The statement below represents considerations about the political state of Brazil in the midst of the proceeding against President Dilma Rousseff of Brazil’s socialist Workers Party. The document was released by the Plinio Corrêa de Oliveira Institute in Sao Paulo, Brazil. It looks at the post-Worker Party Brazil and the needs for the nation. We publish this document as an explanation of what is happening in Brazil and also because of the similarities between Brazil’s problems and America’s present political climate.

Brazil at Historic Crossroads:
A Warning Against False Solutions

Throughout our vast territory, the topics of conversation are about the political scandals of the day: Operation Car Wash, arrests, “out with PT,” and impeachment. The reason for the conversation makes sense. In 2002,¹ the Workers Party (PT) changed its colors from red to pink and spread euphoria throughout the country about a “change to a clean regime” and “hope” for a utopia that made socialism less repulsive in the eyes of many. It trumpeted an “option for the poor” that would finally make Brazil “everyone’s country.” Lulled by this jingle, or rather mantra, countless voters, perhaps rashly, placed into government precisely those who, a few decades earlier, had threatened to impose the perfidious communist regime on Brazilian soil, even with guns if necessary.

Thirteen years have passed and the nation sees itself on the brink of a socio-political-economic and above all moral abyss dug by the very proponents of the “pink dream.” They took over the government machine to such an extent that they obstinately keep hanging on to the reins of power even after one of the greatest corruption scandals in history. That is why people at home, work, restaurants, social networks or the media are unable to speak about anything else.

However, some minds more prone to reflection have already turned their eyes to what we will simply call the “post-PT era,”² whether it results from the ongoing impeachment process, a decision of the Superior Electoral Court, or even new elections.

Indeed, rarely have we had such an uncertain scenario with so many unanswered questions: Who enjoys the confidence needed to take over the government? If new elections are held, who could offer a safe and steady course? Who could indeed represent the nation’s aspirations for an honest regime that fosters productivity and respects the legal framework, the rule of law, family, property and free enterprise?

On the other hand, taking into account the markedly totalitarian and relentless nature of the PT’s socialism, it would be wise to ask whether the left has a “plan B” (even if the PT disappears as a party) by which they can salvage the power project they have been developing for decades.

These and many other questions are beginning to worry those who want to see further ahead, given that they are unsatisfied with the mere merry-go-round of information assailing us over the recent weeks. The Plinio Corrêa de Oliveira Institute is now addressing these Brazilians by offering a clear and serene but also insightful and serious reflection on the directions Brazil may follow in the post-PT era.

I – Thirteen Years or a Few Decades? A Brief History

The PT government took office 13 years ago. The PT managed to set up an ignominious corruption system to fill its war chests and buy its grassroots support. This system led millions of outraged Brazilians out in the streets. However, in addition to this system, former president Ignatio Lula da Silvia and the PT aimed at and largely achieved the following things:

• Foster class struggle between races and ethnic groups;
• Disturb agricultural peace by allowing the MST [Landless Rural Workers Movement], a real rural guerrilla group, to act and get way with violence with impunity. It also created obstacles to the country’s production mainstay—agriculture and cattle ranching—with land reserve demarcations and unrealistic ecological legislation;
• Agitate cities with the Homeless Workers Movement (MTST) that counts on substantial government support.³
• Destroy the family by placing concubinage and marriage on the same footing, recognizing same-sex “marriage,” ignoring parental authority and attempting to impose gender ideology in schools;
• Harming the right to life by favoring abortion and euthanasia, failing to punish criminals, and systematically weakening law-enforcement agencies;
• Staff State agencies and mixed state-private companies with incompetent leftist activists at the service of the Party;
• Defraud public coffers—then in a very favorable global economic environment—with costly social programs that favored clientelism, discouraged work, and prevented the renovation and expansion of infrastructure;
• Undermine the international status of Brazil and more than a century of diplomatic work to strengthen the country’s ties with other South American nations and with its natural allies on behalf of primitive anti-Americanism and of a Marxist-leaning geopolitical position aiming to exacerbate an imaginary north-south conflict.

However, to understand in depth how it was possible for us to reach such a situation and what is now happening, one must at least go back to the political “opening” process during the last Constituent Assembly in 1987. That is what we will now do.

