Brazilian protest songs: “Peace without a voice is no peace but fear”

I was born a year after the military coup in Brazil. The dictatorship that followed lasted from

1964 until 1985 - all my childhood and teenage years. But until I was 13 or 14 years old, I had

no clue of what was going on in my country. I lived in a small town and my parents were not

involved in politics. We listened to the radio, watched the news on TV and had a subscription to

[5]  a national newspaper, but all the media were completely censored at that time. The fact that the

newspaper was sometimes printed with a blank space or a cake recipe in the middle of the news

never really caught my attention. It was always like that and I didn’t know any better.

I had my first glimpse of what it really meant to have a military government and what kind

of things were going on through songs. There was a song that I liked a lot, O bêbado e a

[10]  equilibrista, although the lyrics didn’t make much sense to me: “My Brazil… / that dreams of the

return / of Henfil’s brother / and so many people that left / on rocket fins”. Henfil was a famous

cartoonist, but who was his brother? Who were the people who left? What were they singing

about? This was in 1979 and I was 13.

Thanks to this song by João Bosco and Aldir Blanc (sung by Elis Regina) and the questions I

[15]  started to ask, I heard for the first time about all the artists, journalists and activists that had

been persecuted, imprisoned, tortured and exiled. Many had disappeared or been killed by the

military regime. This song became an anthem for the amnesty of political prisoners and activists

in exile, which was announced later in that same year.

In fact, due to the extreme censorship during the period of military dictatorship in Brazil, songs

[20]  were one of the few ways to send political messages. Despite the tight surveillance of the censors,

they flourished, giving a voice to the resistance movement. Like Para não dizer que não falei das

flores, by Geraldo Vandré, which was interpreted as a call for armed struggle.

Words and phrases with double meanings were used to escape censorship and persecution. The

greatest master in this art was Chico Buarque de Holanda. His clever lyrics were often approved

[25]  by the censors, who would only later realise what the songs were really about. But then, of

course, it was too late. That was the case with Apesar de você, which was censored only after it

had already become an anthem on the streets. At first sight, it appears to be a samba about a

lover’s quarrel. Actually, it was a sharp critique of the authoritarian regime and an act of direct

defiance aimed at the dictators.

[30]  With the advent of democracy and the new freedom of expression in the late 1980s, protest

songs played less of a role in Brazil for a while, but in the 1990s they once again became a

powerful channel to voice social discontent. One of bands active in this period was O Rappa, with

the song A paz que eu não quero. The fight against social inequality, urban and police violence

and racial discrimination are the most common themes. Nowadays, the lyrics are explicit and the

messages are clear.

Mariângela Guimarães rnw.nl 

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The Yearly International Buy Nothing Day

The end of November many countries worldwide experience the International Buy Nothing Day/No Shop Day. Buy Nothing Day is especially a day of protest by all of those who find that they have enough, and want to voice their opposition to the incessant trend towards 'always more.' Buy Nothing Day is particularly celebrated in countries that have a very high level of consumption.
The initiative for the Buy Nothing Day was taken in 1992, in Canada, by Ted Dave, who was working in the advertising world. By doing this, he wanted to perform an act against the constant appeal to overconsume, which advertisements pour out on us. His motto was: Enough is enough! Since then the idea of the Buy Nothing Day has been adopted by increasingly more countries. This year there will be activities in at least thirteen countries.
 

Participate by not participating!

The easiest way to become involved in the Buy Nothing Day is: Stay at home! Give yourself and your wallet a day of rest by not shopping. Some countries have special posters to put in your windows. Those who want to participate in this campaign in a more active way - and that is definitely much more fun - can contact the coordinating group in their own country.
Omslag, Workshop for Sustainable Development - The Netherlands

Disponível em: http://www.koopniets.nl/buynothingday.htm Acesso em: 28 out. 2012. (Adaptado).

