The clouds of hope and the ground of reality.

By Eric Nepomuceno, for 247

I begin by repeating here the message I sent, in a recorded message, to President Lula, with the appropriate explanation.

I said I hated the inauguration ceremony, the parade, the speeches, the people in the streets of Brasília and in the immense squares. The explanation: I'm past the age of crying with emotion.

And he added that, more than crying, I became dehydrated.

If I have lived through the last six years, and especially the last four, reiterating that I never in my life imagined reaching this age seeing my country more devastated than ever, I must say that I also never thought I would be so moved by a change of government.  

And the emotion continued in the following days. Fabio Dino's speech, for example, was viscerally powerful. Or the profound emotion of seeing someone of Silvio Almeida's moral stature and dignity taking the place of an aberration known as Damares Alves, who became a senator.  

Seeing João Jorge Rodrigues, whom I don't know personally, appointed to resurrect the Palmares Foundation and sweep away forever the remnants of the excrement that passed through there is priceless. And the joy of having my good friend Marco Lucchesi with the equally immense mission of bringing the National Library back to life... in short, with three or four exceptions, necessities of the political game of a country that has 32 active parties and 22 of them with representation in Congress, a government of giants. I don't remember anything comparable since the return of democracy.

The party isn't really over yet, but it's time to return from the clouds of hope to the ground of reality. And, as we all know, it's a particularly hard ground.

I still believe that of all that has been destroyed, the first resurrection will occur in Foreign Relations. And the second, in the arts and culture.

But even so, and despite knowing Mauro Vieira for decades and being aware of his exceptional qualities, I understand that this will not be an easy task. The global scenario today is very different from what it was twenty years ago, and he will have to draw upon all his qualities – which, I reiterate, are many – and resources, which will only be solid if a very rapid internal restructuring is carried out at Itamaraty. By 'restructuring', incidentally, I mean a broad, general, and unrestricted purge...

I don't personally know the Minister of Culture, Margareth Menezes. And despite having lived in the world of arts and culture for more than five decades, almost six (yes, I started very young...), I must admit that I haven't personally met any of her secretaries either. However, I have very good and solid expectations regarding two of them, Zulu Araújo and Roberta Martins, whose work I have followed from afar.

Everything else will involve much more costly reconstruction and, therefore, will be slower. In any case, it is necessary to have confidence in this reconstruction, and also to have patience and understanding.

There is one specific aspect that deserves our full attention: we will have the worst Congress in many decades, teeming with aberrations, thieves, and reactionaries of the highest caliber. And while the fugitive Jair Messias has lost strength and ground, we cannot forget that Bolsonarism continues.  

Perhaps with less vigor, but still strong and, for that very reason, especially dangerous.

In one of his clearest, most forceful, and precise statements, Fabio Dino said that without justice there is no democracy.

So let's start right there, with justice. And let Jair Messias, his thieving offspring, his accomplices in the genocide and destruction of the country be brought to justice.

Now that will be a whole different party.   

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