With the political “opening” process, which culminated in the “Diretas Já” [Direct Elections Now] movement and the new Draft Constitution, the left, which had just benefited from the Amnesty Law,⁴ returned to the official political scene seeking vengeance. However, not realizing that the time was one for bonhomie and care-freeness, they interpreted the “opening” as a paved and wide-open avenue to implement their socialist plans. Their attitude was clearly expressed in the Draft Constitution, which spelled out the three “basic reforms” needed to establish socialism, namely Agrarian Land Reform, Urban Reform, and Corporate Reform.

Furthermore, they started a fierce attack on the institution of the family, with an opening to legalize abortion.⁵ Although not as radical, the final text still fulfilled the wishes of the left.⁶

As far as presidential elections were concerned, that crucially important legislative offensive was met with less success. Lula da Silva, the metal workers union leader who in 1989 emerged as a favorite, lost the elections. The same happened later at elections disputed with Fernando Henrique Cardoso, who was twice victorious over the PT candidate.

Although seemingly antagonistic to the PT agenda, the elected candidate followed a gradual road to socialization in several government sectors and especially by implementing a socialist and confiscatory land reform program which, amazingly, saw greater expansion in the Fernando Henrique Administration than later in Lula’s eight years in government.⁷ This seeming enigma becomes more understandable in light of Fernando Henrique’s own words during a visit to Russia in 1994. As the new president-elect he stated that he was the Brazilian Kerensky, a reference to the Social Democrat Russian premier who paved the way for Lenin.⁸

These data shed light on this point: From the Draft Constitution to the present, there has been, sometimes faster, other times slower, but with rare intermissions, a gradual move towards the left. This leads us to conclude that the crisis currently plaguing the government calls into question not only the project of a specific party—the PT—but also the whole plan of the left worldwide in regards to Brazil. Many decades of preparation and implementation of a project are now in danger of capsizing along with the PT government. What will those involved in this process, at both the national and world levels think of this colapse? Will they give up for good? Or will they try—God forbid—some other way out, perhaps violence? These are entirely appropriate questions in the current scenario.

Along with Political Maneuvering, a Social and Religious Offensive

Certainly more decisive than the left’s recovery during the “opening” period was the onslaught of the “Catholic left” on public opinion through the Basic Christian Communities (BCCs), among others. The BCCs were parish groups imbued with the theses of “liberation theology,” a pseudo-religious Marxism, which acted under the influence of progressive clergy. It was a way of trying to overcome what has always been the great obstacle for socialist proselytizing in our country: Brazilians are generally averse to hate speech and especially to the staunch atheism inherent to Marxism. They had to “dress up” that atheism with some “theology” and inoculate Marxism through culture and religion; and through that false theology and false culture stir up the general public, but especially Catholics, against the “system” and “social injustice.” Thus they pressure the political world to implant as soon as possible the “basic reforms,” which are the social foundations of communism.

By openly favoring the progressive clergy and the BCCs, the National Conference of Bishops of Brazil (CNBB) played an unfortunate and preponderant role in these events. At the other end of the ideological spectrum, based on Catholic social teaching and the traditional Magisterium of the Church, the distinguished Catholic thinker and man of action, Plinio Corrêa de Oliveira stood up and responded through the Brazilian Society for the Defense of Tradition, Family and Property (TFP).⁹ Always peacefully and within the law, the entity denounced the deceitful maneuver to the Catholic public, largely hindering the advance of socialism precisely in Catholic circles, the most promising fishing grounds for the left in Brazil.¹⁰

Undeniably, the “Catholic left” has always been the driving force of this whole process of socialization in Brazil. It is worth remembering that both the PT and MST were born from the bosom of “Catholic” progressivism. Former president Lula da Silva himself stated: “The PT would not have existed without the help of thousands of priests and Christian communities in Brazil, and it owes much to the work of the Church, liberation theology, and progressive priests.”¹¹

II – Hopes and Apprehensions at the Present Moment

The mentors of this whole process sought to fill the Brazilian government with its people in order to perpetuate the left in power and implant “twenty-first century Socialism”¹² in Brazil. However, they failed to take public opinion and the national sentiment into account. A reaction was done without them. In the words of Plinio Corrêa de Oliveira, official Brazil did not listen to real Brazil, but clashed with its deepest aspirations and led it where it did not want to go.

