By Polliana Monteiro, PenÃnsula 360 Press and Global Exchange.
Photographs by Manuel Ortiz Escámez
What would be expected when commemorating the Bicentennial of Independence in Brazil? What would the official Independence Day parade, which takes place every year in Brazil on September 7, in Brasilia, the country's capital, be like?
After two years without this official commemoration, due to restrictions imposed because of the pandemic, the Bicentennial of Brazil's Independence was celebrated on September 7, 2022, just 25 days before the elections. On this date, every year, in the Eixo MonumentalThe road where the Esplanada dos MinistériosIn BrasÃlia, which houses the ministries and agencies of the Executive Branch, military troops, armored vehicles and members of various police institutions parade down the avenue.
What should be the people's celebration and an educational opportunity for the history of the legal-political rupture between the colony and the metropolis to be told, for the 200 years of this historical event to be somehow remembered, filling the word commemoration with meaning, became a mere exhibitionist parade of military troops without an apparent pedagogical proposal that gave way to a campaign act of a president desperate for reelection.
Independence is a historical framework, it is when Brazil becomes legally independent from Portugal from the rupture of the colonial nexus. However, we can say that "independence" until today has only occurred in the juridical-administrative sphere; it has not touched on other forms of dependence on the global north, such as epistemic, racial, gender, etcetera.
This could be seen in the parade strips, which contained, in addition to slogans in Portuguese, messages mainly in English, but also in German, like this one that says "Raus aus dem kommunismus wir wollen Bolsonaro" - "Out with communism, we want Bolsonaro".
The president's supporters, who came to Brasilia from different parts of the country to show their support, wore green and yellow, the colors of the flag, and carried anti-democratic banners, calling for military intervention, the dismissal of the ministers of the Supreme Federal Tribunal - the supreme court of justice -, the criminalization of communism in Brazil, a new anti-communist constitution, among other demands with a coup content.
It is striking when the public shouts "prende o Lula" and "Lula ladrão, seu lugar é na prisão" at the moment when the Federal Police cars parade. That's because former president Lula, Bolsonaro's main opponent, was detained at the Federal Police headquarters in the city of Curitiba for 580 days. The cries for his arrest show the will to repeat what happened in the last elections, in 2018, when Lula could not contest the presidency at the time when the polls ratified him as the favorite.
After the parade, the president took to a stage set up in the middle of the parade ground.a Esplanada dos Ministérios and made a speech to his supporters. He was accompanied by the first lady, Michelle Bolsonaro, and by a businessman who is being investigated by a Federal Police operation, Luciano Hang. This year the presidents of the Senate, Rodrigo Pacheco, and of the Chamber of Deputies, Artur Lira, who traditionally participate in the event, did not attend. The presidents of Portugal, Cape Verde and Guinea-Bissau also participated in the event.
In his speech to his supporters, Bolsonaro was not moderate in his praise for his government, which does not match reality. Instead, he made criticisms of the Workers' Party's management and, using the discourse of God and family, compared the current elections to a struggle of good against evil. Likewise, he insufflated the demonstrators against the Supreme Federal Court. The icing on the cake was when he made comparisons between the first ladies and presented himself as a man.
The Independence Day event, which should be a state event, became a campaign platform for President Jair Bolsonaro. Taking advantage of having the state machine in his hands, he used for his personal promotion state events, financed with public money, which made the campaigns of other candidates state that they will file lawsuits in the Electoral Justice against the president for abuse of political and economic power in the realization of the events held in BrasÃlia and Rio de Janeiro.
On social networks, Lula celebrated the Bicentennial of Independence. He said that Brazil will reconquer its flag, sovereignty and democracy:
"At no time do we use the Day of the Fatherland, the day of the Brazilian people, the greatest day of our country on account of independence as an instrument of electoral politics. And the president, instead of discussing Brazil's problems [...] tries to talk about political campaign and tries to attack me".
This article was produced with the support of the organization Global Exchange in collaboration with Peninsula 360 Press.
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