do TSE). Outra é conquistar o poder, como candidamente falou Zé Dirceu a um jornal espanhol, lá, bem antes da eleição (se não me falha a memória, antes mesmo de Lulla ser solto).
Ibaneis Rocha, o governador do DF, é substituído no poder por alguém do PCdoB, indicado por Flávio Dino, também daquela legenda (ou era, pelo menos). Alguém bem à esquerda, à feição de quem “toma o poder”. Não ganhou eleições, esse substituto, mas ganhou o poder. Perdeu, Mané de Brasília…
Perdemos todos… Hoje cedo, fogo em pneus e fechamento do Rodoanel em SP. Tarciso corre aflito para condenar o ato. Os perpetradores fogem do local (encapuzados, sem serem identificados). Ninguém é preso, mas certamente são “Bolsonaristas”. Quem duvida? A essa altura, nem os super bem informados repórteres de O Globo ao New York Times. Todos são unânimes em já declarar os culpados. Tarciso corre o risco de perder o mandato conquistado nas urnas, depois de décadas de PSDB no comando (da capital), sem nem bem dizer a que veio. Bola dentro pra nova ordem brasileira.
Perdeu Mané (Tarciso) – não sei se ocorrerá logo ou mais tarde, mas parece (ninguém tem bola de cristal pra afirmar) que é pule de dez… favas contadas. Questão de tempo.
Quem defenderá a causa dos que não gostam ou não acreditam que ter um ladrão como presidente seja coisa boa? Ninguém… Perdeu, Manézada… TODOS nós perdemos. Somos em tese 58 milhões de perdedores. Nas contas de alguns, somos, sei lá, 80, 90 milhões de perdedores – entre possíveis votos mal-contados e gente que achou que estava votando num democrata e “está com medo”, como o Mané-mor, Armínio Fraga, do alto de sua alva inocência. Pelamor, né…
E vamos que vamos. Cenas dos próximos capítulos ocorrerão logo – mais uma invasão, mais um quebra-quebra, e como consequência, mais uma intervenção federal, mais um governador destituído (por 90 dias que durarão 4 anos?), e mais um comunista sem experiência alguma em gerir coisa alguma, no poder de um estado que “jamais deveria ter saído do controle de determinado partido”…
Vaticínio não levado a sério por ninguém, quase, “tomar o poder é diferente de ganhar eleições” – seja antes, durante ou depois do pleito.
Vamos trabalhar, Manezada, porque temos que pagar as contas dos “vencedores”…