As early as 1986, the eminent Catholic leader predicted that if the process to take Brazil to the left was carried out the way it started at the Constituent Assembly,

The divorce between the legal country and the real country will be inevitable. Then will be created one of those dramatic historical situations in which the nation comes out of the State en masse, and the State lives (if that can be called living) empty of authentically national content. In other words, when the fundamental laws that shape the structures and govern the life of a State and society no longer maintain a profound and vital synchrony with the nation’s ideas, desires and ways of being, everything moves toward the unexpected. It can lead even to violence, or unforeseen and catastrophic circumstances that can always arise in situations of disagreement, passion, and confusion. Whither will the nation then go? Toward the unpredictable. At times, it might go toward wise and organic solutions that its leaders had been unable to find. At other times it may go toward improvisation, venture, perhaps chaos [our emphasis].

This divorce is now taking place and growing, as shown by recent demonstrations against the PT government. In particular the latest demonstration of March 13, where, in an orderly and peaceful way, the discontent ballooned into street manifestations by placid Brazilians who, insulted in their placidity, had become indignant.¹³
The Brazilian Catholic thinker continues:

The Brazilian ship of State will run the risk of shipwrecking against all these uncertainties and perils for as long as the nation, meekly but irremediably, places itself outside a legal edifice with which the people do not identify themselves in the least. What will then happen to the State? As a cloven boat, it will fill with water and break into bits. What might happen to the flotsam and jetsam is unpredictable [our emphasis].¹⁴

A Crossroads – Various Possible Ways

A crossroads emerges from this drama. On the one hand there are increased hopes for the likely end of Bolivarianism not only on a national scale but across Latin America. On the other hand there is apprehension, because what is in store on the political horizon after the likely fall of the Lula-PT model has not yet been defined. In our view, dangerous possibilities are beginning to emerge at this confused crossroads in the middle of a thick jungle since some paths threaten to take us, more or less gradually, to the same abyss.
To help avert a new catastrophe of a bad choice, we issue this appeal in a spirit of harmony and cooperation. We cordially propose some points of reflection for all Brazilians to avoid being fooled by false alternatives, to with:

1. PT-ism Without the PT

Indeed, one circulating suggestion is that the PT would adopt a different party label and then carry out a plan that would continue the march toward a socialist state of affairs. This solution would be a mitigated and less accelerated socialism, but genuinely socialist all the same. In this regard, the support given since September 2015 by the current government of the State of São Paulo to the Landless Rural Workers Movement (MST) has caused profound perplexity.¹⁵ This act could well be viewed as a collaborative test model between the PT’s “apple of the eye” and “armed” counterpart, and, a smiling, less combative government. Having a center-left makeup, this would draw less popular reactions but would allow for the continued socialist expropriations, confiscatory land reform, and terrorist acts-with-impunity, so characteristic of the MST and others of that ilk.

On the other hand, the attitude of the defeated presidential candidate in the second round of the 2014 election caused serious concern among those who defend the family, when he publicly supported the demands of the homosexual movement and in particular the adoption of children by same-sex “couples.”¹⁶ This is a typical claim of the Workers Party and extreme left parties.
Also prominent on the PT agenda was defending the so-called “social movements,” and “Stédile’s Army,” as well as boosting the homosexual movement, notably with their repeated attempts to pass a “homophobia law,” same-sex “marriage,” and the teaching of gender ideology in schools.

How does one explain this collusion between the PT and parties who present themselves as the opposition? How does this model threaten the near future? Is that opposition real?

2. “Operation Watermelon” or, the “Green” Alternative

Another possible alternative circulating and plaguing the political landscape like an Aedes Aegypti, is the miserabilist-ecological model. This is fashionable in the international star-studded circles and having the blessing of high-ranking churchmen, but, with strong opposition from scientific circles and little enthusiasm overall from the public. In a moment of national turmoil, the “green” ideology may turn from poetry to reality. This would represent an unconventional alternative that, “who knows, might work.”

