“The womb from which the unclean beast arose is still fruitful.” The phrase is prophetic. In it, Brecht reveals the disgrace of the supposed modern civilization and the horrendous face of societies that wear the democratic mask. They disguise the pregnancy of the state of exception with fragments of laws, chameleonic rhetoric. Institutions, on hold, in plea bargains and biased courts, die because of the monsters they feed in their surrogate mothers. Europe, United States, Brazil: Nazism is the order of the day.
Bertold Brecht's plays alert consciences dulled by propaganda, hammered day and night by those who murder rights, freedom, and the lives of the “negatively privileged” (Max Weber). Terror and misery of the Third Reich (Furcht und Elend des dritten Reichs) An astonishingly current piece, it exposes the fear imposed by widespread whistleblowing, common in rabid nationalism. Let us remember that the author uses Luther's language. The reformer, when translating the Letter to the Romans (13, 1-7) uses the term “Furcht” to highlight the high and sublime divine power, the legitimate source of political command. The fear brought by Nazism is not divine, but absolute human misery. It's a shame that in Pacelli's Vatican, the Apostle's conception was diverted to the core. Read the poignant The Pope and Mussolini, published by David Kertzer. In a strategic scene in Brechte's text we see the judge afraid to judge a certain case, because some accused belong to the SA and, on the other side, accusers operate in the SS. How to maintain the impersonality of the court in such a clash of powers? On the other hand, parents fear that their children will denounce them as being against the regime, because that is the norm of the Hitler youth. Pathetic scene in a prison: the communist criticizes the socialist for having denied the united front against fascism, preferring to give victory to Hitler's followers, instead of allying with the communists. Acute analyzes of all Brechtean production can be read in the alternative press, even today. For example, on the website lesmaterialistes.com, where timely readings about Brecht and Nazism appear.
Diderot, at the beginning of the “Plan for a university, or for public education in all sciences”, states in a prophetic style: “to instruct a nation is to civilize it. Decreasing knowledge leads to a primitive state of barbarism. Greece was barbaric; she educated herself and became flourishing. And what is she today? Ignorant and barbaric. Italy was barbaric; he educated himself and became flourishing. When science and the arts drifted apart, what did it become? Barbarian. Such was also the fate of Africa and Egypt; and such will be the fate of empires everywhere on earth and in all future centuries.”
There is no guaranteed permanence for civilized human existence, without scientific and technical knowledge taming barbarism. The arts, the most delicate fruit of the spirit, shape sensitivity, help in Sisyphus' task: refining passions and overcoming the savagery that slumbers in each and every one of those who take shelter in human collectives. Civilization has cracks that, at any moment, can lead masses, governments, religions, thoughts, into the abyss.
I return to the playwright. “Fascism is not the opposite of democracy, but its evolution in times of crisis.” In another context, in the piece mentioned above, Terror and misery of the Third Reich, the transition from liberal thought to Nazi tyranny emerges, illustrated by the technique of lies and fear, the loss of freedom and rights of the great masses, which implodes democracy.
What are we seeing in the USA with the Trump presidency? As a result of the lack of employment, education and culture, the buffoon leader (clowns in power are dangerous, Hitler's example would be a warning) lifted the superficial layer of civilization that adorned society, brought to light resentment, prejudices, racism and the Nazism of vast layers of “negatively privileged” Americans. He promised to return America to white people, banish outsiders, impose a new reading of “Law and Order.” He promised war against democracy, the hunt for those who are different, the death of the “internal enemy”. He called the passion of hate an effective electoral cable. And he won. Charlottesville is not the cause of anything, but a symptom of what is in the filthy belly of the beast.
In Brazil, there is a routine of denying the Lights. Here, the few combatants in favor of knowledge and technique are becoming more isolated every minute. They are voices crying in the desert. The university network, created in decades of battles, is suffocated by the lack of financial resources and brain drain. O brain drain makes raid all over the world, but here its genocidal face appears: serious research in the medical field and other public health sectors is paralyzed. Development agencies have had their coffers wiped out, with little left, in federal terms, for industrial innovation. Fapesp is a fortress, we don't know for how long, that is resisting with increasing difficulties. As a result of a similar official campaign against knowledge, Brazil is rapidly falling behind in all scientific, technological and humanistic fields. And, at the same time, millions of human beings increase the monstrous reserve army that serves, almost as a slave, the ends of speculative capital. We increased barbarity, without ever guaranteeing democracy, scientific knowledge, freedom of expression. State responsibility (in the three powers) is just....a word, empty of meaning. Two recent dictatorships show what our future could be, if we do not have the strength to stop the propaganda of “reforms”, the ultimate ablation of the rights that remained for the “negatively privileged”.
Desperate masses are captives of dreams and promises. Nazism, fascism and all forms of dictatorial power bring the teaching. In Germany and other European countries, politicians (including those who called themselves progressive) played with fire by disregarding the weight of crowds reduced to subsistence levels. Attention! The hatred that took over Berlin or Charlottesville lives in the folds of Brazilian society. Some of our judges side with the “positively privileged”, against those who lose the most basic rights. Therefore, they will be forced to decide only between the members of the SA and the SS. There will be no citizen to judge, outside of the fascist movements. The screams of hate resurface on Brazilian streets. It's a good idea to see the film again Mephisto. The comic, when least expected, opens the way to tragedy.
