Latest / Q & A, Hosted by Jay Nordlinger / A Grasp on Brazil
Transcript
- 0:03SPEAKER_01: Hello, my friends, and welcome to Q&A.
- 0:06SPEAKER_01: I'm Jay Nordlinger,
- 0:08SPEAKER_01: and our subject today is Brazil,
- 0:10SPEAKER_01: a country that has known some political turbulence,
- 0:13SPEAKER_01: but that is a democracy nonetheless.
- 0:16It is the largest country in Latin America,
- 0:18both in population and in area.
- 0:22Our guest today is a young Brazilian intellectual,
- 0:25a friend of mine from whom one can learn.
- 0:28SPEAKER_01: He is Gilberto Morbach.
- 0:30SPEAKER_01: I pronounced his name in an English way.
- 0:33In Portuguese,
- 0:33I think it's more like Gilberto Morbach,
- 0:37but he himself can tell us.
- 0:39SPEAKER_01: He is an academic,
- 0:41SPEAKER_01: a political scientist,
- 0:43SPEAKER_01: a legal philosopher,
- 0:44SPEAKER_01: a moral philosopher,
- 0:46SPEAKER_01: one of those Wundekinder.
- 0:49SPEAKER_01: So let's talk.
- 0:50SPEAKER_01: And Gilberto, or Gilberto, hello.
- 0:54SPEAKER_01: And maybe you can first correct my pronunciation.
- 0:58SPEAKER_01: How do you
- 0:59SPEAKER_01: Pronounce your name, young man, Dr. Morbach, Professor Morbach.
- 1:04SPEAKER_01: How do you pronounce your name?
- 1:05SPEAKER_00: Jay, my friend, it's an absolute honor for me to be here.
- 1:08And your pronunciation is certainly better than maybe my
- 1:12English will sound to your
- 1:13SPEAKER_00: native speaker audience.
- 1:15SPEAKER_00: I will try my best to speak well here.
- 1:17SPEAKER_00: And it's a very good pronunciation indeed.
- 1:19SPEAKER_00: It's Gilberto Morbach.
- 1:21SPEAKER_01: Oh, Morbach.
- 1:22SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
- 1:23Yeah,
- 1:24it's probably hard for Americans to pronounce the J and not the
- 1:27J,
- 1:28right?
- 1:28SPEAKER_00: But you've made quite a good work there.
- 1:33SPEAKER_01: So is the L more like a W than an L?
- 1:37SPEAKER_01: Yeah, yeah, you're right.
- 1:39SPEAKER_01: Give it to us again.
- 1:40SPEAKER_00: Gilberto.
- 1:41SPEAKER_01: And the last name?
- 1:43SPEAKER_01: Morbach.
- 1:44SPEAKER_00: Oh, you say Bach like in a German way?
- 1:47SPEAKER_00: Exactly.
- 1:48SPEAKER_00: Yeah, my grandfather was German, so it's not exactly a Brazilian surname.
- 1:53I should say not,
- 1:54but there are plenty of German names in South America,
- 1:57aren't there?
- 1:59SPEAKER_01: Yeah, yeah, indeed.
- 2:00SPEAKER_01: Like your model.
- 2:01SPEAKER_01: I'm not talking about your political model, but your great model Giselle.
- 2:05SPEAKER_01: Yeah, exactly.
- 2:08SPEAKER_00: She's from the same state as I am.
- 2:11SPEAKER_00: She is one of the great things this state has ever produced.
- 2:15SPEAKER_00: She is also a very nice person as well.
- 2:17Not only she is beautiful and very famous in what she does and
- 2:21very competent in
- 2:22SPEAKER_00: what she does,
- 2:22SPEAKER_00: she is also a very nice person.
- 2:24SPEAKER_00: We hear great things about her around here.
- 2:28SPEAKER_00: Well, what state did you grow up in?
- 2:30SPEAKER_00: It's a state called Rio Grande do Sul.
- 2:32It's in the southern area of Brazil,
- 2:35which,
- 2:36as you know,
- 2:36is a very large country.
- 2:38SPEAKER_00: And it's in the southern region.
- 2:42The country that is most to the south is Rio Grande do Sul,
- 2:45my state,
- 2:46sorry.
- 2:47SPEAKER_00: And it neighbors Argentina and Uruguay.
- 2:50SPEAKER_00: So it's very down in the south.
- 2:52SPEAKER_01: What is the largest city in your state?
- 2:56SPEAKER_00: The capital city is called Porto Alegre.
- 2:58SPEAKER_00: Of course.
- 2:59SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
- 3:00SPEAKER_00: So it's like Happy Harbor or something.
- 3:03And so in American terms,
- 3:07in US terms,
- 3:08when it comes to ethnicity,
- 3:10I am a mutt.
- 3:11SPEAKER_01: I am a mongrel.
- 3:12SPEAKER_01: And same with you?
- 3:15SPEAKER_01: Yeah, absolutely.
- 3:17SPEAKER_01: Do you have different ancestral strains?
- 3:19SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
- 3:19SPEAKER_00: Yes, indeed.
- 3:20SPEAKER_00: So it's very common for, it's a very miscegenated country.
- 3:24SPEAKER_00: So we are all mutts around here.
- 3:27SPEAKER_00: So here in the South,
- 3:29SPEAKER_00: it's very common to have like German heritages and Italian heritages,
- 3:35SPEAKER_00: but still it's,
- 3:37SPEAKER_00: Brazil was a colony from Portugal,
- 3:41SPEAKER_00: as you well know,
- 3:42SPEAKER_00: and we had our indigenous population as well.
- 3:46There was unfortunately a very large population of slaves
- 3:50coming from Africa as well.
- 3:51SPEAKER_00: So there are several ethnicities that made up the history of Brazilian
- 3:58SPEAKER_00: anthropology,
- 3:59SPEAKER_00: if I may say so.
- 4:00SPEAKER_00: So if you're a mutter, I'm a mutter as well.
- 4:05SPEAKER_01: I assume that you were a bookish kid.
- 4:08SPEAKER_01: Did you have your nose in a book all the time?
- 4:12SPEAKER_00: Yes, yes, indeed.
- 4:15I don't think I was very good at sports,
- 4:17though I often try to pretend that I was.
- 4:20SPEAKER_00: But yeah, my main interests were always more on the library.
- 4:26And I think this is why I ended up pursuing an academic career
- 4:32that I now am fully invested in.
- 4:35SPEAKER_00: I very much like to reflect and to read and to pursue my career.
- 4:41SPEAKER_00: My academic interests overall,
- 4:43SPEAKER_00: I mean,
- 4:44SPEAKER_00: I like to teach,
- 4:45SPEAKER_00: I like to pursue research,
- 4:46SPEAKER_00: I like to write,
- 4:47SPEAKER_00: I like mainly to read,
- 4:48SPEAKER_00: of course.
- 4:49SPEAKER_00: And yeah,
- 4:50SPEAKER_00: I think the academic career that I took very much reflects my personality
- 4:55SPEAKER_00: throughout my childhood and my influences overall.
- 4:58SPEAKER_00: So yes, I think you're quite correct in your interpretation of me.
- 5:03SPEAKER_00: And in what field is your doctorate?
- 5:07SPEAKER_00: In legal philosophy,
- 5:09SPEAKER_00: I have a very broad interest,
- 5:11SPEAKER_00: as you said,
- 5:12SPEAKER_00: in moral philosophy and political philosophy,
- 5:14but mainly because my research interests ever since my master's
- 5:19degree and then my
- 5:20SPEAKER_00: PhD and now my postdoctoral fellowship at the University of São Paulo,
- 5:24SPEAKER_00: my main concern in my research has always been the rule of law.
- 5:30SPEAKER_00: So in that sense,
- 5:31I have tried to interconnect these ideas of mine within my
- 5:36understanding of the
- 5:37SPEAKER_00: rule of law with different areas of political science,
- 5:41SPEAKER_00: political philosophy,
- 5:42SPEAKER_00: and moral philosophy as well,
- 5:43SPEAKER_00: because I think to get a full...
- 5:46SPEAKER_00: account of the rule of law,
- 5:47SPEAKER_00: you need to interconnect all these areas,
- 5:51SPEAKER_00: all these different approaches and insights,
- 5:54because I think different authors and different ideas from
- 5:57different traditions and
- 5:58SPEAKER_00: from different fields can contribute to a better understanding of it.
- 6:03I have never been quite content and happy with a too thin
- 6:08conception of the rule of
- 6:09SPEAKER_00: law and of legality.
- 6:11SPEAKER_00: And at the end of the day, of the very concept of law itself.
- 6:15I think it's a very impoverished conception of the rule of law
- 6:18to think only as
- 6:20SPEAKER_00: formal rules from a centralized elite that produces...
- 6:24SPEAKER_00: from social sources, the legal rules that a society abides by.
- 6:28SPEAKER_00: I think there's more to the rule of law than that.
- 6:31SPEAKER_00: And that led me to read different authors from different areas and so on.
- 6:37SPEAKER_01: Gilberto,
- 6:38SPEAKER_01: you remind me of a famous comment by Ernesto Zedillo,
- 6:42SPEAKER_01: or Zedillo,
- 6:44SPEAKER_01: who is president of Mexico.
- 6:45SPEAKER_01: And he was asked, what are the three things Mexico needs most?
- 6:50SPEAKER_01: He said, the rule of law, the rule of law, and the rule of law.
- 6:54SPEAKER_01: Yes.
- 6:55And as we would say in my American vernacular,
- 6:58that's almost the whole ballgame.
- 7:00SPEAKER_01: And...
- 7:02You are a classical liberal and admirer of John Locke and Adam
- 7:07Smith and the rest of the guys.
- 7:09SPEAKER_01: Hayek, I'm guessing?
- 7:12SPEAKER_00: Yes, yes, Hayek too.
- 7:13SPEAKER_01: And how did you arrive at your views?
- 7:17SPEAKER_01: Did they always strike you as natural and right?
- 7:20SPEAKER_01: Or did you have a process?
- 7:22SPEAKER_01: Yes.
- 7:24SPEAKER_00: There was indeed a process.
