Defending Democracy holds a preparatory event to celebrate the bicentenary of independence – News

09/02/2021 – 20:47

With speeches in defense of democracy and the unity of the country, parliamentarians and historians on Thursday (2) participated in the launch of the 2021 theme of the Commemorative Series of the Chamber of Deputies marking the bicentenary of Brazil’s independence, which will be celebrated on September 7, 2022. .

This year’s theme is the election of Brazilian deputies to the Cortes Lisbon, which took place in 1821 and represented the first general election on Brazilian soil. This historical fact is remembered by the release of a postage stamp and a book, as well as an exhibition.

Several parties accompanied the ceremony in an actual and personal way. Highlighting the importance of historical rescue for understanding Brazilian reality, the former president of the Chamber, Aldo Rebelo, criticized the current context of political “tension” in the day after independence.

September 7th should be a moment of brotherhood for all Brazilians, regardless of their political and ideological positions. But we took to the streets for the struggle. Then, there is the kind of dangerous confusion that has plagued our home. Aldo Rebelo said that this House of Representatives, the cradle of democracy in Brazil, has the mission of gestures and actions with educational meaning: the celebration of the past has to do with the present and especially with the future.

He also criticized recent attacks on monuments and portraits of former leaders, leftist Carlos Marigella and Portuguese navigator Pedro Alvares Cabral or Major Borba Gato. According to him, history should not be destroyed simply because it contradicts the beliefs of the present.

In the same vein, Representative Soraya Santos (PL-RJ) referred to the historical “power of expression” of former national leaders to ensure “an independent, harmonious and promising Brazil”. MP Gustavo Froe (PDT-PR) has highlighted the collective meaning of national symbols.

“In this time of tensions, crises, extremism, extremism and denial, it is necessary, more than ever, to reaffirm the values ​​that have marked the history of Brazil and to inscribe those symbols, such as the flag and the date of September 7th, that do not belong to the government,” said Gustavo Frut. They are symbols of the Brazilian nation and its people.

Lisbon Courts
Rep. Lafayette de Andrada (Republican Party) clarified Cortes’ choice of Lisbon as this year’s theme in preparations for the bicentenary of Brazil’s independence. Lafayette is a descendant of the “Patriarch of Independence”, José Bonifacio de Andrada y Silva.

In 1821, 90 Brazilian deputies were elected to serve in the Constituent Assembly that convened after the Porto Revolution. However, only 40 parliamentarians traveled to Portugal and encountered resistance to Brazilian interests. Cortes Lisbon reinforced the idea that relations with the kingdom should be severed for the sake of Brazil’s independence.

This story is detailed in the book “Brazil’s First General Election”, written by legislative advisor José Teodoro Minc and available at Livraria da Câmara (livraria.camara.leg.br) or in digital copy for free download at Amazon, Apple, Google stores and Kobo.

September 7
Journalist and historian Eduardo Bueno highlighted the importance of this historical fact to strengthening democratic unity in Brazil yesterday and today.

“There can be no defilement on September 7. September 7 is our day, all of us. 200 years of independence are ours: we are the owners of our history and its craft. This is what 200 years of Lisbon courts bring us as a lesson,” Bueno said.

For the coordinator of the Special Committee for the Celebration of Bicentennial of Independence, Deputy Enrico Misasi (PV-SP), the historical recovery allows the country to be projected into the future.

“The history of any country, in a state of continuous construction, is our collective memory, so we always remember the reasons, reasons, facts and events that made us here today and be a political community in time and space. Only from this awareness of the past can we understand our present and, therefore, visualize the future.

During the ceremony, Representative Caroline D. Toni (PSL-SC) defended proposals to include Dr. Pedro II and Princesses Leopoldina and Isabel in Heroes and Heroines of the Fatherland. Representative Luiz Philippe de Orleans e Bragança (PSL-SP) gave a speech in defense of nationalism.

The President of the Brazilian Academy of Letters, Marcos Lucesi, and Council Minister Sandra Magalhães, who represents the Portuguese Embassy, ​​also participated in the celebrations for the bicentenary of Cortes Lisbon.

Events
An exhibition on the Porto Revolution and Brazil’s presence in Cortes Lisbon is part of this year’s celebrations. The works were held in one of the access corridors to the plenary session of the Chamber.

Since 2017, the Chamber has been promoting annual events that focus on historical facts leading up to the bicentennial of independence. Thus, the two hundredth anniversary of the arrival of Dona Leopoldina in Brazil in 2017 has already been celebrated; Dr. Joao VI, King of the United Kingdom of Portugal, Brazil and the Algarve, in 2018 applause; Board member José Bonifácio de Andrada e Silva returns to Brazil in 2019; and the constitutional revolution in Porto in 2020.

Report – Jose Carlos Oliveira
Edition – Roberto Cibra