{"id":8368,"date":"2020-01-31T15:06:16","date_gmt":"2020-01-31T15:06:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/portuguese\/?p=8368"},"modified":"2020-01-28T15:15:33","modified_gmt":"2020-01-28T15:15:33","slug":"why-was-the-brazilian-special-secretary-for-culture-removed-from-office","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/portuguese\/why-was-the-brazilian-special-secretary-for-culture-removed-from-office\/","title":{"rendered":"Why was the Brazilian Special Secretary for Culture removed from office?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Bom dia, pessoal! Good morning, you guys! Perhaps you may find it contradictory that a country so racially diverse like our own could possibly have residents who would show any trace of sympathy for neo-Nazi ideologies. Well, as strange as it sounds, this movement has gained some visibility especially since the last elections. This bizarre and sad episode was highlighted in Brazilian and international <\/span>not\u00edcias<\/span><\/i> (news) last week, when the then Special Secretary of Culture of the <\/span>governo<\/span><\/i> (government), Roberto Alvim, posted an institutional video announcing a new program to promote Brazilian culture. That seems like it could be a good initiative, isn’t it? However, it did not take long for many people to identify <\/span>semelhan\u00e7as<\/span><\/i> (similarities) between this <\/span>pronunciamento<\/span><\/i> (statement) and the <\/span>discurso<\/span><\/i> (speech) of none other than Josef Goebbels, the propaganda minister of Adolf Hitler\u2019s Nazi government.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"

Roberto Alvim, Secret\u00e1rio especial de cultura. Fotos: Clara Angeleas<\/p><\/div>\n

No, you’re not crazy, you read that right! A senior government official in the Brazilian government <\/span>plagiando <\/span><\/i>(plagiarizing) the speech of one of the perverse minds who behind the Nazi regime. Not only judeus<\/em> (Jewish) groups and entities, but also countless people from other religions and ateus<\/em> (atheists), and even the German and Brazilian governments themselves repudiated the <\/span>ato<\/span><\/i> (act), which ended up putting <\/span>press\u00e3o<\/span><\/i> (pressure) on the President of Brazil to <\/span>exonerar do cargo<\/span><\/i> (dismiss from) office the then Secretary of Culture one day after posting the video. If you are curious to understand <\/span>o que aconteceu<\/span><\/i> (what happened), then let’s get to the facts:<\/span><\/p>\n

Much like in the iconography of official Nazi speeches, Roberto Alvim also placed the image of the presidential leader hanging on the wall, <\/span>a bandeira da na\u00e7\u00e3o<\/span><\/i> (the nation’s flag) on one side and <\/span>uma cruz crist\u00e3<\/span><\/i> (a Christian cross) on the other. If this is not evidence enough to bring the two speeches closer, it is worth noting that <\/span>ao fundo<\/span><\/i> (in the background), an opera by Richard Wagner, a German composer highly praised by the Reich, was playing.<\/span><\/p>\n

However, what stood out the most in this official video of the minister was the following <\/span>trecho<\/span><\/i> (excerpt):\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

“A <\/span><\/i>arte brasileira da pr\u00f3xima d\u00e9cada ser\u00e1 heroica<\/i><\/b> e ser\u00e1 nacional. Ser\u00e1 dotada de grande capacidade de envolvimento emocional e <\/span><\/i>ser\u00e1 igualmente imperativa<\/i><\/b>, posto que profundamente vinculada \u00e0s aspira\u00e7\u00f5es urgentes de nosso povo, <\/span><\/i>ou ent\u00e3o n\u00e3o ser\u00e1 nada<\/i><\/b>“.<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

(<\/span>The Brazilian art of the next decade will be heroic<\/b> and national<\/b>. It will be endowed with a great capacity for emotional involvement and <\/span>will be equally imperative<\/b>, since it is deeply linked to urgent aspirations of our people, <\/span>or else it will be nothing<\/b>).<\/span><\/p>\n

Compare now with the passage by Josef Goebbels on May 8, 1933: “<\/span>The German art of the next decade will be heroic<\/b>, it will be fiercely romantic, it will be objective and free of sentimentality, <\/span>it will be national<\/b> with great pathos and equally imperative and binding, <\/span>or else it will be nothing<\/b>“.<\/span><\/p>\n

If the very idea of plagiarism is already considered a crime worthy of <\/span>puni\u00e7\u00e3o<\/span><\/i> (punishment), plagiarizing the propaganda minister of one of the most atrocious authoritarian regimes in the last century is grotesque and disrespectful to say the very least. In <\/span>entrevistas <\/span><\/i>(interviews) after his <\/span>demiss\u00e3o<\/span><\/i> (resignation), Alvim said he did not plagiarize the Nazi minister, but that it was merely a <\/span>\u201c<\/span><\/i>coincid\u00eancia ret\u00f3rica<\/span><\/i>\u201d<\/span> (rhetorical coincidence).<\/span><\/p>\n

You can watch the video of the speech below, but be sure to comment on whether or not you agree with the explanation of the former Minister of Culture of Brazil.<\/span><\/p>\n