Brazil: Cardinal Helder Camara, white, black and red

     Wizened by age, Cardinal Helder Camara, Archbishop of Recife, died, and the government proclaimed three days of mourning. It was not always thus. When the military junta seized power in 1964, it denounced him as a communist. He was really a Christian Socialist, a leader of the "conscienciazation" movement which developed in Brazil as a response to the horrible gap between rich and poor. It sought to make the poor conscientious of their rights and the rich of their responsibilities. It is the social philosophy of Pope John Paul II and indeed of the Catholic Church. A white of partly German origin in the poor Northeast, he supported among other causes that of the squatters on landed estates whom the landowners were using armed force to dislodge. The Church has filled the gap left by the collapse of world communism.
     The problem is that, while all sensible people are aware of the problem, there is little agreement as to a solution. The Communists had theirs, which would have reduced Brazil to a big Cuba. Joao Goulart, whom the military overthrew, was the closest thing to a European-style socialist. Promoters of capitalism fail to realize that the people demand a quick fix. The Catholic Church seems to have few precise proposals except that rich countries forgive the debts of poor ones.
     No solution will work without the work ethic. The numerous carnivals may be fun, but they simply hide reality. Squatters make their point, but don´t work. They have built a shanty town right outside the government building in Curitiba, the capital of Paraná. Demonstrators travel at considerable expense from all over Brazil to demonstrate outside the parliament in Brasilia, but this cannot replace work.
     The strangest phenomenon in Brazil today is the Texan cowboy cult among the Brazilian nonpoor. Crowds assemble in arenas to watch them ride wild horses or cows. Fashionable girls dress up in expensive cowboy (girl?) dress. Crooners sing in English "I love you cowboy". All this makes up what is called in Portuguese "a vida cowboy." Not my idea of fun or of work.
     Professor Tor Guimaraes, who is of Brazilian origin, but who clearly dismisses the Brazilian proverb that "God is a Brazilian", writes:
     I tell my friends, the US is looking more and more like Brazil. The latter, in turn, more and more like Calcutta. In such environments, the fundamental requirements for democracy (intelligent, knowledgeable people, time to ponder issues, freedom from hunger and violence from tyrants, etc.) become scarce. And democracy becomes a farce.

Ronald Hilton - 08/30/99