Glossário:
to voice: verbalizar
trend: tendência
pour out: despejar
motto: lema

Read the text below and answer question.

Culture linked to improved health

[1] Trips to the theatre, concerts, art galleries and museums have been linked to better health and
wellbeing, according to researchers in Norway.
A report, published in the Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health, showed the more
often people engaged in cultural activities the greater their health benefits.
[5] The authors suggest culture could be used to promote good health.
The study interviewed 50,797 adults from Norway. They were asked about their health, and
satisfaction with life, as well as levels of anxiety and depression.
They were also questioned about their involvement in two cultural fields: "creative culture" when
the person does something such as play an instrument, paint or sing, and "receptive culture"
[10] including going to galleries and concerts.
Both types of cultural activity were linked with good health, wellbeing, low stress and low
depression even when other factors, such as social background and wealth, were taken into
account.
In men the effect was most pronounced in those who preferred to get their dose of culture as an
[15] observer rather than doing something more hands on.
The authors said: "The results indicate that the use of cultural activities in health promotion and
healthcare may be justified."
The study, however, cannot say that culture improves health. It could be the case that healthier
people are more likely to take part in cultural activities.
[20] Professor Alan Maryon-Davis, spokesperson for the UK Faculty of Public Health, said: "It's
interesting research, probably working through the release of hormones, like endorphins,
increasing the feeling of wellbeing and reducing anxiety and depression."
Source: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-13501294 24 May 2011 Last updated at 10:46 GMT

GLOSSARY
Engaged: envolvidas, comprometidas
Fields: campos
Health: saúde
Increasing: aumentando
Norway: Noruega
Release: liberação
Research: pesquisa
Spokesperson: porta-voz
Wealth: riqueza
Wellbeing: bem-estar

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A hundred years ago this weekend, a group of young artists and writers organised what they called the Modern Art Week in the new and grandiose municipal theatre in São Paulo. In fact, it lasted only for three evenings. It included a show of modernist painting, lectures, poetry recitals and music by Heitor Villa-Lobos, who was to become Brazil’s best-known composer. It has since come to be seen as the founding moment of modern Brazilian artistic culture. Its centenary has brought both commemoration and some criticism.

The event took place in São Paulo, then a fast-industrialising frontier city that was starting to rival Rio de Janeiro, the capital at the time, where the staid cultural establishment was based. The Brazilian modernists had their contradictions. The would-be revolutionaries were also dandies, the scions of the coffee-growing aristocracy, and they were close to the political oligarchy that ran São Paulo and Brazil. Even so, they were disrupters.

The week “was a declaration of cultural independence, that we are not simply a clumsy copy of something else”, says Eduardo Giannetti, a Brazilian philosopher. The modernists’ aims were later formalised in a Manifesto Antropófago (Cannibal Manifesto), written by one of the poets, Oswald de Andrade. This sought to address the dilemma of how to be a Brazilian modern artist when modernism was a European import. The answer: “Absorption of the sacred enemy. To transform him into a totem.” In other words, Brazilians would not simply reproduce other models but digest them and turn them into something that was their own. The group embraced a national identity that, at least in theory, included black and indigenous Brazilians and their beliefs, and tropical fauna and flora.

It was cultural nationalism, but of an open-minded, cosmopolitan and non-xenophobic kind. That was important. Across Latin America, modernist writers and artists were forging new national identities. As the innovative 1920s degenerated into the ideological conflicts of the 1930s, some would embrace communism and others creole fascism in its many variants. The Brazilian modernists would radicalise politically and be coopted, too, by Getúlio Vargas, Brazil’s nation-builder, who ruled for much of 1930 to 1954, by turns an autocrat and a democrat.

Fonte: How the “Cannibal Manifesto” changed Brazil (Updated Feb 20th 2022). In: www.economist.com/the-americas/ 2022/02/12/how-the-cannibal-manifesto-changed-brazil. Adaptado. Data de acesso: 20/08/2022.