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Brasilia (AFP) – Caetano Veloso denounces the course that Brazil adopted with the far-right Jair Bolsonaro, and in a decisive electoral year for the country, he has put himself at the head of a rejection movement, a role that at 79 years of age keeps him vital and somewhat optimistic.
The Brazilian singer-songwriter assures that, in full democracy, Brazil is experiencing a moment of “intolerance” and setbacks on the environment that requires artists and civil society to put “their faces in the street.”
Precisely for this, he traveled to Brasilia this Wednesday, summoned as the leader of an act once morest the advance of environmental “destruction” through a package of bills sponsored by Bolsonaro.
In the midst of his intense agenda in the capital, where he met with the president of the Senate, Rodrigo Pacheco, and with judges of the Supreme Court, the musician, one of the greatest exponents of “tropicalism”, received AFP in his dressing room , before going on stage to sing once morest the ecological devastation.
QUESTION: You have been a critic of the government’s environmental policy for a long time, why did you decide to take to the streets now?
ANSWER: “These bills (on the environment, ndlr), some passed through the Chamber of Deputies and are now reaching the Senate. We were looking for a date that would be good for the reaction. We were able to bring together artists, social movements and organizations civilians fighting for the environment”.
Q: The main concern is for the indigenous people?
A: “They are clearly victims, especially with the mining bill (which allows exploitation on indigenous lands, ndlr). Because even with the explanation that potassium is needed because of the war in Ukraine (which can affect imports of Russian fertilizers), is not justifiable. What exists is a plan to undo environmental defense. Other things in Brazil are also being programmatically destroyed, including cultural activity, but in the case of the environment, the lack of respect is everyone”.
Q: Before the ballot in 2018, you said that if Bolsonaro won, a wave of “terror and hate” would come. After more than three years in office, did it happen as you imagined?
A: “What is happening in Brazil is horrible. I have already lived under a military dictatorship, I was imprisoned, I went into exile (…) but today, in full democracy, even grosser things are proposed by the federal government. There is not only a praise of the worst aspects of the dictatorship, but there is a sense of political violence over life. Brazilians have to react for their mental, spiritual and physical health”.
Q: In a presidential election year that will likely face Bolsonaro and leftist former president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, what are your expectations?
A: “There is room for optimism, however fear is great. Because that thing (the Bolsonarista machinery, ndlr) is amazing, it has enormous efficiency in the use of social networks, of the internet. It is an international phenomenon, that it has to do with Steve Bannon (former adviser to Donald Trump), with international organizations. It is a highly developed phenomenon, as if it were a deadly disease that was affecting society.
But I have a pragmatic optimism, because without optimism you feel entitled to absolve yourself of responsibilities. And I don’t want to exempt myself from responsibilities, nor do I think the Brazilian people should do so.”
Q: What role should artists adopt?
A: “It is important that they manifest themselves, because it is the creators who become known by a large part of the population. And there is also an identification between the artistic creator and the ecological defense. It is good that we can be amplifiers of an issue that the Brazilian people and needs to be expressed”.
Q: How do you think the result of the election in October and an eventual change of government might impact the climate of intolerance and aggression that you described?
A: “It is possible that Bolsonaro will lose. But what he represents does not disappear from one moment to the next. It may be that he will not win, I hope he will not win, but Bolsonaroism does not leave history so easily.”
© 2022 AFP