- 7:27SPEAKER_00: There's a very common critique here in Brazil,
- 7:30and I think it's true to some extent or maybe to a large extent
- 7:34in America as well.
- 7:35SPEAKER_00: From the more hard right-wing cultural thinkers,
- 7:40they say that the university is usually placed only for
- 7:44progressive ideology and
- 7:46SPEAKER_00: for leftists and everything,
- 7:48SPEAKER_00: at least here in Brazil.
- 7:49SPEAKER_00: there's some truth to that.
- 7:51So the university and the academic circles are indeed not
- 7:56exactly dominated,
- 7:57but the vast majority of academic and university professors and
- 8:05fellows and
- 8:07SPEAKER_00: students even,
- 8:08SPEAKER_00: because I think it comes from top down,
- 8:12SPEAKER_00: there is indeed a certain dominance from left-wing ideals and ideas.
- 8:18So sometimes it's hard for a student or a researcher to get
- 8:23some autonomy because
- 8:25you are modeled by what your teachers and your professors
- 8:29usually tell you to read.
- 8:31But there is a mistake as well from the same critics from the
- 8:35right,
- 8:35I think,
- 8:35because they...
- 8:37lend themselves too easily from this insight to some sort of
- 8:41anti-intellectualism
- 8:42that ends up by rejecting the very idea of a university and
- 8:46what a university
- 8:47SPEAKER_00: should be about.
- 8:48So I think there is some truth in saying that there is some
- 8:54sort of hegemony from
- 8:55SPEAKER_00: the left in the academic circles,
- 8:57but I don't think that should lead one to deny the very idea of
- 9:00the university,
- 9:01SPEAKER_00: right?
- 9:02SPEAKER_00: So...
- 9:04SPEAKER_01: Such an important point, such an important strain of thought.
- 9:08SPEAKER_01: I think you see the same thing happening in America, right?
- 9:11SPEAKER_00: With the college campuses and everything.
- 9:14SPEAKER_00: In spades, yes.
- 9:15SPEAKER_00: Right.
- 9:16SPEAKER_00: So at first,
- 9:18it wasn't exactly natural for me to go straight into Locke or
- 9:23Smith or even more so
- 9:25SPEAKER_00: Hayek,
- 9:26SPEAKER_00: as you've mentioned.
- 9:27SPEAKER_00: But...
- 9:29SPEAKER_00: Surprisingly,
- 9:29SPEAKER_00: maybe my first insight came not from political philosophy,
- 9:34SPEAKER_00: not from philosophy itself,
- 9:36SPEAKER_00: but from literature,
- 9:38because it was actually reading Dostoevsky's Demons that I
- 9:42first realized how
- 9:44SPEAKER_00: dangerous political utopias could be.
- 9:47SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
- 9:50a very important feature of left-wing thinking to me has always
- 9:55been the utopian mind,
- 9:57right?
- 9:58SPEAKER_00: And from Dostoevsky,
- 10:02SPEAKER_00: I went to Albert Camus, the French thinker and writer.
- 10:05SPEAKER_00: He rejected the label of a philosopher.
- 10:08SPEAKER_00: And a very formative book for me was Albert Camus' The Rebel,
- 10:15SPEAKER_00: in which he breaks up with the Marxist tradition.
- 10:19SPEAKER_01: Sorry, are you talking about L'étranger in French or a different book?
- 10:24SPEAKER_00: No, it's L'Etranger was The Stranger.
- 10:28SPEAKER_00: It was one of his first and most important.
- 10:31SPEAKER_01: This is something else.
- 10:32SPEAKER_01: Sorry, I'm just sure we're on the same page.
- 10:34SPEAKER_01: Okay.
- 10:36SPEAKER_01: It's an essay.
- 10:37SPEAKER_01: It's a nonfiction essay.
- 10:39SPEAKER_01: As my grandmother would say, I was absent that day from school.
- 10:44SPEAKER_01: I miss the rebel.
- 10:45SPEAKER_01: I was absent that day.
- 10:47SPEAKER_01: I was absent a lot of days, sir.
- 10:49SPEAKER_00: I think it's very much like the reading.
- 10:52It's not an easy reading at first because he dwells into lots
- 10:56of very specific
- 10:57SPEAKER_00: thinkers that sometimes he may be
- 11:01SPEAKER_00: Well,
- 11:01SPEAKER_00: from my present day reading,
- 11:04he maybe didn't have to go all the way through those
- 11:06discussions to the extent that
- 11:08SPEAKER_00: he did.
- 11:09But I think it was important in the context that he was writing
- 11:12because he was
- 11:12engaging with Sartre and all the other French intellectual
- 11:17thinkers from the left.
- 11:19A tradition that Camus himself belonged to a very large extent
- 11:24during some
- 11:25SPEAKER_00: important period of his life.
- 11:27SPEAKER_00: But in the end, he...
- 11:29rejected it because he identified the very same thing that I
- 11:34identified when I read
- 11:36SPEAKER_00: Demons by Dostoevsky,
- 11:38SPEAKER_00: which unsurprisingly is one of Camus' favorite books.
- 11:43SPEAKER_00: He rejected what he identified as a nihilism from the left.
- 11:46SPEAKER_00: And he
- 11:48SPEAKER_00: I identified the same thing reading these two authors.
- 11:52SPEAKER_00: And that in itself,
- 11:53from these insights that came first from literature and then to
- 11:58philosophy,
- 11:58SPEAKER_00: though,
- 11:58SPEAKER_00: like I said,
- 11:59SPEAKER_00: Camille rejected the label.
- 12:01I then realized that there were different things and different
- 12:07ideas other than the
- 12:09SPEAKER_00: usual canon or the traditional canon from the university as it is usually
- 12:15SPEAKER_00: encountered by students who are first.
- 12:18SPEAKER_00: getting into the academic circle and academia and academic life.
- 12:22SPEAKER_01: And which thinkers and which authors are in that typical canon?
- 12:29SPEAKER_00: There was a very broad influence here in Brazil ever since the 60s,
- 12:33SPEAKER_00: I think,
- 12:34from the critical thinkers from Germany and continental Europe
- 12:39like Herbert
- 12:41SPEAKER_00: Marcuse.
- 12:42SPEAKER_00: Of course.
- 12:43SPEAKER_00: Right.
- 12:44SPEAKER_00: So in America, it's probably the same again, right?
- 12:47SPEAKER_01: Well, when I was in college, he was very popular.
- 12:49SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
- 12:50SPEAKER_01: I shouldn't say he was popular.
- 12:51SPEAKER_01: I should say he was assigned.
- 12:52SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
- 12:53SPEAKER_01: Right, exactly.
- 12:54SPEAKER_00: And not only that,
- 12:56there's been a very profound influence as well from
- 13:00deconstructionist thinkers like
- 13:02SPEAKER_00: Derrida.
- 13:02SPEAKER_01: Foucault and Derrida, yeah, yeah.
- 13:04SPEAKER_00: Exactly, yeah, yeah, exactly.
- 13:06SPEAKER_00: I think, again, there's a similarity to what happens in America, right?
- 13:13It seems like some...
- 13:14By the way,
- 13:14a quick word about Foucault and Derrida in particular.
- 13:18SPEAKER_01: I've had guests on this program
- 13:20who are alumni of ENS in Paris and who are right of center and
- 13:25who study with these two men.
- 13:28And almost everyone says they were excellent teachers and you
- 13:32could learn a lot
- 13:33SPEAKER_01: from them,
- 13:34SPEAKER_01: whether you agree to their conclusions or not.
- 13:36But they were formidable intellectuals whose thought one wanted
- 13:41to be acquainted with.
- 13:42SPEAKER_01: And they were very good teachers.
- 13:43SPEAKER_01: They just shouldn't dominate the whole world.
- 13:46SPEAKER_00: Yeah, exactly.
- 13:47SPEAKER_01: Yeah, yeah.
- 13:49Usually it's maybe not only true in regards to the left,
- 13:54but maybe to the right as well.
- 13:56SPEAKER_00: Usually the problem is not the original thinker, but the followers.
- 14:00SPEAKER_00: The problem is not Nietzsche or the Nietzscheans and so on.
- 14:04SPEAKER_00: So I think that's true.
- 14:05SPEAKER_00: And I agree.
- 14:07SPEAKER_00: They are indeed profound intellectuals.
- 14:08SPEAKER_00: They were indeed profound intellectuals.
- 14:10SPEAKER_00: And there are.
- 14:11SPEAKER_00: good thinkers from the left as well.
- 14:12SPEAKER_00: But there is a Portuguese writer.
- 14:16SPEAKER_00: He's also based in Brazil.
- 14:18SPEAKER_00: He writes for a Brazilian newspaper, João Pereira Coutinho.
- 14:22SPEAKER_00: I have mentioned him to you in one of our previous conversations.
- 14:28He says that one should have a balanced diet when it comes to
- 14:32one's own political
- 14:33SPEAKER_00: and literary influences.
- 14:35SPEAKER_00: And so I think it's important to get acquainted and to read
- 14:39SPEAKER_00: fingers from the left.
- 14:41SPEAKER_00: It was very important to me.
- 14:42SPEAKER_01: But, Gilberto, what was the sentence you taught me from him?
- 14:45SPEAKER_01: It was just a wonderful way of putting it.
- 14:48SPEAKER_01: Did it have to do with a sign?
- 14:50SPEAKER_01: Yeah, yeah.
- 14:50SPEAKER_00: He said he could summarize his political philosophy.
- 14:54SPEAKER_00: Oh, right.
- 14:55SPEAKER_01: The sign on the hotel room door.
- 14:58SPEAKER_00: Exactly, yeah.
- 14:59SPEAKER_00: Which is... Please make up the room.
- 15:04SPEAKER_00: Please make up the room or leave me alone or something like that.
- 15:07SPEAKER_00: Right, right.
- 15:08SPEAKER_00: Sometimes you have to turn it, right?
- 15:10SPEAKER_00: Sometimes the government needs to leave you alone.
- 15:12SPEAKER_00: Sometimes they have to come in and clean up the room.
- 15:14SPEAKER_00: Beautiful, beautiful.
- 15:16SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
- 15:17SPEAKER_00: It's a very nice way to put it.
