The letters in defense of democracy from the Federation of Industries of the State of São Paulo (Fiesp) and the University of São Paulo (USP) are being read during the act “Manifesto in Defense of Democracy and the Democratic State of Law Always”, at Faculdade of Law at USP, in Largo São Francisco, in the capital of São Paulo.
The event began at 10 am with the reading of the manifesto “In Defense of Democracy and Justice”, in the main hall of the college. The document was led by Fiesp and had the support of 107 entities.
The second text that will be read is the “Letter to Brazilians and Brazilians in Defense of the Democratic State of Law”, in Pátio das Arcadas, also in the building located in Largo São Francisco. Screens have been installed outside the university so that the public can follow along.
With more than 900,000 signatures, the document was supported by professors, students, former ministers of the Federal Supreme Court (STF), bankers, presidential candidates and members of civil society. The text was revealed firsthand by CNN analyst Caio Junqueira.
Read the full letter “In Defense of Democracy and Justice”, from Fiesp
In the year of the bicentennial of Independence, we reiterate our unyielding commitment to the sovereignty of the Brazilian people expressed by the vote and exercised in accordance with the Constitution.
When the centenary took place, the modernists launched, with Semana de 22, a cultural movement that, pointing out ways to an art with Brazilian characteristics, helped to shape a genuinely national identity.
Today, once again, we are encouraged to identify paths that consolidate our journey towards the will of our people, which is the supreme independence that a nation can achieve.
Democratic stability, respect for the rule of law and development are essential conditions for Brazil overcome its main challenges. This is the biggest meaning of the 7th of September this year.
Our democracy has proven robustness in a row. In less than four decades, it faced deep crises, both economic, with periods of recession and hyperinflation, and political, overcoming these ills by the strength of our institutions.
They were solid enough to guarantee the execution of governments from different political spectrums. Without being shaken by the litanies of those who go beyond the reasonable limits of constructive criticism, it is our institutions that continue to guarantee the civilizing advance of Brazilian society.
It is important that the Powers of the Republic – Executive, Legislative and Judiciary – independently and harmoniously promote the essential changes for the development of Brazil.
Civil society entities and citizens who sign this act highlight the role of the Brazilian Judiciary, in particular the Federal Supreme Court, the ultimate guardian of the Constitution, and the Superior Electoral Court, which has conducted our respected elections with full security, efficiency and integrity. internationally, and of all magistrates, recognizing its inestimable role, throughout our history, as a power to pacify disagreements and an instance for the protection of fundamental rights.
To all who exercise the noble jurisdictional function in the country, we pay our respects at this time when destiny demands balance, tolerance, civility and vision of the future.
We want a prosperous, fair and solidary country, guided by the republican principles expressed in the Constitution, to which we all bow, confident in the superior will of democracy. It is strengthened by union, reforming what needs repair, not destroying; adding up hopes for a proud and peaceful Brazil, not
subtracting them with slogans and divisions that threaten the desired peace and development.
All those who sign this act reiterate their unwavering commitment to the institutions and basic rules of the Democratic State of Law, constitutive of the sovereignty of the Brazilian people that, on the symbolic date of the foundation of legal courses in Brazil, on August 11, we are to celebrate.
Read the entirety of the “Letter to Brazilians and Brazilians in Defense of the Democratic Rule of Law!”, from USP
In August 1977, amidst the celebrations of the sesquicentennial of the foundation of the Legal Courses in the Country, professor Goffredo da Silva Telles Junior, master of all of us, in the free territory of Largo de São Francisco, read the Letter to Brazilians, in which he denounced the illegitimacy of the then military government and the state of exception in which we lived. It also called for the re-establishment of the rule of law and the convening of a National Constituent Assembly.
The seed planted bore fruit. Brazil overcame the military dictatorship. The National Constituent Assembly rescued the legitimacy of our institutions, reestablishing the democratic rule of law with the prevalence of respect for fundamental rights.
We have the powers of the Republic, the Executive, the Legislative and the Judiciary, all independent, autonomous and committed to respecting and ensuring compliance with the greater pact, the Federal Constitution.
Under the umbrella of the Federal Constitution of 1988, which is about to complete its 34th anniversary, we went through free and periodic elections, in which the political debate on projects for the country has always been democratic, with the final decision being left to popular sovereignty.
Goffredo’s lesson is embodied in our Constitution “All power emanates from the people, who exercise it through their elected representatives or directly, under the terms of this Constitution”.
Our elections with the electronic counting process have served as an example in the world. We had several alternations of power regarding the results of the polls and the republican transition of government. Electronic voting machines proved to be safe and reliable, as well as the Electoral Justice.
Our democracy has grown and matured, but much remains to be done. We live in a country of profound social inequalities, with shortages in essential public services, such as health, education, housing and public security. We have a long way to go in developing our economic potential in a sustainable way. The State is inefficient in the face of its numerous challenges. Demands for greater respect and equality of conditions in terms of race, gender and sexual orientation are still far from being fully met.
In the coming days, in the midst of these challenges, we will have the beginning of the electoral campaign to renew the mandates of state and federal legislatures and executives. At this moment, we should have the apex of democracy with the dispute between the various political projects aimed at convincing the electorate of the best proposal for the country’s direction in the coming years.
Instead of a civic party, we are going through a moment of immense danger to democratic normality, risk to the institutions of the Republic and insinuations of contempt for the results of the elections.
Groundless attacks unaccompanied by evidence question the fairness of the electoral process and the democratic rule of law so hard won by Brazilian society. Threats to other powers and sectors of civil society and the incitement to violence and the breakdown of the constitutional order are intolerable.
We have recently witnessed authoritarian rants that have jeopardized secular American democracy. There, the attempts to destabilize democracy and the people’s confidence in the fairness of the elections were not successful, nor will they be successful here.
Our civic conscience is much greater than the opponents of democracy imagine. We know how to put aside minor differences in favor of something much bigger, the defense of the democratic order.
Imbued with the civic spirit that supported the Letter to Brazilians of 1977 and gathered in the same free territory of Largo de São Francisco, regardless of the electoral or partisan preference of each one, we call on Brazilians to be alert in the defense of democracy and respect for the election result.
In today’s Brazil there is no more room for authoritarian setbacks. Dictatorship and torture belong to the past. The solution to the immense challenges facing Brazilian society necessarily involves respect for the results of the elections.
In civic vigil against attempts at ruptures, we cry out in unison:
Democratic Rule of Law Always!!!!
Source: CNN Brasil
