Concebido pelas pesquisadoras Yara Frateschi (Unicamp) e Mirian Madureira (UFABC), o documento In Defense of the democratic Rule of Law in Brazil mostra o apoio da comunidade acadêmica internacional àqueles que lutam contra o golpe jurídico que destituiu a presidenta eleita Dilma Rousseff em meio deste ano. O documento conta com a assinatura dos principais teóricos e teóricas políticas em atividade, tais como Jürgen Habermas, Axel Honneth, Rainer Forst, Charles Taylor, Nancy Fraser e Pablo Gilabert (a lista completa das assinaturas pode ser encontrada abaixo).
A adesão da comunidade acadêmica internacional ao documento é fruto da constatação, amplamente partilhada na comunidade política internacional e informada pela cobertura internacional da crise política brasileira (muito mais crítica do que a mídia local), de que a destituição da presidenta eleita Dilma Rousseff teve como principais objetivos desmontar as conquistas sociais da Constituição de 88, desregulamentar a economia e utilizar o poder executivo para barrar as investigações contra a corrupção sistêmica no sistema eleitorial-partidário brasileiro.
IN DEFENSE OF THE DEMOCRATIC RULE OF LAW IN BRAZIL
On the 31st of March 1964, a coup d’état installed a civil-military dictatorship in Brazil, inaugurating a dark 21-year period of suspension of civil and political guarantees. Today, 52 years after, the Brazilian people face once more a break of the democratic order. As a result of the acceptance by the Senate of an impeachment process based on accounting irregularities, Dilma Rousseff, who had been elected in 2014 for a mandate of 4 years, was forced, on the 12th of May 2016, to stand down as President of the Republic. Even though this removal is supposed to be temporary, lasting up to 180 days, period during which the senators should reconvene to evaluate the motives that have resulted in the impeachment process, it is unlikely that Dilma should return to office.
Dilma Rousseff’s temporary removal from office is the culmination of a process characterised by unprecedented arbitrariness and polarisation in democratic Brazilian society, perceptible at least since her re-election in 2014. By attributing the recent corruption scandals exclusively to the Worker’s Party’s (PT) administrations (although they were the only ones who had the courage to investigate them through, even when investigations turned against their own) and by manipulating public opinion against the supposed risks of a left-wing takeover of the country, the right-wing opposition to Dilma Rousseff’s government took advantage of the economic crisis that emerged after years of stability and growth and led a violent media campaign against it. It managed to aggregate against the Workers’ Party (PT) and Lula’s and Dilma’s governments large sections of business elites and conservative middles classes, as well as authoritarian sectors represented in Congress and in the Judiciary, evidently aiming the hammering down of the social rights secured by Dilma’s government and the deregulation of economy. Besides, once in power, they will probably decline to further investigate corruption as it is likely to involve their own people, as opposed to Dilma Rousseff, whose probity in the administration of public affairs is not doubted, as corruption charges are not part of the impeachment process.
The impeachment is a juridical tool of extremely restricted scope in Brazilian presidentialism. It is regulated by Art.85 of the Brazilian Constitution of 1988, and its use is restricted to cases involving serious offenses (crimes de responsabilidade, “responsibility crimes”) carried out by the President. As the accounting irregularities in the administration of public funds that Dilma Rousseff is accused of are not serious offenses in the sense prescribed by the Constitution, it is evident that this impeachment is not legitimately grounded. Furthermore, the whole process was full of questionable aspects, which contribute to add further illegitimacy to its results. Therefore, it is not an exaggeration to consider the present impeachment process against Dilma Rousseff a white coup, which will yield long-lasting consequences to the democratic Rule of Law in Brazil.
In the face of all this, we consider necessary to state our absolute repudiation of the illegitimate destitution of President Dilma Rousseff, and our strong support for the maintenance of the Rule of Law in Brazil.