- 15:19SPEAKER_01: Do you – I'm just skipping ahead and interrupting you a bit.
- 15:22SPEAKER_01: Do you have a personal pantheon?
- 15:26SPEAKER_01: I know you've been to Scotland to commune with Adam Smith.
- 15:31SPEAKER_00: Yes, indeed.
- 15:33Smith himself was – and it's curious that you ask me that
- 15:36because the way I first
- 15:40SPEAKER_00: encountered Smith,
- 15:42SPEAKER_00: was not on the wealth of nations, which is more commonly the case.
- 15:48SPEAKER_00: It was first on the lectures of jurisprudence,
- 15:50SPEAKER_00: mainly because of my research in legal philosophy.
- 15:55SPEAKER_00: And I realized that there was a very profound thinker there.
- 16:00Then I went to read all his works and his biographies of his
- 16:05and everything.
- 16:06SPEAKER_00: And I realized that he's a very,
- 16:09SPEAKER_00: surprisingly so,
- 16:10SPEAKER_00: a very underrated thinker because it is common to see Adam Smith here and
- 16:14SPEAKER_00: everywhere.
- 16:15But people have a very partial reading of The Wealth of Nations
- 16:19and they forget that
- 16:20not only his lectures on jurisprudence,
- 16:22as I said,
- 16:23but also the theory of moral sentiments.
- 16:25SPEAKER_00: And I think there is a continuum in those works.
- 16:30I think there's a common thread because a very important
- 16:33insight that I learned
- 16:34SPEAKER_00: from Smith is that
- 16:36SPEAKER_00: We are moral agents, moral beings that do not operate on a moral vacuum.
- 16:41SPEAKER_00: And I think that's a very important insight.
- 16:43And I also think that critics of the liberal tradition forget
- 16:47that liberals
- 16:48SPEAKER_00: themselves have had this insight.
- 16:49So it is common to think that liberals can only think of
- 16:53individuals as abstract
- 16:55SPEAKER_00: beings separate from their culture and their communities.
- 16:58SPEAKER_00: And I don't think that's the case.
- 17:00SPEAKER_00: I think that's a caricature of liberalism.
- 17:02SPEAKER_00: That to some extent, some liberals have contributed to.
- 17:05SPEAKER_00: I don't think liberalism and liberal thinkers are without their faults.
- 17:10I wouldn't even say for certain that I am myself a champion of
- 17:16liberalism,
- 17:17SPEAKER_00: but I am indeed a champion of the rule of law.
- 17:20And I think a best understanding of the rule of law leads one
- 17:24to central features
- 17:26SPEAKER_00: and tenets of the liberal tradition.
- 17:28SPEAKER_00: I think there's a common connection there.
- 17:32SPEAKER_01: Who else would be in your pantheon?
- 17:34SPEAKER_00: Well, Camille and Dostoevsky, of course.
- 17:38SPEAKER_00: Smith, of course.
- 17:38SPEAKER_00: John Locke, as you've mentioned, he was a very important thinker to me.
- 17:42SPEAKER_00: I would mention, I took some notes here as well of...
- 17:47SPEAKER_00: things and people and ideas that I'd like to mention.
- 17:51There was a very important figure that I think it's worth
- 17:53mentioning here because
- 17:54SPEAKER_00: he's very underrated.
- 17:55SPEAKER_00: I'm not sure he's known in America.
- 17:58SPEAKER_00: He's called José Guilherme Melchior.
- 18:01SPEAKER_00: He's a very important Brazilian intellectual,
- 18:04SPEAKER_00: and he has written just this amazing book called Liberalism,
- 18:09SPEAKER_00: Old and New.
- 18:10SPEAKER_00: I think there is a translation into English as well.
- 18:12SPEAKER_00: Did you say Melchior, like the biblical name?
- 18:15SPEAKER_00: It's very similar, but it is Merchior with an R. Oh, gotcha.
- 18:20SPEAKER_00: Okay.
- 18:20SPEAKER_00: José Guillermo Merchior.
- 18:22SPEAKER_00: And he's written this amazing book,
- 18:25which works as a critical guide and a critical introduction to
- 18:31the main authors and
- 18:32SPEAKER_00: the main ideas and the main arguments of the liberal tradition.
- 18:36SPEAKER_00: So he was a very important thinker to me as well,
- 18:38because he provided me with a guide of what I should read and
- 18:41how I should read and
- 18:42SPEAKER_00: approach these authors.
- 18:43SPEAKER_00: Mm-hmm.
- 18:44And it was also important to see that there was a way of
- 18:50thinking outside the
- 18:52common framework of the progressive agenda of the academia
- 18:56without going into the
- 18:58SPEAKER_00: anti-intellectualism of some right-wing thinkers and critics,
- 19:02SPEAKER_00: right?
- 19:02SPEAKER_00: So he offered me this third way or something.
- 19:05SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
- 19:08SPEAKER_01: I was thinking about classical liberalism in Latin America,
- 19:14and I've got the late Mario Vargas Llosa and Hernando or
- 19:22Hernando de Soto.
- 19:24SPEAKER_00: De Soto, yeah.
- 19:26SPEAKER_01: And so this is a region of hundreds of millions of people.
- 19:30SPEAKER_01: And...
- 19:31I think maybe a few classical liberals and endless Peronists,
- 19:36populists,
- 19:38communists,
- 19:40fascists.
- 19:43SPEAKER_00: Am I too cynical?
- 19:45SPEAKER_00: No, you're absolutely right.
- 19:46SPEAKER_00: And I think Brazil,
- 19:47SPEAKER_00: as you mentioned in the beginning of our talk,
- 19:50is a paradigm example of that in what we are currently facing
- 19:53right now in this
- 19:55SPEAKER_00: divide between bolsonaristas and lulistas,
- 19:57SPEAKER_00: right?
- 19:58SPEAKER_00: You have these two polarizing figures in Lula and Bolsonaro,
- 20:01SPEAKER_00: one from the left and one from the far right.
- 20:06SPEAKER_01: Do they have some things in common?
- 20:08SPEAKER_01: I'm jumping ahead.
- 20:11Are they fellow populists,
- 20:13but one is red-tinged and the other is brown or black-tinged?
- 20:19SPEAKER_00: That's a great way to put it.
- 20:21SPEAKER_00: That's exactly how I would put it.
- 20:22SPEAKER_00: I think there are some differences to their populisms,
- 20:26SPEAKER_00: but they are both populists for sure,
- 20:28SPEAKER_00: certainly.
- 20:30I think Bolsonaro represents and is happy to do so a more
- 20:34direct challenge to
- 20:35SPEAKER_00: traditional institutions of democracy.
- 20:38He doesn't care and he just goes out and says that elections
- 20:43are a fraud and he
- 20:44doesn't care about the Supreme Court and he's a lot more
- 20:48thuggish in a way.
- 20:50SPEAKER_00: And
- 20:51SPEAKER_00: Lula and the Workers' Party,
- 20:53and it is very hard for one to distinguish between the two
- 20:56because he's very
- 20:58SPEAKER_00: personalistic,
- 20:59SPEAKER_00: right?
- 21:00SPEAKER_00: Which is a common thread in Latin American populists, right?
- 21:05SPEAKER_01: He has always had... Hugo Chavez was just a master populist.
- 21:10SPEAKER_01: I consider him sort of a dark political genius.
- 21:14SPEAKER_01: I agree, absolutely.
- 21:15SPEAKER_01: Yes, yes.
- 21:16SPEAKER_01: Amlo, too, in Mexico.
- 21:18SPEAKER_01: Very talented man.
- 21:20SPEAKER_01: Very dangerous.
- 21:22SPEAKER_00: Lula himself is a very talented politician.
- 21:25SPEAKER_00: He used to be more talented when he first got elected in 2002.
- 21:31SPEAKER_00: Now I think
- 21:35SPEAKER_00: I don't know.
- 21:36SPEAKER_01: No, he's a grandfather, great-grandfather.
- 21:39SPEAKER_00: Yeah, yeah, exactly.
- 21:40SPEAKER_00: And he's getting more and more unfiltered, right?
- 21:44So it is getting more and more common for him to say things
- 21:49that he shouldn't be
- 21:49SPEAKER_00: saying,
- 21:50SPEAKER_00: especially in the domain of international politics.
- 21:52SPEAKER_00: Is he less clever than he was?
- 21:56SPEAKER_00: Less cagey?
- 21:58SPEAKER_00: I really don't know.
- 21:59SPEAKER_00: And I don't know what's worse.
- 22:00I don't know if he's less clever or he just doesn't care
- 22:04anymore about hiding some
- 22:06SPEAKER_00: of his real ideological views.
- 22:09SPEAKER_00: And I don't know what's worse.
- 22:10SPEAKER_01: I consider that better.
- 22:11SPEAKER_01: I liked it.
- 22:12SPEAKER_01: I appreciate candor.
- 22:14SPEAKER_01: even if what we hear is bad.
- 22:16SPEAKER_01: But let's start earlier.
- 22:17SPEAKER_01: So Lula da Silva.
- 22:20SPEAKER_01: And let's just get this straight for our listeners and viewers.
- 22:25SPEAKER_01: Everyone calls him Lula.
- 22:26SPEAKER_01: It's not a term of endearment, right?
- 22:29SPEAKER_01: His friends and supporters refer to him as Lula.
- 22:34SPEAKER_01: His enemies and despisers refer to him as Lula.
- 22:37SPEAKER_01: True?
- 22:38SPEAKER_01: Never da Silva.
- 22:39SPEAKER_01: Is that correct?
- 22:41SPEAKER_00: Yeah, spot on.
- 22:44SPEAKER_00: Even in formal context, he's referred to as President Lula.
- 22:49SPEAKER_00: Even his detractors call him Lula.
- 22:51SPEAKER_00: And your question is more interesting than it might sound at first.
- 22:57SPEAKER_00: I'll come to that.
- 22:59Because I think it connects to one of the main reasons why we
- 23:03have never been able
- 23:05here in Brazil to produce and to maintain a culture of respect
- 23:09to the rule of law
- 23:09SPEAKER_00: and to the impersonal institutions of democratic liberalism.
