The little cow won't go to the swamp.

By Miguel Paiva, from Journalists for Democracy

The crisis in cultural creation—theater, cinema, visual arts, literature, among others—was already present before the pandemic due to a government that has no affinity whatsoever for this matter of artistic culture. Their business was the economy; Paulo Guedes and his group, they were the ones who mattered. But with the pandemic, that ship also sank. Besides being abandoned, we were literally left out in the cold. The Regina Duarte episode only confirmed this attitude of the government, if we can even call it that, towards the cultural world. The attitude of the authorities in Brasília towards the artists who died from the virus, from loneliness and disappointment, or from time itself, shows that we are abandoned to our own fate.

Those who followed the isolation rules to preserve life fared even worse. I've been away from urban life, my children, and my friends for almost three months. I was already away from cultural life before that because it had been visibly diminishing. But I still had projects. My play "Reféns" (Hostages), with Herson Capri and Romulo Estrela and directed by Moacir Chaves, was supposed to premiere in September with rehearsals starting now. Everything has been postponed. Angela, my wife, was supposed to premiere a play on the 4th of this month, along with Denise Del Vecchio and directed by Vitor Garcia Peralta, based on the Spanish author José Sanchis Sinisterra, called "O Cerco" (The Siege). Regarding the theater, we still don't know what will happen. 

My life as a cartoonist seems to be thriving and fast-paced. The reasons are many, but the money is scarce. The relationship between work and reward has become unpredictable. I always repeat that I'm learning to separate work from money. And that's what's happening. The websites where I work struggle to survive, informing needy readers and paying their contributors. If we abandon this fight, we'll be left not only out in the cold, but also blind to what's happening in the country. But we all need to survive. Sources of income have dried up, but the country continues to be ailing. We can't ignore it. 

How can we resolve this dilemma, beyond the political will of each individual? When the end of the month arrives, creditors are eager to take advantage of you if you don't pay what you owe. On top of everything, some of me and I are in the at-risk group. I don't even know exactly why, but we are. We're old enough and perhaps don't have comorbidities that would make it worse. When will they allow me to return to my normal life without forcing me to stay home? I want to use my health and energy to get back to producing and earning money to survive. I need to publish, writing and drawing. I need to illustrate, carry out visual programming projects, write my plays and make my posters, despite running into a government that, besides not encouraging, represses and demonizes artists.

What will the new normal be like for all of this? Perhaps we'll return to the origins of commercial relations, to bartering in a more flexible way. I need something, I go there and exchange it for something else I have to spare. I need information, I join a pool that helps those who produce the information to survive. Without intermediaries, without the market tricks that have been created all these years. Maybe even without a boss. Direct consumption. Some experiments have been carried out with some success. Today's artist or journalist will be supported by those who have the means, as in the time of the patrons, the Medici, old Florence that supported its artists. 

Of course we deserve this. Everyone who has dedicated a good part of their lives to Brazilian culture deserves to be at peace, receiving enough from the State to survive with dignity because of everything they have done. I deserved it, Aroeira deserved it, Eric Nepomuceno, Ricardo Kotscho, Ziraldo, Jaguar, so many others who continue the battle not only because they still have energy and creativity to put out there, but because they need to survive. Knowing that there is a huge amount of money already allocated to the cultural sector by law and that it is not released by the government is even more infuriating. Now is the time to unite, to join our forces and resources, those who have them, so that the exchange is mutual. Let's organize this and soon we will feed ourselves at a large common table, at a cultural feast to which everyone is invited and where the price is the contribution that each one is able to give. May cultural life be a huge collective fundraising effort where everyone has access to what is to come, whether on TV, on the computer, in open spaces or in the beloved theaters and cinemas of our lives.

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