Albena Azmanova – University of Kent, Belgium
Alessandro Ferrara – University of Rome Tor Vergata, Italy
Alina Valjent – Witten/Herdecke University – Germany
Allan Breedlove –Loyola University Chicago, USA
Alois Blumentritt – University Wien, Austria
Amy Allen – Pennsylvania State University – USA
Anahi Wiedenburg – London School of Economics, Argentina/UK
Andreas Niederberger – Universität Duisburg-Essen, Germany
Anna Dißmann – Witten/Herdecke University – Germany
Arthur Oliveira Bueno –University of Erfurt, Germany
Asger Sorensen – Aarhus University, Denmark
Axel Honneth – University of Frankfurt/Columbia University, Germany/USA
Aysen Candas – Bogazici University, Istanbul, Turkey
Barbara Fultner – Denison University, USA
Bernat Riutort Serra – University of Illes Ballears –Spain
Brian Milstein – Goethe University Frankfurt, USA/Germany
Carlos Henrique Santana – TU Darmstadt, Germany
Charles Taylor – Mc Gill University, Canada
Christopher Zurn – University of Massachussetts/Boston, USA
Cora McKeena – Trinity College, Ireland
Cristina Sánchez – Autonomous University of Madrid, Spain
Dan Swain – Czech University of Life Sciences, Czech Republic
Daniele Santoro – CNR, National Research Council of Italy, Italy
David Alvarez – University of Minho/Braga, Portugal
David Rasmussen – Boston College, USA
Debora Spini – Syracuse University in Florence, Italy
Dónal O’Farrell – Trinity College Dublin, Ireland
Elisabeth v. Thadden – University of Jena, Germany
Felicia Herrschaft – Goethe University Frankfurt, Germany
Filip Vostal – Czech Academy of Sciences, Czech Republic
Firica Stefan – University of Bucharest, Romania
Francisco Naishtat – Universidad de Buenos Aires –Argentina
François Calori – Université de Rennes 1, France
Gesche Keding – Jena University, Germany
Giulia Lasagni – Università de Parma, Italy
Giuseppe Ballacci – University of Minho, Portugal
Gorana Ognjenovich – University of Oslo, Norway
Gustavo Leyva Martínez – Universidad Autónoma Metropolitana, México
Hans-Herbert Kögler – University of North Florida, USA
Hartmut Rosa – Jena University, Germany
Heikki Ikäheimo – University of New South Wales, Australia
Igor Shoikhedbrod – University of Toronto, Canada
Isadora Henrichs – Trinity College Dublin, Ireland
Italo Testa – Parma University, Italy
Jazna Jozelic – University of Oslo, Norway
João Honoreto – University of Witten/Herdecke, Germany
Joaquín Valdivielso-Navarro – Universitat Illes Balears, Spain
Johan Söderberg – Göteborg University, Sweden
Johanna Oksala – University of Helsinki, Finland
Johannes Schulz – Frankfurt University, Germany
John Lumsden – University of Essex, UK
Jonathan Bowman – University of Arkansas, USA
Julian Culp – University of Frankfurt, Germany
Jürgen Habermas – J.W. Goethe Universität Frankfurt, Germany
Karoline Rhein – Witten/Herdecke University – Germany
Kendralyn Webber –University of California Riverside, USA
Lenny Moss – University of Exeter, UK
Leonardo da Hora Pereira – Université Paris Ouest Nanterre La Défense, France
Lorenz Mrones – University of Witten/Herdecke, Germany
Luiz Gustavo de Cunha de Souza – Institut für Sozialforschung/Frankfurt –Germany
Marco Solinas – Florence University, Italy
Marek Hrubec – Czech Academy of Sciences, Czech Republic
Maria Ines Bergoglio – Universidad nacional de Córdoba, Argentina
María José Guerra – Universidad de Laguna –Spain
María Pía Lara – Universidad Autónoma Metropolitana, Mexico
Marjan Ivkovic – University of Belgrade, Serbia
Mark Haugaard – University Galway – Ireland
Marlon Urizar Natareno, Universidad Rafael Landívar, Guatemala
Martin Javornicky – University of Galway, Ireland
Martin Sauter – n/a –Ireland
Martin Seel – J.W.Goethe Universität Frankfurt, Germany
Masao Higarashi – Ritsumeikan University –Japan
Matteo Bianchin – University of Milano, Italy
Matthias Kettner – University of Witten/Herdecke, Germany
Matthias Lutz-Bachmann – J.W. Goethe Universität Frankfurt, Germany
Melis Menent – University of Sussex, UK
Miriam Mesquita Sampaio de Madureira – Universidad Autónoma Metropolitana, México
Mykhailo Minakov – Kiev-Mohyla Academy, Ukraine
Nancy Fraser –New School for Social Research, USA
Nancy Love –Appalachian State University, USA
Natalia Frozel Barros –University of Paris 1, France
Nathan Cogné – Trinity College Dublin, Ireland
Nicola Patruno – Goethe University Frankfurt, Germany
Niklas Angebauer – University of Essex, UK
Odin Lysaker – Agder University, Norway
Ojvind Larsen – Copenhagen Business School, Denmark
Onni Hirvonen – University of Jyväskylä, Finland
Pablo Gilabert – Concordia University, Canada
Patrick O’Mahonny – University College Cork –Ireland
Philipp Schink – J.W. Goethe Universität Frankfurt, Germany
Philippe Sonnet – Université Catholique de Louvain, Belgium
Pierre Schwarzer – Universität Witten/Herdecke, Germany
Radu Neculau – University of Windsor, Canada
Rahel Jaeggi – Humboldt University Berlin, Germany
Rainer Forst – University of Frankfurt, Germany
Richard Stahel – University of Constantin the Philosopher in Nitra, Slovak Republic
Robert Fine – Warwick University, UK
Robin Celikates – University of Amsterdam, The Netherlands
Rodrigo Cordero – Universidad Diego Portales –Chile
Ronan Kaczyznski – Goethe University, Germany
Rosie Worsdale – University of Essex, UK
Ruy Fausto – USP/Université de Paris 8, Brazil/France
Steven L. White – Wayne State University, USA
Susan L. Foster – UCLA, USA
Thomas Fossen – Leiden University, The Netherlands
Valerio Fabbrizi – University of Rome, Tor Vergata, Italy
Wolfgang Heuer – Freie Universität Berlin, Germany
Zuzana Uhde – Czech Academy of Sciences, Czech Republic