- 23:13SPEAKER_00: Because you see, Lula's name is Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, right?
- 23:20But now officially his name,
- 23:22he changed his name to Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva.
- 23:25SPEAKER_00: He officially...
- 23:27SPEAKER_00: added the Lula to his name.
- 23:29SPEAKER_00: It was a nickname of his.
- 23:31SPEAKER_00: I'm not sure now if it was a family nickname or early.
- 23:37SPEAKER_01: From the streets.
- 23:39SPEAKER_00: Yeah, yeah, exactly.
- 23:40SPEAKER_01: He was a street kid, right?
- 23:41SPEAKER_01: He was a little kid on the streets who didn't go to school.
- 23:44SPEAKER_00: He was very poor.
- 23:45He comes from the northern region of Brazil,
- 23:48the northeast region of Brazil.
- 23:50SPEAKER_00: And from very early on,
- 23:53he was a syndical leader with labor union and very early on
- 23:59identified himself with
- 24:01SPEAKER_00: politics in the ample sense of the word politics.
- 24:07SPEAKER_00: Only later on, he...
- 24:09SPEAKER_01: He was in radical union politics.
- 24:12SPEAKER_00: Yes, yes.
- 24:13SPEAKER_00: He was radical labor politics.
- 24:16SPEAKER_00: Yeah, absolutely.
- 24:17SPEAKER_00: And then maybe his nickname Lula comes from this age.
- 24:21SPEAKER_00: And
- 24:25SPEAKER_00: It is not only the case, I think, at least this is a theory of mine.
- 24:30SPEAKER_00: One may very well disagree with that,
- 24:32SPEAKER_00: but I think it's quite symptomatic that people refer to him as Lula.
- 24:36SPEAKER_00: As I said,
- 24:37SPEAKER_00: I think it represents,
- 24:37SPEAKER_00: well,
- 24:38one of the reasons why we have never been able to construct a
- 24:41solid rule of law
- 24:43SPEAKER_00: foundation here in Brazil,
- 24:44SPEAKER_00: and I think very much
- 24:46SPEAKER_00: The same is true to the rest of Latin America to some large extent.
- 24:49SPEAKER_01: I think you used the word personalism or a cognate of personalistic.
- 24:53SPEAKER_01: This is personalism.
- 24:56SPEAKER_01: We're getting a big dose of that in the United States,
- 24:58SPEAKER_01: as you well know,
- 24:59SPEAKER_01: but we'll stick to Brazil for now.
- 25:03SPEAKER_00: But there is also,
- 25:04SPEAKER_00: again,
- 25:05a connection between what's happening in America right now
- 25:07because there is this
- 25:08direct war between Donald Trump and the Supreme Court justice
- 25:12and all what's
- 25:14SPEAKER_00: happening with Bolsonaro.
- 25:15SPEAKER_00: I think we'll come to that later.
- 25:16SPEAKER_00: But back to Lula.
- 25:17SPEAKER_01: The Trump administration says never,
- 25:20SPEAKER_01: ever interfere with the internal politics of other countries,
- 25:24SPEAKER_01: especially in the Arab world,
- 25:25SPEAKER_01: except when you want to,
- 25:27SPEAKER_01: as in Germany,
- 25:29SPEAKER_01: Brazil,
- 25:30SPEAKER_01: et cetera.
- 25:30SPEAKER_01: Big hypocrites.
- 25:32SPEAKER_00: Yeah, exactly.
- 25:34It's the most common thread in authoritarians is that the law
- 25:39is what the sovereign says.
- 25:41SPEAKER_01: Whimsicality, sheer whimsicality.
- 25:45SPEAKER_01: So Lula, he's now in his third term, I think.
- 25:50SPEAKER_01: He had two other terms and then quite a break, including a prison term.
- 25:56SPEAKER_01: So in your opinion, sir, professor, yes.
- 26:01SPEAKER_01: Is Lula mainly a Democrat with a small d?
- 26:06SPEAKER_01: Mainly?
- 26:13SPEAKER_00: I think it's more ambiguous than that.
- 26:17SPEAKER_00: Because there's always been this tension.
- 26:20The Workers' Party and Lula,
- 26:22like I said,
- 26:22it's very hard to distinguish between the two.
- 26:25SPEAKER_00: They claim democracy when it's useful to them, right?
- 26:28SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
- 26:30SPEAKER_00: Those who defend Lula and the Workers' Party,
- 26:33SPEAKER_00: and I'm not only talking about partisans,
- 26:35SPEAKER_00: I'm talking about most political scientists here in Brazil,
- 26:40SPEAKER_00: they would say that,
- 26:40SPEAKER_00: yes,
- 26:40SPEAKER_00: Lula is a Democrat.
- 26:42SPEAKER_00: The most common answer that you will find is that he's mainly a Democrat.
- 26:46SPEAKER_00: Even...
- 26:47SPEAKER_00: from critics of his government and of his policies.
- 26:50SPEAKER_00: They also think,
- 26:51SPEAKER_00: yes,
- 26:51SPEAKER_00: mainly he's a Democrat because,
- 26:53SPEAKER_00: well,
- 26:53there's been a transition of power and he's never tried to
- 26:58sabotage elections like
- 26:59SPEAKER_00: Bolsonaro did.
- 27:00SPEAKER_00: So he's always mainly operated within a legal framework.
- 27:07SPEAKER_00: He was arrested after all.
- 27:08SPEAKER_00: He didn't resist it.
- 27:09SPEAKER_00: So...
- 27:10SPEAKER_00: Take that as you will,
- 27:11but some would say that it's a sign that he respected the legal
- 27:16decisions.
- 27:17SPEAKER_00: But I don't think that... Keep going, keep going, keep going.
- 27:20SPEAKER_00: I don't think it's as simple as that because there are several ways...
- 27:25SPEAKER_00: in which one can undermine democracy,
- 27:27SPEAKER_00: it doesn't really have to be as direct as Bolsonaro's waist,
- 27:31SPEAKER_00: right?
- 27:32SPEAKER_00: Because Bolsonaro,
- 27:33SPEAKER_00: like I said,
- 27:33he doesn't care and he just goes bullishly saying that he
- 27:39doesn't care about the
- 27:40SPEAKER_00: Supreme Court,
- 27:40SPEAKER_00: about the law,
- 27:41SPEAKER_00: about the rule of law.
- 27:42SPEAKER_00: He doesn't care really about anything.
- 27:44SPEAKER_00: The law is what he says.
- 27:45Well,
- 27:45it's not as caricatural as that,
- 27:48but it's almost like he said it literally,
- 27:51right?
- 27:51SPEAKER_00: And Lula has always played the Democrat, right?
- 27:54SPEAKER_00: But it is a common attitude of his and of his fellows,
- 28:01his fellow politicians from the Workers' Party to find ways to
- 28:08put their people in
- 28:09SPEAKER_00: positions of power just differently.
- 28:12just enough so that they can control decisions and they control
- 28:17everything that
- 28:17SPEAKER_00: will be said and done from institutions that should control government,
- 28:23SPEAKER_00: right?
- 28:24SPEAKER_00: So we call here in Brazil,
- 28:28SPEAKER_00: they instrumentalize the positions and offices with people of their own,
- 28:36SPEAKER_00: right?
- 28:36SPEAKER_00: It's a very common thread of populists here in Latin America as well.
- 28:40SPEAKER_00: So
- 28:42SPEAKER_00: The answer would be the following.
- 28:43SPEAKER_00: If you talk to most political scientists here in Brazil,
- 28:46SPEAKER_00: they will say that Lula is mainly a Democrat.
- 28:50SPEAKER_00: But I don't think it is as simple as that.
- 28:53SPEAKER_00: I wouldn't say he's as anti-democratic as Bolsonaro,
- 28:58SPEAKER_00: but I don't think they are really that different in that regard.
- 29:02I think they are different in other aspects,
- 29:04but not in that one that much.
- 29:07SPEAKER_01: Would Lula da Silva be a dictator if it were possible for him?
- 29:13SPEAKER_00: I think the main purpose,
- 29:16the main goal of the Workers' Party is not to need to become a
- 29:21dictator because
- 29:22they can get hold of power through elections in a way that they
- 29:27control the
- 29:27SPEAKER_00: institutions so much that they don't have to use force,
- 29:30SPEAKER_00: right?
- 29:31SPEAKER_00: Would Bolsonaro be a dictator if he could be?
- 29:34SPEAKER_01: Yes.
- 29:35SPEAKER_01: That's the difference.
- 29:36SPEAKER_01: No question.
- 29:37SPEAKER_01: Roberto, let me ask you.
- 29:40SPEAKER_01: Lula, how long did he spend in prison?
- 29:43SPEAKER_01: More than a year?
- 29:43SPEAKER_00: I think so, yes.
- 29:47SPEAKER_00: I think it was around that period of time, yeah.
- 29:49SPEAKER_00: It wasn't a very short period.
- 29:51SPEAKER_00: It wasn't much.
- 29:52SPEAKER_00: But yeah, I think you're quite correct in working with that time.
- 29:55SPEAKER_01: Is he personally corrupt?
- 29:57SPEAKER_01: Is he greedy for money personally?
- 30:00SPEAKER_01: Or is it more of a political greed?
- 30:02SPEAKER_01: Do you know what I mean by that?
- 30:04SPEAKER_01: Is he a self-enricher?
- 30:07SPEAKER_01: Is that the nature of his corruption?
- 30:11SPEAKER_01: Does he have the normal human vice of wanting to accumulate as much money
- 30:16SPEAKER_01: personally as possible?
- 30:20The original accusations and the original convictions were
- 30:24mainly based on very
- 30:27SPEAKER_00: personal,
- 30:28SPEAKER_00: very shallow things.
- 30:29There was an apartment,
- 30:31a beach apartment in the state country house,
- 30:36right?
- 30:37SPEAKER_00: So these were very...
- 30:39SPEAKER_00: if one could say so, mediocre.
- 30:42SPEAKER_01: Relatively trivial things.
- 30:44SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
- 30:44SPEAKER_01: We're not talking about Saudi palaces.
- 30:47SPEAKER_00: No, exactly.