This model works under the pretext of environmental protection, the presupposition of an idyllic relation between men, plants and animals and the panic of an impending global (and unproven) catastrophe caused by misuse of natural resources. Green ideologues propose a freeze on production and economic development. Moreover, they advocate a new and single aristocracy in Brazil: that of the indigenous and forestial peoples, as models of man-nature cooperation.¹⁷

In the moral and religious sphere—more apt to influence average Brazilians—using “updated” missionaries of the “Catholic” left, the green agenda preaches the “theology” of “Mother Earth,” so dear to liberation theologians. That is to say by the most genuinely Marxist ones such as Leonardo Boff. This is the watermelon operation: green outside and red inside. Prince Bertrand of Orleans-Braganza, great-grandson of Princess Isabel, denounces this maneuver in great detail in his book, Environmental Psychosis: The Backstage of Eco-terrorism to Impose an Ecological, Egalitarian and Anti-Christian “Religion.” The book has been widely spread throughout Brazil.¹⁸

This is the gateway to poorly disguised immiseration and a political model based on self-management, which was “the supreme goal of the Soviet State” as set forth in the Preamble of the Constitution of the former USSR.¹⁹ It is the old and worn-out socialism, now dressed in… green!

3. Adventurers

“The devil likes to fish in troubled waters,” as they say, referring to the fact that men are usually tempted to sin when they are troubled rather than calm. We must be watchful to prevent the post-PT era from becoming a propitious occasion for on-call-adventurers, whatever their political orientation may be.

Such adventurers in the “troubled waters” of political crises tend to attract the public with a series of likable measures mixed with some less desirable ones, which consequentially generates a similar crisis to the one they purport to fight. This may occur, for example, with political groups who, under the laudable pretext of “putting the house in order,” want to establish a “strong State” with a pseudo right-wing label but whose dirigisme, through a slightly different path, can lead to a result analogous to leftist statism. This is, for instance, what many analysts fear is happening due to the nationalist politics of Putin’s Russia.

4. The Risk of Distrust in All Government and All Authority

Since current institutional models are not working, some might propose that it would be better to give a chance to post-modern, “alternative” models which fragment society into a myriad of small self-managed groups? In our view, nothing would be worse than a leap in the dark, for, as we have already stated, this would leave the country at the mercy of adventurers of all kinds.
In this regard it is worth mentioning the American best seller Return to Order, which, in dealing with the present economic crisis, warns about this very risk:

This situation could change if there is a general frustration with the present system. It might give rise to a temperamental distrust of modern institutions, governing structures, or economic systems. This, in turn, could contribute to the further fragmentation of society since this distrust easily erodes social unity.

We might cite as an example today’s marked hostility towards the modern State and elites. In times of crisis, this hostility can lead to a distrust of all authority and the idea that there is no solution, save each becoming his own authority. It could also lead to confused notions of freedom that bring individuals to disregard the remnants of the moral or natural law existing today and declare every man to be a law unto himself.

Thus, as we stand at a crossroads, some of those positions once considered so extreme are presented as real options. If only for want of a better solution, these proposals may be mistakenly embraced in desperation [our emphasis].²⁰

III – Is There a Solution?

Before proposing suggestions, let us note that the Plinio Corrêa de Oliveira Institute takes no partisan or political positions. We do not propose any person, party, or political panacea as a solution. That would be simplistic and ephemeral.

What we propose is for representative figures of Brazilian society, the “non-aligned” class entities, and especially the “non-aligned” portion of the country’s bishops, who have so far remained generally silent, calmly gather together and take a look at the nation’s future direction. It should not be decided in a climate of agitation and itch of novelty, but rather grounded on solid foundations. In order for this to happen we need to emphasize the points listed below.

There is no need to reinvent the wheel. What is needed is to return to the basic principles of Christian civilization so eroded by the process described earlier in this document. As we see it, that corrosion is the very cause of the ills now afflicting us and from which we want to break free.

1. Respect the Right of Private Property and Free Enterprise

Statism functions as an executioner. First and foremost, Brazilians need to feel that this executioner is no longer present. Farmers, for example, need to have more breathing space to produce without countless and draconian labor laws. This disrupts production, sours employer-employee relations, decreases employment and ends up harming the workers themselves. The same goes for urban areas, industry, and commerce.

