Almost three thousand personalities from different nationalities and different areas sign an article, released on Friday night, against the “right wing regime in Brazil”, headed by President Jair Bolsonaro. Among the signatories – 2776 in all – are musicians Chico Buarque, Sting and Caetano Veloso, the philosopher Noam Chomsky, the writers Valter Hugo Mãe, Mia Couto and Milton Hatoum, director Petra Costa, actor William Dafoe and photographer Sebastião Salgado.
The article, published in the British newspaper The Guardian, says that the Brazilian Government “wants to censor textbooks, spy on teachers and repress minority and LGBT groups [Lésbicas, Gays, Bissexuais, Travestis, Transexuais e Transgénero]”, Appealing to the support of the international community.
“Brazil’s democratic institutions are under attack. Since taking office, Jair Bolsonaro, helped by his far-right allies, has systematically undermined the country’s cultural, scientific and educational institutions, as well as the press, ”says the introduction to the text.
In the text, the group lists a series of controversies that involved the Brazilian Government that took office in January 2019 – from a “campaign to encourage students (…) to secretly film their teachers and denounce them for ‘ideological indoctrination’ ”, The“ resignation of the director of marketing Banco do Brasil, for creating an advertising campaign promoting diversity and inclusion ”.
Environmental issues were not left out of criticism, with a focus on fires in the Amazon last summer, stressing that while the forest was burning “at an alarming rate, the Bolsonaro government retaliated against scientists who dared to present facts”, mentioning the case of Ricardo Galvão, former director of the National Institute for Space Research, fired for disclosing data satellite report on deforestation in the region.
The document highlights the attacks on the press, giving the example of the American journalist Glenn Greenwald, responsible for the journalistic investigation that called into question the impartiality of Car wash, the largest operation against corruption in the country, and Sergio Moro, Minister of Justice. Greenwald was denounced by the Public Prosecutor in an investigation into illegitimate access to authorities’ conversations on mobile phones, used in his reports – but on Friday the court did not accept the complaint.
