The following day, Globo Organizations released an online confession of guilt regarding their support for the 1964 coup and the military dictatorship. In this regard, we present here the reasons that led us to express ourselves in this way:
-We throw trash at Globo because it's illegal and undemocratic. Globo is the ultimate representation of the communications monopoly in our country, wielding absolute power in defining what is true and false, right and wrong, legitimate and illegitimate in Brazil. Such a degree of concentration is incompatible with the 1988 Constitution, which expressly prohibits monopolies and oligopolies in the media. A power to control hearts and minds like that built by Globo would never be tolerated, even in liberal countries.
-We throw trash at Globo because it's manipulative and censors. It's intimately associated with conservative forces in Brazil. Its trajectory is marked by an intrinsic relationship with the current political system and the ruling class. To that end, Globo manipulates facts, creating and deconstructing presidents according to its interests and those of the class factions it represents. Its editorial orientation towards criminalizing and delegitimizing the actions of social movements and their popular causes is notorious.
-We throw trash at Globo because it's a coup plotter. It was the ideological supporter of the 1964 Military Coup. The Globo Organizations, as it recently admitted, were complicit in a dictatorial regime that persecuted, imprisoned, kidnapped, tortured, and murdered thousands of Brazilians who fought for democracy, but who were treated as "terrorists" in the headlines of its newspapers. Globo was complicit in the greatest bloodstain that the Brazilian people carry in their history.
-We blame Globo because it benefited from and built an empire on the work of the murderous dictatorship. It never admitted that its empire was only formed from the advantages it obtained through its association with the social, political, and military forces that supported the dictatorship. And because of this partnership, until the end of the regime it concealed the struggles for redemocratization – including the historic rally in São Paulo in 1984 for direct elections – prolonging its duration as much as possible. Therefore, it didn't commit a mistake, but a crime.
- We're throwing trash at Globo because it's against the changes the people want. In its editorial, Globo reaffirms that it was against the Basic Reforms proposed by João Goulart. Interrupted by the coup, these reforms have still not been implemented, as the people remain without full access to elementary rights. Globo is one of the main obstacles to the advancement of necessary structural reforms in Brazil, such as Educational and Political Reform.
-We criticize Globo because it's hypocritical. Globo is owned by the richest family in Brazil. Roberto Marinho's children have a combined net worth of R$ 51 billion. At the same time, Globo owes the Brazilian state R$ 615 million, including taxes evaded in the purchase of the broadcasting rights for the 2002 World Cup and fines received from the Federal Revenue Service. In other words, their media companies act as a moralizing agent of Brazilian society (judging and denouncing the misuse of public funds) and promote actions aimed at "social inclusion," while accumulating the greatest family wealth in the country and evading taxes.
-We throw shit at Globo because they throw shit at us. Globo decisively contributes to the formation of a conservative, alienated, and discriminatory worldview. Its programming is full of narratives that degrade the role of women, make the Black population invisible, and stigmatize homosexuals. Globo also represents a monopoly on art, music, and cinema in Brazil, acting as a tourniquet that prevents access, dissemination, and production of the most genuine cultural expressions of the Brazilian people. The network has transformed one of the country's greatest assets, football, into an asset in the advertising market, controlling everything from the direction of the Brazilian Football Confederation (CBF) to the game schedules.
-We threw trash at Globo to break a pact of silence that exists around its empire, because most political forces, whether out of complicity or fear of political damage from the network, don't question its power. Similarly, the federal government, in the name of this pact, remains silent regarding the regulation of the media and continues to feed this machine of resources through advertising funds from ministries and state-owned companies.
-We throw shit at Globo because shit represents the dirtiest and most repugnant things. It's what should be discarded. At the same time, shit fertilizes and can give birth to something new, like the confession of guilt the company made for supporting the dictatorship for 21 years. It could also fertilize the regulation and effective democratization of the media.
Only through acts of this nature would it be possible to express the urgent need to democratize communication in our country. Just as the fight for Memory, Truth, and Justice, which we have guided through the public shaming of torturers, the fight for the democratization of communication is a fundamental step in consolidating the process of redemocratization of Brazilian society, which remains unfinished to this day.
We will not rest until these goals are achieved.
Free Homeland, We Will Win!
1 September 2013
Popular Youth Uprising