Brazilian congressman calls on Federal Police after alteration to Paulo Freire's Wikipedia profile.
To identify and punish those responsible for the attacks on the profile of educator Paulo Freire, Patron of Brazilian Education, on the online encyclopedia Wikipedia, federal deputy Elvino Bohn Gass (PT-RS) submitted a request for investigation and action to the Attorney General's Office, the Federal Police, and Serpro; "In 2014, when Globo journalists suffered the same type of attack, the Dilma government discovered and dismissed the employee who had made the alteration. Now, we are talking about who is perhaps the most recognized Brazilian in the world, Paulo Freire," stated the parliamentarian.
Rio Grande do Sul 247- To identify and punish those responsible for the attacks on the profile of educator Paulo Freire, Patron of Brazilian Education, on the online encyclopedia Wikipedia, federal deputy Elvino Bohn Gass (PT-RS) forwarded a request for investigation and action to the Attorney General's Office, the Federal Police, and Serpro.
"In 2014, when Globo journalists suffered the same type of attack, the Dilma government discovered and dismissed the employee who had made the alteration. Now, we are talking about who is perhaps the most recognized Brazilian in the world, Paulo Freire," the congressman stated.
The congressman justified including the Federal Data Processing Service (Serpro) in the lawsuit based on news reports indicating that the attacks originated from computers belonging to that agency. "I asked the Attorney General's Office to instruct the Federal Police to investigate, and Serpro to open an internal inquiry. It is unacceptable to attack the memory of a Brazilian whose work is a global benchmark in his field," he said.
In its legal representation, Bohn Gass assesses the attack perpetrated on Freire's profile as a "manifestation of hatred and intolerance," as it included expressions that describe the educator's work as "the murder of knowledge" and "backward, doctrinaire, and weak education."
Bohn Gass says that the rise in intolerance in the country weighed on his decision to activate the security forces. "It is necessary to react to this with determination. The ideological component of this attack is evident. It arises in the wake of some posters from the marches that defended impeachment, which ranged from defending the dictatorship to insults against Paulo Freire himself," he added.
The parliamentarian said he had identified traces of this same intolerance in demonstrations and in bills presented in the Chamber. "The intellectual poverty, cynicism, and opportunism of some politicians who try to impose a conservative ideology are mixed together in the so-called 'non-partisan school.' As Dr. Leandro Karnal rightly described it a few days ago, this is utter nonsense, a fantastical belief of a delusional and absurdly stupid right wing."
According to Bohn Gass, the attack on Paulo Freire's profile is directly linked to this idea. He argues that this is because Freire himself ended this debate.
"In his book 'Pedagogy of Autonomy', our patron wrote that 'in the name of the respect I owe to my students, there is no reason for me to remain silent, to hide my political option, assuming a neutrality that does not exist. This, the teacher's omission in the name of respect for the student, is perhaps the best way to disrespect him. My role, on the contrary, is that of one who witnesses the right to compare, to choose, to break with the status quo, to decide, and to encourage the students to assume this right'."