Above all, the next government needs to explicitly show respect for the sacred right of private property, which stems from the natural order of things and is supported by the Seventh and Tenth Commandments of God’s law: Thou shalt not steal, and thou shalt not covet thy neighbor’s goods. The right of private property is the guarantee that the individual is not a slave of the State. By disrespecting this right, the State inexorably moves toward socialism, whether with a “rightist” of leftist facade.

2. Stop Environmental Madness

Today, 35% of national territory²¹ has been federalized by absurd indigenous demarcations, environmental preservation areas, “Legal Amazon,” IBAMA, “Quilombolas,” Land Reform, and so forth. No expert is needed to see that this is a serious obstacle to the economy. Our country, “a giant by nature,” has more than one third of its territory in a cast…without considering the “legal land reserve” (which farmers are required to keep), Permanent Preservation Areas (APP), or urban and other areas where planting is not possible. In spite of this, we have still managed to be among the world’s leading agricultural producers! A little common sense suffices to see that one could produce a lot more without doing any harm to the land. “Non-aligned” studies abundantly prove this point.

3. Decrease the Tax Burden

We suggest that the tax burden in Brazil—which can be called confiscatory—be dealt with in the same manner as the Ronald Reagan Administration did in the United States in the 1980’s.

Tax rates decreased at all levels. Income tax fell 30%, the largest tax reduction in U.S. history. “Absurd!” leftists complained. Indeed, in the short-term revenues fell and deficits grew. However, by midterm the economy vigorously resumed its growth rate. Even more, after six years of reduced tax rates, the Union’s revenue had increased four times more than foreseen!

In fact, the problem and its solution have been known…since the time of Pharaohs! In his memoirs, Reagan comments: In the fourteenth century, Ibn Khaldun, a philosopher, wrote about ancient Egypt: “At the beginning of the dynasty, taxes yielded large sums through reduced rates. At the end of the dynasty, taxes provided a small return charging large rates.” In other words, when taxes are low the collection is high, and when taxes are heavy the collection is low.²²

4. Stop Financing Bolivarian Left Governments

Brazil’s National Development Bank (BNDES) has been used to fund international Bolivarianism. Astronomical amounts of money have been thrown into the black hole of Latin American socialism, particularly in Cuba, Venezuela, Bolivia, Ecuador, and other countries.²³ All this is done to form a huge network to perpetuate the left in power.

In this regard, note the present administration’s alignment with Russia, China, Iran, Mozambique, Angola, and many others. This global alliance of the left does nothing but strengthen the rulers of these countries through corruption schemes while at the same time burdening our population and freezing up our economy. Moreover, they create diplomatic malaise with Brazil’s natural allies.

We must therefore make sure that the next government ensures an international policy built solely on agreements known to the public rather than on the basis of continuous concessions to suspect ideologies; and that it promotes our country and safeguards national sovereignty.

With regard to accepting immigrants, however laudable that may be in certain specific circumstances, in the current economic crisis we should apply popular wisdom found in the saying: “Matthew, first take care of your own!”

5. Defending the Family is Vital to Safeguarding Institutions

They say the family is the matrix cell of society but little importance is given to this principle. Indeed the family is society’s matrix because it is the nucleus that contains, in potential form within itself, all other institutions and human relations. The family is a small, naturally formed society. Its existence predates the State’s, and a government that disrespects, vilifies or mutilates the family destroys itself. This is what we have been witnessing in Brazil for several decades—a sad, ongoing process toward unbridled free love, advocated with different nuances by communism throughout the world.

Over the years, the PT administration has carried out this destruction in thunderous fashion as can be seen in programs like the PNDH-3, the National Human Rights Program. Among many points, it proposes to “deconstruct hetero-normativity,” legalize prostitution, allow abortion and State intervention in the education of children.

It is impossible not to mention the battle that the same party and its allies have waged from 2013 onward to impose the ill-fated gender ideology on children from an early age throughout the country with education programs at the national, state and municipal levels. It was amazing to watch how the population organized, and whole families packed both Houses of Congress, preventing that same-sex type agenda from moving forward.