- 30:47SPEAKER_00: Yeah, yeah, exactly.
- 30:48SPEAKER_01: We're not talking about a Putin level of kleptocracy.
- 30:53SPEAKER_00: Absolutely.
- 30:55SPEAKER_00: To be fair, he has always denied the accusations, right?
- 30:59SPEAKER_00: He has always claimed he was victim of a political conspiracy.
- 31:04SPEAKER_00: He always presented himself as a political prisoner.
- 31:07SPEAKER_00: Even in one of his egomaniac moments compared himself to Nelson Mandela,
- 31:13SPEAKER_00: which is absolutely an offense.
- 31:15SPEAKER_00: But then again,
- 31:16SPEAKER_00: that's always his version of it,
- 31:18that he was prosecuted unfairly because of a political
- 31:23motivation by the then judge
- 31:26SPEAKER_00: Sergio Moro.
- 31:27SPEAKER_01: Is there any truth to it, Gilberto?
- 31:31SPEAKER_01: I mean, you and I are no fans of Lula da Silva.
- 31:35SPEAKER_01: Does he have a point or no point?
- 31:38SPEAKER_00: He does have a point indeed,
- 31:39SPEAKER_00: yes,
- 31:39SPEAKER_00: because the convictions were annulled by the Supreme Court because,
- 31:44SPEAKER_00: to put it very shortly,
- 31:47SPEAKER_00: Modo was considered to be a partial judge,
- 31:50SPEAKER_00: right?
- 31:51SPEAKER_00: And it is true.
- 31:53SPEAKER_00: He really did violate the rule of law and due process of law.
- 31:57SPEAKER_00: The judge did.
- 31:58SPEAKER_00: The judge did, yes.
- 31:59SPEAKER_00: Moro, M-O-R-O.
- 32:01SPEAKER_00: Yes.
- 32:02SPEAKER_00: M-O-R-O.
- 32:02SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
- 32:03SPEAKER_00: There were several problematic decisions,
- 32:06SPEAKER_00: uh,
- 32:06on what it comes to respecting the rule of law and due process
- 32:09of law and the legal
- 32:11SPEAKER_00: procedures.
- 32:11SPEAKER_00: And the, the, he didn't go by the book once you say that.
- 32:15SPEAKER_01: So, and I'm going to rush you.
- 32:16You'll have to forgive me because I'm,
- 32:18I'm,
- 32:18I'm a rude rushing podcast host.
- 32:22SPEAKER_01: You are the politest of Latin American gentlemen.
- 32:25SPEAKER_01: And, um, so, um,
- 32:29SPEAKER_01: Lula serves two terms as president.
- 32:32SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
- 32:32SPEAKER_01: He succeeded by Dilma Rousseff.
- 32:36SPEAKER_01: Yes.
- 32:37SPEAKER_01: Who's impeached and then succeeded by her vice president, Mr. Temer.
- 32:43SPEAKER_01: Exactly.
- 32:44SPEAKER_01: Now, in Italian, that means to fear.
- 32:47SPEAKER_01: Does it mean the same in Portuguese?
- 32:51SPEAKER_01: He can be quite scary, and I think some people actually hear him.
- 32:55SPEAKER_01: And that's what the word means in Italian.
- 32:58SPEAKER_00: No, yes, I'm joking.
- 32:59SPEAKER_00: It means, yes, temer is to be afraid.
- 33:02SPEAKER_01: Okay, so.
- 33:03SPEAKER_01: And then comes in, do you say his first name, Jair Bolsonaro?
- 33:08SPEAKER_01: Perfect pronunciation, yes.
- 33:09SPEAKER_01: Jair Bolsonaro.
- 33:10SPEAKER_01: So he has his very turbulent four-year term, as we know.
- 33:15SPEAKER_01: So he's defeated at the polls by a returning...
- 33:20SPEAKER_01: freed from prison, Lula da Silva.
- 33:22SPEAKER_01: Yes.
- 33:24Bolsonaro resigns the presidency rather than having to attend
- 33:30the inauguration of his successor.
- 33:33SPEAKER_01: He refused to do so.
- 33:35SPEAKER_01: Did he resign the presidency so as not to have to pass the sash to Lula?
- 33:43SPEAKER_01: Didn't he leave early for Florida?
- 33:45SPEAKER_01: Yes.
- 33:46Yeah,
- 33:47as he did because,
- 33:48well,
- 33:48he was mainly afraid of the charges that were coming his way.
- 33:52SPEAKER_00: Okay.
- 33:53SPEAKER_00: The charges came.
- 33:54SPEAKER_01: Okay, so here's what I'm going to rush ahead.
- 33:56SPEAKER_01: So Bolsonaro is defeated.
- 34:02SPEAKER_01: Does he attempt a coup d'etat?
- 34:03SPEAKER_01: Does he try to overturn the election?
- 34:06SPEAKER_01: Because Brazilians had their own January 6th.
- 34:09SPEAKER_01: Was it on January 1st or 2nd that you had your January 6th?
- 34:14SPEAKER_01: It was January 8th.
- 34:15SPEAKER_00: What happened?
- 34:17SPEAKER_00: So there are two layers to that.
- 34:19SPEAKER_00: People say that those people who we had our own,
- 34:22SPEAKER_00: like you said,
- 34:22SPEAKER_00: our very own capital invasion in January 8th.
- 34:25SPEAKER_00: And those people mainly were pawns, like useful tools, right?
- 34:32SPEAKER_00: Tools of whom?
- 34:33SPEAKER_00: Bolsonaro's party?
- 34:36SPEAKER_00: Mainly Bolsonaro, because the party is pretty much inexistent.
- 34:40SPEAKER_00: It gravitated,
- 34:41SPEAKER_00: more personalistic than the workers' party has been his,
- 34:45SPEAKER_00: because his party already existed,
- 34:47SPEAKER_00: but it was really instrumentalized and gravitated only around Bolsonaro,
- 34:54SPEAKER_00: right?
- 34:54SPEAKER_01: So as I understand it, our guys, our glorious January 6th heroes,
- 35:00SPEAKER_01: sacked only the US Capitol, the legislature.
- 35:03SPEAKER_01: I understand your guys,
- 35:05SPEAKER_01: your equivalents attacked the legislature,
- 35:08SPEAKER_01: the presidential residents,
- 35:09SPEAKER_01: and the Supreme Court.
- 35:10SPEAKER_01: In other words, all three branches of government.
- 35:13SPEAKER_00: Yes, indeed.
- 35:13And the Supreme Court was the main target because the Supreme
- 35:17Court has always been
- 35:18SPEAKER_00: the main target by Bolsonaro and his supporters,
- 35:21SPEAKER_00: right?
- 35:22SPEAKER_00: And what's happening is that
- 35:26Many critics from bolsonaristas themselves to more moderate
- 35:30people are discussing
- 35:33SPEAKER_00: the way that the Supreme Court has been dealing with the protesters,
- 35:39SPEAKER_00: or I don't think one should call them protesters.
- 35:42SPEAKER_00: They are indeed vandals, right?
- 35:43SPEAKER_00: But the convictions are maybe...
- 35:49too harsh to the extent that they are being used as scapegoats
- 35:55to the real people
- 35:58SPEAKER_00: behind the coup attempt?
- 36:00Because what I'm trying to get at is that there was never going
- 36:04to succeed a coup
- 36:05SPEAKER_00: like that,
- 36:06SPEAKER_00: right?
- 36:06SPEAKER_00: There was no way it could succeed.
- 36:07SPEAKER_00: The real coup attempt was not that invasion.
- 36:12SPEAKER_00: They were used as pawns because the real coup plan was
- 36:17SPEAKER_00: didn't take place because what they really was later found,
- 36:22SPEAKER_00: what they call here in Brazil,
- 36:23SPEAKER_00: a Minuta do Golpe.
- 36:24SPEAKER_00: Some could call it like the coup draft, right?
- 36:30Are these the layers you were talking about before I really
- 36:33interrupted you?
- 36:34SPEAKER_00: Yes, indeed.
- 36:35SPEAKER_00: The first layer is the more direct one, which is the invasion, right?
- 36:39SPEAKER_00: But the second layer, which is the more, the worst one,
- 36:44SPEAKER_00: is that there was indeed a plan,
- 36:46SPEAKER_00: a written plan that it was later,
- 36:49SPEAKER_00: well,
- 36:49SPEAKER_00: not yet legally proved because the process is still taking place,
- 36:52SPEAKER_00: but,
- 36:53SPEAKER_00: well,
- 36:53SPEAKER_00: the evidence is that Bolsonaro himself discussed this plan.
- 36:57There was a plan,
- 36:57a written plan that was found in one of Bolsonaro's ministers'
- 37:01home.
- 37:02They were planning to actually declare a state of emergency
- 37:07based on this invasion,
- 37:08right?
- 37:09SPEAKER_00: And they wanted to actually assassinate Alexandre de Moraes, the...
- 37:13SPEAKER_00: the justice from the Supreme Court,
- 37:16SPEAKER_00: and Lula in order to actually effectivate a coup d'etat,
- 37:20SPEAKER_00: right?
- 37:21SPEAKER_00: So he didn't attempt the coup for several reasons.
- 37:24SPEAKER_00: It didn't take place.
- 37:25SPEAKER_00: It didn't work.
- 37:26SPEAKER_00: So it wasn't attempted, but it was indeed planned.
- 37:29SPEAKER_00: So that's what I would say.
- 37:31Maybe he didn't attempt a coup d'etat,
- 37:32but he really did plan a coup d'etat.
- 37:35SPEAKER_00: Do you think Bolsonaro is guilty as charged?
- 37:41SPEAKER_01: All the evidence to me says he's
- 37:43SPEAKER_01: Yes.
- 37:44And the president of the United States says that Bolsonaro is
- 37:48being persecuted.
- 37:49SPEAKER_01: And for that reason, Brazil is going to be hit with tariffs.
- 37:54SPEAKER_01: Correct?
- 37:55SPEAKER_01: Yes, absolutely.
- 37:57SPEAKER_01: Now, has this helped Lula da Silva politically?
- 38:01Is there a backlash in Brazil against Trump as happened in
- 38:04Canada recently?
