Patriotism, pride, and parades

Source: https://twitter.com/guimaraes13PT/status/1425068219736416257

On August 10th, the same day that the Brazilian Congress voted on (ultimately voting down) a constitutional amendment regarding printed ballots, President Bolsonaro participated in a military parade displaying armored vehicles and other armaments. Some are calling this a tanqueciata, a play on passeata (“excursion” or “demonstration march”), replacing the root passo (“step”) with tanque (“tank”).

The echoes from Brazil’s military dictatorship were inescapable. Federal Representative José Guimarães (@guimaraes13PT) tweeted the words of Ulysses Guimarães, one of the most prominent figures of opposition to military rule, serving as a representative of São Paulo state in the Brazilian House of Representatives from 1951 and serving until his death in 1992. Guimarães spoke the words in the tweet, which are translated below, while serving in the Brazilian Constitutional Assembly that wrote the post-military magna carta.

A traitor to the the constitution is a traitor to the homeland. We know the cursed path. Rip up the Constitution, lock the doors of Congress, strangle freedom, send the patriots to jail, exile, and the cemetery. When, after so many years of struggle and sacrifice, we promulgate a new charter for humans, for freedom, and for democracy, we are clamoring for its honor to be imposed. We have only hate for the dictatorship. Hate and disgust.