Reflection on Current Hostility

In the last few days, with some disbelief I realized that images of André Ventura’s presidential campaign were appearing on the pages of newspapers – after being published on various social networks – with messages such as “This is not Bangladesh” or “Gypsies must obey the law”. I researched, reconfirmed, asked until I was sure that they were not manipulated images – some have already appeared, but these two, in particular, are really true. This Monday, an article in The Guardian drew attention to the fact that, in the Netherlands, “open hostility has become normalized”, something that became clear after Geert Wilders’ Party for Freedom entered the executive. The phenomenon is not unprecedented: in Brazil, before Jair Bolsonaro’s victory, several political analysts I interviewed at the time assured that “bar talk would never happen in Planalto”. In a few weeks, not only did the conversation enter Planalto, it also became common on the streets. Because when leaders legitimize a type of behavior, it is difficult for them to raise eyebrows even when those same acts, a few years ago, would have raised all the alarm bells and would have been quickly drowned out by common sense and humanity.

Democracy is, and rightly so, a system that guarantees civil liberties – including freedom of expression – and whose rulers are elected in a fair and representative manner by the people they represent. Which means that many Portuguese people think exactly like André Ventura – which was proven, in fact, at the polls in the last elections. But between what each person thinks and what they can do, there is a very big step. And that’s why there are rules that govern us. Because Democracy is also a system that must, according to the most basic rules of its existence as a political system, guarantee the most fundamental human rights. And we don’t need to analyze the entire Universal Declaration that enshrines them in order to quickly reflect on this hostility that has openly taken over the public debate and space. In fact, we just need to look carefully at the first article of that document: “All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights. They are endowed with reason and conscience and must act towards each other in a spirit of fraternity.” 80 years have not yet passed since the United Nations General Assembly approved and proclaimed the declaration that also marked a new era, post-World War II – which began, if you remember correctly, with messages very similar to those we now see spread across the streets and networks. Therefore, perhaps it is a good time to remember another phrase, said (allegedly) a few years before this proclamation: “Democracy is the worst system, with the exception of all the others”. Let us know, then, not to fall into the trap of helping to normalize something that goes against everything that many before us had to fight against. And die.