- 38:06When Trump started talking about Canada as a bad actor and a
- 38:10bad neighbor,
- 38:12SPEAKER_01: and we should annex them and have them as the 51st state,
- 38:16SPEAKER_01: it was a great gift to the Liberal Party.
- 38:20SPEAKER_01: Has Trump given Lula and the left a gift today?
- 38:26SPEAKER_00: In some ways,
- 38:27SPEAKER_00: yes,
- 38:27because Lula is certainly trying to gain some political
- 38:31leverage from this,
- 38:32SPEAKER_00: even with his slogans like Brazil is sovereign,
- 38:37SPEAKER_00: will not accept any interference from outside countries and everything.
- 38:41SPEAKER_00: So in a way, it has been to his advantage.
- 38:44SPEAKER_00: Yankee put out.
- 38:45SPEAKER_00: Yeah, exactly.
- 38:47SPEAKER_00: Pretty much this, yes.
- 38:48SPEAKER_00: But...
- 38:49SPEAKER_00: On the other hand,
- 38:51SPEAKER_00: if the tariffs really did go through as they were originally planned,
- 38:55SPEAKER_00: it could hit Brazil very,
- 38:57SPEAKER_00: very harshly,
- 38:58SPEAKER_00: right?
- 38:58SPEAKER_00: So...
- 39:01What strikes me the most as more strange in this is why Trump
- 39:07would actually do that.
- 39:10SPEAKER_00: Because to me,
- 39:11SPEAKER_00: to my Brazilian eyes,
- 39:12Trump has always seemed like he was more interested in himself
- 39:18and his own personal
- 39:20SPEAKER_00: project and his own passion and love for power.
- 39:23SPEAKER_00: And
- 39:25One explanation that one could perhaps have is that he
- 39:28identifies himself in what
- 39:30he sees in Bolsonaro in the sense that they feel like they're
- 39:33being persecuted by
- 39:35SPEAKER_00: the liberal elites and,
- 39:37SPEAKER_00: well,
- 39:38SPEAKER_00: this old populist rhetoric.
- 39:40SPEAKER_00: Deep state.
- 39:42SPEAKER_00: Yeah, exactly.
- 39:43And the other hypothesis is that it is easy for him to use this
- 39:47as a way to...
- 39:49maybe deliver a message to the BRICS and the other countries
- 39:53that he can do
- 39:54SPEAKER_00: whatever he wants to,
- 39:55because there's really no real political cost for him to do
- 39:59this against Brazil.
- 40:01in the sense that Brazil doesn't really represent that much of
- 40:04a risk in that sense.
- 40:06SPEAKER_00: I'm not sure which of the hypotheses is more correct,
- 40:09if it is a more subjective personal one in that Trump
- 40:14identifies himself in this
- 40:16SPEAKER_00: situation that he perceives that Bolsonaro is going through,
- 40:19SPEAKER_00: because again,
- 40:21SPEAKER_00: This is paranoia.
- 40:23SPEAKER_00: This is conspiracy.
- 40:24SPEAKER_00: He is not being persecuted.
- 40:25SPEAKER_00: The problems in the way that Alexandre de Moraes,
- 40:29SPEAKER_00: the Supreme Court Justice,
- 40:30SPEAKER_00: is conducting things are others.
- 40:32And there are several problems,
- 40:34but not to the point of Bolsonaro being a victim of the system.
- 40:39SPEAKER_00: Not at all.
- 40:40SPEAKER_01: Gilberto, when is the next Brazilian presidential election?
- 40:44SPEAKER_01: In 2026.
- 40:45SPEAKER_01: What month?
- 40:46SPEAKER_01: October.
- 40:47SPEAKER_00: October, yes.
- 40:48SPEAKER_00: Do you think there will be an election that month?
- 40:51SPEAKER_00: I think so, yes.
- 40:52SPEAKER_00: There will be an election.
- 40:53I don't think it's going to be a good one,
- 40:54but I think there will be an election.
- 40:56SPEAKER_01: Will Lula run again?
- 40:58SPEAKER_00: Yes.
- 40:58SPEAKER_00: Can he?
- 40:59SPEAKER_00: He can run again, yes.
- 41:01SPEAKER_01: He will be the nominee of his party?
- 41:04SPEAKER_01: There are no term limits in Brazil?
- 41:07SPEAKER_01: Two.
- 41:09SPEAKER_01: Oh, two consecutive?
- 41:11SPEAKER_01: Yes.
- 41:12SPEAKER_01: Lula's already had two.
- 41:13SPEAKER_00: He's about to finish three.
- 41:16SPEAKER_00: You can get reelected, right?
- 41:18SPEAKER_00: Right.
- 41:19SPEAKER_00: In this subsequent election.
- 41:20SPEAKER_01: So you can have two in a row.
- 41:21SPEAKER_01: Yeah, exactly.
- 41:22SPEAKER_00: Take a break,
- 41:23SPEAKER_01: go to prison,
- 41:24SPEAKER_01: as Lula did,
- 41:25SPEAKER_00: relax in prison,
- 41:26SPEAKER_01: and run again,
- 41:27SPEAKER_01: be elected,
- 41:28SPEAKER_01: and have two more terms.
- 41:29SPEAKER_01: Okay.
- 41:30SPEAKER_01: How old is Lula?
- 41:34SPEAKER_00: Lula is right now.
- 41:35SPEAKER_00: Approximately.
- 41:37SPEAKER_00: He's approximately 80.
- 41:38SPEAKER_00: I'm not sure he has reached his 80th birthday yet, but maybe 79, 78.
- 41:46SPEAKER_01: Does he still have his marbles, if you know that English slang?
- 41:52SPEAKER_00: I think so, yes.
- 41:53SPEAKER_00: I mean, he's losing it, but he still has it.
- 41:56SPEAKER_01: Uh-huh.
- 41:58SPEAKER_01: All right.
- 41:59SPEAKER_01: We've had some experience with that in the United States.
- 42:03SPEAKER_00: Yeah, yeah, you did have it.
- 42:04SPEAKER_00: I think it was worse in America.
- 42:07SPEAKER_00: Yes.
- 42:08SPEAKER_00: But I think it was more – Lula still has some years in him.
- 42:14SPEAKER_01: Is Bolsonaro now in court for organizing a coup attempt?
- 42:21SPEAKER_01: Is Bolsonaro facing charges right now?
- 42:24SPEAKER_00: Yes,
- 42:24he is for the coup attempt and for causing up with Trump in
- 42:29order to sabotage
- 42:30SPEAKER_00: Brazilian sovereignty in the rhetoric of Lula.
- 42:33SPEAKER_01: When will these charges be settled?
- 42:35SPEAKER_01: When will this case or cases be settled?
- 42:39There's no specific date for it to happen because there are
- 42:42always recourses,
- 42:46SPEAKER_00: legal recourses,
- 42:46SPEAKER_00: and defense comes up with different theses and everything.
- 42:50SPEAKER_00: But it's a slow process, really.
- 42:52SPEAKER_00: If Bolsonaro is convicted...
- 42:54SPEAKER_00: He's currently ineligible,
- 42:56so he will not run anyway because he was convicted before in
- 43:01the electoral process.
- 43:02SPEAKER_00: Bolsonaro, yeah.
- 43:03Bolsonaro is not a candidate regardless of the...
- 43:06You don't think he will attempt to run anyway?
- 43:09SPEAKER_00: He cannot, legally.
- 43:12SPEAKER_00: Regardless of the coup process,
- 43:15because he was already convicted on a different process related
- 43:19to electoral
- 43:20SPEAKER_00: charges.
- 43:21So he's already ineligible,
- 43:23but he's still the most dominant force on the right.
- 43:27SPEAKER_00: So he cannot himself run for office.
- 43:29SPEAKER_00: but he'll certainly pick the right candidate.
- 43:33So it's going to be Lula against Bolsonaro,
- 43:35regardless of being Bolsonaro himself.
- 43:38SPEAKER_01: So Bolsonaro will be behind the throne regardless?
- 43:42SPEAKER_00: Probably so, yeah.
- 43:45SPEAKER_00: It is an open question to know how much,
- 43:48SPEAKER_00: because we don't know as of now who will run in his place.
- 43:52There are several people who have already discussed the
- 43:55possibility of his wife
- 43:56SPEAKER_00: running for office.
- 43:57SPEAKER_00: Then you have his son.
- 43:59SPEAKER_00: So common.
- 44:00SPEAKER_00: So common.
- 44:01SPEAKER_01: Yeah, exactly.
- 44:02SPEAKER_01: We have that in America.
- 44:03SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
- 44:06SPEAKER_01: Could be the next.
- 44:07SPEAKER_01: I was going to talk about Florida politics.
- 44:09SPEAKER_01: In Alabama, Governor George Wallace was succeeded by his wife, Lurleen.
- 44:13SPEAKER_01: Absolutely.
- 44:17It sounds to me that,
- 44:19well,
- 44:19I want to ask you some more about Bolsonaro first.
- 44:22SPEAKER_01: I'm a big hypocrite,
- 44:24SPEAKER_01: Gilberto,
- 44:25SPEAKER_01: because I'm always saying we should not get hung up on terms,
- 44:29SPEAKER_01: spend too much time on terms,
- 44:30SPEAKER_01: on vocabulary,
- 44:32SPEAKER_01: yet I spend a lot of time on vocabulary.
- 44:36SPEAKER_01: Is Bolsonaro a rightist and a fascist in the classic European sense?
- 44:43SPEAKER_01: Or is he more like a traditional Latin American caudillo and peronista?
- 44:51SPEAKER_01: How would you classify him?
- 44:54SPEAKER_00: I think it's a mixture of both, right?
- 44:59People on the right have always said that it is alarmist to
- 45:03classify Bolsonaro as a
- 45:04SPEAKER_00: fascist and that it would mean degrading the use of the word.
- 45:09SPEAKER_00: And if everyone's a fascist, then nobody's a fascist.
- 45:12I think they're right in abstract terms because really,
- 45:15if everyone's a fascist,
- 45:16then nobody is.
- 45:17SPEAKER_00: But Bolsonaro has flirted very closely with Bolsonaro.
