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Fear made Temer call up the Armed Forces, says Quartim

Professor sees similarities between the processes that triggered the Coup of 64 and the deposition of Dilma Rousseff

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For philosopher and professor João Quartim de Moraes, the fear of protesters made President Michel Temer call in the Armed Forces, during the protests held on the 24th in Brasília. In the opinion of the professor at the Institute of Philosophy and Human Sciences (IFCH) at Unicamp, the maneuver proved to be so erratic that a few hours later it was revoked. In the interview that follows, Quartim defends the departure of Michel Temer and the call for direct elections and sees similarities between the processes that triggered the Coup of 64 and the deposition of Dilma Rousseff.

Photo: Antonio Scaroinetti
Professor João Quartim de Moraes: “Among the many definitions of fascism, the most consistent in the concrete-historical field is the one that speaks of the intolerant, fanatical and aggressive reaction”

JU – How did you see President Michel Temer’s decree calling up the Armed Forces and, a few hours later, its repeal?

João Quartim de Moraes – Michel Temer once again became ridiculous. He was cowardly and fearful, he called the Army because he feared the protesters. The maneuver was so grotesque and erratic that he had to reverse it the next day [25]. If he had the slightest bit of shame, he would have left already. He is an opportunist. He remembers that story about the rich man who is evicted from the mansion, due to lack of payment, and ends up clinging to the marble column.

JU – What analysis did you have? What is the role of the PMDB in the context of the crisis?

Quartim – Temer is the characteristic expression of PMBD, a party that has been a business counter since the late 80s. The group, which seemed to be a great democratic front supporting reforms during the military dictatorship, slowly and gradually degenerated. PMDB has become an incurable disease. They became gangrenous, took over the State machinery and never triumphed in elections. In the 1989 election, for example, Ulisses Guimarães, who was a man of different stature and other merits, had a poor performance, around 3% of the votes, which was still regrettable. The PMDB's peak came with the direct-já elections. After that, the party became a cancer embedded in the legislative machine, at all its levels.

JU – The behavior of some judges and prosecutors has been the subject of questioning. What analysis did you do? make these criticisms?

Quartim – The Judiciary has this power because of the Constitution of 88. It seemed good to us at that time. It's good to remember that we were prisoners of past experience. For us, at the time, the danger against the rule of law came from the Armed Forces. There were more than 30 years of coup, from Getúlio Vargas to João Goulart, with recurring attacks by the military on the Constitution. We had this in mind and, as a consequence, the Judiciary was strengthened. This strengthening, it is important to say, was not of democracy, which presupposes, in the strict sense of the term, sovereignty of the people, choices of representatives by those represented, etc. Why? The STF has decisive powers in the State.

JU – What would they be?

Quartim – Nobody was elected there, nobody can be fired. It's a kind of old Senate, like in the time of the Empire. Its members are stable, permanent. It is, therefore, a bureaucratic power, an integral part of the administrative machine. It is an anomaly for democracy that a body of high-ranking State officials holds such decisive powers over the course of the Republic.

JU – Mr. Do you think this situation can be changed?

Quartim – You can't be scandalized by this. The best thing to do is to analyze more closely the type of regime we have.   

JU – And in the case of prosecutors?  

Quartim – The powers given to the Public Ministry, via the Constitution, also had this inspiration. It was necessary to put an end to the way in which investigations were carried out, invariably, by often incompetent delegates, always using the, let's say, “psychological” method, which was nothing more than the use of force and torture. Prosecutors now have the right to enter the investigation.
 

Photo: JBDoc | YouTube
Demonstration that preceded the 64 coup (above) and protest against Dilma Rousseff's government, on Avenida Paulista (below), in 2016: for Quartim, same social base, despite differences in the scenario

Photo: Rovena Rosa/Agência Brasil

JU – If strengthening was necessary, what went wrong?

Quartim – The strengthening of judges and prosecutors, to a certain extent, ended up fueling the mobilization of sectors of the right, starting with the Mensalão process, exhaustively explored by the owners of the news. This ended up covering up all the robbery, all the bribery, including the previous ones.

It is known, for example, that, to reform the Constitution and allow the re-election of Fernando Henrique Cardoso in 1998, bribery was involved. It turns out that there was no Judiciary machine at the top and corruption went unpunished. 

In short: the intentions for this strengthening were positive, including to control abuses by the police machine. It turns out that, later, they were co-opted by the reactionary wave, by the fury of the petty bourgeoisie, also because the middle class saw this social equalization with little sympathy. They did not accept the rise of millions of Brazilians who were in poverty. There was this culture broth, which ended up contaminating broad layers of the petty bourgeoisie.

JU – What is the way out of the impasse?

Quartim – It's nothing you haven't already heard: direct elections now. It's not a wonderful solution, but it's the only way out. In this institutional confusion, if you are a Democrat, you must agree with the calling of elections. But I doubt that will happen. We can't expect anything from a sold Congress, with more than a hundred deputies directly elected, for example, with Eduardo Cunha's money. That is taken over by reactionary benches.

JU – Like Mr. Do you see the possibility of an indirect solution?

Quartim – No one will come better than Temer. He will try implement the counter-reform, will do everything to confiscate workers' rights. It may even be that someone sensible comes along and makes things minimally tidy for 2018, but I doubt it either. The maneuver is to take Lula out of the running, especially because he is the favorite.

JU – Mr. He experienced the coup of 64 up close, even going into exile. In these times of acute political crisis, in which new facts and accusations shed light on Temer and his political group, Mr. Do you endorse the thesis that Dilma Rousseff's deposition was the result of a coup?

João Quartim de Moraes – I have no doubt. The difference is that now it was a parliamentary coup, orchestrated and encouraged by the large private media – the TV networks and the big newspapers, the so-called news barons. It wasn't just Globo, although it is a fearsome and most powerful opponent. She knows how to act very well and, with quality, moves the pieces like few others.

Another component was judicial McCarthyism commanded by judge Sérgio Moro. You hugging him and whispering to Aécio, Temer, etc. Moro is the idol of this mass that formed the social basis of the coup. It's the most popular name. We get tired of seeing him, dazzled, on social media. At the same time as he scrutinizes Lula's life, he ignores, to name just one example, the heavy gangsterism of Aécio Neves. The story of helicoca, of senator [Zezé] Perrela [PMDB], of the Minas Gerais aecista bench, is emblematic.  

In Moro's mind, it is much more serious to have a pedal boat or want to buy a triplex than to be caught with a helicopter loaded with cocaine. In this context, the acquittal [yesterday, 25] of Cláudia, Eduardo Cunha's wife, is a mockery.

These were the driving elements behind the coup. They fed a social base of fascist dynamics. The “coxinhas”, as right-wing protesters are called today, are the marchers of yesterday, from the pre-coup of 64.

JU – What do you say? Do you understand it as fascist dynamics?

Quartim – Among the many definitions of fascism, the most consistent in the concrete-historical field is the one that speaks of the intolerant, fanatical and aggressive reaction. This reaction has a profound social impact. That's when the right takes over the street. We saw this right wing on the streets from June 2013 until the overthrow of Dilma. Now the street has turned. Not by chance, the left is catching on. To the left, they direct shots and bombs.

JU – What are the points of convergence with 64, taking into account the differences in scenarios?

Quartim – The first convergence is mass fascist mobilization. It's hate and reaction dominating the streets. Dilma was afraid to speak because of the pots and pans. In 1964, it was very similar.

JU – And the differences?

Quartim – The main thing is that there was no instrumentalization of the Armed Forces to carry out the coup.

 

 

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Professor João Quartim de Moraes

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