Questions & Reflections

A mafia has taken over Greece.

The French newspaper Libération (founded by the French philosopher Jean-Paul Sartre and sold to the millionaire Edouard de Rothschild) recently published a major article by journalist Jean Quatremer, who lives in Brussels. He has just returned from vacation in debt-ridden Greece. What he noted there: "30% to 40% of the Greek GDP is evaded; tax fraud is the national sport, and public sector employees earn more than those in Germany (the richest country in Europe)." It is no coincidence that the nation of Plato and Socrates is dragging the euro, and by extension some countries of the old continent, to the brink of collapse.

The Workers' Party's virtual patrol

Since Lula's government, the party has maintained some communicators. It's called 'Militancy in Virtual Environments'. The idea is to criticize the mainstream media (Veja, Globo Organizations, O Estado de S. Paulo and Folha), opposition parties (do they still exist?) and campaign on news websites and social networks. The scheme is also expected to be used in next year's municipal elections, and is conceived by the party's president, Rui Falcão. They say there's even a "Mini-Manual of the Cyber ​​Guerrilla," with only one motto to follow: virulently attack anyone who disagrees with the party's ideals, calling them piguistas (members of the supposed Coup-Mongering Press Party).

Another bombshell lawsuit in Brasilia.

A new, confidential legal process is underway, and its contents include well-known figures such as Minister Gilberto Carvalho, the Governor of the Federal District, Agnelo Queiroz, and former Minister Erenice Guerra. Their names are allegedly linked to funds for NGOs, Brasília's new cash cow. The process includes accounts of orgies and murders. It also mentions the names of Luiz Carlos Coelho Medeiros and his sister Vera Lúcia Coelho Medeiros, who were responsible for monitoring parliamentary amendments allocated to NGOs. For those who have read the process meticulously, it's whispered that the fertile mind of writer Stephen King is child's play compared to this case. I'm starting to think Orlando Silva was a scapegoat and that, in reality, Don Vito Corleone, as everything indicates, is Lula's former Minister of Sports, who held the position between 2003 and 2006. My only question now is who are the advisors to the godfather-governor.

Tucanato is entangled in São Paulo.

Bruno Covas's pre-candidacy is a disaster, and judging by the way things are going, José Serra is likely to get the nomination. On one hand, he said that the existence of a kickback scheme in the allocation of amendments was a hypothesis. On the other hand, radio stations broadcast a segment of his interview, saying that there was indeed a 10% commission for parliamentarians. And to complete the picture, at the party where he transferred his voter registration, he was greeted by Goro Hama (former treasurer of the PSDB and former president of CDHU). This gentleman, back when Mário Covas (his grandfather) was the leading figure in São Paulo's high society, won 82 lawsuits for administrative misconduct. His grandfather must be turning in his grave after learning that his beloved grandson began his political career in the most outrageous way possible.

Crisis only exists for the poor.

Three years have passed since the collapse of Lehman Brothers. Since then, public coffers and central banks have contributed US$12,4 trillion to stimulate economies and clean up the damage. All of this has become debt for countries that demand payment and cause stock markets around the world to plummet daily. Those who are doing well in all of this are the institutions that were bailed out: Bank of America, Merrill Lynch, BNY Mellon, Citigroup, Goldman Sachs, JPMorgan Chase, and Morgan Stanley, which together profited US$42,4 billion in 2010. If you're not a financial shark and always live with a noose around your neck, at the bottom of the pyramid, know that the capitalist system is like a lizard's tail: when cut, it grows even stronger. And that's why there will be no other system capable of defeating it. By the way: Itaú had the highest profit in the history of a national bank, around 10,9 billion reais (funny, the bank is number 1 in complaints at the consumer protection agency, go figure...). It's like Brecht said: "Worse than robbing a bank is founding one."

The decline of a historical movement.

The Landless Workers' Movement (MST) is losing ground under Dilma Rousseff's government. The 2011 budget for the Ministry of Agrarian Reform was originally R$ 3,3 billion. It suffered a cut of R$ 929 million, and outstanding payments total R$ 1 billion. Now, the Planalto Palace has released R$ 400 million for INCRA (National Institute for Colonization and Agrarian Reform), which could allow the settlement of 20 families out of the 60 camped (and invading farms) throughout the country. Today, the Landless Workers' Movement is nothing more than a very well-orchestrated organization of people who have never held a hoe and who put humble people with utopian intentions on the front lines, doing what the French sociologist Pierre Bourdieu called "Manipulated Mass." This has nothing to do with socialism, Agrarian Reform, or any other name you want to give this thing, I repeat, nothing. And don't come to me with empty talk. I visited camps for journalistic assignments; nobody told me anything, I saw firsthand what happens there.

Eder Fonseca is the founder of the Panorama Mercantil portal. His Twitter profile is... @ederoficial