- 45:20SPEAKER_00: fascist ideology.
- 45:21SPEAKER_00: He's anti-democratic and illiberal.
- 45:23SPEAKER_00: Yeah, absolutely.
- 45:24SPEAKER_00: Absolutely.
- 45:26The only cause of concern for me to classify him as a downright
- 45:32fascist is the risk
- 45:33SPEAKER_00: of anachronism and some sort of imprecision,
- 45:36SPEAKER_00: but not because I think he's too far off in his intentions.
- 45:40SPEAKER_00: So I would classify him maybe as a Viktor Orban, if that makes sense.
- 45:44SPEAKER_00: Yes, sure.
- 45:45SPEAKER_01: Perfect.
- 45:45SPEAKER_01: I think it's closer to that.
- 45:47SPEAKER_01: Lula da Silva.
- 45:50SPEAKER_01: One of the things I am unforgivable is a strong word,
- 45:57SPEAKER_01: but he's a great supporter of the Castros in Cuba.
- 46:01SPEAKER_01: And Lula da Silva was briefly in his youth or in his younger years,
- 46:08SPEAKER_01: a political prisoner himself.
- 46:09SPEAKER_01: I'm not talking about this recent term.
- 46:11SPEAKER_01: Sure, sure.
- 46:12SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
- 46:12SPEAKER_01: Way back.
- 46:13SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
- 46:14And he expressed no sympathy,
- 46:16in fact,
- 46:16quite the opposite,
- 46:17for Cuban political prisoners.
- 46:20SPEAKER_01: Is Lula da Silva... Is da Silva... Is he a kind of commie?
- 46:26SPEAKER_01: Or is he a leftist?
- 46:29SPEAKER_01: Is he a red?
- 46:30SPEAKER_01: Is he pink more than red?
- 46:33I mean,
- 46:35his admiration for the Castros,
- 46:37I think,
- 46:38says a lot about the man.
- 46:40SPEAKER_01: Is he more...
- 46:43SPEAKER_01: commie or more social democratic in your judgment.
- 46:49I think your question is a very important one because that
- 46:55explains perfectly,
- 46:56that summarizes perfectly why I hesitated in saying that Lula
- 47:00is a Democrat,
- 47:01SPEAKER_00: right?
- 47:02SPEAKER_00: Because like I said,
- 47:02SPEAKER_00: if you talk to most political scientists here in Brazil,
- 47:05they will say that Lula is a Democrat because he respected
- 47:08democratic processes.
- 47:10SPEAKER_00: And he really did to some extent, right?
- 47:12SPEAKER_00: To a very large extent.
- 47:13SPEAKER_00: In that sense, he is a Democrat.
- 47:16SPEAKER_00: But you mentioned something very important.
- 47:18SPEAKER_00: How can you be a Democrat?
- 47:19And at the same time,
- 47:20you shake hands with Chavez and Maduro and Kirchner and
- 47:26Castros,
- 47:27right?
- 47:28SPEAKER_01: I guess you can.
- 47:29SPEAKER_01: Both Trudeaus were admirers of the Castros in Canada.
- 47:33SPEAKER_00: But I think there are different levels to that.
- 47:35SPEAKER_01: Pierre Trudeau asked Fidel Castro to be a pallbearer at his funeral.
- 47:40there are different levels though you're quite right but you
- 47:45have for example not
- 47:47only that you also have Lula hesitating very much and even not
- 47:54doing so condemning
- 47:56Putin's invasion of Ukraine so I think he's too much of a
- 48:03pragmatist for me to say
- 48:05SPEAKER_00: that he's a rat but I think
- 48:10SPEAKER_00: you know, a small light shade of red, right?
- 48:15SPEAKER_01: Pink, pink, rose, light rose.
- 48:19Or maybe,
- 48:21I don't know if it's the correct word in English,
- 48:24a chameleon,
- 48:24you know,
- 48:25the reptile.
- 48:25SPEAKER_00: Yeah, sure, a chameleon, yeah.
- 48:27SPEAKER_00: So deep down he's red, but he cares.
- 48:32SPEAKER_01: I'll teach you a phrase.
- 48:33SPEAKER_01: Please.
- 48:34SPEAKER_01: Herbert Hoover,
- 48:35SPEAKER_01: President Hoover,
- 48:37SPEAKER_01: called his successor,
- 48:39SPEAKER_01: Franklin D.
- 48:39SPEAKER_01: Roosevelt,
- 48:40SPEAKER_01: quote,
- 48:40SPEAKER_01: a chameleon on plaid.
- 48:46SPEAKER_01: Gilberto, the question was just only hypothetical.
- 48:49Because I believe that Lula da Silva has never lost a
- 48:53presidential election.
- 48:55SPEAKER_01: He has.
- 48:56SPEAKER_00: Prior to his first election, he lost a couple of them.
- 49:00SPEAKER_00: Did he readily concede defeat?
- 49:03SPEAKER_00: Yes, he did.
- 49:03SPEAKER_00: Yes.
- 49:04SPEAKER_01: That says something about him.
- 49:06SPEAKER_00: Well, again, there's some ambiguity to that.
- 49:09SPEAKER_00: I mean, he conceded defeat, but...
- 49:12The very next day,
- 49:13the Workers' Party was trying to impeach the elected
- 49:16presidents,
- 49:17right?
- 49:17SPEAKER_00: So he didn't go as far as planned to assassinate him as Bolsonaro did.
- 49:23SPEAKER_01: So we're on our closing minutes here.
- 49:26SPEAKER_01: I just want to remind people that we're talking to,
- 49:28SPEAKER_01: again,
- 49:28SPEAKER_01: I'll go all American on you,
- 49:31SPEAKER_01: Gilberto Morbach or Gilberto Morbach.
- 49:36SPEAKER_01: Beautifully put.
- 49:37SPEAKER_01: And he, a formidable intellectual, one of my favorite.
- 49:43SPEAKER_01: And on whose faculty are you, professor?
- 49:48SPEAKER_01: What faculty do you serve on?
- 49:49SPEAKER_01: I can't remember.
- 49:50SPEAKER_01: What is your institution?
- 49:52SPEAKER_00: I'm a professor at the University of São Paulo, USP, USP.
- 49:56SPEAKER_01: And you're teaching?
- 49:57SPEAKER_01: Yes.
- 49:58SPEAKER_00: I'm a fellow researcher.
- 50:01SPEAKER_00: I am a co-founder with Professor José Reinaldo de Lima Lopes,
- 50:05SPEAKER_00: my supervisor of the Research Center for Law and Justice.
- 50:09SPEAKER_00: So I teach short-term courses and I develop events and seminars and...
- 50:18We try to run institutional partnerships with international
- 50:23institutions.
- 50:24We have a permanent seminar series on the rule of law with the
- 50:28University of Messina in Italy.
- 50:30So several research projects that gravitate around the grand
- 50:36area of law and
- 50:38SPEAKER_00: philosophy,
- 50:38SPEAKER_00: and more specifically,
- 50:40SPEAKER_00: in my case,
- 50:40SPEAKER_00: the rule of law.
- 50:42SPEAKER_01: Here are a few questions for you at the end, maybe three, certainly two.
- 50:47SPEAKER_01: For the likes of you and me, I'm an American conservative.
- 50:52SPEAKER_01: I'm a great respecter of liberal democracy and the rule of law.
- 50:55SPEAKER_01: For the likes of you and me, is there anyone to root for in Brazil?
- 51:02Or do we have no one but illiberals to the left and illiberals
- 51:05to the right?
- 51:06SPEAKER_00: Right.
- 51:07SPEAKER_00: There are some people we can root for.
- 51:09SPEAKER_00: I have a personal favorite of mine.
- 51:11SPEAKER_00: I'll talk about him soon.
- 51:13The favorite to run that is not exactly Lula or Bolsonaro is
- 51:18the current governor of São Paulo.
- 51:20SPEAKER_00: His name is Tarcísio de Freitas, right?
- 51:24SPEAKER_00: He's mainly seen as a pragmatist, but a very competent politician.
- 51:30SPEAKER_02: Mm-hmm.
- 51:31SPEAKER_00: He has been a very competent public administrator, right?
- 51:36SPEAKER_00: Would people call him a technocrat?
- 51:39SPEAKER_01: Because in my experience with populists here,
- 51:42SPEAKER_01: when they say technocratic,
- 51:44SPEAKER_01: they're really using a synonym for competent.
- 51:47SPEAKER_01: In my opinion.
- 51:48SPEAKER_00: Yes.
- 51:49SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
- 51:49SPEAKER_00: No, you're correct.
- 51:50SPEAKER_00: And the same applies here.
- 51:54SPEAKER_00: Some people on the left use technocrat as a bad word.
- 51:57SPEAKER_00: Yes.
- 51:58SPEAKER_00: As an offense.
- 51:59SPEAKER_00: But I agree it's the same.
- 52:01SPEAKER_00: But there is one.
- 52:02SPEAKER_00: Usually means they're smart, honest, and competent.
- 52:06SPEAKER_00: But there is to me a fundamental problem in Tarsisio.
- 52:09that he's too much of a pragmatist in the sense that he doesn't
- 52:14really care.
- 52:15SPEAKER_00: And I mean,
- 52:18SPEAKER_00: he constantly flirts with Bolsonaro in order to gain the votes of the
- 52:22SPEAKER_00: Bolsonaristas,
- 52:22SPEAKER_00: right?
- 52:23SPEAKER_00: Sure.
- 52:24One can understand that politically wise because someone needs
- 52:29votes to get them.
- 52:30SPEAKER_00: He's a politician.
- 52:32SPEAKER_00: But I think there's a limit to that.
- 52:33SPEAKER_00: I mean, there are some hands you don't shake.
- 52:36SPEAKER_00: We were talking earlier about the Castros and about Maduro.
- 52:40SPEAKER_00: And we are now talking about Bolsonaro, right?
- 52:44SPEAKER_00: Some lines you just don't cross, right?
- 52:46SPEAKER_00: And I think he goes too far in crossing that line.
- 52:50SPEAKER_00: I understand that one needs to have
- 52:53SPEAKER_00: a tolerant stance in order to speak to a broader audience.
