As a network formed by several members, among solidarity groups in Brazil, supportive institutions and individual members of German-speaking countries, Brazil Cooperation follows the political developments in Brazil for over 25 years, especially post-impeachment events when, in 2016, the democratically elected president, Dilma Rousseff was deposed by an institutional coup.
The condemnation of the former president and pre-candidate for the presidency by the Workers’ Party (PT), Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, represents another threat of disruption of democratic structures, with the intention of excluding Lula from the candidacy for the 2018 elections. When the neutrality of the judiciary is no longer there and political intentions are predominant, the principles of the rule of law are called into question. The scenario reaches one more worrying dimension, when military personnel position themselves, to the public, in the issue of Lula’s guilt, going against their pre-established functions in the federal constitution.
The former Minister of Justice of Germany, Dr. Herta Däubler-Gmelin, considered the case against Lula illegal.
Although Brazil Cooperation often takes a clear critical stance in its assessments of some of Lula’s and PT’s political positions, we realize that in the current situation it is necessary to leave political differences aside and prioritize solidarity with social movements, the leftwing and with Lula, in order to avoid further dismantling of democracy and human rights.
Parallel to these events, the radicalization and violence in the Brazilian political scene increases in a vertiginous way. The activities of civil society groups and forums have been hampered. It is possible to verify the increase in violence against human rights defenders, most recently against the rights defender Marielle Franco and her driver, Anderson Pedro Gomes, who were executed on the streets of Rio de Janeiro on March 14, 2018. The CIVICUS atlas, which compiles the profiles of civil society in different countries, classifies the human rights situation in Brazil as highly problematic.
Nowadays, the social movements find themselves in an acute process of criminalization by the Brazilian state, where bills are used in an exacerbated way to defame their activities as terrorist acts. In view of the strategic and interstate partnership between Germany and Brazil, we consider it pertinent that the German federal government use in a more effective way diplomatic channels, aiming to support the defense of Brazilian democracy.
General Assembly of the Brazil Cooperation (Kooperation Brasilien – KoBra e.V.); April 14, 2018.
Originally posted by KoBra – Kooperation Brasilien e.V. em:
https://www.kooperation-brasilien.org/de/mitmachen/eilaktionen/stellungnahme-kobra-demokratie-in-brasilien-in-gefahr-pt-br?_authenticator=0821b081b6d447decbe45ad208c81f7142aa23aa