The next government must fully respect the family as instituted by God: the monogamous and indissoluble union between a man and a woman to perpetuate the species, bring up the offspring, and mutually support each other. To this should be added the defense of innocent human life from conception to natural death; for from the moment someone can decide on the life or death of an innocent and defenseless human, a regime of slavery and eugenics so dear to the Nazis becomes possible.

6. Respect for the Armed Forces and Police

Since law enforcement forces are the guarantee of peace—“si vis pacem para bellum,” as Saint Augustine said—the scrapping of our Armed Forces undertaken by the destruction process we referred to earlier, paves the way for the strengthening of armed groups who tend to replace, over time, the role of those Forces.²⁴ This is the case, for example, with the Venezuelan militias at the service of Chavismo.

Contrary to what is now happening with the police, the next government must support their daily work against organized crime and drug trafficking. Indeed, respect for the police is obviously necessary to the country and a hallmark of our people. Suffice it to mention the great friendliness to the police manifested by crowds dressed in green and yellow, the country’s colors, during the large demonstrations of March 13: An attitude not shown by PT supporters in so many recent circumstances.²⁵

7. A Suggestion for the Electoral System to Guarantee Genuine Representativeness

Although it is not the aim of this study to address appropriate reforms for the electoral system, in passing we point out a suggestion to help prevent, at least in part, the electoral swindling of which the population has been the victim—having to elect politicians without knowing their program proposals are. In our view, all election campaigns should compulsorily mention the platform the candidate, if elected, will pursue, as well as a description, albeit brief, of his ideology.²⁶ Consequentially, the law itself should provide for disciplinary action against those who, once elected, perform contrary to the platform on which basis they were chosen.

Appeal to the Bishops

For decades, as sectors of the national episcopate supported the country’s communization process, their credibility among the Catholic faithful gradually vanished. From the moment the CNBB ceases their support for the socialistic agenda, and “represses the many extravagances and abuses which have spread in Brazil and elsewhere as a result of the crisis in the Church, its prestige could return to its original splendor.”²⁷

Recent evidence of this is the growth in popularity of anti-abortion bishops of the CNBB’s Southern Region I during the 2010 electoral campaign, when that episcopal body spoke out clearly against the legalization of abortion.²⁸

Appeal to the Reader

Drawing close to the end of this work, we turn to our readers. We do not ask that you agree with us on all points described herein. We do, however, wish you to consider them carefully, compare them with the news popping up all the time, and prepare yourselves to make a judgment as soon as circumstances so require. Talk to your family and work colleagues, debate, ask, opine about them. For what would be worse than for a country’s most representative people to ignore the itinerary someone may be trying to impose on them?

Nothing is better than for Brazilians themselves to take an interest in the near future of their country, having elements to formulate hypotheses, and to be prepared for what may happen, without being influenced by the unrest and uncertainty of the present moment.

Brazility: Grandeur, Nobility, Hope, Cordiality

Finally, we recall the first stanza of the Flag Anthem, so evocative of true national aspirations and real hope, as opposed to the utopia referred to in the beginning of this document: “Hail beautiful banner of hope! Hail, august symbol of peace! Thy noble presence brings to our minds the greatness of this homeland.”

And we close with these inspiring words spoken by Plinio Corrêa de Oliveira before a multitude that packed the Anhangabaú Valley in São Paulo:²⁹

There was a time when world history could be titled “Gesta Dei per Francos”. A day will come when they will write “Gesta Dei per Brasilienses” (God’s actions through Brazilians). Brazil’s providential mission is to grow within her own borders, deploy here the splendors of a genuinely Roman Catholic and Apostolic civilization, and lovingly enlighten the world with the torch of this great light, which will truly be the “lumen Christi” the Church radiates. Our gentle and hospitable nature, the plurality of races that live here in fraternal harmony, the providential contribution of immigrants who have so closely incorporated themselves into the nation’s life, and above all the Holy Gospel, will never make of our longings for grandeur a pretext for narrow-minded Jacobinism, stupid racism, or criminal imperialism. If someday Brazil is great, she will be so for the good of the entire world.

With this confidence, we ask Christ the Redeemer, through the intercession of Our Lady Aparecida, Queen and Patroness of Brazil, to protect our country in the current crossroads.
March 27, 2016
Feast of the Resurrection
PLINIO CORRÊA DE OLIVEIRA INSTITUTE