Boa tarde a todos! Good afternoon to all!

Whoever attended or watched the desfile das escolas de samba (samba schools parade) this year was able to realize that the Brazilian carnival is not just about festa e alegria (party and joy)! In this edition, dissatisfactions with Brazilian politics left the ruas (streets) and the internet to also conquer space in Sapucaí.

Among músicas (songs) against corruption or rejection against the current mayor of Rio de Janeiro, Bishop Marcelo Crivella, the most straighforward and blunt criticism was made by the club Paraíso do Tuiuti. With the samba My God, My God, is Slavery Over?, the school desfilou (paraded) its 29 wings and 3,100 components in the sambadrome against the present Federal Government.

In treating the exploitation of men by men, Tuiuti drew a parallel between the past of Brazilian slavery and the current working conditions in the country, precarious with the loss of countless rights after the approval of the labor reform in 2017.

If the front commission, with its Cry of Freedom, passed through Sapucaí with representations of the slave quarters, of flogged blacks and old blacks, the last float arrived highlighting the neoliberalist Vampire, an evident allegory of our president Michel Temer. The neo-tombman, thus named by the club, representing a slave ship of present times.

But it did not stop there. Covering a time span of almost 300 years, Tuiuti showed various forms of exploitation and oppression in the sociedade (society) in which we live. From the permanences of slavery in the countryside to the wing of the informal workers, passing through the warriors of the CLT (Consolidation of Labor Laws) with their innumerable and overloaded arms; as well as the social captivity represented by the slums to the manifestoches (demonstration puppets) wearing the Brazilian soccer team shirt who, adorned with the famous yellow duck of the pro-impeachment protesters, were being manipulated by the giant hands of entrepreneurs.

Unlike the traditional sambas, the clubs of the carioca carnival costumarily shy away from contestation and socio-political criticism. So the wide media and social networks repercussion of the Paraíso do Tuiuti parade comes as no surprise.

Even though the first samba schools underwent legal persecution and needed registration in the police in order to function, they were soon appropriated by the established governos (governments). It is worth remembering that carnivals from 1943 to 1946, for example, were thematic, with scenarios alluding to the Brazilian participation in World War II; or the songs of Beija-Flor de Nilópoles in the years that praised the Military Dictatorship in 1974 and 1975.

Were you curious to watch the Tuiuti Paradise parade and cantar (sing) along to their samba plot-theme? Here is the full parade and letra (lyrics)!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cv5UvJoMVZo

Meu Deus, Meu Deus, Está Extinta a Escravidão?

Não sou escravo de nenhum senhor

Meu Paraíso é meu bastião

Meu Tuiuti, o quilombo da favela

É sentinela na libertação

 

Irmão de olho claro ou da Guiné

Qual será o seu valor? Pobre artigo de mercado

Senhor, eu não tenho a sua fé, e nem tenho a sua cor

Tenho sangue avermelhado

O mesmo que escorre da ferida

Mostra que a vida se lamenta por nós dois

Mas falta em seu peito um coração

Ao me dar a escravidão e um prato de feijão com arroz

 

Eu fui mandiga, cambinda, haussá

Fui um Rei Egbá preso na corrente

Sofri nos braços de um capataz

Morri nos canaviais onde se plantava gente

 

Ê, Calunga, ê! Ê, Calunga!

Preto Velho me contou, Preto Velho me contou

Onde mora a Senhora Liberdade

Não tem ferro nem feitor

 

Amparo do Rosário ao negro Benedito

Um grito feito pele do tambor

Deu no noticiário, com lágrimas escrito

Um rito, uma luta, um homem de cor

 

E assim, quando a lei foi assinada

Uma lua atordoada assistiu fogos no céu

Áurea feito o ouro da bandeira

Fui rezar na cachoeira contra a bondade cruel