- 52:56SPEAKER_00: I think that's fundamental even to a Democrat.
- 53:00SPEAKER_00: But he goes as far as sucking up to Bolsonaro and his followers, right?
- 53:07SPEAKER_01: Just so you know,
- 53:07SPEAKER_01: here in America,
- 53:08SPEAKER_01: there are people who call themselves conservatives who love Bolsonaro.
- 53:12And Bolsonaro is a star of CPAC,
- 53:14as you know,
- 53:14which stands for conservative.
- 53:16SPEAKER_01: And CPAC held an event in Brazil under Bolsonaro's wing.
- 53:20SPEAKER_01: Do you regard Bolsonaro as in any sense a conservative?
- 53:26SPEAKER_00: To my conception of conservatism, not at all.
- 53:28SPEAKER_00: He's...
- 53:30SPEAKER_00: to intellectually limited to be a conservative.
- 53:36And he doesn't really respect the central tenets of the
- 53:41conservative tradition.
- 53:42SPEAKER_00: So he's at best a reactionary.
- 53:44SPEAKER_00: That's what I would say.
- 53:45SPEAKER_00: So who's the politician you favor?
- 53:47SPEAKER_00: You're going to say that you're a politician you like.
- 53:50SPEAKER_00: Yeah,
- 53:50the one that I like is really an underdog because he wants to
- 53:53be president,
- 53:53but I'm certain that he will never get the votes he needs to be
- 53:57president.
- 53:58SPEAKER_00: He is called Eduardo Leite.
- 54:00SPEAKER_00: He is the current governor of Rio Grande do Sul, my state.
- 54:04SPEAKER_00: Leite sounds like milk.
- 54:06SPEAKER_00: Exactly.
- 54:07SPEAKER_00: It's the same word.
- 54:08SPEAKER_00: Eduardo Leite.
- 54:09SPEAKER_00: It would be Eduardo Milk.
- 54:10SPEAKER_00: Yeah, you're right.
- 54:12SPEAKER_00: And he is a technocrat in the sense that we were now talking, right?
- 54:17SPEAKER_01: Meaning not a crook, someone who knows what he's doing.
- 54:20SPEAKER_01: Exactly.
- 54:21SPEAKER_01: God damn him for that.
- 54:24God damn him for knowing what he's doing and for not cozying up
- 54:27with populists and
- 54:28SPEAKER_00: authoritarianism as well.
- 54:30SPEAKER_00: And he doesn't go as far as shaking hands with Bolsonaro.
- 54:33SPEAKER_00: Sounds like he has no chance.
- 54:36SPEAKER_00: Yeah, absolutely.
- 54:37SPEAKER_00: Yeah, exactly.
- 54:38SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
- 54:38SPEAKER_00: So we're doomed.
- 54:39SPEAKER_00: We're doomed to root for the underdog who'll never win the election.
- 54:43So our best hope is a technocrat that doesn't mind shaking
- 54:46hands with Bolsonaro.
- 54:47SPEAKER_00: So there you go.
- 54:48SPEAKER_00: It's as bad as it sounds.
- 54:51Gilberto,
- 54:52this may be a painful question because you're a Brazilian
- 54:57patriot.
- 54:59SPEAKER_01: You know this phrase that's more than 100 years old, I think.
- 55:03SPEAKER_01: No, not more than 100 years old.
- 55:04SPEAKER_01: Ah.
- 55:07SPEAKER_01: but maybe 75 years old.
- 55:10SPEAKER_01: Brazil, country of the future.
- 55:13SPEAKER_01: Yes.
- 55:13SPEAKER_01: Country of the future.
- 55:16I think my beloved Stefan Zweig wrote a book called Brazil,
- 55:20country of the future.
- 55:23SPEAKER_01: And the joke,
- 55:24SPEAKER_01: the mordant,
- 55:25maybe painful joke is Brazil is always the country of the
- 55:30future that is never
- 55:31SPEAKER_01: occurring.
- 55:33SPEAKER_01: But one day it might happen.
- 55:36And I wonder,
- 55:39you're a young man,
- 55:42what do you think of the future of Brazil?
- 55:44SPEAKER_01: Do you think that democracy,
- 55:50SPEAKER_01: liberalism,
- 55:50SPEAKER_01: the rule of law,
- 55:51SPEAKER_01: let's say,
- 55:53can take root in Brazil and perhaps have an influence on the
- 55:59region as a whole?
- 56:02SPEAKER_00: This is maybe pessimistic of me,
- 56:03SPEAKER_00: but I think Brazil is doomed to be the country that never was,
- 56:07SPEAKER_00: right?
- 56:07SPEAKER_00: Because there was a very short period in our history,
- 56:11SPEAKER_00: the then president,
- 56:13SPEAKER_00: Fernando Henrique Cardoso,
- 56:15SPEAKER_00: right?
- 56:16SPEAKER_00: Before Lula's first term.
- 56:20SPEAKER_00: That was a very good government with,
- 56:23SPEAKER_00: well,
- 56:23SPEAKER_00: it had its problems,
- 56:24SPEAKER_00: of course,
- 56:25because we're talking about human institutions and human
- 56:27fallibility here,
- 56:28but it was as close as a normal democratic government as one
- 56:34can have with liberal
- 56:38SPEAKER_00: economic policies,
- 56:39SPEAKER_00: with an opening to democracies and the rule of law and
- 56:48an impersonal account and an impersonal way of doing things and
- 56:53running office and
- 56:54SPEAKER_00: running the government.
- 56:56SPEAKER_00: And it's been lost, really.
- 57:00When I look back at the legacy of Fernando Henrique Cardoso and
- 57:04the future,
- 57:05SPEAKER_00: what the future might hold,
- 57:07SPEAKER_00: it's very bleak,
- 57:08SPEAKER_00: very bleak indeed,
- 57:09SPEAKER_00: because there's this divide between bolistas and bolsonaristas.
- 57:14SPEAKER_00: And what concerns me the most, because at this very podcast,
- 57:18SPEAKER_00: I have been very critical of Lula, right?
- 57:20SPEAKER_00: But it has also been... I've been very clear.
- 57:23SPEAKER_00: I hope I've been clear on that.
- 57:25I have absolutely no respect for Bolsonaro and his fellow
- 57:29Bolsonaristas,
- 57:30right?
- 57:30SPEAKER_00: And the problem is that...
- 57:32SPEAKER_00: While Democrats overall here are very happy and very ready to,
- 57:38SPEAKER_00: and rightly so,
- 57:39SPEAKER_00: to say that Bolsonaro is an illiberal populist,
- 57:42SPEAKER_00: authoritarian,
- 57:43SPEAKER_00: democratic leader,
- 57:45SPEAKER_00: they are not willing to admit that Lula has its serious and grave faults,
- 57:52SPEAKER_00: right?
- 57:53There is some sort of paralysis of critical judgment in the
- 57:58intellectual elites here in Brazil.
- 58:00SPEAKER_00: They conceive...
- 58:02of defeating bolsonaro as this grand end without realizing that
- 58:08the conditions that
- 58:09led to bolsonaro remain the same right because when you have
- 58:13lula and the workers
- 58:15party for so long in power with this rhetoric of us against
- 58:19them and the people
- 58:21SPEAKER_00: versus the elites people feel ostracized and bolsonaro
- 58:26SPEAKER_00: with all his terrible problems.
- 58:28SPEAKER_00: Like I said, he's an illiberal, incompetent populist, a demagogue.
- 58:31SPEAKER_00: I have, like I said, no respect for him.
- 58:33But he was the first person that was able to galvanize this
- 58:39very large segment of
- 58:40SPEAKER_00: the population that didn't feel represented.
- 58:43SPEAKER_00: So you can defeat Bolsonaro, but there will be another Bolsonaro.
- 58:46SPEAKER_00: His son,
- 58:47he's the one who's there in the CPAC and talking to Steve
- 58:50Bannon and talking to
- 58:52SPEAKER_00: Trump,
- 58:52SPEAKER_00: Eduardo de Bolsonaro,
- 58:53SPEAKER_00: right?
- 58:54SPEAKER_00: He will be a force.
- 58:56SPEAKER_00: And even if we're not talking about him, there will be another Bolsonaro.
- 59:00SPEAKER_00: if we don't address the conditions that led to one in the first place.
- 59:03And I don't think the intellectual elites are doing a very good
- 59:06job in recognizing
- 59:08SPEAKER_00: the disambiguity of Lula and the Workers' Party in regards to democracy.
- 59:14SPEAKER_00: It's very easy to just say,
- 59:15SPEAKER_00: to answer that,
- 59:16SPEAKER_00: well,
- 59:16SPEAKER_00: he's a Democrat because he respected elections,
- 59:19SPEAKER_00: right?
- 59:20SPEAKER_00: But it doesn't tell us the whole story, the full picture, right?
- 59:24SPEAKER_00: And I think we need to get the full picture so that we can move on.
- 59:29SPEAKER_00: Well,
- 59:29SPEAKER_01: ladies and gentlemen,
- 59:30SPEAKER_01: I'm sure you can see why I admire this young man,
- 59:34SPEAKER_01: this young scholar so much,
- 59:36SPEAKER_01: and why I wanted him to speak to all of you.
- 59:39SPEAKER_01: You're fartsy generous.
- 59:41SPEAKER_01: No, it's a fact, and we're all wiser about Brazil.
- 59:45SPEAKER_01: I am Jay Nordlinger doing Q&A,
- 59:48SPEAKER_01: and our guest has been,
- 59:50SPEAKER_01: again,
- 59:50SPEAKER_01: I'm going to butcher this lovely name,
- 59:53SPEAKER_01: Gilberto Morbach.
- 59:56M-O-R,
- 59:57and then Bach like Johann Sebastian,
- 59:59meaning stream or brook,
- 1:00:01B-A-C-H,
- 1:00:03Gilberto Morbach.
- 1:00:05SPEAKER_01: Thank you very much, and see you for the next Q&A.
- 1:00:10SPEAKER_01: Thanks, Gilberto.
- 1:00:11SPEAKER_01: Appreciate you.
- 1:00:12SPEAKER_01: So long.