Long live the organic intellectual Raduan Nassar!

By Roberto Amaral and Pedro Amaral - The organic intellectual of the workers, necessarily left-wing, denounces the class struggle; the organic intellectual of the ruling class, necessarily conservative or right-wing, also seeks to intervene in reality, but to prevent the birth of the future. Often, the preservation of the status quo is not enough for him. status quo: intervenes to reclaim the past.

We are currently witnessing an ideological assault by the right wing.

Although he cannot choose the time in which he will have to live his life, it is imperative for the writer, the organic intellectual, always a representative of an ideological worldview, to define himself in the face of class struggle and, thus, define the character of his role as a historical agent.

The writer reproduces his worldview every time he writes or fails to write. Baudelaire defined himself in the face of the revolutions of 1848. He fought against them and, for the rest of his life, became an adversary of the notions of progress and freedom, constructing a visible contradiction between life and work, between the intellectual and the poet. Balzac remained indifferent to the Paris Commune. Sartre—himself a permanently engaged intellectual—recalls the silence of Flaubert and Goncourt in the face of the repression of the Commune, to show how both defined themselves by opting for omission, which, in a table of values, has as much significance as the intervention of Zola, who, without fearing the force of circumstances, opted for the defense of the freedom of Captain Alfred Dreyfus, as Voltaire—perhaps one of the first of the engaged intellectuals—had previously defined himself in the Calas case.
How many Brazilian intellectuals contemporary with Joaquim Nabuco and José do Patrocínio remained silent in the face of slavery? How many, during the Republic, remained silent in the face of the massacre that followed the Revolt of the Lash? How many remained silent and passive in the face of the Estado Novo (New State)? How many marched alongside Miguel Reale Jr., a social-democratic jurist and author of the impeachment request against Dilma Rousseff, orchestrated with the then-president of the Chamber of Deputies?

Niomar Moniz and Roberto Marinho, with their Correio da Manhã e The GlobeThey, respectively, made different choices regarding the military dictatorship, both aware—she of the risks, he of the benefits—that neither was wrong, as history has shown. Similarly, numerous high-profile businessmen financed the coup of April 1, 64, and supported the dictatorship. On the opposite side, we had rare examples—and therefore worthy of celebration—such as Fernando Gasparian, an organic intellectual and founder of the weekly newspaper. Opinion, a trench of political resistance against the dictatorship. Among many who fought against it were Antônio Houaiss, Ênio da Silveira, Carlos Heitor Cony, Amelinha Teles, Celso Furtado, and Chico Buarque de Holanda, among so many others who experienced repression and exile, while others, with a large presence in the press, defended it, such as Rachel de Queiroz and Rubem Fonseca.

Raduan Nassar, one of the most important Brazilian writers of the 20th century, will turn 90 on November 27th, as Frei Betto reminds us ("Raduan Nassar on his way to 90" - Folha de S. Paulo, 26/08/2025), one of the most outstanding organic intellectuals of my already old generation, who speaks to us about Raduan the writer.

One of the greatest writers, though with few but all precious works, Raduan, upon concluding his production, left behind a body of work of singular poetic density, concision, and a very distinctive formal experimentation, which sets him apart, for example, from the earthy Guimarães Rosa.
His stylistic precision, creative as well as courageous, far removed from the Baroque of Grande Sertão: paths, recalls Graciliano Ramos of Dried livesHis syntax is innovative because it is lyrical, a musical prose, close to poetry. It invades the vast and profound intimate universe of the human soul from the microcosm of its archaic and familiar world—desire and guilt, telluric violence (which is also present in Graciliano) and the yearning for freedom, the dream of man—and thus achieves universality, the goal of every great writer.
This is his best-known side, which, due to its brilliance, overshadows Raduan Nassar the citizen, the left-wing politician, the organic intellectual committed to the country.

In 1984, the acclaimed writer, winner of the Jabuti and Camões awards, announced his retirement from literature and, in 1985, left the public scene for good to dedicate himself to rural life. He went to live and work on his farm, Lagoa do Sino, in the interior of São Paulo.
In 2014, as circumstances brought us closer together, the organic intellectual took the writer's seat. His voice rose in defense of Dilma Rousseff's violated mandate, remained firm in condemning the parliamentary coup, opposed the Temer government, the Perjurer, denounced the coup plot of the so-called Lava Jato Operation (whose corrupt deviations are now notorious), and preemptively exposed his vassal character. He defended President Lula, correctly identified as a political prisoner, visited him in prison, and was with him in Curitiba upon his release. He advocated for his election in 2022.

Political activism is imposed by the tragedy represented by the emergence of the far-right, which has come to power with Bolsonaro and is not yet entirely removed from it—since it controls Congress and maintains popular support—even after the 2022 elections and the frustration of the 2023 impeachment attempt. With his eyes fixed on reality, he will say: “I prefer to talk about politics and not literature.” He surprised everyone in 2016 by publicly defending President Dilma from the flawed impeachment process, published articles, and criticized the then vice-president—that minor politician whom, despite everything, the local press still fawns over—who already had his bags packed to take up residence in the Alvorada Palace.
He then returned to his self-imposed exile, still unexplained, on his farm in São Paulo.

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Ethnic cleansing continues — The Palestinian genocide is approaching its second anniversary, and the Israeli government, openly committed to ethnic cleansing (authorized by an indifferent, therefore complicit, “international community”), is loudly announcing its plan for a final solution, which involves taking control of Gaza City, the center of the Arab ghetto. Living Space Zionist control now encompasses, in addition to almost all of Palestinian territory, parts of neighboring Syria. In this scenario of horror and misfortune, Brazil is right to raise its voice against the provocations and insults emanating from Tel Aviv, and to lower the standard of its diplomatic relations with the protectorate. But it cannot be imagined that this will be enough.

Ideological inferiority complex - The Financial Times and Le Monde They record Donald T.'s meeting with the new South Korean leader. The American is clear about his objective: he wants to use the Korean peninsula as a launchpad/provocation aimed at China, the current obsession of the old empire. To this end, he signals an interest in normalizing relations with Pyongyang and appropriating (!) the American bases on South Korean territory. Both the Financial Even Le Monde (which is not known for its sympathy for communism) refers to Kim Jong-un neutrally, as "leader" or "director" of North Korea. Why is the Brazilian reader forced to consume stereotypes in their newspapers and pamphlets, amidst a void of information?

The billions of organized crime – The São Paulo Public Prosecutor's Office and the Police are beginning to uncover the criminal relationships between the PCC (Primeiro Comando da Capital) and the financial system. The connection between one of the organized crime families, reminiscent of the Italian mafia at the beginning of the last century, and Faria Lima (a major financial district in São Paulo) is very serious, both in itself, for its obviousness, and for the hidden political threat: what is the mafia-Faria Lima partnership doing with this untraceable mountain of money? Initial investigations suggest 58 billion reais. Is it financing the right wing? Electing its prosecutors to the National Congress, or the governments of São Paulo and Minas Gerais?